Managing Tinnitus, Ringing in the Ears and Hearing Loss Holistically; with Acupuncture and Hypnotherapy!

Tinnitus, ringing in the ears, and hearing loss are all issues that can significantly impact your quality of life, let alone your ability to hear. Not only can these symptoms be detrimental to your ability to communicate and your day-to-day life, but they are also annoying and bothersome and can create other symptoms like insomnia or difficulty concentrating. 

Traditional treatments for tinnitus and ear-ringing often fall short of expectations. The common advice to drown out the noise with more noise seems ineffective. While hearing loss can be managed, the results are not always satisfactory, and some options, like surgery, are extreme. Some treatments fail to deliver the desired outcome or come with intolerable side effects. It’s always important to see your Doctor to rule out any underlying causes for new-onset hearing loss or tinnitus, and sometimes the cause might be as simple as earwax impaction, but after you’ve had a thorough exam from your Doctor or ENT specialist, you might consider trying a more unconventional approach to help! 

Acupuncture, a lesser-known but highly effective treatment, has shown some favorable results in addressing hearing and ear-related issues. From children with hearing loss to adults experiencing tinnitus and ear ringing due to various causes, acupuncture has been helpful for many of our patients. But how does this ancient practice work its magic on hearing loss and tinnitus? 

How Can I Know if Acupuncture Will Help with My Tinnitus & Ear Ringing?

Your tinnitus may respond well to acupuncture if...

• Tinnitus onset directly following a physical injury (whiplash, fall, jaw trauma, sports impact, surgery near the head/neck)

• Tinnitus that modulates with jaw movement — gets louder or quieter when opening, clenching, or moving the jaw laterally

• Tinnitus that changes with neck position or cervical rotation

• Tinnitus that worsens under psychological stress or improves during relaxation

• Tinnitus accompanied by jaw pain, TMJ symptoms, or facial tension

• Tinnitus accompanied by neck pain, cervical stiffness, or suboccipital headache

• Palpable trigger points in the SCM, masseter, pterygoids, or cervical paraspinals

• Tinnitus that fluctuates in intensity day to day (rather than constant and unchanging)

• Normal or near-normal audiological testing — no significant sensorineural hearing loss

• Recent onset (months rather than years)

• Unilateral tinnitus without vertigo or progressive hearing loss

• Tinnitus associated with eustachian tube dysfunction or ear fullness without structural findings on ENT exam

• Patient reports tinnitus responds to manual pressure on neck or jaw muscles

Acupuncture may have limits if...

• Noise-induced tinnitus with confirmed sensorineural hearing loss on audiogram — cochlear hair cell damage is not reversible

• Blast or acoustic trauma as a mechanism of injury

• Tinnitus following ototoxic medication (chemotherapy, certain antibiotics, high-dose NSAIDs)

• Pulsatile tinnitus — this requires a vascular workup before any treatment; it may indicate arterial pathology

• Tinnitus accompanied by sudden unilateral hearing loss requires urgent ENT referral, not acupuncture

• Tinnitus associated with progressive neurological symptoms — vertigo, facial numbness, balance disturbance (rule out acoustic neuroma or MS before treating)

• Long-standing chronic tinnitus with high degree of central sensitization and no modulating factors

• Tinnitus that is completely constant, never fluctuates, and has no identifiable musculoskeletal component

• Meniere's disease — acupuncture may help associated symptoms but the underlying endolymphatic dysfunction is not directly addressable

• Patient has already failed multiple modalities, including TRT, CBT for tinnitus, and sound therapy, with no response — lower likelihood of response to any intervention

While acupuncture has limitations for success with tinnitus, if your tinnitus has any of the characteristics in the left column, we still may be able to help. Having tinnitus is inherently stressful, and that stress can make the sound seem worse. Acupuncture can help with the stress component of the disease. In addition, in cases where there is no physical cure or substantial treatment that helps resolve tinnitus, hypnotherapy can be an excellent modality. Hypnosis can help lessen the emotional intensity of tinnitus; we often teach patients tools to manage the irritation it causes, which can improve the quality of life for patients living with "untreatable" tinnitus.

Decreasing Inflammation and Increasing Blood Flow

One of acupuncture's most widely known effects is its impact on inflammation and blood flow. By stimulating acupuncture points, the body responds by dilating blood vessels, improving blood flow. Simultaneously, this increase in blood flow also helps the body process inflammation. Inflammation can be a factor in hearing loss and tinnitus; decreasing that inflammation can result in subjective improvements in the condition. 

Releasing Muscle Tension

The muscles of the neck, head, jaw, and shoulders also impact the ear. Tension in the neck and jaw muscles can specifically affect the ear and cause ringing. Acupuncture is commonly used to treat and resolve muscle pain and tension. By helping relax the muscles and trigger points around the neck and jaw, which might transmit tension and inflammation to the inner ear, we see beneficial results in a subjective reduction in tinnitus and ear ringing with acupuncture treatment. Dr. Kim is especially experienced and trained with motor and trigger point needling around the neck and face. While it might seem a little scary, it’s actually quite safe and very effective when the cause of your tinnitus is related to muscle tension! 

Hypnosis for Tinnitus and Ringing in the Ears

Sometimes, usually due to the specific underlying cause of the hearing loss or ear ringing, we might, unfortunately, never get the results we desire from acupuncture or other common treatments. Physical damage to the eardrum or inner ear might be permanent and not treatable, but this doesn’t mean there isn’t an option to help improve your life, even with this condition. Dr. Kim is trained in Integrative Medical Hypnotherapy, and she even combines this modality with acupuncture, called Hypnopuncture. Hypnosis helps us shift negative habits and patterns, even ways of thinking. If you’ve suffered from chronic tinnitus, you know how irritating and debilitating it can sometimes be - what if you were able to transmute that irritation, anger, and anxiety that come with the condition? That’s where hypnosis comes into play. By shifting our habitual reactions to the condition, we can actually not only improve our quality of life but sometimes even lessen the experience of our symptoms. 

Hypnotherapy can be conducted online or in person, so no matter where you are we can help! Book a Discovery Call today to learn more about our Hypnotherapy services. If you’re local to the San Francisco Bay Area please come visit us in person in Oakland! 

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