Tinnitus

Tinnitus causes sounds like ringing or clicking to fill your ears. To minimize these effects, we first must treat the underlying condition that’s causing your tinnitus.

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Understanding Tinnitus

Tinnitus is extremely common and affects nearly 50 million Americans. It’s not a disease on its own but rather a symptom of another medical condition or issue, such as age-related hearing loss or an ear injury. It’s important to note that tinnitus doesn’t exclusively cause ringing in the ears. It can also cause clicking, humming, whooshing, and other sounds. These symptoms can appear anytime but are most common in people over 40.

Subjective Tinnitus vs. Objective Tinnitus Understanding the Difference

Subjective Tinnitus

When you hear phantom noises that no one else hears, it’s called subjective tinnitus. The vast majority of tinnitus cases are subjective.

Objective Tinnitus

This form of tinnitus is much rarer. It involves noises that are audible to the patient and other people. That’s because the sounds are objectively present and produced by the body’s internal functions, such as blood flow or musculoskeletal movement.

What Does Your Tinnitus Sound Like?

When you arrive at the FENTA office for your consultation, we’ll want to know what your tinnitus sounds like. Being as descriptive as possible is important because it can help your doctor make a diagnosis. Common descriptions include:

Clicking
Rushing
Humming
Low or high-pitched ringing

woman touching her head with her eyes closed

What Causes Tinnitus?

Age-Related Hearing Loss: Before hearing loss sets in, your brain is accustomed to receiving certain sound levels, and your hearing nerve is used to certain activity levels. When hearing loss occurs in your brain, your hearing nerve may still operate normally. This can cause you to hear phantom sounds.
Ear Injuries: If you sustain an ear injury that affects your nerves or areas of the brain connected to hearing, you may experience tinnitus.
Ear Conditions: Impacted earwax and ear infections can result in temporary ear loss, which can cause short-term tinnitus.
Medications: Some medications have a side effect of tinnitus, including certain antidepressants, antibiotics, cancer drugs, and more.

Diagnosing the Cause of Your Tinnitus

Because tinnitus is a symptom and not a condition, your individualized treatment will depend on the cause. To arrive at a diagnosis, our audiologists and board-certified otolaryngologists will administer tests such as:

Hearing tests
Blood tests
Imaging tests (MRI or CT scan)

Treating Tinnitus with a Personalized Approach

Addressing tinnitus can improve your quality of life. Your individualized treatment approach will depend on the severity of your symptoms and your underlying condition. Potential options include:

Removing earwax: If your tinnitus is due to a buildup of earwax, we will remove the blockage to decrease symptoms.
Using a hearing aid: If you’re hearing phantom sounds due to hearing loss, a hearing aid can improve symptoms and help you hear more clearly.
Changing medications: If one of your medications is linked to tinnitus, we may recommend trying an alternate prescription to see if it helps.

There are some cases when we can’t resolve tinnitus completely. When this occurs, you still have options. White noise machines can help you sleep by masking the sounds of your tinnitus. Stress management is also important because stress can worsen tinnitus symptoms. In addition, listening to music at lower volumes, wearing hearing protection, and limiting alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine have been shown to help.

FAQ

What causes tinnitus most often?

It depends if the tinnitus is temporary or ongoing. Loud noise exposure is by far the most common cause of temporary tinnitus. It’s very common to experience short-term ringing in your ears after attending a loud event. Conversely, long-term tinnitus is usually the result of aging, a health condition, or many years of prolonged noise exposure.

Can tinnitus go away on its own?

Tinnitus can improve on its own, but it doesn’t always. Untreated tinnitus can profoundly impact your quality of life. We suggest consulting with an audiologist if you have symptoms for more than a couple of weeks.

Do children experience tinnitus?

Yes, they can. Tinnitus in children most often occurs after frequent exposure to concerts or loud noises.

When is a hearing aid necessary for tinnitus?

Many people with tinnitus also have some form of hearing loss. A hearing aid can help you hear more clearly, making it less likely that you will notice your tinnitus symptoms.