It’s really common for people to experience tinnitus. Around 20 million people regularly suffer from chronic tinnitus so severe that it becomes burdensome. And there are also more common presentations of tinnitus which are a lot more mild and sporadic and are also easier to deal with.
When you hear noises in your ears that don’t have an external source and nobody else can hear them, that’s tinnitus. It may manifest as a persistent buzzing or ringing in the ears. Although hearing loss is frequently associated with tinnitus, there isn’t necessarily a cause-and-effect connection between the two.
As a matter of fact, tinnitus comes in a number of 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. The assorted causes of tinnitus will present with similar symptoms. But it’s still crucial to determine the cause in order to successfully treat the symptoms.
For some people, tinnitus is the result of a neurological issue, like a traumatic brain injury or a concussion. Hearing loss due to age can be another aspect that can cause tinnitus. Here are a few of the most common types of tinnitus:
- Neurological tinnitus: Issues with the ear aren’t always the cause of tinnitus. The brain itself can sometimes be the source. Neurological tinnitus is caused by injury to or problems with your baseline neurological functions. This means that the normal communication between your brain and ears isn’t working properly. The result is that you hear a phantom sound that may not be there. Neurological tinnitus can be due to concussion, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and others. In some situations, neurological tinnitus might go away as the brain heals. For others, it may 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. This type of tinnitus comprises many other forms of tinnitus also. 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 lots of others.
- Objective tinnitus: With objective tinnitus, you’re hearing a real, verifiable, objective sound. Objective tinnitus does occur, 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. For people with objective tinnitus, that pulsing sound usually seems louder than it ought to.
- Somatic tinnitus: Tinnitus sounds are frequently rather constant for many individuals coping with them. Both objective and subjective tinnitus have this attribute. However, somatic tinnitus is different. This form of tinnitus becomes more extreme when you move around. Usually, somatic tinnitus is most sensitive to movement of the head or neck areas.
The majority of these types of tinnitus aren’t generally mutually exclusive. For instance, you may have neurological tinnitus and subjective tinnitus. Figuring out the cause of your symptoms can help your hearing specialist decide the best tinnitus treatment options for your symptoms.
Finding tinnitus assistance
If your tinnitus is here one minute and gone the next, you likely don’t have to do anything about it. But your quality of life can be seriously impacted if your tinnitus symptoms are fairly constant or keep coming back. When that happens, your best plan to get some relief is to call us for a consultation.
We have several 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. Other treatment options can mask the sound you’re hearing.
Tinnitus can’t generally be cured, but it can be successfully managed. We will work with you to formulate treatments that work for your symptoms. This will help you enjoy life again by pushing your symptoms into the background where they can be more easily ignored.
