Understanding What Tinnitus Really Is
Every now and then, you can experience a weird ringing in your ears. You might hear these annoying, buzzing sounds in your ears when you come out of a very loud concert or club, or when you’re exposed to a noisy environment. However, there are also those who constantly experience them day in and day out. When this happens, there is a big possibility that the person has an ear condition termed as tinnitus. Tinnitus is described as the incessant humming, buzzing or the combination of other sounds and frequency and may happen on one or both ears. People with tinnitus often complain that the quality of their sleep is decreased and that they have difficulty in focusing on their work due to the sounds that their inner ears usually create. A person who suspects that he has tinnitus can observe that the quality of his hearing is also offering. Apparent sounds such doorbells, radios on normal volume level or mid-frequency speeches are becoming less audible prior to the constant occurrence of the humming sounds.
Tinnitus occur when the delicate hairs which act as protective barriers in the inner ear gets damages and the auditory cells send signals of random electrical impulses to the brain. The brain then translates it as noise. The main causes of tinnitus can be attributed to the age-related hearing disorders or when a person is always exposed to a loud environment without wearing any type of ear protection. Noise-induced deafness is common among individuals who work in industrial or construction types of environment. According to the Deafness Research in UK, 20% of their patients who have cases of tinnitus think that their medical condition was due to the environment that they worked in. Other causes that could trigger the occurrence of tinnitus might come from damaged auditory nerves in the person’s ears due to the constant use of loud players and wearing ear phones while playing blasting music. Another probable reason is when a person contracts an ear infection. It is essential to identify the main cause of tinnitus in order to avoid far more complicated complications after its detection.
Apart from being annoying and disturbing, the occurrence of tinnitus can also result to loss in concentration. The frequent humming sounds can also send signals to the brain, thereby affecting the person’s emotions and cognitive behavior. People with tinnitus often report phases of depression, irritability and other negative emotional reactions. Curing for this condition can vary since there are patients who often turn to alternative medicine or home remedies in order to seek remedy for their hearing problem. Some centers also offer therapies which help tinnitus patients in coping with their newly-developed complication.
Unless a person has developed the condition from his line of work, one can’t really say if the humming sounds that they hear are early symptoms of tinnitus. Thus, it is highly advisable that when a person observes the presence of foreign sounds that only he can hear, or that when he begins to hear less audible noises, he should already take notes of his observations. The observations should include the time when he first started experiencing the symptoms, the frequency of such occurrences, other symptoms which he might also have experienced and what he thinks is causing these symptoms. The detailed notes will help the EENT understand the condition better and it can also help the patient in making his medical claims if the condition was induced by his work environment.