What is tinnitus?

Tinnitus is the term for the sensation of hearing a sound in the absence of any external sound. You might hear different types of sound, for example ringing, buzzing, whooshing or humming. These can be continuous or they can come and go. The tinnitus might seem like it’s in one ear or both, in the middle of the head or even be difficult to pinpoint. Some people may think the noise is coming from outside and hunt for it until they discover it’s actually inside them!

Who gets tinnitus?

Tinnitus is very common and is reported in all age groups, even young children. About 30% of people will experience tinnitus at some point in their lives but the number of people who live with persistent tinnitus is approximately 13%. Tinnitus is more common in people who have hearing loss or other ear problems, but it can also be found in people with normal hearing.

The experience of tinnitus is different for different people. Most people find that they are able to continue their normal day-to-day activities. However, a small percentage of people with tinnitus report it as severely affecting them.

What causes tinnitus?

Whilst we do not know the exact causes of tinnitus, we know that it is not a disease or an illness. It is generally agreed that tinnitus results from some type of change, either mental or physical, not necessarily related to hearing.

When we hear, sound travels into the ear and then the hearing nerves take the signals to the brain. The brain is then responsible for putting it all together and making sense of the sound. Because the ears don’t know what’s important and what’s not, they send a lot of information to the brain. This is too much information for us to process, so the brain filters out a lot of unnecessary ‘activity’ and background sound, such as clocks ticking or traffic noise.
If there is a change in the system, for example, a hearing loss or ear infection, the amount of information being sent to the brain changes. The brain then responds to this change in levels by trying to get more information from the ear, and the extra information you may get is the sound we call tinnitus. The tinnitus is therefore actually brain activity and not the ear itself! It is generally accepted that it isn’t only a change in the ear that can result in tinnitus, but it could be due to a change in our stress levels, for example, with tinnitus being noticed after periods of significant stress, a change in life circumstances or general wellbeing.

What should I do?

The first person to talk to is your GP. You may need to be referred to an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Surgeon or an Audiologist who will rule out any medical factors, assess your hearing and probably give you some information about what tinnitus is and how best to manage it.

Have your hearing tested. Tinnitus can often be associated with hearing loss, and can sometimes be the first symptom that you notice.

Hearing aids can be a first line of treatment for tinnitus if you also have a hearing loss, however mild. It is often considered that a very positive ‘side effect’ of wearing hearing aids that you no longer notice your tinnitus, as your brain has lots of other more useful sounds to pay attention to. Also hearing aids can offer ‘Tinnitus therapy signals’ to try to help distract your brain from your tinnitus. They can be sounds such a gentle ocean waves, rain, or pink noise.

To book an appointment to have you hearing tested or to find out more about hearing aids, please contact us.

The most important thing to do is to keep doing the things you enjoy. If you start living your life differently to accommodate the tinnitus, it’s just going to seem more of a problem. You may need to do things differently, for example reading with some background music on, but it’s important that you do them nonetheless.

Take care of your hearing

Frequent, prolonged exposures to loud noise increases the risk of getting tinnitus or of making it worse, so take care to avoid very loud sounds or protect your ears against them. Wear proper ear protection when hammering metal, using power tools or when you are near any noisy motors. Ear protection is also important if you watch live music or play in a band or orchestra. If you work in a very noisy environment, your employer should provide ear protection for you. To find out find out more about custom made ear protection at Harborough Hearing Care; click here

Much of the information on this webpage is taken from Tinnitus UK. They are a valuable resource for support and information for those suffering from Tinnitus. Contact them today for more detailed information on Tinnitus.

Tinnitus UK

Ground Floor, Unit 5, Acorn Business Park, Woodseats Close, Sheffield S8 0TB

Email: helpline@tinnitus.org.uk

Helpline: 0800 018 0527

Website: www.tinnitus.org.uk