It’s very common for people to experience tinnitus. Tinnitus can become so overwhelming that it becomes a burden to live with for around 20 million individuals around the world. And there are also more common presentations of tinnitus which are much more mild and sporadic and are also easier to deal with.
Tinnitus happens when you hear a phantom sound, when you’re hearing a sound that nobody else can hear. It could manifest as a persistent buzzing or ringing in the ears. Tinnitus is frequently related to hearing loss, but that doesn’t mean that one condition will automatically lead to the other.
As a matter of fact, tinnitus comes in numerous forms. Treating these varieties of tinnitus will call for different approaches.
What is tinnitus?
Exactly what is tinnitus and how is it caused? Well, it’s important to note that not all types of tinnitus are the same. The assorted causes of tinnitus will manifest with similar symptoms. But it’s still essential to determine the cause in order to effectively treat the symptoms.
In some instances, concussions or other traumatic brain injuries or neurological problems can be the cause. In other circumstances, tinnitus may result from age-related hearing loss. The following are some other potential causes:
- Neurological tinnitus: Tinnitus is not always caused by ear problems. The brain itself can sometimes be the source. If your baseline neurological functions are weakened by injury it can trigger neurological tinnitus. In other words, something has broken down with the typical ways that your brain and ear communicate. The result is that you hear a phantom sound that might not be there. A stroke, concussion, or brain injury can all be the root sources of tinnitus, as well as others. In some situations, neurological tinnitus may go away as the brain heals. It might be permanent in other circumstances.
- Subjective tinnitus: With subjective tinnitus, the sound you’re hearing is phantom and has no external source and only you can hear it. Lots of other forms of tinnitus also fall into this category. Neurological tinnitus, for example, is frequently also subjective tinnitus. There are a large number of sounds that can manifest with subjective tinnitus, including buzzing, ringing, screeching, roaring, thumping, and lots of others.
- Objective tinnitus: With objective tinnitus, you’re hearing a real, verifiable, objective sound. Objective tinnitus isn’t really as common as subjective tinnitus, but it still happens. Pulsatile tinnitus, which is when you hear your heartbeat or pulse, is an example of this form of tinnitus. Objective tinnitus causes those sounds to be abnormally loud.
- Somatic tinnitus: Tinnitus sounds are frequently quite constant for many people coping with them. That’s true for both subjective and objective tinnitus. However, somatic tinnitus is different. This is tinnitus that grows worse with movement. Normally, somatic tinnitus will cause the symptoms to get worse when you move your head or neck.
Often, people will have more than one form of tinnitus at the same time. You may 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 determine the root cause of your tinnitus.
Finding tinnitus assistance
You most likely won’t have to take any specific action if your tinnitus symptoms are sporadic. But if your tinnitus sticks around or comes back frequently, it may have real and severe impacts on your day-to-day life. When that occurs, your best plan to get some relief is to contact us for a consultation.
We have a number of different tinnitus management methods we may try depending on the underlying cause of your symptoms. A few of these strategies can minimize the severity of your symptoms making them less obvious. Other treatment solutions can mask the sound you’re hearing.
Generally, there’s no cure for tinnitus, though it can usually be successfully treated. We will work with you to formulate treatments that work for your symptoms. That way, you can more easily ignore the buzzing or ringing in your ears, and get back to the life you love.
