Without a doubt, there have been advances in the understanding of tinnitus and certain treatments have been shown to help some individuals. In this regard, public information and education has played, and should continue to play, a major role in reducing one of the main causes of tinnitus (i.e., excessive noise exposure). In addition to these efforts, the fine work of the American Tinnitus Association has done much to inform the public about this common and bothersome symptom.

His efforts in this area have also led to the development of interventions that can help moderate the patient’s tinnitus and/or the individual’s ability to cope with this challenging symptom. An awareness of this problem and a better understanding of the nature and origins of this auditory symptom have been enhanced by the many contributions of the late Jack Vernon.

Tinnitus has been written about for many years in the fields of otology, psychology, and audiology, and it has been the focus of considerable research however, in spite of these efforts, a cure for this disorder remains elusive. Both terms are used interchangeably in this chapter as they are in the literature, but the reader should keep in mind when reading through this chapter that the three conditions being discussed are actually symptoms and not disorders. Although these three entities are often described as disorders, they are actually “symptoms” that are associated with a variety of underlying disorders. Given this challenge, as well as the keen general interest in these disorders, the decision was made to include a separate chapter for coverage of these three entities. However, it was difficult to determine in which chapter to include these topics as these common auditory disorders can have a number of different etiologies and a variety of sites of lesion and origins.

The topics covered in this chapter (tinnitus, hyperacusis, and auditory hallucinations) easily could have been included as segments in other chapters. Tinnitus, Hyperacusis, and Auditory Hallucinations

Auditory hallucination buzzing