What is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is described by suffers as a ringing, humming or buzzing in their ears. It affects an estimated 50 million adults in the US. Its symptoms can vary as wildly as does its causes. In its simplest form, it is a ringing sound heard where no external noise exists.
Tinnitus sufferers.
Patients with tinnitus have described it as everything from a high pitched hiss like that of an old recording, to the low roaring of ocean waves. In most cases the sound is heard only by the sufferer, although there are forms that are also externally detectable (auto-acoustic emissions). It can pulse in time with your heartbeat (pulsatile tinnitus) and fluctuate with blood pressure. Its volume can span from barely noticeable in a quiet room to audible over a crowded party. It can be affected by multiple factors including time of day, fatigue, hunger, dietary factors, adrenaline, one’s emotional state and other factors. For some the tinnitus comes with hearing loss, while for others it is just noise over otherwise normal hearing. The only constant is that its presentation is as individual as the people who endure it.
Tinnitus symptoms.
For most, the condition is simply annoying. However, severe cases can lead to sleeplessness, increased fight or flight adrenal response, depression and anxiety. Some find relief with in-ear or external sound masking devices such as white noise generators, or by lifestyle changes geared at avoiding certain surroundings. Medical efforts focus on treating the underlying illness when one exists, or by improving general auditory health when one doesn’t. Treatments for medical causes may include therapeutic regimes, pharmaceutical intervention or, in extreme cases, surgery. However, most patients I treated who previously took the surgical route have in fact reported a worsening of tinnitus symptoms post-surgery.
Prolonged, cumulative exposure to loud noises is the most common cause of tinnitus, with some estimating it as a factor for as many as 90% of affected individuals. Presbycusis (the hearing loss associated with aging) is often accompanied by tinnitus, as is hearing loss from other causes. However, it is generally a result and not a cause of the hearing loss. Other known sources of tinnitus include high and low blood pressure, middle ear disorders such as infection or otosclerosis, inner ear disorders like Meniere’s syndrome and even benign tumors of the hearing and facial nerves.