It’s very common for individuals to experience tinnitus. Tinnitus can become so overwhelming that it becomes a burden to live with for about 20 million people around the world. This doesn’t even reference the more common types of tinnitus, which for most people can come and go without causing a huge impact on their quality of life.
When you hear noises in your ears that don’t have an external source and nobody else can hear them, that’s tinnitus. This may be a ringing in the ears or a buzzing sound you can’t shake. Tinnitus is frequently associated with hearing loss, but that doesn’t mean that one condition will immediately result in the other.
In fact, there are a substantial variety of forms of tinnitus. Treating these varieties of tinnitus will require different approaches.
What is tinnitus?
Exactly what is tinnitus and how is it caused? Well, it’s significant to note that not all types of tinnitus are the same. The assorted causes of tinnitus will manifest with similar symptoms. But determining the cause can be essential to finding the correct treatment approach.
In some instances, concussions or other traumatic brain injuries or neurological issues can be the cause. In other instances, tinnitus may result from age-related hearing loss. Here are a few of the most common types of tinnitus:
- Neurological tinnitus: Tinnitus isn’t always caused by ear problems. Sometimes, the underlying cause lies within the brain. Neurological tinnitus is caused by injury to or problems with your baseline neurological functions. In other words, something has gone wrong with the normal ways that your brain and ear interact. As a result, a phantom noise is heard which isn’t actually there. A stroke, concussion, or brain injury can all be the underlying causes of tinnitus, as well as others. In some situations, neurological tinnitus might resolve as the brain heals. For others, it could be permanent.
- 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. This form of tinnitus includes many other forms of tinnitus as well. 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: When the sound you’re hearing in your ears is an actual, verifiable sound, it’s known as objective tinnitus. Objective tinnitus isn’t quite as common as subjective tinnitus, but it still occurs. Pulsatile tinnitus, which is when you hear your heartbeat or pulse, is an illustration of this type of tinnitus. For those with objective tinnitus, that pulsing sound typically seems louder than it ought to.
- Somatic tinnitus: For many individuals, the sound they hear with tinnitus is fairly constant. That’s true for both subjective and objective tinnitus. But, somatic tinnitus is different. This is tinnitus that gets worse with movement. Typically, somatic tinnitus is most sensitive to movement of the head or neck areas.
Frequently, people will have more than one type of tinnitus simultaneously. For instance, you might have neurological tinnitus and subjective tinnitus. Determining the cause of your symptoms can help your hearing specialist choose the best tinnitus treatment options for your symptoms.
Getting help with your tinnitus
If your tinnitus is here this minute and gone the next, you most likely don’t have to do anything about it. But if your tinnitus sticks around or returns frequently, it could have real and serious impacts on your everyday life. That’s when it’s especially important to speak with a hearing specialist to receive specialized care and find some tinnitus relief.
We have a number of different tinnitus management methods we may try depending on the underlying cause of your symptoms. Several treatments can make the sounds you’re hearing less evident. Other treatment options can mask the sound you’re hearing.
Tinnitus can’t typically be cured, but it can be successfully managed. We will help you customize the best treatment for your specific situation. That way, you can more easily disregard the buzzing or ringing in your ears, and get back to the life you enjoy.