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Wheeling Hospital Launches Area’s First Tinnitus Center

DR. BRANDON LICHTMAN

Responding to a growing audiological need, Wheeling Hospital is launching the tri-state area’s first Center for Tinnitus and Decreased Sound Tolerance.

Director Dr. Brandon Lichtman said the new venture, which will open Monday, will be a center within the hospital’s existing Center for Audiology.

“What makes this center unique is that Wheeling Hospital has a multi-disciplinary approach that many places don’t have,” he said at a press conference Tuesday.

The new center has specialists in audiology, physical therapy, psychology and physician care.

Lichtman was certified recently in tinnitus and decreased sound tolerance by the American Board of Audiology. He said Wheeling Hospital’s center is the only one in West Virginia or Pennsylvania –among 20 facilities nationwide — to have certified management for this medical condition.

An estimated 40-50 million people in America have tinnitus, which is the perception of sound within the ears and/or head not caused by an external sound source.

He said the condition has a significant effect on the lives of 30 percent of patients.

In addition to conducting testing and offering management techniques for the condition, the center will offer educational seminars, support groups and individualized treatment plans, he said. Patients must have a primary care physician’s referral to be examined.

“There’s no cure. There is management,” Lichtman said. “We have resources now to help patients with management and to habituate.”

Despite what he said patients may think, proper testing and management techniques can reduce the awareness, loudness and annoyance of tinnitus.

“You don’t have to learn to live with it,” he said.

But learning about the condition may result in psychological benefits.

“Some people just need a reason for why they’re hearing something that no one else hears,” Lichtman said. “Counseling patients on possible causes can also reduce their anxiety.”

Lichtman has seen “an incremental growth every year” in the number of patients since he joined the hospital in 2010. Ninety percent of people with chronic tinnitus have some level of hearing loss.

Anyone — from childhood up to the geriatric range — can develop tinnitus, but typically it affects people ages 60-69, he said. The condition, however, isn’t gender specific.

Asked why tinnitus has become more prevalent, Lichtman said, “We live in a much more noise-polluted world than we ever did … Noise exposure can be a significant cause.”

Structural abnormalities, temporomandibular joint disorders and cervical spine disorders also can cause tinnitus, he said. Intake of caffeine, sodium, alcohol and tobacco can exacerbate problems.

In addition, some medications can affect patients’ hearing, and they should be monitored for signs of tinnitus.

“Chemotherapy is a big one,” the audiologist said. “Some medications stay (in the body) up to a year after the patient stops using them.”

Meanwhile, decreased sound tolerance is a lowered tolerance to everyday sounds that don’t bother most other people. These sounds are often high-pitched or ones that begin abruptly (so-called impulse sounds).

These sounds may cause annoyance, physical discomfort or pain. If tinnitus is present, these sounds may cause tinnitus to spike in loudness temporarily. Some people with decreased sound tolerance report difficulty ignoring sounds.

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