It’s really common for people to experience tinnitus. Around 20 million people routinely suffer from chronic tinnitus so intense that it becomes burdensome. And there are also more prevalent presentations of tinnitus which are a lot more mild and sporadic and are also easier to cope with.
When you hear noises in your ears that don’t have an external source and no one else can hear them, that’s tinnitus. It may manifest as a persistent buzzing or ringing in the ears. Tinnitus is often related to 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. Dealing with these varieties of tinnitus will require different approaches.
What is tinnitus?
Exactly what is tinnitus and what are its causes? The first thing to understand is that tinnitus comes in several types and causes. The assorted causes of tinnitus will present with similar symptoms. But it’s still crucial to determine the cause in order to effectively manage the symptoms.
In some instances, concussions or other traumatic brain injuries or neurological issues can be the cause. In other circumstances, tinnitus may result from age-related hearing loss. The following are a few other possible causes:
- Neurological tinnitus: Issues with the ear aren’t always the cause of tinnitus. The brain itself can sometimes be the cause. Neurological tinnitus is caused by injury to or issues with your baseline neurological functions. In other words, something has broken down with the normal ways that your brain and ear communicate. As a result, a phantom sound is heard which isn’t actually 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, go away on its own. It might be permanent in other instances.
- Subjective tinnitus: With subjective tinnitus, the sound you’re hearing is phantom and has no external source 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: 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 types. Most commonly, this means you’re dealing with something called pulsatile tinnitus, which occurs when you’re hearing your pulse or circulatory system. Objective tinnitus causes those sounds to be unusually loud.
- Somatic tinnitus: For many individuals, the sound they hear with tinnitus is fairly constant. That’s true for both subjective and objective tinnitus. But, somatic tinnitus is different. This type of tinnitus becomes more severe when you move around. Typically, somatic tinnitus is most sensitive to movement of the head or neck areas.
Often, 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 determine the root cause of your tinnitus.
Getting assistance with your tinnitus
If your tinnitus is here this minute and gone the next, you most likely don’t need to do anything about it. But if your tinnitus hangs around or returns frequently, it could have real and severe impacts on your everyday life. When that happens, your best plan to get some relief is to contact us for a consultation.
After we determine the underlying cause of your symptoms, there are a few treatment methods we can utilize. Several therapies can make the sounds you’re hearing less obvious. We may also use masking techniques to hide your symptoms.
Generally, there’s no cure for tinnitus, though it can usually be successfully managed. We will help you customize 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.
