A Brief History of Tinnitus -

A Brief History of Tinnitus

A Brief History of Tinnitus

What is tinnitus and how long has it been around? To really help you understand your own tinnitus, it is helpful to take a look into the past of tinnitus and its history.

It is unknown exactly when the first case of tinnitus was discovered but it has likely been around as long as people have been around- although we did not always have a name for it.

Some of the first cases of tinnitus were discovered in people that had
hearing loss and head injury. It was later discovered that there were also many other causes of it. Most people have had some form of tinnitus at some point in their life. 17% of the general population suffer from tinnitus.

About 12 million Americans are so severely affected by tinnitus that they are unable to function normally (i.e. they are unable to live normal lives, go to work, just can’t sleep, and suffer severely from stress and anxiety). It is estimated that up to 66 million Americans suffer from tinnitus of some sort.

Many of these people are told they must simply “live with it” since there is no standard cure to treat tinnitus. Many people are told that thei tinnitus will decrease, especially when it is discovered after an injury or illness.

The problem is that for many people, it does not subside. For some, it even grows more severe. So if tinnitus is considered a symptom, rather than a disease itself, what causes it?

There are many different factors that can cause tinnitus which we will discuss in more detail in Section Three of Ellen’s new book, but some conditions that may cause tinnitus are:

Otologic problems and hearing loss, conductive hearing loss, external ear infection, cerumen (earwax) impaction, middle ear effusion, sensorineural hearing loss, excessive or loud noise, presbycusis (age-associated hearing loss), Meniere’s disease

If you have had any of these conditions/situations and you have tinnitus symptoms or signs, you probably have tinnitus.

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Tags: Meniere's Disease, Tinnitus & Related Blogs, Tinnitus Articles, Tinnitus Questions