Hearing High Pitch Sound: Tinnitus Explained
Millions of people suffer from hearing noises that only they can hear. The condition of incessant noise perception is called tinnitus. The noise originates internally, so a tinnitus sufferer hears the noise even if he covers his ears. Majority of people with this condition testify they are hearing high pitch sound. Tinnitus can be benign, but it can also be intrusive and can give rise to other problems like depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
How Tinnitus Occurs
Ringing in the ears or tinnitus is due to an abnormality in the auditory system. Usually it is caused by damage to the inner ears brought about by repeated exposure to loud noise. Since the beginning of industrialization, the world has become a noisier place. Technology somehow wrecked many ears.
What happens is that loud noise destroys the tiny cells in the cochlea called the hair cells. These cells transmit auditory signals to the auditory nerve, which in turn transmits the impulses to the brain. The brain processes the impulses, and that is how you hear.
When hair cells are damaged, they function in a funny way. They fire random signals. The brain picks such random signals as noise. According to scientists, this is how you hear the internal noises. The bad thing is that damage to hair cells is irreversible. No cure has been invented yet to correct this damage.
Tinnitus and Hearing Loss Connection
Many people with tinnitus have some form of hearing loss, and at the same time many people with hearing loss also have tinnitus. The connection between is easy to understand, considering both are caused by similar factors. Noise that destroys the hair cells may cause sensorineural hearing loss as well as tinnitus. However, researchers have pointed out a more complex generation of tinnitus, in which the neural auditory pathways are involved. Activation of certain neural networks, for instance, has been observed in studies. Brain imaging scans have also displayed overactive sites in the brain in people with tinnitus.
Scientists believe that when people suffer from hearing loss, the brain tries to compensate to the lack of auditory input. Some neurons are activated and the brain’s awareness to any available impulse is heightened. This is responsible for the perception of internal noise that is usually absent in normal individuals. The brain’s awareness is heightened when it receives less amount of auditory impulse. This explains why even people without hearing loss may hear such phantom noise under extremely quiet conditions.
Degrees of Tinnitus
Most people with tinnitus suffer from mild ringing only. Mild tinnitus usually does not need medical attention because it only becomes apparent under quiet conditions. It cannot be heard during daytime amid the environmental noise. Moderate tinnitus is more intrusive, with sufferers hearing high pitch sound at certain times of the day. Moderate ringing in the ears can be managed through masking. Severe tinnitus is the most intrusive and may be present even when your surrounding is noise-laden. Simple masking will not alleviate severe tinnitus in most cases.
What Tinnitus Sounds Like
The experience of having tinnitus varies from person to person. Generally it sounds like a high pitch noise or a light high frequency sound that seems to cut through your ear. Some people say that they seem to hear a hovering noise. While many hear a high pitched single tone, others hear multiple tones. There are also cases of tinnitus which are described to have no tonal properties (thumping or roaring noises inside the ears). There is no exact explanation why such differences occur.
Unilateral and Bilateral Tinnitus
Tinnitus patients either hear one or both ears ringing. If only one ear is ringing, it’s called unilateral tinnitus. If both ears are ringing, it’s called bilateral tinnitus. More people suffer from unilateral tinnitus, but bilateral tinnitus is not uncommon either. One-side ringing is commonly associated with hearing damage or noise-induced damage and hearing loss. Other causes are Meniere’s disease or acoustic neuroma. Bilateral tinnitus occurs in a number of patients with cardiovascular problems. Many cases involve tinnitus that is more pronounced in one ear.
Subjective and Objective Tinnitus
A huge proportion of tinnitus statistics involves cases of subjective tinnitus. This type of tinnitus is only heard by the patient himself. More than 90 percent of the people with tinnitus have this form of the condition. No instrument has been invented yet that can detect the presence of this tinnitus. Doctors only rely on the testimony of the patient during the assessment. The amount of masking needed may determine the degree of tinnitus though.
Objective tinnitus can be detected by someone else. A doctor using his stethoscope can detect the noises heard by the patient, although not all the time. Objective tinnitus is commonly due to abnormal blood circulation in the ears or near the ears brought about by cardiovascular problems and abnormal formation of blood vessel networks in or around the ears.
Idiopathic Tinnitus
Treatment for tinnitus involves determining the cause. However, about half the cases of tinnitus have been reported to exist alone without a causative disorder. Since tinnitus is classified as a symptom and not a disorder, then it’s only appropriate that a disorder is present when tinnitus is diagnosed. The absence of a disorder indicates idiopathy. Idiopathic tinnitus is treated through conventional methods like masking, cognitive behavioral therapy, and alternative therapies.
Vertigo Bouncing Tinnitus: Management Tips
Inner ear disorders produce symptoms of hearing loss, vertigo, bouncing tinnitus, and feeling of fullness in the ears. Many cases of these disorders cannot be treated successfully. Generally, treatment is aimed at helping people manage the symptoms.
Vertigo that is associated with tinnitis may be due to Meniere’s disease or acoustic neuroma. Both conditions affect the inner ears. The former is due to increase of fluid pressure in the inner ears causing periodic bouts of vertigo, tinnitus, and hearing loss. There is no cure for Meniere’s disease, but the symptoms can be managed through medications. Acoustic neuroma happens when a benign tumor grows on the auditory nerve. This causes tinnitus and hearing loss on the affected ear and also causes vertigo or balance problems.
People with these problems should go to an otolaryngologist to monitor the progress of the symptoms. Surgery is often the last option for inner ear problems like Meniere’s disease and acoustic neuroma. Unless the symptoms become increasingly bothersome, there is no need for dire approaches.
Do no more damage to your ears by staying away from loud noises. Keep your body’s fluid and chemical balance by eating right and taking the right amounts of fluids. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and sodium. Also, watch out for the progress of your symptoms. You should report sudden hearing loss or unrelenting vertigo to your doctor.
Understanding Acoustic Neuroma and Tinnitus
An acoustic neuroma is a benign tumor that grows on the vestibulocochlear nerve (also called acoustic or auditory nerve), which is the nerve responsible for transmitting auditory information from the inner ears to the brain. This nerve is also known as the 8th cranial nerve, and is the hearing and balance nerve. Hence, a tumor on this nerve can cause hearing and balance problems. A growing benign tumor on the acoustic nerve can lead to unilateral hearing loss, vertigo, and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Hence, acoustic neuroma and tinnitus can occur at the same time.
Acoustic neuroma can be also called vestibular schwannoma. Compared to other causes of hearing loss, it is relatively an uncommon one. The tumor grows slowly in usual cases, but in rare cases the tumor grows rapidly. A rapidly growing tumor on the nerve can exert pressure on surrounding tissues and organs like the brain. When it presses against the brain, it disrupts the important functions of the affected part. The symptoms arise as the neighboring structures, nerves, brain tissue, and blood vessels are affected. However, the tumor does not need to grow in size for symptoms to manifest. Even a relatively small tumor can give rise to significant symptoms.
Symptoms of acoustic neuroma are hearing loss, tinnitus or ringing in the ears, vertigo or dizziness, and facial numbness or weakness. The hearing loss associated with acoustic neuroma and tinnitus is usually more pronounced on one side or only occurs on one side. The development of hearing impairment in people with the disorder is gradual. Tinnitus is also on one side only or more obvious on one ear. The growth of tumor on the vestibulocochlear nerve disrupts signals that register balance on the brain. As a result patients suffer from loss of balance. Facial numbness, on the other hand, is a result of the tumor pressing against the trigeminal nerve. Rarely, the tumor can grow too big that it causes life-threatening pressure to the brainstem.
There is no need to wait for the symptoms to become worse before you seek doctor’s attention. Once you suffer from muffled hearing on one ear, ringing in one ear, and vertigo or dizziness, you have to see your doctor. Consider going to your doctor even more if you are suffering from these symptoms often. Even though the disorder rarely is life-threatening, it still needs to be seen and monitored. This way, the symptoms can be managed more appropriately.
How the tumor develops remains vague, but experts point out that it has something to do with a genetic mutation. The frequency of such tumors occurring in the population is meager. Only from ten to thirteen people in every one million have the problem, but there is no precise data on this. Studies also suggest that the disorder is not inherited. In other words, it occurs randomly among people.
It seems that many disorders involving the structures in the inner ears are hard to understand. Acoustic neuroma and tinnitus are two conditions that are difficult to understand. Tinnitus is just one of the symptoms of a tumor growing on the acoustic nerve, but it can also appear as a symptom of other disorders like temporomandibular joint misalignment or Meniere’s disease. The cure for tinnitus depends on the primary disorder that causes it. If it is caused by acoustic neuroma, then this disorder should be treated.
There are different ways to treat and manage acoustic neuroma. The simplest way to treat it is by plain monitoring to find out if it is growing rapidly or not. Such benign tumor does not usually grow fast, but there are cases when it develops rapidly and cause drastic symptoms. Monitoring is done through imaging and hearing tests which are done once or twice a year. The aim is to observe the growth rate of the tumor and to check the rate at which hearing impairment proceeds.
A type of treatment for acoustic neuroma involves the use of gamma radiation. It is called stereotactic radiosurgery, which is a method that delivers radiation to the tumor. There is no need to make an incision. Instead, a doctor uses imaging scans and directs radiation beams to the tumor. This option can work if your tumor is small, and it may also be used to acoustic neuroma in people who do not need invasive surgical procedure. However, it takes time for this procedure to take effect, and there are risks, too, such as hearing loss, balance problems, and facial weakness.
In dire cases, the tumor on the nerve should be removed surgically. Doctors try their best to remove the tumor without affecting the facial nerve to avoid facial paralysis. Utmost care is exercised to limit the damage done to the nerve itself. Damaged acoustic nerve can lead to deafness. The patient needs to stay in the hospital for about a week. Recuperation takes more than a month. This one has worse risks due to the greater chances of structures being affected during the surgery. Sometimes, instead of alleviating the problem it worsens it. Doctors should explain to their patients the possible complications of the operation.
People with acoustic neuroma and tinnitus should be able to deal with the discomfort and the bothersome symptoms. Reading information about this condition is important in knowing it. Aside from that, you can also get information from your own doctor and from other patients as well.
Ringing in the Ears Treatments Available
Tinnitus is usually called ringing in the ears because most people with this condition report that their ears ring. In scientific investigations, it turns out that a lot of people with tinnitus hear high-pitched noise inside one of or both their ears. We are not talking about a new condition. A significant percentage of people around the world have ringing ears. Since the day man has become accustomed with music and machinery, he began to suffer from various hearing problems. One is tinnitus or ringing in the ears. Treatments do not cure this condition. Usual cases of tinnitus cannot be cured by conventional medicine. However, there are many ways to manage this odd condition.
Maskers and Hearing Aids
Masking devices are very popular among tinnitus patients. These devices are often recommended by audiologists, doctors who specialize in hearing disorders. Masking is a method that uses white noise, which is a kind of noise with a broad spectrum of frequencies. White noise sounds like soft hissing or hushing static sound. Masking works by covering the unpleasant pitchy noise heard in the ears. Many experts also think that it can make people get used to noises, including tinnitus. Some sufferers who have worn maskers report that their tinnitus temporarily went away after they removed their maskers. This is called residual inhibition, but its incidence remains arbitrary.
Hearing aids are given to people with hearing loss and tinnitus. Patients with hearing loss have brains that compensate to the lack of impulses coming from the auditory nerve. As a result, the brain picks even the internal signals, which is heard as tinnitus. Hearing aids can amplify incoming sound and somehow correct this problem to some degree. The amplified external noise provides a masking effect so that the affected person hears less of the internal noise.
TRT and CBT
Tinnitus retraining therapy and cognitive behavior therapy are two of the most popular non-invasive ringing in the ears treatments. TRT is a combination of psychotherapy and masking, and is rooted in the belief that much of the mechanism behind tinnitus happens in the brain. The patient can be retrained to hear tinnitus in a different fashion. It does not aim to remove tinnitus from one’s system, but it can remove it from one’s consciousness. Counseling sessions help the patient understand that the ringing inside the head is harmless. The use of white noise aims to help the patients get used to noises until a point of habituation is achieved.
Cognitive behavior therapy is purely psychological in approach. It also aims to help patients understand that tinnitus is benign. However, it goes further by helping patients overcome anxiety and depression, negative emotional outcomes of the distressful ringing inside the ears.
These psychological interventions to treat tinnitus are based on the premise that the brain has an important role in the development of tinnitus. That is why sometimes it is called ringing in the brain and not ringing in the ears. Treatments like CBT and TRT may take time to have real effect on patients. That is why some become dismayed.
Drugs
Doctors prescribe a number of drugs to help people with tinnitus. Some of these drugs are Xanax, Lidocaine, and melatonin. These medications are not made specifically to treat tinnitus, but they have been under studies to check their effectiveness in treating ringing in ears. Xanax, for instance, is an anxiety drug, which is able to help tinnitus patients suffering from anxiety. Lidocaine is an anesthetic, and how it diminishes the perception of ringing noise inside the ears is controversial. Melatonin is a sleep medication, and it probably helps people with tinnitus that result in sleep problems. Prolonged taking of these medications is not at all recommended because of their considerable adverse effects in the long run.
Vitamin Supplementation
According to some scientists, tinnitus could be a result of lack of Vitamin B12 and magnesium. The verification of this fact is questionable, although it appears in tinnitus literature. More studies should be conducted to establish the relationship between tinnitus and nutrient deficiencies. However, many tinnitus remedy formulations contain Vitamin B12. Take note that there are more profound manifestations of vitamin and mineral deficiencies than plain ringing ears.
Ginkgo Biloba
This is a very popular herbal ringing in the ears treatments. It has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries. According to the literature on herbal medicine, Ginkgo biloba improves blood circulation and boosts brain function. It is used to treat many disorders like dementia, depression, anxiety, cardiovascular disorders, multiple sclerosis, and so on. Its true medicinal value remains under the scrutiny of research. Not all tinnitus patients treated with this herb noted relief.
Homeopathy
The popularity of homeopathic remedies for tinnitus is probably due to the absence of true conventional medicine for this condition. Reports indicate that homeopathic preparations gradually cause a decline in the amount of phantom noise heard. Laboratory tests to back up claims of homeopathic medicines are lacking. However, the number of people swearing they have experienced relief is compelling. Then again, it is quite crucial that a patient sees his or her doctor prior to taking any form of medicine for tinnitus, whether prescribed medications or alternative remedies.
There is still no cure for tinnitus!
This is one of the areas of medicine in which scientists continue to find the right tinnitus cure. Until an absolute treatment is invented, patients would have to resort to available medications or therapies, none of which prove to be universally effective for tinnitus.
Human Hearing Protection Advice
The incidence of acquired hearing impairment apparently increases by the day. One common cause of hearing impairment in adults is frequent loud noise exposure. Loud noise destroys the delicate cells in the cochlea that transmit signals to the auditory nerve. This results in irreversible hearing loss and other kinds of ear problems like the Meniere’s disease.
This is why one of the most important ways to preserve human hearing is through avoidance of loud noise. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not realize that many noises they expose themselves to are loud enough to cause damage to their delicate ears.
If you have to strain yourself just to be heard by someone in a noisy environment, the noise levels there are probably loud enough to put your ears at risk. Reduce the number of hours you spend at noisy clubs or pubs. At the same time, refrain from going to rock concert venues. If you must, at least do not choose the front row of seats.
Loud music has been blamed for a lot of cases of hearing impairment. Make sure that music players at home and even those you carry around with you are adjusted to emit moderate volumes of sound. Never play music at maximum volumes because the sound often goes beyond the safe limit for human ears. By doing these simple steps, you do not necessarily have to go through the ordeal of looking for a cure for tinnitus, hearing loss, Meniere’s disease or for all the other kinds of unwanted ear conditions.
If your job requires you to stay inside noise-laden room, wear earplugs.
