Intro to Tinnitus
Tinnitus, a phenomenon of the nervous system, is directly
connected to the ear. This phenomenon is characterised by
perception of an internal beating or ringing like sound. This
sound can appear to be a quiet background noise, or loud enough
to drown out all outside sounds.
Some Causes of tinnitus are: - A sudden loud bang
or noise
- Excessive Ear wax,
- Acoustic neuroma,
- Hypertension and atherosclerosis,
- Severe anemia and
renal failure,
- Palatal myoclonus
- Thyroid disorders
- Glomus jugulare tumours
- Lyme Disease
- Loss of Hearing
- Drugs: aspirin overdose, loop diuretics, aminoglycosides,
quinine,
- Injury to the head
- Temporomandibular and
cervical spine disorders,
- Suppurative otitis media (also
chronic infection and serous OM),
- Otosclerosis,
- Impacted
wisdom teeth,
- Meniere's disease,
- Arteriovenous fistulae
and arterial bruits
- Stress and depression
Some but not
all types of tinnitus can be treated. This leaves the
non-treatable types permanent. There are no cures directly for
tinnitus, but because often times tinnitus is caused by a
physical condition that can be treated, the tinnitus
may also dissapear as the physical condition dissapears.
Permanent tinnitus can be very stressful psychologically to the
affected individual as it distracts them affected from mental
tasks and interferes with sleep. This is particularly when there
is no external sound.
Often times these individuals will use a device that will
generate an artificial noise to mask the tinnitus sound.This
process is called tinnitus retraining therapy. It is a widely
known and practiced remedy to the noise. Although it doesn't
actually make the noise disappear, it makes the noise alot less
annoying and disturbing the person who is affected; this makes
the noise easier to ignore allowing the individual to
concentrate on mental tasks.