It’s very common for people to experience tinnitus. Around 20 million people routinely suffer from chronic tinnitus so severe that it becomes burdensome. This does not even count the more common types of tinnitus, which for most individuals can come and go without causing a major impact on their quality of life.
When you hear noises in your ears that don’t have an external source and no one else can hear them, that’s tinnitus. This might be a ringing in the ears or a buzzing sound you can’t get rid of. Although hearing loss is often associated with tinnitus, there isn’t necessarily a cause-and-effect connection between the two.
As a matter of fact, tinnitus comes in numerous forms. Managing these varieties of tinnitus will require different approaches.
What is tinnitus?
Exactly what is tinnitus and how is it caused? The first thing to recognize is that tinnitus comes in numerous types and causes. Regardless of the specific cause, the symptoms will be similar. But it’s still essential to determine the cause in order to successfully manage the symptoms.
In some cases, concussions or other traumatic brain injuries or neurological problems can be the cause. In other circumstances, tinnitus might be caused by age-related hearing loss. The following are a few other potential causes:
- Neurological tinnitus: Issues with the ear aren’t always the cause of tinnitus. Sometimes, the underlying cause lies within the brain. If your baseline neurological functions are weakened by injury it can trigger neurological tinnitus. This means that the standard communication between your brain and ears isn’t working correctly. As a result, a phantom noise is heard which isn’t really there. Neurological tinnitus can be a result of concussion, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and others. As the brain heals, neurological tinnitus will, in some cases, clear up on its own. It may be permanent in other circumstances.
- Subjective tinnitus: When you’re the only one who can hear the sound of your tinnitus, which is quite common, hearing specialists will refer to your condition as a subjective tinnitus. This form of tinnitus includes many other forms of tinnitus as well. For instance, neurological tinnitus can also be subjective tinnitus. There are a large number of sounds that can manifest with subjective tinnitus, including buzzing, ringing, screeching, roaring, thumping, and many others.
- Objective tinnitus: When you have objective tinnitus, you’re hearing a real, verifiable, objective sound. Objective tinnitus does happen, though it’s not as common as subjective forms. Pulsatile tinnitus, which is when you hear your heartbeat or pulse, is an illustration of this form of tinnitus. For those with objective tinnitus, that pulsing sound usually seems louder than it ought to.
- Somatic tinnitus: Tinnitus sounds are frequently quite constant for many individuals coping with them. Both objective and subjective tinnitus have this characteristic. With somatic tinnitus though, things are a bit different. This is tinnitus that grows worse with movement. Typically, somatic tinnitus is most sensitive to movement of the head or neck areas.
Frequently, people will have more than one type of tinnitus at the same time. You may have subjective tinnitus and neurological tinnitus together, for instance. In order for us to put together a treatment plan, we will first need to determine the underlying cause of your tinnitus.
Getting help with your tinnitus
You most likely won’t need to take any particular action if your tinnitus symptoms are intermittent. But if your tinnitus sticks around or comes back frequently, it might have real and significant impacts on your everyday life. When that occurs, your best plan to get some relief is to contact us for a consultation.
We have several different tinnitus management methods we may try depending on the underlying cause of your symptoms. Several therapies can make the sounds you’re hearing less obvious. We may also use masking techniques to hide your symptoms.
Tinnitus can’t usually be cured, but it can be successfully managed. We will work with you to formulate treatments that work for your symptoms. That way, you can more easily disregard the buzzing or ringing in your ears, and get back to the life you enjoy.