Tinnitus

Do you hear a ringing, roaring, clicking or hissing sound in your ears? Do you hear this sound often or all the time? Does the sound bother you? If you answer is yes, you might have tinnitus.

Millions of people in the U.S. have tinnitus. People with severe tinnitus may have trouble hearing, working or even sleeping. Causes of tinnitus include hearing loss, exposure to loud noises or medicines you may be taking for a different problem. Tinnitus may also be a symptom of other health problems, such as allergies, high or low blood pressure, tumors and problems in the heart, blood vessels, jaw and neck.

Treatment depends on the cause. Treatments may include hearing aids, sound-masking devices, medicines and ways to learn how to cope with the noise.

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Tinnitus on Wikipedia

'''Tinnitus''' is a phenomenon of the nervous system connected to the ear, characterized by perception of a ringing or beat sound (often perceived as sinusoidal) with no external source. This sound may be quiet, or loud enough to drown out all outside sounds. Causes of tinnitus include: * A sudden loud noise, * Hearing loss (20 per cent of cases: chronic noise damage and presbycusis), * Head injury (especially basal skull fracture), * Drugs: aspirin overdose, loop diuretics, aminoglycosides, quinine, * Temporomandibular and cervical spine disorders, * Suppurative otitis media (also chronic infection and serous OM), * Otosclerosis, * Ear wax, * Meniere's disease, * Impacted wisdom teeth, * Hypertension and atherosclerosis, * Acoustic neuroma, * Palatal myoclonus (objectively detectable), * Arteriovenous fistulae and arterial bruits (objectively detectable), * Severe anaemia and renal failure, * Glomus jugulare tumours (objectively detectable), * Lyme Disease * Stress and clinical depression Tinnitus can be objective (the sound, e.g., a bruit, can be perceived by a clinician) or subjective (perceived only by the patient). Some types of tinnitus can be treated while others are permanent. In general, there are no cures specific to tinnitus, but if it is caused by a physical condition that can be treated, the tinnitus may also resolve. Chronic tinnitus can be quite stressful psychologically as it distracts the affected individual from mental tasks and interferes with sleep, particularly when there is no external sound. The affected individual may have to generate artificial noise that masks the tinnitus sound. A combination of external masking and psychological counseling known as Tinnitus Retraining Therapy is widely practiced. While it does not actually cure the tinnitus, many report that it becomes much less disturbing ...   [ Read More ]

External Resources

Tinnitus - Contains pictures, music samples, lyrics, and information about the band.

Wells Internet Shopping - Offers compact discs designed specifically for treating/masking tinnitus. Includes white noise, sounds of water, crickets on a summer night, or an air conditioner.

Arches Natural Products, Inc. - Herbal and vitamin products to reduce ringing in the ears. Site contains articles and information on living with tinnitus.

Tinnitus Ear Ringing Center - Offers Ringstop and Hearall, homeopathic nutritional supplements for treatment of pulsatile tinitus.

Alpha Tinnitus Formulas, Inc. - Tinnitus and Meniere's Disease information pages, details of clinical trials, and capsules.

Otocalm - Clinic provides advice and research on hearing and tinnitus including psychological aspects, and a treatment CD for sale.

Ti-Ex - Provides a medical device based on a revolutionary technology that can cure people who suffer from tinnitus.

Spectral Visualization and Development (SVD) Inc. - Provides Tinnitus Pro software. Approach is based on residual inhibition.

What Is An Acoustic Neuroma? - Patient-oriented information on this disorder, including tinnitus, speech discrimination and facial nerve preservation.

Otoophtalmical Neurophysiology - Patient and scientific information about vertigo, dizziness, tinnitus and other neurosensorial disorders, diagnosis and treatment. In Spanish, English and German.

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