Tinnitus is an incredibly common medical condition. Something like 20 million individuals routinely cope with persistent tinnitus so intense that it becomes burdensome. And there are also more common presentations of tinnitus which are a lot more mild and intermittent and are also easier to cope with.
When you hear sounds 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 get rid of. Tinnitus is often linked to hearing loss, but that doesn’t mean that one condition will automatically lead to the other.
In fact, there are a significant variety of types of tinnitus. Treating these varieties of tinnitus will call for different approaches.
What is tinnitus?
Exactly what is tinnitus and how is it caused? Well, it’s important to mention that not all kinds of tinnitus are the same. The various causes of tinnitus will present with similar symptoms. But distinguishing the cause can be essential to finding the proper treatment strategy.
In some cases, concussions or other traumatic brain injuries or neurological problems can be the cause. In other instances, tinnitus may be caused by age-related hearing loss. Here are a few of the most common types of tinnitus:
- Neurological tinnitus: Tinnitus isn’t always caused by ear issues. Sometimes, the underlying cause lies within the brain. If your baseline neurological functions are weakened by injury it can activate neurological tinnitus. This means that the typical communication between your brain and ears isn’t functioning correctly. 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 more. In some situations, neurological tinnitus may go away as the brain heals. It might be permanent in other instances.
- Subjective tinnitus: When you’re the only one who can hear the sound of your tinnitus, which is quite common, hearing specialists will refer to your condition as a subjective tinnitus. Lots of other types of tinnitus also fall into this category. Neurological tinnitus, for example, is frequently also subjective tinnitus. Subjective tinnitus can present as many different sound types, including ringing, buzzing, squeals, whistles, roars, and more.
- Objective tinnitus: When the sound you’re hearing in your ears is an actual, verifiable sound, it’s known as objective tinnitus. Objective tinnitus is not really as common as subjective tinnitus, but it still occurs. Most commonly, this means you’re experiencing something called pulsatile tinnitus, which occurs when you’re hearing your heartbeat or circulatory system. Objective tinnitus causes those sounds to be abnormally loud.
- Somatic tinnitus: Tinnitus sounds are often quite constant for many people coping with them. Both objective and subjective tinnitus have this attribute. But, somatic tinnitus is different. This is tinnitus that grows worse with movement. Normally, somatic tinnitus will cause the symptoms to become more intense when you move your head or neck.
The majority of these types of tinnitus are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For instance, you may have neurological tinnitus and subjective tinnitus. In order for us to formulate a treatment plan, we will first need to determine the underlying cause of your tinnitus.
Getting tinnitus support
You most likely won’t need to take any particular action if your tinnitus symptoms are intermittent. But if your tinnitus sticks around or returns frequently, it could have real and severe impacts on your everyday life. When that occurs, your best plan to get some relief is to call us for a consultation.
We have several different tinnitus management strategies we may try depending on the underlying cause of your symptoms. A few of these techniques can decrease the severity of your symptoms making them less evident. Other treatment options can mask the sound you’re hearing.
Generally, there is no cure for tinnitus, although it can usually be effectively 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 enjoy.