It’s very common for people to experience tinnitus. Tinnitus can become so extreme that it becomes a burden to live with for around 20 million individuals around the world. This does not even reference 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 noises in your ears that don’t have an outside source and no one else can hear them, that’s tinnitus. This could be a ringing in the ears or a buzzing sound you can’t shake. Although hearing loss is often accompanied by tinnitus, there isn’t necessarily a cause-and-effect relationship between the two.
As a matter of fact, there are a significant variety of types of tinnitus. Dealing with these varieties of tinnitus will call for different approaches.
What is tinnitus?
Exactly what is tinnitus and what are its causes? The first thing to recognize is that tinnitus comes in several types and causes. Regardless of the particular cause, the symptoms will be similar. But it’s still crucial to determine the cause in order to successfully manage the symptoms.
In some instances, concussions or other traumatic brain injuries or neurological issues can be the cause. In other instances, tinnitus might be caused by age-related hearing loss. Here are a few of the most prevalent types of tinnitus:
- Neurological tinnitus: Tinnitus isn’t always caused by ear problems. In some cases, the underlying cause lies within the brain. Neurological tinnitus is a result of injury to or problems with your baseline neurological functions. This means that the typical communication between your brain and ears isn’t working correctly. As a result, a phantom noise is heard which isn’t really there. A stroke, concussion, or brain injury can all be the underlying causes of tinnitus, as well as others. In some cases, neurological tinnitus might go away as the brain heals. For others, it could be permanent.
- 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 forms of tinnitus also fall into this category. Neurological tinnitus, for example, is often also subjective tinnitus. There are a large number of sounds that can manifest with subjective tinnitus, including buzzing, ringing, screeching, roaring, thumping, and many others.
- Objective tinnitus: When the sound you’re hearing in your ears is a real, verifiable sound, it’s known as objective tinnitus. Objective tinnitus does occur, though it’s not as common as subjective types. Most commonly, this means you’re experiencing something called pulsatile tinnitus, which happens when you’re hearing your pulse or circulatory system. For those with objective tinnitus, that pulsing sound typically seems louder than it should.
- Somatic tinnitus: Tinnitus sounds are frequently rather constant for many people coping with them. Both objective and subjective tinnitus have this attribute. However, somatic tinnitus is different. This is tinnitus that grows worse with movement. Usually, somatic tinnitus is most susceptible to movement of the head or neck areas.
The majority of these forms of tinnitus aren’t generally mutually exclusive. For example, you may have neurological tinnitus and subjective tinnitus. Determining the cause of your symptoms can help your hearing specialist decide the best tinnitus treatment options for your symptoms.
Getting assistance with your tinnitus
If your tinnitus is here one minute and gone the next, you probably don’t have to do anything about it. But your quality of life can be significantly impacted if your tinnitus symptoms are rather constant or keep returning. When that occurs, your best plan to get some relief is to call us for a consultation.
After we determine the underlying cause of your symptoms, there are a few treatment methods we can employ. 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.
Generally, there is no cure for tinnitus, although it can usually be successfully treated. We will help you customize the best treatment for your specific situation. That way, you can more easily disregard the buzzing or ringing in your ears, and get back to the life you love.