4/28/2024 0 Comments White background soundwavesTinnitus can also be a symptom of Meniere's disease, a disorder of the balance mechanism in the inner ear. Things that cause hearing loss (and tinnitus) include loud noise, medications that damage the nerves in the ear (ototoxic drugs), impacted earwax, middle ear problems (such as infections and vascular tumors), and aging. Most people who seek medical help for tinnitus experience it as subjective, constant sound like constant ringing in the ears or a buzzing sound in the ear, and most have some degree of hearing loss. This stimulates abnormal activity in the neurons, which results in the illusion of sound, or tinnitus. When hair cells are damaged - by loud noise or ototoxic drugs, for example - the circuits in the brain don't receive the signals they're expecting. Sound waves travel through the ear canal to the middle and inner ear, where hair cells in part of the cochlea help transform sound waves into electrical signals that then travel to the brain's auditory cortex via the auditory nerve. There are also several ways to help tune out the noise and minimize its impact. You can help ease the symptoms by educating yourself about the condition - for example, understanding that it's not dangerous. While there's no cure for chronic tinnitus, it often becomes less noticeable and more manageable over time. In about 10% of cases, the condition interferes with everyday life so much that professional help is needed. Sometimes the symptoms remain the same, and sometimes they get worse. The course of chronic tinnitus is unpredictable. If you notice any new pulsatile tinnitus, you should consult a clinician, because in rare cases it is a sign of a tumor or blood vessel damage. Pulsatile tinnitus may be more noticeable at night, when you're lying in bed and there are fewer external sounds to mask the tinnitus. It's more likely to happen in older people, because blood flow tends to be more turbulent in arteries whose walls have stiffened with age. Some people hear their heartbeat inside the ear - a phenomenon called pulsatile tinnitus. For example, if you have a heart murmur, you may hear a whooshing sound with every heartbeat your clinician can also hear that sound through a stethoscope. But sometimes it's objective, meaning that someone else can hear it, too. Most tinnitus is subjective, meaning that only you can hear the noise. Many people worry that tinnitus is a sign that they are going deaf or have another serious medical problem, but it rarely is. As many as 50 to 60 million people in the United States suffer from this condition it's especially common in people over age 55 and strongly associated with hearing loss. When it lasts more than six months, it's known as chronic tinnitus. Some medications (especially aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs taken in high doses) can cause tinnitus that goes away when the drug is discontinued. For example, attending a loud concert can trigger short-lived tinnitus. It may be constant or intermittent, steady or pulsating.Īlmost everyone has had tinnitus for a short time after being exposed to extremely loud noise. The sound may seem to come from one ear or both, from inside the head, or from a distance. For many, it's a ringing sound, while for others, it's whistling, buzzing, chirping, hissing, humming, roaring, or even shrieking. Tinnitus (pronounced tih-NITE-us or TIN-ih-tus) is sound in the head with no external source. Constant noise in the head- such as ringing in the ears-rarely indicates a serious health problem, but it sure can be annoying.
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