It’s very common for people to experience tinnitus. Tinnitus can become so extreme that it becomes a burden to live with for around 20 million individuals around the world. This does not even count the more common types of tinnitus, which for most individuals can come and go without causing a major impact on their quality of life.
When you hear noises in your ears that don’t have an external source and no one else can hear them, that’s tinnitus. This could be a ringing in the ears or a buzzing sound you can’t shake. Although hearing loss is often associated with tinnitus, there isn’t always a cause-and-effect connection between the two.
As a matter of fact, there are a considerable variety of types of tinnitus. Treating these varieties of tinnitus will call for different approaches.
Tinnitus – exactly what is it?
So, what is tinnitus and where does it stem from? The first thing to recognize is that tinnitus comes in numerous forms and causes. The assorted causes of tinnitus will present with similar symptoms. But it’s still essential to identify the cause in order to successfully manage the symptoms.
For some people, tinnitus is the result of a neurological problem, like a traumatic brain injury or a concussion. In other instances, tinnitus might result from age-related hearing loss. Here are some of the most common types of tinnitus:
- Neurological tinnitus: Issues with the ear aren’t always the cause of tinnitus. Sometimes, the root cause lies within the brain. If your baseline neurological functions are weakened by injury it can activate neurological tinnitus. In other words, something has gone wrong with the typical ways that your brain and ear interact. As a result, a phantom noise is heard which isn’t really there. Neurological tinnitus can be a result of concussion, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and others. As the brain heals, neurological tinnitus will, in some situations, 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 many 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 individuals with objective tinnitus, that pulsing sound typically seems louder than it should.
- Somatic tinnitus: Tinnitus sounds are frequently rather constant for many individuals coping with them. That’s true for both subjective and objective tinnitus. With somatic tinnitus though, things are a bit different. This is tinnitus that gets worse with movement. Usually, somatic tinnitus will cause the symptoms to get worse when you move your head or neck.
Frequently, people will have more than one type of tinnitus at the same time. You may have subjective tinnitus and neurological tinnitus at the same time, for instance. Determining the cause of your symptoms can help your hearing specialist decide the best tinnitus treatment strategy for your symptoms.
Finding tinnitus support
You probably won’t need to take any particular action if your tinnitus symptoms are sporadic. But if your tinnitus sticks around or returns frequently, it might have real and severe impacts on your day-to-day life. That’s when it’s particularly important to talk to a hearing specialist to get specialized care and find some tinnitus relief.
After we identify the root cause of your symptoms, there are a few treatment methods we can use. Several therapies can make the sounds you’re hearing less obvious. We might also utilize masking techniques to hide your symptoms.
Tinnitus can’t typically be cured, but it can be effectively managed. We will work with you to formulate treatments that work for your symptoms. That way, you can more easily ignore the buzzing or ringing in your ears, and get back to the life you love.