The ringing or buzzing only you can hear can be hard to explain to anyone else, and harder still to live with. We’ll help you understand what’s behind it, and find ways to make day to day life easier.
Book A Tinnitus AssessmentTinnitus often gets louder when everything else goes quiet, last thing at night or in a still room, which is exactly when you most want it to stop. For some people it arrives out of nowhere and brings real worry about what’s causing it. Whatever it’s doing to your days, you don’t have to work it out on your own. Often the first relief is simply being listened to and having your ears properly checked.
Your appointment is with Iain, our tinnitus specialist, and lasts two hours, so there’s no rush. He starts by examining your ears to check there’s no wax in the way and that everything looks healthy. Then he carries out a full hearing assessment, and you’ll talk through what your tinnitus sounds like, when you notice it most, and whether anything seems to set it off. From there, Iain will talk you through what he’s found and what your options are. What you do next is up to you.
There’s no cure for tinnitus, and we won’t pretend otherwise. What we can do is help you manage it so it takes up less of your life. For some people, understanding what’s going on and being reassured there’s nothing to worry about is enough to make the tinnitus easier to ignore. For others, the right hearing technology can ease it, often by bringing back the everyday sound that’s been missing, so the tinnitus stands out less. And in a small number of cases we’ll suggest you see an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor, and if so, we’ll write to your GP to get that moving.
Iain Edgar is one of our directors and our tinnitus specialist. He studied audiology at Queen Margaret University and spent eight years with the NHS, five of them running tinnitus clinics. During that time he was part of the Scottish Tinnitus Advisory Group (STAG), which works to promote evidence-based good practice in tinnitus care across Scotland. It’s given him a deep understanding of tinnitus and of what genuinely helps people manage it.
Tinnitus assessments are with Iain at our Clarkston and Dumfries clinics.
Tell us a little about what’s going on and which clinic suits you, and we’ll get back to you to confirm a time and answer anything you’re wondering about.
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