Experiencing symptoms of tinnitus?
Tinnitus (pronounced tin-ni-tus) is commonly caused by hearing loss or an ear injury. Tinnitus is associated with age-related hearing loss and people who are aged 60 especially could go on to develop tinnitus. Tinnitus is often experienced as a ringing in the ears that only you can hear, but it could also be any of the following sounds:
- Hissing
- Buzzing
- Whistling
- Roaring
- Ringing
People with tinnitus can also experience hearing loss.
Signs and symptoms of hearing loss
Types of tinnitus
There are three types of tinnitus:
1. Subjective — the most common type of tinnitus, this is where only you can hear it.
2. Objective — when a doctor can hear the sounds when they examine your ears, this could be caused by a problem with the blood vessels, bones or muscles in your ear.
3. Pulsatile — the rarest form of tinnitus, in which people may hear noises in time with their heartbeat.
How can tinnitus be treated?
While tinnitus is an uncomfortable condition to suffer from, there are a variety of treatments that can remedy, or off-set, its effects. Tinnitus can be treated in the following ways:
1) By removing wax from the ears
2) By treating blood vessel conditions
3) By fitting hearing aids - depending on the level of severity that the patient is experiencing.
Tinnitus maskers
Tinnitus maskers, or tinnitus noisers, can also be used to lessen the affects of Tinnitus. These are small white noise machines that work to "drown out" or overpower the internal sounds of your tinnitus. They can provide an effective treatment for tinnitus by cancelling out the sounds of tinnitus.