Tinnitus is a really common medical condition. Something like 20 million people regularly cope with persistent tinnitus so intense that it becomes burdensome. This doesn’t even reference the more common types of tinnitus, which for most individuals can come and go without causing a huge 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 might manifest as a persistent buzzing or ringing in the ears. Although hearing loss is often associated with tinnitus, there isn’t necessarily a cause-and-effect relationship between the two.
In fact, there are a significant variety of types of tinnitus. Treating these varieties of tinnitus will call for different approaches.
What is tinnitus?
So, what is tinnitus and where does it come from? Well, it’s important to mention that not all types of tinnitus are the same. The assorted causes of tinnitus will manifest with similar symptoms. But it’s still crucial to identify the cause in order to effectively treat the symptoms.
For some people, 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 aspect that can cause tinnitus. Here are some of the most common types of tinnitus:
- Neurological tinnitus: Tinnitus isn’t always caused by ear problems. In some cases, the root cause lies within the brain. If your baseline neurological functions are impaired by injury it can trigger neurological tinnitus. This means that the normal communication between your brain and ears isn’t functioning properly. As a result, a phantom noise is heard which isn’t really there. Neurological tinnitus can be due to concussion, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and others. As the brain heals, neurological tinnitus will, in some instances, go away on its own. It may be permanent in other circumstances.
- Subjective tinnitus: With subjective tinnitus, the sound you’re hearing is phantom and doesn’t objectively exist and no one else can hear it. Lots of other forms 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: With objective tinnitus, you’re hearing a real, verifiable, objective sound. Objective tinnitus does occur, though it’s not as common as subjective forms. 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 usually 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. Typically, somatic tinnitus will cause the symptoms to become more intense when you move your head or neck.
The majority of these forms of tinnitus are not generally mutually exclusive. For instance, you might have neurological tinnitus and subjective tinnitus. Figuring out the cause of your symptoms can help your hearing specialist choose the best tinnitus treatment strategy for your symptoms.
Getting tinnitus support
If your tinnitus is here this 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 fairly constant or keep returning. When that occurs, your best plan to get some relief is to call us for a consultation.
After we identify the underlying cause of your symptoms, there are a number of treatment strategies we can utilize. A few of these strategies can minimize the intensity of your symptoms making them less apparent. 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 personalize the best treatment for your specific situation. This will help you enjoy life again by pushing your symptoms into the background where they can be more easily ignored.