Distraught at the persistent ringing in his ears and his inability to alleviate it, a 50-year-old man has visited his health care provider. After diagnostic testing, no bjective cause (like impacted cerumen or vascular abnormality) was found. Given these testing results, which of the following teaching points by the care provider is most appropriate?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Current treatment modalities for tinnitus address the symptoms of the problem rather than curing the underlying etiology. While therapy can be of some use, it is inaccurate to characterize tinnitus as a psychological disturbance. Medications, including antihistamines, anticonvulsant drugs, calcium channel blockers, benzodiazepines, and antidepressants, have been used for tinnitus alleviation; they are not implicated as a cause. While listening to differentiate between objective and subjective tinnitus is possible, the absence of objective sounds does not mean that tinnitus does not exist, rather that it is subjective. The use of tinnitus retraining therapy, which includes directive counseling and extended use of low-noise generators to facilitate auditory adaptation to the tinnitus, has met with considerable success.

Distraught at the Persistent Ringing in His Ears and His