Tinnitus

Often what tips the scales and makes the ringing start is when the person shifts from perpetual stress to feeling over-extended or burnt out. When this occurs the brain begins to slow down, using more Delta extra slow processing speed, to help it recover from the chronic anxiety. When Dr. Trish Leigh explains this to people she calls it “gassing and braking”of the brain simultaneously. Charles agreed again.

So, Charles had his qEEG Brain Map performed to see what his brain was doing. As anticipated by his symptoms the areas of his brain that are responsible for auditory processing and the frontal lobe which is involved in Tinnitus were indeed running fast and slow.

After seeing his brain using the pattern for Tinnitus, Charles began Neurofeedback Brain Training. His pattern began to shift immediately and he started getting reprieve from the Tinnitus at night. This made it so he could get some quality sleep and helped he feel alot better. He could see his brain improving on the graphs of his performance during each Neurofeedback session. Dr. Cosmas Leigh would share them with him frequently at his visits. It was excellent to see and feel the results. One ear later the Tinnitus was gone. Dr. Trish Leigh taught Charles how to use a few easy brain hacks to keep the stress from building in his brain and he not had any ringing since.

Neurofeedback Therapy, a long-proven effective treatment of brain regulation, is successfully used to treat patients with tinnitus. Sensors are connected to the person’s head on the brain areas that are identified as dysfunctional. Dysfunctional brain areas are known to causes symptoms. Changing of those underlying patterns has been shown to alleviate tinnitus symptoms. Through this process, the affected areas are taught to perform better using advanced computers in a way that is pleasurable to for the sufferer. When the areas perform better, the brain rewires itself and symptoms go away. Once a brain is rewired it will stay that way permanently.

At Leigh Brain and Spine, when tinnitus sufferers join the center for care, they report a long road of treatments that didn’t work. Some people have even tried medications that often made their symptoms worse. Tinnitus treatment through Neurofeedback involves relaxing in a chair while the computer gently rewires the areas that are affected in your brain. This treatment is non-invasive, meaning it doesn’t put anything into you, it teaches your brain to work better. Gently rewiring the brain, through Neurofeedback Therapy, feels good to the patient as the symptoms abate, making the experience and the outcomes desirable.

Traditional evaluation and assessment of tinnitus involves an evaluation of hearing and movement and usually is heavily based on patient history of the onset and progression of the tinnitus symptoms. One of the most sophisticated ways to determine the root of tinnitus is to use Quantitative Electroencephalogram (qEEG) Brain Mapping technology to identify the areas of underlying neurological dysregulation. In most cases, the temporal lobes, which are responsible for auditory processing, are impacted and are associated with the noise that people hear in their ears. Those brain regions are not processing the sound properly. When the sound isn’t processed it remains on, instead of turning off. You can see the hots spots of auditory processing in the qEEG Brain Map here indicated by white.

Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, can be significantly reduced by improving the way the brain works in the areas of auditory processing. The irregular brain pattern in these areas cause the symptoms. When the brain is rewired, the symptoms reduce. Neurofeedback Therapy at Leigh Brain and Spine is a relaxing experience that patient’s come to look forward to, not only because their symptoms decrease, but because it feels good too.

Tinnitus is not a disease at all, it is a symptom. It is a symptom of an imbalance in the brain that makes chronic sound perceptible to the sufferer. It is also associated with the brain patterns that cause anxiety and depression.

Tinnitus is not new. There are references on Egyptian papyrus that date back to 16^th century B.C. with references to “whispering, humming, and singing” in the ears. Many famous people across history are known to suffer from tinnitus including Joan of Arc, Beethoven, and Charles Darwin, who kept a daily log of his tinnitus experience.

A new study, however, has determined that 10-15% of tinnitus sufferers may have a genetic link to the condition. Bilateral tinnitus in men has been associated with a hereditary predisposition, but as in all cases nature (heredity) is strongly fueled by environment and life choices (nurture).