What is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is the perception of noise or ringing in the ears. A common problem, tinnitus affects about 50 million of the US population. Tinnitus involves the sensation of hearing sound when no external sound is present. Tinnitus symptoms may include these types of phantom noises in your ears:
- Ringing • Clicking • Roaring
- Buzzing • Hissing • Humming
What causes tinnitus?
A number of health conditions can cause or worsen tinnitus. In many cases, an exact cause is never found. A common cause of tinnitus is inner ear hair cell damage. Tiny, delicate hairs in your inner ear move in relation to the pressure of sound waves. This triggers cells to release an electrical signal through a nerve from your ear (auditory nerve) to your brain. Your brain interprets these signals as sound. If the hairs inside your inner ear are bent or broken, they can “leak” random electrical impulses to your brain, causing tinnitus.
Other causes of tinnitus include other ear problems, chronic health conditions, and injuries or conditions that affect the nerves in your ear or the hearing center in your brain.
What causes tinnitus spikes?
Tinnitus spikes may seem to happen randomly, but often, they are triggered by something external in your environment or by some problematic aspect of your health or lifestyle.
The problem is that every case of tinnitus is unique, and the triggers that affect one person may not affect you at all or could possibly even improve your tinnitus. There is a lot of variance, but there are also quite a few commonly reported triggers.
- Loud sound exposure • Stress/anxiety • Sleep deprivation
- Certain medications • Dehydration • High sodium diet
- Caffeine • Nicotine • Alcohol
- TMJ disorder • Grinding the teeth • Clenching the jaw
How do you treat tinnitus?
Tinnitus does not have a cure, but treatments that help many people cope better with the condition are available.
Sound therapy is a means of utilizing external noise to alter the perception of, or reaction to, tinnitus. Like other tinnitus treatments, sound therapies do not cure the condition, but they may significantly lower the perceived burden and intensity of tinnitus.
Recommended apps:
- ShutEye • MyNoise • Calm
- Simply Noise • White Noise Lite • Whist
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) is a process of learning to cope with your tinnitus on a conscious and subconscious level. This technique has helped a lot of people obtain stress reduction and a better quality of life. This therapy can be compared to the sound of raindrops falling on a roof being noticed when it first starts raining but going unnoticed and put out of mind after some time. Tinnitus Retraining Therapy requires close co-operation with hearing professionals. The therapy is employed at the perceived source of the tinnitus and aims to teach the brain to ignore it. The end goal is complete habituation of the noise.
Additional resources:
- American Academy of Audiology – www.audiology.org
- American Tinnitus Association – www.ata.org
- National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders – www.nidcd.nih.gov