Tinnitus is an exceptionally common medical condition. Tinnitus can become so overwhelming that it becomes a burden to live with for around 20 million people worldwide. This doesn’t even reference the more common types of tinnitus, which for most individuals can come and go without causing a major 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 may be a ringing in the ears or a buzzing sound you can’t get rid of. Although hearing loss is frequently accompanied by tinnitus, there isn’t necessarily 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? The first thing to recognize is that tinnitus comes in several types and causes. 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 instances, concussions or other traumatic brain injuries or neurological problems can be the cause. In other instances, tinnitus might be caused by age-related hearing loss. Here are some of the most common types of tinnitus:
- Neurological tinnitus: Issues with the ear are not always the cause of tinnitus. Sometimes, the underlying cause lies within the brain. If your baseline neurological functions are impaired by injury it can activate neurological tinnitus. This means that the standard communication between your brain and ears isn’t functioning properly. As a result, a phantom noise is heard which isn’t actually there. Neurological tinnitus can be caused by concussion, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and others. In some instances, neurological tinnitus may go away as the brain heals. It might be irreversible in other instances.
- Subjective tinnitus: With subjective tinnitus, the sound you’re hearing is phantom and doesn’t objectively exist and only you can hear it. Lots of other types of tinnitus also fall into this category. Neurological tinnitus, for instance, is often also subjective tinnitus. Subjective tinnitus can present as lots of different sound types, including ringing, buzzing, squeals, whistles, roars, and others.
- Objective tinnitus: With objective tinnitus, you’re hearing a real, verifiable, objective sound. Objective tinnitus isn’t quite as common as subjective tinnitus, but it still happens. Most commonly, this means you’re dealing with something called pulsatile tinnitus, which happens when you’re hearing your pulse or circulatory system. For those with objective tinnitus, that pulsing sound usually seems louder than it should.
- Somatic tinnitus: For many individuals, the sound they hear with tinnitus is relatively constant. That’s true for both subjective and objective tinnitus. With somatic tinnitus though, things are a bit different. This type of tinnitus becomes more intense when you move around. Usually, somatic tinnitus will cause the symptoms to become more intense when you move your head or neck.
Most of these forms of tinnitus aren’t generally mutually exclusive. For example, you might have neurological tinnitus and subjective tinnitus. In order for us to put together a treatment plan, we will first need to identify the root cause of your tinnitus.
Getting help with your tinnitus
You probably won’t have to take any particular action if your tinnitus symptoms are sporadic. But if your tinnitus hangs around or returns frequently, it may have real and significant impacts on your everyday life. When that happens, your best plan to get some relief is to call us for a consultation.
We have a few different tinnitus management methods we might try depending on the underlying cause of your symptoms. A few of these techniques can decrease the severity of your symptoms making them less obvious. We may also employ masking techniques to hide your symptoms.
Tinnitus can’t typically be cured, but it can be successfully managed. We will help you personalize the best treatment for your particular situation. That way, you can more easily disregard the buzzing or ringing in your ears, and get back to the life you love.