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Many of us have had our ears “ring” for a short time. This often happens after being exposed to loud sounds for a long time, like at a rock concert. But some people always hear a buzzing, ringing, or whistling sound in their ear, and the sound gets louder at night and during quiet times during the day.
Chronic tinnitus, when you hear sounds that come from inside your body and not from outside, can be hard to deal with and, if not treated, can lead to stress, anxiety, and depression in some cases.
A brief look at tinnitus
There are two main types of tinnitus, depending on what might be causing it.
Subjective tinnitus is much more common and makes up 95% of all cases. This is when only the person with tinnitus can hear the sounds. This kind of ringing in the ears is strongly linked to hearing loss. When hair cells in the inner ear are damaged, the brain doesn’t get the sound signals it’s expecting. To make up for this, the brain creates the illusion of sound. Subjective tinnitus can also be caused by ototoxic drugs, which are medicines that hurt the nerves in the ear.
Objective tinnitus is much less common and happens when someone else, like a doctor, can also hear the sounds that a person with tinnitus is hearing. This tinnitus is often caused by heart problems, like broken blood vessels or a heart murmur.
Pulsatile tinnitus, or hearing your heartbeat in your ear, can sometimes be a sign of a severe health problem and should be checked out by a doctor if it happens often.
A study finds that 10% of Americans have tinnitus.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine in the US, found in a study that almost 1 in 10 adults in the US have tinnitus. There are about 222.1 million adults in the US. About 9.6%, or 21.4 million adults, have had tinnitus in the past year. The study was based on the answers of 75,764 people over 18 years old.
27% of the 21.4 million adults in the US who said they had tinnitus had symptoms for more than 15 years, and 36% said their symptoms were almost always there. People constantly exposed to loud noises at work and in their free time were likely to have tinnitus.
Why does tinnitus happen?
The most common cause of tinnitus is hearing loss, which can happen slowly or quickly. Two main things can cause hearing loss and tinnitus: exposure to loud noises (this can be long-term, like in the workplace, or sudden and intense, like an explosion), and the average loss of hair cells in the inner ear comes with getting older.
Short-term tinnitus can also be caused by pressure in the inner ear, which can be caused by congestion or a blockage in the ear canal. Things like ear wax, loose hair, or dirt can irritate the eardrum and cause sounds to be heard in the ear. Treating tinnitus may be as easy as getting rid of the blockage or infection in these cases of congestion or blockage.
How does it get fixed?
Tinnitus is different for each person who has it, so the best way to treat it depends on a combination of factors that are unique to each person. There is no one cure for tinnitus right now. But many treatments for people with a constant ringing or buzzing in the ears can make a big difference in their quality of life.
Since most people with tinnitus also say they have trouble hearing, most patients will benefit from a treatment that helps with their hearing loss and tinnitus, like getting a hearing aid. Others with more severe symptoms may need sound therapy, in which tinnitus sounds partially or completely covered up by another sound, or behavioral therapy, which helps patients stop associating tinnitus with bad behavior.
If you feel you have tinnitus and need advice, we could help! Book an appointment with us today.