What is Tinnitus?

Tinnitus Pt. 1: What is Tinnitus?

Our senses have the ability to take us to different places in time, in our memories. Proust, perhaps most famously, writes about how the taste of madeleine cookies took him back to his childhood. In his book Hallucinations, Dr. Oliver Sacks writes about patients who hear phantom sounds, from musical hallucinations to tinnitus. One patient connects her tinnitus to “how cicadas sound when they come in droves back on Long Island in the summer.”

Personal Sounds

Tinnitus is a personal experience, as the sounds it produces are, in most cases, heard only by the person who suffers from it. The sounds come from within, rather than from an external noise stimulus. Though commonly known as a “ringing of the ears,” the sound of tinnitus may appear in many different forms, depending on the person. It can be categorized as a hissing, whistling, popping, cracking, roaring, a whoosh of air, or even the scratchy call of cicadas. Though it may be an isolating experience, tinnitus is a fairly common condition, affecting approximately 30 million Americans (based on a 2008 study by Kochkin, Tyler, and Born).

Short Bursts or Constant Companion

For some, tinnitus comes and goes at random, while for others, it does not go away. Based on a study by Kockhin, Tyler, and Born, 40% of people with tinnitus reported that it was present for 80% of their day, while 20% reported that their tinnitus was disabling or nearly disabling. For people who experience chronic tinnitus, it is the first thing they hear when they wake up and the last thing they hear when they go to bed, while interfering with their activities and ability to hear throughout the day. It’s no wonder that people with tinnitus are at higher risk for stress and anxiety.

The Two Types of Tinnitus

Subjective tinnitus and objective tinnitus, the two types of tinnitus, are directly related to their potential causes.

When the sounds of tinnitus are heard only by the person experiencing tinnitus, this is referred to as subjective tinnitus, and it is the most common form of the condition, making up nearly 95% of cases. Subjective tinnitus is commonly linked to hearing loss, auditory nerves, or the parts of the brain that interpret signals as sound. Problems with the outer, middle, or inner ear may cause subjective tinnitus. In some cases, trauma to the head, neck, and ear area may cause tinnitus, as well as certain classes of drugs which are ototoxic (poisonous to the ear) and damaging to inner ear hair cells.

On the other hand, objective tinnitus can be observed by your physician or someone sitting near you. Objective tinnitus is rare, making up less than 5% of overall tinnitus cases and is often linked to issues with the cardiovascular system, such as abnormalities of the carotid artery or jugular venous systems. These structures around the ear may cause head or ear noises.

How does someone come to experience tinnitus? What causes it? Find out in the next article in our tinnitus series.

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Orange County Physicians’ Hearing Services – (949) 364-4361