- The Impact of Pets on Emotional and Hearing Health - April 26, 2024
- Strategies for Coping with Single-Sided Deafness - April 16, 2024
- Effective Strategies for Sharing Your Hearing Loss Journey - April 16, 2024
Tinnitus affects somewhere around 45 million people living in the United States. This according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). People who are experiencing tinnitus perceive a persistent ringing in ears, and they are the only ones who can hear it.
The sounds of tinnitus are sometimes called “phantom sounds” because nobody else can hear them except for the person with tinnitus, and they can range from high to low pitches in one or both ears. People with tinnitus most often experience ringing but there are also several other sounds that can be quite irritating, including buzzing, clicking, hissing, and whistling.
There is a link between tinnitus and hearing loss – 80% of tinnitus cases are accompanied by a hearing loss. But, does tinnitus cause hearing loss? This is a common question, so we decided to explore it.
Understanding Tinnitus
Tinnitus can be unpredictable and can make it very difficult for people to concentrate, especially people who work or go to school or frequent other places that are relatively quiet. In these quiet environments the sounds of tinnitus can feel deafening and very distracting. Some people find that their tinnitus gets worse in the evenings and at night, quiet times right before they go to sleep when there are fewer other sounds that might mask the ringing.
It is perhaps not surprising that tinnitus has been linked to insomnia as well as being associated with anxiety, depression, and general irritability. Nearly one-third of those forty-five million Americans find their tinnitus so debilitating that they seek medical attention in the hopes of soothing their symptoms and finding relief.
Tinnitus & Hearing Loss
There is a common misconception that tinnitus causes hearing loss. In fact, tinnitus is related to hearing loss, but it does not cause it. Tinnitus is actually just a sign of another, underlying condition and identifying this condition is key to treating tinnitus. To this end, there are several causes of tinnitus.
One cause is simply a blocked inner, middle, or outer ear, whether it be blocked ear wax or as the result of an ear infection. If either of these are the case, tinnitus can sometimes be alleviated by flushing the ear with warm water. There are some causes of tinnitus that require more intensive hearing health care assistance. Tinnitus can be caused by exposure to loud sounds that might occur on a job site that uses heavy machinery or explosive devices, and it can be caused by head injuries. Smaller-scale devices such as in-ear headphones can also cause hearing loss and tinnitus. People older than the age of 60 are also at a greater risk for hearing loss and hearing sensitivity, and their gradual hearing loss is frequently accompanied by tinnitus. Some studies have found that some habits such as drinking alcohol and smoking may contribute to tinnitus.
Seeking Treatment for Tinnitus
There is no cure for tinnitus but there are some things that may help alleviate the condition. One of the most common treatments of the condition is sound therapy. In sound therapy, external noises are introduced machine to mask the perception of tinnitus. This can include playing background music or using a white noise machine. Sound therapy only provides temporary relief from tinnitus, however. When any given external noise is removed, the person experiencing tinnitus will again sense a ringing or another persistent and distracting sound. Hearing aids, it has been found, can provide more long-lasting relief from tinnitus because they amplify all manner of external sounds. The environmental sounds that a hearing aid can pick up can thereby redirect attention of the person experiencing tinnitus away from the ringing and toward other sounds.
Another therapy that can be used to treat tinnitus is called tinnitus retraining therapy. With this method, the auditory system is retrained to understand the sounds of tinnitus as natural sounds. This therapy is conducted by a trained hearing health professional who wears a device that gives off a low-level white noise. Over time, tinnitus retraining therapy sessions can help people dealing with these distracting symptoms and incorporate them as part of their everyday life. As with most health treatments, tinnitus retraining therapy works in direct proportion to the severity of the condition.
New Leaf Hearing Clinic
Treating tinnitus is an important part of long-lasting hearing health. There are links between hearing issues such as hearing loss and feelings of isolation, depression, anxiety, and more. The more aware you are about the causes of hearing loss and related issues such as tinnitus, the more prepared you will be to address them. Contact us today to learn more.