It’s really common for individuals to experience tinnitus. Tinnitus can become so overwhelming that it becomes a burden to live with for around 20 million people around the world. This doesn’t even count the more common types of tinnitus, which for most people can come and go without causing a major impact on their quality of life.
Tinnitus occurs when you hear a phantom noise, when you’re hearing a sound that no one else can hear. It could manifest as a continual buzzing or ringing in the ears. Although hearing loss is frequently accompanied by tinnitus, there isn’t necessarily a cause-and-effect connection between the two.
As a matter of fact, tinnitus comes in numerous forms. And each one will require a different approach to treatment.
What is tinnitus?
Exactly what is tinnitus and how is it caused? The first thing to understand is that tinnitus comes in a number of types and causes. The various causes of tinnitus will present with similar symptoms. But it’s still crucial to identify the cause in order to successfully manage the symptoms.
For some individuals, tinnitus is the result of a neurological issue, such as a traumatic brain injury or a concussion. Hearing loss due to age can be another factor that can trigger tinnitus. Here are some of the most common types of tinnitus:
- Neurological tinnitus: Problems with the ear are not always the cause of tinnitus. In some cases, the underlying cause lies within the brain. Neurological tinnitus is a result of injury to or problems with your baseline neurological functions. In other words, something has broken down with the typical ways that your brain and ear interact. As a result, a phantom sound is heard which isn’t actually there. Neurological tinnitus can be due to concussion, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and others. As the brain heals, neurological tinnitus will, in some cases, go away on its own. For others, it may be lasting.
- Subjective tinnitus: When only you can hear the sound of your tinnitus, which is really common, hearing specialists will refer to your condition as a subjective tinnitus. Lots of other types of tinnitus also fall into this category. For instance, neurological tinnitus can also be subjective tinnitus. Subjective tinnitus can present as many different sound types, including ringing, buzzing, squeals, whistles, roars, and others.
- Objective tinnitus: When you have objective tinnitus, you’re hearing a real, verifiable, objective sound. Objective tinnitus does happen, though it’s not as common as subjective types. Pulsatile tinnitus, which is when you hear your heartbeat or pulse, is an example of this type of tinnitus. Objective tinnitus causes those sounds to be unusually loud.
- Somatic tinnitus: Tinnitus sounds are often quite constant for many people coping with them. That’s true for both subjective and objective tinnitus. However, somatic tinnitus is different. This form of tinnitus becomes more severe when you move around. Normally, somatic tinnitus will cause the symptoms to become more intense when you move your head or neck.
Most of these forms of tinnitus aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. You may have subjective tinnitus and neurological tinnitus together, for example. In order for us to formulate a treatment plan, we will first need to identify the root cause of your tinnitus.
Finding tinnitus support
If your tinnitus is here one minute and gone the next, you most likely don’t have to do anything about it. But your quality of life can be significantly impacted if your tinnitus symptoms are fairly constant or keep returning. When that happens, your best plan to get some relief is to contact us for a consultation.
We have a few different tinnitus management methods we might try depending on the root cause of your symptoms. Several treatments can make the sounds you’re hearing less noticeable. We might also use masking techniques to hide your symptoms.
Generally, there is no cure for tinnitus, though it can usually be successfully managed. We will help you personalize the best treatment for your particular situation. That way, you can more easily ignore the buzzing or ringing in your ears, and get back to the life you love.