According to the CDC, an estimated 25 million Americans — about 10% of the population — suffer from a condition called tinnitus. Simply put, tinnitus is a condition where you may experience ringing or other sounds in one or both of your ears.
With tinnitus, the sound you hear isn’t caused by an external stimulus. And the noise is not audible to others, which can make it especially troubling for tinnitus patients.
Fortunately, the hearing specialists at North Shore Hearing P.C. can help. We offer a vast range of hearing aids and additional solutions to help those who suffer from hearing loss and other conditions.
As hearing loss and hearing aid specialists, one of the top questions we receive in regards to tinnitus is the connection between hearing loss and tinnitus. Let’s take a closer look at the connection between hearing loss and tinnitus.
What Is Tinnitus?
If you’ve ever heard a consistently irritating ringing, buzzing, or similar sound without being able to find the source, you may be experiencing a form of tinnitus. Tinnitus can be defined as a ringing, hissing, swooshing, or buzzing sound in the ear that lasts anywhere from 16 to 48 hours.
In the most extreme cases, the effects of tinnitus can last anywhere from one to two weeks. Those suffering from the condition can have either temporary or chronic tinnitus. And there are two broad categories of tinnitus.
Subjective Tinnitus
The most common type of Subjective Tinnitus is when ear or head noises are audible only to the patient. Subjective tinnitus is traceable to neurological and auditory reactions to hearing loss.
Sometimes, however, other factors can play a role as well. This type of tinnitus is what affects more than 99% of those who suffer from the condition.
Pulsatile Tinnitus
One common type of subjective tinnitus is pulsatile tinnitus. Pulsatile tinnitus explains when a rhythmic pulsing sound occurs in one or both ears. The sound is usually synchronized with the heartbeat.
It’s often described as a whoosh sound whenever the heart beats. The symptoms can either decrease when you turn your head, lie down, or place pressure on the jugular vein.
Objective Tinnitus
According to the American Tinnitus Association, objective tinnitus is extremely rare, accounting for less than 1% of all known cases. This type of tinnitus explains when noises or ringing in the ears are audible to the patient and other people.
Are Hearing Loss and Tinnitus Related?
Yes! In fact, prolonged noise exposure and hearing loss are the most common causes of tinnitus. It’s estimated that around 90% of those with tinnitus experience some level of noise-induced hearing loss.
Examples of those who may be at the greatest risk include to develop tinnitus include:
- Musicians, especially rock musicians who are subjected to loud background noise exposure
- Pilots
- Landscapers
- STreet-repair and construction workers
In addition to extended loud noise exposure, a single exposure to a loud noise can cause tinnitus.
What Are the Most Common Causes of Tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be caused by a range of different issues associated with your auditory system. Some of the most common causes of tinnitus are discussed below.
Hearing Loss Can Cause Tinnitus
As we previously mentioned, one of the most common causes of tinnitus is hearing loss. Your inner ear is made up of several tiny, very delicate hairs. These tiny hair cells are tasked with moving within your inner ear canal when sound waves enter.
The movement of these tiny hairs in the inner ear will trigger electrical signals along the nerve in your ear canal to your auditory nerve. Those signals are passed along where your brain processes sound.
Extended Noise Exposure Can Damage Inner Ear Hairs & Cause
Anytime the inner ear hairs are damaged, broken, or bent, they tend to randomly leak electrical impulses to your brain. And this leakage can disrupt normal brain processes and cause tinnitus.
There are two primary reasons the hair cells become damaged:
- You are regularly exposed to loud noises and loud sounds. Examples of chronic loud noises that can cause hearing loss and tinnitus include loud music, loud machinery, and other loud noise.
- Your inner ear hair cells can become damaged as you age.
While you can’t prevent the natural process of aging and age related hearing loss, you can limit your exposure to loud noise and loud sounds to protect your hearing and prevent hearing loss as well as other communication disorders.
If you do suffer hearing loss from loud noises — noise-induced hearing loss— it’s important to meet with the experienced audiologist at North Shore Hearing P.C. for treatment. While noise-induced hearing loss can’t be surgically or medically corrected, it can be treated with the use of hearing aids.
Failing to treat progressive hearing loss often means it will worsen. Untreated hearing loss can also cause tinnitus, depression, and a number of other undesirable conditions.
An Ear Infection Can Cause Tinnitus and Hearing Loss
Another common cause of hearing loss and tinnitus is an ear infection and/or blocked ear canals. In this case, your ear canals can be impacted by fluid (as with ear infections), dirt, ear wax, or other foreign materials.
The blockage causes pressure within your ear to change, which can cause ringing in the ears and other tinnitus symptoms. Fortunately, once the ear infection is treated and clears, rining and tinnitus will usually cease. This means you can resume normal hearing again.
However, repeated ear infections or infections that impact the fluid in your middle and inner ear can cause long-term hearing loss as well as continued tinnitus. At the same time, tinnitus can be caused by damage to parts of the middle ear or your eardrum. It’s also worth noting that sinus infections can cause tinnitus as well.
Head or Neck Trauma Can Cause Tinnitus
Head or neck trauma or a head injury can cause tinnitus symptoms. These types of injuries can impact your brainstem structures and the auditory nerve involved with hearing.
Tinnitus can be the result of any of these structures being damaged or compressed due to the jaw, neck, or head injury. Such injuries will typically only require tinnitus treatment in one ear. In some cases, neck surgery may be required to repair the damaged structures.
High Blood Pressure Can Worsen Tinnitus
Hypertension or high blood pressure are medical conditions known to cause ringing. If you have a medical history or family history of high blood pressure, you should be concerned when you experience increased tinnitus symptoms.
Specifically, when the blood flow and blood pressure rise, it may worsen tinnitus symptoms in tinnitus patients. If you do suffer from a high blood pressure medical condition and notice an increase in your tinnitus symptoms, you should reach out to your physician for a physical examination or evaluation.
Additional Causes of Tinnitus
In addition to the previously mentioned scenarios, the following are less common causes of tinnitus.
Ear Bone Changes
When the bones in your middle ear stiffen, it can impact your hearing and lead to tinnitus. This medical condition is usually genetic and may be prompted by abnormal bone growth.
Meniere’s Disease
Meniere’s disease is an inner ear disorder caused by abnormal ear fluid pressure. Tinnitus is often considered to be an early warning sign of Meniere’s disease.
Autoimmune Disorders & Chronic Health Disorders
Thyroid problems, anemia, migraines, and different autoimmune disorders, like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, are all associated with tinnitus.
Temporomandibular Joint Disorders (TMJ)
Problems with the TMJ joint can also cause tinnitus. The TMJ joint is located on each side of your head in front of your ears. It’s the spot where the skull meets the jaw bone.
Certain Medications Can Cause Tinnitus
According to the American Tinnitus Foundation, certain medications are known to cause or worsen tinnitus. For example, cancer drugs, certain antibiotics, water pills, antidepressants, and antimalarial drugs are all associated with causing or worsening tinnitus. In addition, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are known to cause tinnitus.
Contact North Shore Hearing P.C. for Tinnitus Treatments & Therapies
If you suffer from tinnitus, hearing loss, or other communication disorders, the team at North Shore Hearing P.C. can help. We offer an array of hearing aids and hearing loss solutions designed to help improve the way your brain processes sounds.
We will create a customized plan to improve the functionality of your auditory system. We regularly help our patients manage tinnitus and mask tinnitus through the use of hearing aids, sound therapy, relaxation techniques, and more.
More so, we always look to uncover the underlying condition causing the tinnitus to treat the underlying cause at the source. Whether your tinnitus is severe, mild, in both ears, or only one ear, you’re only a phone call away from the relief you deserve.
Contact North Shore Hearing P.C. today to schedule a hearing test.
