It’s very common for people to experience tinnitus. Tinnitus can become so extreme that it becomes a burden to live with for about 20 million individuals worldwide. And there are also more common presentations of tinnitus which are a lot more mild and intermittent and are also easier to cope with.
Tinnitus occurs 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 often associated with hearing loss, but that doesn’t mean that one condition will immediately lead to the other.
As a matter of fact, tinnitus comes in numerous forms. Managing these varieties of tinnitus will require different approaches.
Tinnitus – exactly what is it?
So, what is tinnitus and where does it come from? The first thing to understand is that tinnitus comes in numerous types and causes. The various causes of tinnitus will manifest with similar symptoms. But it’s still crucial to identify the cause in order to effectively manage the symptoms.
For some individuals, tinnitus is the result of a neurological problem, like a traumatic brain injury or a concussion. Hearing loss due to age can be another factor that can trigger tinnitus. The following are a few other potential causes:
- Neurological tinnitus: Problems with the ear are not always the cause of tinnitus. The brain itself can sometimes be the source. Neurological tinnitus is a result of injury to or issues with your baseline neurological functions. In other words, something has broken down with the typical ways that your brain and ear interact. As a result, a phantom sound is heard which isn’t actually there. A stroke, concussion, or brain injury can all be the root causes of tinnitus, as well as others. As the brain heals, neurological tinnitus will, in some cases, go away on its own. It might be permanent in other circumstances.
- Subjective tinnitus: When only you can hear the sound of your tinnitus, which is really common, hearing specialists will refer to your condition as a subjective tinnitus. Lots of other types of tinnitus also fall into this category. For example, 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 lots of others.
- Objective tinnitus: When the sound you’re hearing in your ears is an actual, verifiable sound, it’s known as objective tinnitus. 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 illustration of this form of tinnitus. For those with objective tinnitus, that pulsing sound usually seems louder than it should.
- Somatic tinnitus: Tinnitus sounds are often quite constant for many people coping with them. That’s true for both subjective and objective tinnitus. With somatic tinnitus though, things are a bit different. This form of tinnitus becomes more severe when you move around. Usually, somatic tinnitus is most susceptible to movement of the head or neck areas.
Often, 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.
Finding tinnitus support
If your tinnitus is here this minute and gone the next, you probably don’t have to do anything about it. 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 call us for a consultation.
After we identify the root cause of your symptoms, there are a few treatment strategies we can utilize. A few of these strategies can minimize the intensity of your symptoms making them less evident. We might also use masking techniques to hide your symptoms.
Tinnitus can’t typically be cured, but it can be successfully managed. We will help you customize the best treatment for your specific situation. That way, you can more easily ignore the buzzing or ringing in your ears, and get back to the life you love.