It’s really common for individuals to experience tinnitus. Tinnitus can become so extreme that it becomes a burden to live with for about 20 million people around the world. This does not even count the more common forms of tinnitus, which for most people can come and go without causing a huge impact on their quality of life.
When you hear sounds in your ears that don’t have an outside source and nobody else can hear them, that’s tinnitus. It might manifest as a continual buzzing or ringing in the ears. Although hearing loss is frequently associated with tinnitus, there isn’t always a cause-and-effect relationship between the two.
As a matter of fact, tinnitus comes in numerous forms. Treating these varieties of tinnitus will call for different approaches.
Tinnitus – exactly what is it?
So, what is tinnitus and where does it stem from? Well, it’s important to mention that not all types of tinnitus are the same. Regardless of the specific cause, the symptoms will be similar. But it’s still essential to determine the cause in order to effectively manage the symptoms.
In some cases, concussions or other traumatic brain injuries or neurological issues can be the cause. In other circumstances, tinnitus might 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 source. If your baseline neurological functions are damaged by injury it can activate neurological tinnitus. 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. Neurological tinnitus can be a result of concussion, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and more. In some instances, neurological tinnitus might go away as the brain heals. It might be irreversible in other instances.
- Subjective tinnitus: When you’re the only one who 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 forms of tinnitus as well. 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: When the sound you’re hearing in your ears is an actual, verifiable sound, it’s known as objective tinnitus. Objective tinnitus does happen, though it’s not as common as subjective types. 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 unusually loud.
- Somatic tinnitus: Tinnitus sounds are often rather 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 type of tinnitus becomes more extreme when you move around. Typically, somatic tinnitus is most susceptible to movement of the head or neck areas.
The majority of these types of tinnitus aren’t generally mutually exclusive. You may have subjective tinnitus and neurological tinnitus together, 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 probably won’t have to take any specific action if your tinnitus symptoms are sporadic. But if your tinnitus hangs around or returns frequently, it might have real and severe impacts on your everyday 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 strategies we might try depending on the underlying cause of your symptoms. Several treatments can make the sounds you’re hearing less obvious. We might also employ masking techniques to hide your symptoms.
Tinnitus can’t generally be cured, but it can be successfully managed. We will help you personalize the best treatment for your particular situation. This will help you enjoy life again by pushing your symptoms into the background where they can be more easily disregarded.
