Find out the cause of tinnitus. AUDIOLOGIST'S GUIDE

Tinnitus requires medical care. The tinnitus patient consults an otolaryngologist, a doctor specialising in the ears, nose and throat. The medical discipline dedicated to the ear is otology. Until now, otology has not provided any convincing solutions. Perhaps this is because otology focuses on the ear, only studies the ear and ignores everything around it, that which is outside of it.

 

                There is now a new scientific discipline, namely otosociology. It is born of a symbiosis between otology and sociology. It is dedicated to the study of the auditory system in its social environment. It includes a methodology, which, in five steps, studies the ear's organic and functional components. The first three steps focus on researching the body's hardware, that is to say the biophysical component, and the next two steps focus on researching the software, that is to say the ear's functionality. The otosociological methodology begins with the ear and ends with the person's social environment. The information obtained is very relevant, investigating the causes of tinnitus, collecting information on the symptoms and discussing their consequences.

 

                If otosociology can be used to uncover the causes then the treatment should be easy. In principle, if we can eliminate the causes, the tinnitus may disappear. The treatment used is comprehension and commitment therapy. Comprehension therapy involves explaining to the patient why they have tinnitus and commitment therapy means that the patient commits to carrying out a series of measures to get rid of the tinnitus. These measures may be to resolve certain conflicts or social tensions, changing some inappropriate attitudes, taking part in sound therapies, taking bioactive natural compounds or receiving physical or drug-based treatments.

 

                This book would like to show how the shift from otology to otosociology for the treatment of tinnitus, is a step forward in terms of our understanding of the problem and how discovering the cause of tinnitus enables us to find a cure.

 

                                Finally, the audiologist's manual brings together all the scientific information available on the application of otosociology to tinnitus, to which more information about sound treatment has been added, as a specific and exclusive section of the work on the symptomatic treatment of tinnitus.