Tinnitus is an exceptionally prevalent medical condition. Tinnitus can become so extreme that it becomes a burden to live with for about 20 million individuals around the world. This does not even reference the more common forms of tinnitus, which for most individuals can come and go without causing a huge impact on their quality of life.
Tinnitus occurs when you hear a phantom sound, when you’re hearing a sound that nobody else can hear. This might be a ringing in the ears or a buzzing sound you can’t shake. 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 a number of 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 a number of forms and causes. The assorted causes of tinnitus will manifest with similar symptoms. But distinguishing the cause can be crucial to finding the correct treatment approach.
For some individuals, tinnitus is the outcome of a neurological issue, like a traumatic brain injury or a concussion. In other instances, tinnitus may result from age-related hearing loss. The following are a few other potential causes:
- Neurological tinnitus: Tinnitus is not always caused by ear issues. The brain itself can sometimes be the cause. If your baseline neurological functions are weakened by injury it can activate neurological tinnitus. In other words, something has gone wrong with the normal ways that your brain and ear communicate. As a result, a phantom noise is heard which isn’t really there. Neurological tinnitus can be caused by concussion, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and others. In some instances, neurological tinnitus might resolve as the brain heals. For others, it may be permanent.
- Subjective tinnitus: When only you can hear the sound of your tinnitus, which is very common, hearing specialists will refer to your condition as a subjective tinnitus. This type of tinnitus includes many other types of tinnitus also. For example, neurological tinnitus can also be subjective tinnitus. Subjective tinnitus can present as many different sound types, including ringing, buzzing, squeals, whistles, roars, and others.
- Objective tinnitus: When you have objective tinnitus, you’re hearing a real, verifiable, objective sound. Objective tinnitus does occur, 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. Objective tinnitus causes those sounds to be abnormally loud.
- Somatic tinnitus: Tinnitus sounds are frequently rather constant for many people coping with them. Both objective and subjective tinnitus have this characteristic. However, somatic tinnitus is different. This is tinnitus that gets worse with movement. Normally, somatic tinnitus will cause the symptoms to become more intense when you move your head or neck.
Frequently, people will have more than one form of tinnitus simultaneously. For example, you may have neurological tinnitus and subjective tinnitus. In order for us to put together a treatment plan, we will first need to identify the underlying cause of your tinnitus.
Finding tinnitus support
You probably won’t have to take any specific action if your tinnitus symptoms are intermittent. But if your tinnitus sticks around or comes back frequently, it could 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 few different tinnitus management strategies we might try depending on the underlying cause of your symptoms. Several therapies can make the sounds you’re hearing less noticeable. We may also utilize masking techniques to hide your symptoms.
Generally, there is no cure for tinnitus, though it can usually be successfully managed. We will work with you to formulate treatments that work for your symptoms. This will help you enjoy life again by pushing your symptoms into the background where they can be more easily ignored.