"It was pretty constant to the point where I couldn't shut it out. Couldn't get away from it," said Robin Cohn.
Cohn's trouble began 13 years ago after suffering a traumatic brain injury from a car accident.
"Severe ringing in my ears. I had a lot of noise sensitivity, sound sensitivity and light sensitivity," Cohn said.
Suffering from constant buzzing she has been unable to concentrate which has affected her entire life.
"It was a battle between shutting out the noise but then having to listen to the ringing in my ears at the same time," said Cohn.
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"Tinnitus is ringing in the ears, sometimes hissing, sometimes buzzing, sometimes clicking. Anybody can get it. It takes an episode to expose and it is mostly found in people with noise exposure and hearing loss," said Dr. Erin Walborn.
Tinnitus can be genetically linked and can be caused by medications even illnesses. It never goes away but one treatment, using a noise generator, which is placed just inside the ear, helps the body adapt.
"We put devices in the ear and emit a low level broad band noise and we help patients not notice it as much. So the body doesn't react as strongly. So the goal is to habituate to the sound and habituate to the reaction of it," Walborn said.
In most cases, tinnitus is made worse when people associate the noise as something negative. Another treatment called tinnitus retraining therapy helps patients avoid negative thoughts and teaches them to identify the noise as something neutral.
"What we don't want is it to cause any emotional reaction within your body. People who tend to have more anxiety in their life, more stress, just are that type of personality. (They) suffer more and it’s all about how you perceive that sound and that the is the goal of tinnitus retraining therapy, so we can get you back to a point where it can roll off your back and it doesn't affect you at all," Walborn said
The good news is, it takes about 18 months to work. The bad news, it can come back and stress makes it worse.
“Stress is a major player and what we have to do is keep the stress level down try to keep the person some stress manage techniques," said Walborn.
Robin uses yoga to relax.
“I have learned how to cope. It doesn't mean that my symptoms are gone, it means that my coping skills have gotten better,” Cohn said.
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