Tinnitus is a condition that is rare but which thousands of people around the world have already been diagnosed with.  The rates of tinnitus are increasing, the reason why doctors are not sure of.  Tinnitus causes an individual to hear noises that no one else can.  Hearing a ringing or booming noise in the ears that doesn’t seem to go away on its own or which continues to come back would signal a person that they should have a tinnitus test.

A tinnitus test is what helps to diagnose a tinnitus condition.  There are actually a few different types of tests which can be used in a tinnitus diagnosis including x-rays, audiograms, tinnitus pitch matches, tinnitus loudness matches and residual inhibition tests.  Audiograms are some of the most relied on, as these help to diagnose any hearing loss in a patient.  If there is notable hearing loss, more likely than not this is the cause of the tinnitus and by having the individual fitted for a hearing aid their tinnitus is likely to be relieved.

A hearing aid will help to correct the hearing loss in an individual and offer relief of their tinnitus as a result.  Another test often used to diagnose tinnitus conditions is the tinnitus pitch mask test.  The pitch, whether high or low, tells doctors how severe a person’s condition is.  A loudness match test works by adjusting the loudness of external tones and attempting to match sounds that the person is hearing as a result of their condition.

By using a residual inhibition test, doctors are able to record the amount of time that the tinnitus condition is reduced after masking it for a given period of time.  These tests are usually used in combination with each other in order to get the most accurate result and determine the most suitable form of treatment for an individual.  These are all important tests that doctors can use to determine whether a person has tinnitus and if so, how severe it is.  This helps them to keep track of each patient and monitor their progress.

Doctors advise tinnitus patients to find relief by occupying their ears with sounds to mask over the tinnitus.  Listen to the radio on your way to work and keep headphones on at night so you can get a better night’s sleep.  Whether you have to wear an iPod in your ear throughout most of the day or put on CDs of soothing noises at night so you can go to sleep, the most important thing is that you’re getting relief.  This can certainly be a challenging condition to live with, but at least with the different advanced tinnitus tests that are available patients have a much greater chance of getting rid of their condition once and for all.