Tinnitus is an exceptionally prevalent medical condition. Something like 20 million people routinely suffer from chronic tinnitus so severe that it becomes burdensome. This does not even reference the more common types of tinnitus, which for most people can come and go without causing a major impact on their quality of life.
Tinnitus happens when you hear a phantom noise, when you’re hearing a sound that nobody else can hear. It might manifest as a persistent buzzing or ringing in the ears. Tinnitus is often linked to hearing loss, but that doesn’t mean that one condition will automatically result in the other.
As a matter of fact, tinnitus comes in numerous forms. Dealing with these varieties of tinnitus will call for different approaches.
Tinnitus – exactly what is it?
Exactly what is tinnitus and how is it caused? Well, it’s significant to mention that not all kinds of tinnitus are the same. Regardless of the particular cause, the symptoms will be similar. But distinguishing the cause can be essential to finding the proper treatment approach.
In some instances, concussions or other traumatic brain injuries or neurological issues can be the cause. Hearing loss related to age can be another factor that can cause tinnitus. Here are a few of the most prevalent types of tinnitus:
- Neurological tinnitus: Tinnitus isn’t always caused by ear problems. The brain itself can sometimes be the cause. If your baseline neurological functions are damaged by injury it can activate neurological tinnitus. In other words, something has broken down with the typical ways that your brain and ear communicate. As a result, a phantom noise is heard which isn’t really there. A stroke, concussion, or brain injury can all be the root sources of tinnitus, as well as others. As the brain heals, neurological tinnitus will, in some cases, go away on its own. It may 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 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 typically seems louder than it should.
- Somatic tinnitus: Tinnitus sounds are often rather constant for many people coping with them. That’s true for both subjective and objective tinnitus. With somatic tinnitus though, things are a bit different. This type of tinnitus becomes more extreme when you move around. Usually, somatic tinnitus is most susceptible to movement of the head or neck areas.
The majority of these forms of tinnitus are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For instance, you may have neurological tinnitus and subjective tinnitus. In order for us to formulate a treatment plan, we will first need to determine the underlying cause of your tinnitus.
Getting help with your tinnitus
You most likely won’t need to take any specific action if your tinnitus symptoms are intermittent. But if your tinnitus sticks around or comes back frequently, it could have real and severe impacts on your everyday life. When that occurs, your best plan to get some relief is to call us for a consultation.
After we identify the underlying cause of your symptoms, there are a few treatment methods we can employ. Several treatments can make the sounds you’re hearing less evident. Other treatment solutions can mask the sound you’re hearing.
Tinnitus can’t typically be cured, but it can be effectively managed. We will work with you to create treatments that work for your symptoms. This will help you enjoy life again by moving your symptoms into the background where they can be more easily ignored.