The 26th Annual Tinnitus and Hyperacusis International Conference

This week at Hearing International we are pleased to have guest author, Dr. Richard Tyler of the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.  Dr. Tyler has been working in the area of tinnitus research and treatment since the late 1970s and discusses how it was then and now and announces the 26th Annual conference on the Management of Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Patient.  This is a yearly tinnitus conference that is the gold standard for what is happening in the of tinnitus, hyperacousis and the treatment of these auditory disorders.  Last year,  we had a feature also authored by Dr. Tyler for the 25th Anniversary of this meeting of the minds in this area.  Check out the Rich’s comments on the first tinnitus treatments in that article as well as his career in tinnitus treatment.

This year he offers us a much shorter version and an invitation to attend the 26th version of this important meeting of the minds on tinnitus and hyperacusis.  RMT

 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Many tinnitus suffers will benefit from hearing aids. They will hear better, and maybe even experience help with their tinnitus. Twenty six years ago, we had about 20 attendees to this conference.  How do help these patients?  

I am so  pleased that now so many are interested in provided hearing aids, sound therapy and counseling for tinnitus patients. We now know how to evaluate the specific problems they are experiencing. For example,  the  Tinnitus Primary Functions Questionnaires, can help us focus on whether they need help with Thoughts and Emotions, Hearing, Sleep or Concentration.  They are all different with different needs.  We always have a manufactures forum at our conference. There used to be about four  manufactures providing tinnitus maskers. But they offered devices without any counseling. Now there are many sound therapy options, with a wide variety of  background sounds.  It is interesting the sound fitting strategies really have not changed much over the years  (Tyler and Bentler, 1987 ).

Our professional organizations need to lobby for reimbursement for counseling.

We still focus on “hearing and balance”,  but someday soon it will be hearing, tinnitus and balance”.  Many health care professionals can get reimbursed for smoking cessation and weight management  (Tyler and Mancini, 2018); why not tinnitus counseling? Kochkin, Tyler & Born (2011) showed that many need hearing aids but do not seek them, because tinnitus is their biggest problem.

The conference  will be held June 14-15, 2018 at The  University of Iowa.  The Guest of Honor this year is Anne Mohr, talking on Patient Centered Patient Treatment.  Hope to see you there!

2018 International Conference on the Management of the Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Patient

References:

Richard S. Tyler, PhD.  Professor and Director of Audiology, Department of Otolaryngology, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Iowa.   Dr. Tyler was trained as a clinical audiologist at The University of Western Ontario and then completed a Ph.D. in Psychoacoustics and The University of Iowa.   He worked initially at the Institute of Hearing Research in the United Kingdom and is currently a Professor in both the Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery and in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders  at the University of Iowa.  He has edited three books on tinnitus, the first textbook, a clinical management guide, and a self-help book. Dr. Tyler sees tinnitus patients weekly, and hosts an annual Tinnitus Treatment Workshop.