Rita shares with The Doctors that she has been suffering from tinnitus for a long time now. She says it is affecting her hearing but her doctor told her there is no cure. She was hoping The Doctors may be able to help figure out what to do!
Ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Andrew Ordon explains tinnitus is the subjective feeling of either buzzing or ringing in the ears. Dr. Ordon plays a piercing sound for the audience to give everyone an idea of what Rita is experiencing.
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Dr. Ordon asks Rita a few questions to try and better understand her tinnitus. Rita shares that there is no history of a specific trauma, disease, or medication that brought on the start of her tinnitus. She is aware though that she has had some hearing loss as she’s gotten older.
Dr. Ordon asks about dizziness which Rita says she sometimes does have. Dr. Ordon explains that he asks because the inner ear is involved in both balance and hearing and if something goes wrong with the hearing part, tinnitus can develop.
Dr. Ordon says Rita needs to get a workup by a specialist who can check her hearing and then go from there. Dr. Ordon says once they rule out anything serious, diet or medication changes could help as well as masking, which is when a hearing aid is used to present a certain sound to mask the ringing in the ears.
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That specialist is Dr. Thomas Higgins at Kentuckiana ENT! He has agreed to give Rita a consult and hearing test to help determine the cause of her tinnitus and to help put her on a treatment plan.
