Tinnitus – Types, Causative Factors, Treatments And Signs That Tinnitus Is Going Away
Tinnitus is experienced as an endless ringing, buzzing, hissing, whirring, or whistling sound in one or both ears. Tinnitus differs from one person to another. It can go on nonstop or sporadically, have a high or low pitch and the intensity level can vary as time goes by. Some tinnitus is more perceivable and louder at night, usually before bedtime when the other surrounding external sounds aren’t competing. In serious cases, the sound is audible enough to cause annoyance, disturbance and distraction that it interrupts work and every day activities.
Types, Causes, Treatment and Signs That Tinnitus Is Going Away
Tinnitus can be classified into two primary types. SUBJECTIVE TINNITUS is most common by far. This type of tinnitus is audible only to the person who has it. On the other hand, OBJECTIVE TINNITUS can be heard when examined by another person. This is a rare type of tinnitus and can arise from different physical effects like spasms in the small muscles found in the middle ear, a rise in blood flow to the ears or irregularities in the blood vessels.
Healthcare providers have no precise answer to what causes or triggers tinnitus, but they presuppose it to be a sever connection between what sounds the ears receive and how the brain decrypts and interprets them. They too cannot say why this activity occurs or how to prevent it. Though there are signs that tinnitus is going away. It is also important to note that tinnitus is not a condition or an ailment on its own, but rather a symptom of another latent condition. Hence, tinnitus may be treated by identifying and remedying the underlying condition. When treatment is hardly possible, means and methods are recommended to lessen the impact of tinnitus.
Possible Causative Factors of Tinnitus
Although healthcare providers fail to discover or detect the underlying condition or cause of many tinnitus cases, there are a few common factors that can put you at risk for tinnitus.
- AGE. By 60 years old, hearing sensitivity could begin to worsen which can result in hearing loss. Tinnitus frequently occurs with some level of age-related hearing loss. However, about 1 in 3 individuals with tinnitus don’t have any issues with their hearing.
- EXPOSURE TO VERY LOUD NOISE. One of the most common causative factor to hearing loss is loud noise. Being exposed to such noise at close range even just once may instantly damage your hearing permanently. Frequent exposure to very loud noise (i.e. occupational loud noise) over a prolonged span of time poses severe risk to one’s hearing.
- EAR INFECTION. Any infection in the ear can create a blockage in the ear, making tinnitus more likely.
- INJURY TO THE HEAD, NECK OR EARS. 1 in 10 people with chronic tinnitus is because of a head, neck or ear injury.
- COMMON ILLNESSES. Having high blood pressure, anemia, hypo and hyperthyroidism, allergies, diabetes, heart disease and circulatory problems are health conditions that could bring about tinnitus.
Signs That Tinnitus Is Going Away
As mentioned, it may be possible to treat tinnitus by curing the underlying cause. If tinnitus can’t be treated, ways to lessen the effects of tinnitus are recommended. To know if your tinnitus is improving, take notice of these signs:
- Before looking out for signs, you first need to determine if your tinnitus is temporary or permanent. Temporary tinnitus takes seconds to a few minutes only, occurs intermittently, is faint and easy to gloze over, and doesn’t occur alongside other causes or symptoms. Permanent tinnitus lasts over two weeks, occurs constantly, hard to ignore, and occurs with other symptoms or causes.
- Your episodes of tinnitus occur more rarely and for a shorter duration
- The volume and intensity of your tinnitus is fainter or less noticeable
- As your tinnitus is fainter or less perceptible, you are less pestered by it
- Being less perceptible and bothered by your tinnitus, you are able to slumber, rest and relax without it interrupting
Tinnitus Treatment Options
Currently, there isn’t any cure that is scientifically proven to effectively and permanently treat the majority of chronic tinnitus cases. However, the goal of available options for tinnitus treatments is to significantly lessen or manage the effects of tinnitus which afflicts people that have it. This allows them to live a life that is more comfortable and unhampered.
Since tinnitus is a symptom of another condition, the best possible treatment has to be aimed at curing or deleting the underlying condition, instead of only easing or lightening the symptom. Furthermore, given that tinnitus may be a symptom of a condition, disorder or diseases that is more serious, it is crucial to try to identify the underlying cause prior to making a decision on which tinnitus treatment option to take.