Signs You May Have Tinnitus

Do you ever hear a ringing or buzzing in your ears that sounds like it's coming from your own head? The scientific term for this is tinnitus and when it becomes chronic, it can cause many far-reaching complications, affecting emotional and physical health. The important thing to understand is, that if you are suffering from this condition, you are not alone. It is estimated that 1 in 10 people in the US deals with tinnitus and that there are ways to help.

What is Tinnitus?

If you are familiar with the persistent ringing or buzzing in your ears you already know how frustrating it can be, but what exactly is it and why is it happening? While the cause is not exactly set in stone, audiologists believe that tinnitus is a sort of feedback. There are tiny hair-like cells in the inner ear that are responsible for picking up sound and transmitting it into electrical signals to be interpreted by the brain. These hair cells are incredibly fragile and easily damaged by impact to the head, loud noise or even old age. When the hair-like cells do sustain damage, they can send unintentional feedback to the brain even when no sound is present, which is recognized as the buzz of tinnitus.

The Impact of Tinnitus

For some, tinnitus can come and go but there is nothing more irritating than not being able to escape the buzz when all you want is quiet. For many, this can cause stress, anxiety and sleep issues when the ring of tinnitus arrives at the quietest of times. This becomes a cycle of frustration as stress tends to amplify the effects of tinnitus. While a little stress might not seem like a big deal, chronic stress caused by tinnitus can cause sleeplessness, which makes it harder for people to be more present and focus at work and during the day.  If tinnitus goes undealt with and continues to amplify stress, this condition can easily start to impact personal and professional relationships, as well as personal safety. 

Causes of tinnitus

Hearing loss and tinnitus do not always occur together. However, the Hearing Health Foundation reports that 90 percent of people with hearing loss also suffer from tinnitus. This means that common causes of hearing loss, such as exposure to loud noise, advanced age, head trauma, infection and ototoxic chemical exposure are all risks that can cause tinnitus. Researchers have found that people who engage in high consumption of alcohol, smoking tobacco, caffeine and processed foods also have higher instances of tinnitus. This may in part be due to a higher disposition for other health complications, such as hypertension, heart disease and diabetes, all of which affect the delivery of blood cells to the hair cells of the inner ear. When these cells do not receive amble oxygenated blood, they can become damaged, causing this condition.

Dealing with your Hearing Loss Holistically

While there is no official cure for tinnitus there are strategies and treatments which can mask or decrease the negative effects. Many of these treatments actually focus on the way you respond to tinnitus, instead of targeting the actual ringing. For instance, a type of talking therapy called cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) focuses on discussing with patients their response to tinnitus. Instead of responding with anxiety at the arrival of the sound. Similarly, Eastern healing methods, such as yoga, meditation and acupuncture, focus on reducing stress and attention from the condition. Mediation asks an individual to focus on just being, which has been found to allow the ring of tinnitus to simply slip away, at least for a time.

Hearing Aids and Tinnitus

While tinnitus does not always affect your hearing, the two conditions are all too often entwined. Untreated hearing loss is a common cause of stress which will continue to amplify the stress of tinnitus. Treating your hearing loss with hearing aids can make it much easier to hear the people in your life, which can in turn reduce your stress levels. Today many hearing aids come equipped with tinnitus masking features which use a process known as habituation to retrain the way the brain interprets tinnitus. This amazing feature helps the brain to interpret the unwanted sound as something less important, allowing it to slip away into the background. To find out more, make an appointment to find out what hearing aids can do for you.