Tinnitus is the sound of ringing, buzzing, hissing, or clicking inside the head or ears. There are many causes of tinnitus, including noise exposure, physical injury, ear diseases, and muscle spasms. While there is no known cure for most forms of tinnitus, there are many management options available and most tinnitus sufferers can find varying degrees of relief from one or a combination of the following:

• Behavioral counseling: Counseling helps patients manage the depression, anxiety, and distraction that can accompany tinnitus. Mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques may also help.

• Acoustic methods: Sound maskers, hearing aids, or music therapy can decrease patients sensitivity to the noise they hear. Masking devices produce a continuous, low-level white noise that suppresses tinnitus symptoms. Hearing aids may benefit some people with tinnitus who have hearing loss. Cochlear implants have been shown to suppress tinnitus, in addition to restoring functional hearing in those with severe-to-profound hearing loss.

• Medications: There is no single medication that works on all tinnitus patients. Some of the antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications available are helpful for certain tinnitus patients, however, more research is needed in this area. Some medications may ease tinnitus by addressing a problem related to the condition. Medications may also improve mood or sleep.

• Education and lifestyle changes: Education about tinnitus can reduce anxiety by helping you recognize that the condition, in most cases, is unlikely to be linked to a serious medical condition. Through counseling, you can learn coping techniques and strategies to avoid making symptoms worse, such as by limiting your exposure to loud noise. Lifestyle changes that may help include reducing exposure to extremely loud noise, avoiding total silence, decreasing salt intake, monitoring blood pressure, avoiding stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine, exercising, reducing fatigue, managing stress, and educating yourself.

In addition to the above management options, some alternative therapies that have been tried for tinnitus include acupuncture, ginkgo biloba, melatonin, and zinc supplements. However, there is little evidence that alternative medicine treatments work for tinnitus.