It’s very common for individuals to experience tinnitus. Something like 20 million individuals routinely cope with chronic tinnitus so intense that it becomes burdensome. This does not even reference the more common forms of tinnitus, which for most individuals can come and go without causing a major impact on their quality of life.
Tinnitus happens when you hear a phantom sound, when you’re hearing a sound that nobody else can hear. It may manifest as a persistent buzzing or ringing in the ears. Although hearing loss is frequently accompanied by tinnitus, there isn’t always a cause-and-effect connection between the two.
As a matter of fact, there are a substantial variety of forms of tinnitus. Treating these varieties of tinnitus will require different approaches.
Tinnitus – exactly what is it?
So, what is tinnitus and where does it come from? Well, it’s important to mention that not all kinds of tinnitus are the same. Regardless of the specific cause, the symptoms will be similar. But it’s still essential to determine the cause in order to successfully treat the symptoms.
For some people, tinnitus is the result of a neurological problem, including a traumatic brain injury or a concussion. In other instances, tinnitus might result from age-related hearing loss. Here are a few of the most common types of tinnitus:
- Neurological tinnitus: Tinnitus is not always caused by ear problems. The brain itself can sometimes be the source. Neurological tinnitus is a result of injury to or issues with your baseline neurological functions. This means that the typical communication between your brain and ears isn’t functioning properly. The result is that you hear a phantom sound that may not be there. Neurological tinnitus can be a result of concussion, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and others. As the brain heals, neurological tinnitus will, in some cases, go away on its own. It might be permanent in other circumstances.
- Subjective tinnitus: When you’re the only one who can hear the sound of your tinnitus, which is very common, hearing specialists will refer to your condition as a subjective tinnitus. Lots of other forms of tinnitus also fall into this category. Neurological tinnitus, for instance, is frequently also subjective tinnitus. There are a large number of sounds that can manifest with subjective tinnitus, including buzzing, ringing, screeching, roaring, thumping, and many others.
- Objective tinnitus: When the sound you’re hearing in your ears is a real, verifiable sound, it’s referred to as objective tinnitus. Objective tinnitus does happen, though it’s not as common as subjective forms. Typically, this means you’re dealing with something called pulsatile tinnitus, which happens when you’re hearing your pulse or circulatory system. For those with objective tinnitus, that pulsing sound typically seems louder than it ought to.
- Somatic tinnitus: For many people, the sound they hear with tinnitus is fairly constant. Both objective and subjective tinnitus have this attribute. With somatic tinnitus though, things are a bit different. This is tinnitus that gets worse with movement. Normally, somatic tinnitus will cause the symptoms to get worse when you move your head or neck.
Most of these types of tinnitus are not necessarily mutually exclusive. You may have subjective tinnitus and neurological tinnitus at the same time, for instance. In order for us to develop a treatment plan, we will first need to identify the underlying cause of your tinnitus.
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 rather constant or keep coming back. When that occurs, your best plan to get some relief is to call us for a consultation.
After we identify the root cause of your symptoms, there are a few treatment strategies we can use. A few of these techniques can minimize the severity of your symptoms making them less evident. We might also utilize masking techniques to hide your symptoms.
Tinnitus can’t usually be cured, but it can be successfully managed. We will help you customize the best treatment for your specific situation. This will help you enjoy life again by moving your symptoms into the background where they can be more easily ignored.
