It’s very common for individuals to experience tinnitus. Around 20 million individuals regularly cope with persistent tinnitus so intense that it becomes burdensome. And there are also more prevalent presentations of tinnitus which are much more mild and sporadic and are also easier to cope with.
When you hear noises in your ears that don’t have an outside source and nobody else can hear them, that’s tinnitus. It could manifest as a persistent buzzing or ringing in the ears. Tinnitus is often associated with hearing loss, but that doesn’t mean that one condition will automatically result in the other.
As a matter of fact, tinnitus comes in a number of forms. Treating these varieties of tinnitus will call for different approaches.
What is tinnitus?
Exactly what is tinnitus and what are its causes? The first thing to recognize is that tinnitus comes in several forms and causes. Regardless of the particular cause, the symptoms will be similar. But it’s still essential to determine the cause in order to successfully treat the symptoms.
For some individuals, tinnitus is the result of a neurological issue, like a traumatic brain injury or a concussion. In other circumstances, tinnitus may result from 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. The brain itself can sometimes be the source. Neurological tinnitus is caused by injury to or issues with your baseline neurological functions. This means that the typical communication between your brain and ears isn’t working correctly. The outcome is that you hear a phantom sound that might not be there. A stroke, concussion, or brain injury can all be the underlying causes of tinnitus, as well as others. As the brain heals, neurological tinnitus will, in some situations, clear up on its own. For others, it could be lasting.
- Subjective tinnitus: With subjective tinnitus, the sound you’re hearing is phantom and doesn’t objectively exist and only you can hear it. This form of tinnitus includes many other forms of tinnitus also. For instance, neurological tinnitus can also be subjective tinnitus. Subjective tinnitus can present as lots of different sound types, including ringing, buzzing, squeals, whistles, roars, and more.
- Objective tinnitus: With objective tinnitus, you’re hearing a real, verifiable, objective sound. Objective tinnitus does occur, though it’s not as common as subjective forms. Most commonly, this means you’re experiencing something called pulsatile tinnitus, which happens when you’re hearing your pulse or circulatory system. Objective tinnitus causes those sounds to be abnormally loud.
- Somatic tinnitus: For many individuals, the sound they hear with tinnitus is fairly constant. That’s true for both subjective and objective tinnitus. With somatic tinnitus though, things are a bit different. This type of tinnitus becomes more extreme when you move around. Typically, somatic tinnitus will cause the symptoms to get worse when you move your head or neck.
The majority of these types of tinnitus are not generally mutually exclusive. You might have subjective tinnitus and neurological tinnitus at the same time, for instance. In order for us to formulate a treatment plan, we will first need to identify the underlying cause of your tinnitus.
Getting tinnitus support
You most likely won’t have to take any specific action if your tinnitus symptoms are intermittent. But if your tinnitus hangs around or returns frequently, it might have real and serious impacts on your everyday life. When that occurs, your best plan to get some relief is to call us for a consultation.
After we determine the root cause of your symptoms, there are a number of treatment methods we can employ. Several therapies can make the sounds you’re hearing less obvious. We might also utilize masking techniques to hide your symptoms.
Generally, there is no cure for tinnitus, though it can usually be effectively treated. We will help you personalize the best treatment for your specific situation. This will help you enjoy life again by moving your symptoms into the background where they can be more easily ignored.