Symptoms of tinnitus
Tinnitus (pronounced tin-ni-tus) affects about 15-20% of people and is commonly caused by hearing loss or an ear injury. Tinitus is often experienced as a ringing in the ears that only you can hear, but it could also be any of the following sounds:
People with tinnitus can also experience hearing loss.
People with tinnitus often experience hearing loss too. Our quick online tinnitus test can help you understand if you might have tinnitus and / or hearing loss and what you can do about it.
* The result of the test may only be used for guidance. Official conclusions about hearing loss/tinnitus can be provided by our certified hearing care experts.
* The result of the test may only be used for guidance. Official conclusions about hearing loss/tinnitus can be provided by our certified hearing care experts.
* The result of the test may only be used for guidance. Official conclusions about hearing loss/tinnitus can be provided by our certified hearing care experts.
* The result of the test may only be used for guidance. Official conclusions about hearing loss/tinnitus can be provided by our certified hearing care experts.
What causes tinnitus?
There are many possible causes of tinnitus. The most common cause is exposure to excessive noise, which damages the tiny hair cells in the inner ear. The ringing in your ears is the result of your brain trying to compensate for the loss of hair cells.
Common causes of ringing in the ears include:
There is no cure for tinnitus, but there are many ways you can manage it and reduce its impact on your life. The following management techniques can be rather effective in turning a potentially negative and emotionally charged sound (tinnitus) into a neutral presence.
Sound therapy can provide relief from ringing in the ears
Although sound therapy cannot eliminate tinnitus, it can be a helpful tool for managing the symptoms. With sound therapy, you listen to different, carefully selected sounds, which can help you feel that your tinnitus is reduced or temporarily gone.
It then becomes easier to move your attention away from your tinnitus. Plus, it helps you to focus on something more pleasant. You can find the sound therapy that gives you the most effective relief from ringing in the ears by working together with your hearing care expert.
Sound therapy can be provided through:
Hearing aids not only help with hearing loss, they simultaneously mask the sound of tinnitus by amplifying the sounds around you. This can result in reduced listening effort, a perceived reduction in tinnitus volume, and an improved ability to communicate with ease.
In addition, most of our hearing aids offer sound therapy sounds that are customized to your individual needs and preferences.
View a list of our hearing aids with tinnitus masking features:
Tinnitus and hearing loss – do you have both?
Research shows that most people with tinnitus have some degree of hearing loss without being aware of it, and many of them can benefit from hearing aids.
80% of people with tinnitus also have hearing loss
Hearing aids can help transmit more sounds into the ear and brain, thereby making the symptoms of tinnitus less bothersome. Moreover, improved hearing helps you to focus on sounds other than tinnitus, and for many people, this improvement is enough to experience relief.
Some tinnitus sufferers become sensitive to places with constant talking or loud music, so they begin to avoid such social situations altogether. To others, it is so disturbing that a full night’s sleep can become difficult to achieve. Tinnitus, if left untreated, can lead to the following consequences:
Some people are able to ignore their tinnitus most of the time, but leaving it untreated can have a negative impact on your life if it is experienced over extended periods of time.
Tinnitus can come and go. In fact, it is often temporary and goes away within 16 to 48 hours. However, if it continues for weeks, you should talk to an audiologist. This is especially important if your tinnitus becomes louder as this can indicate that you have developed hearing loss.
It is very uncommon that symptoms of tinnitus get worse. It is more likely that tinnitus will improve over time. There are, however, some factors that can worsen tinnitus such as certain drugs, anxiety, stress, or prolonged exposure to loud noise.
Researchers have shown that for some individuals, tinnitus can be caused by stress, and it can worsen during stressful periods. In fact, it is common that tinnitus starts during or after a period of stress or anxiety.
While there is no cure for tinnitus, there are some remedies that might help you cope with tinnitus and improve your quality of your life:
Meniere's disease is a condition of the inner-ear that causes a type of dizziness that makes you feel like you are spinning.
It can also cause you to experience tinnitus, hearing loss, nausea and pressure inside your ear. It typically affects only one ear. Unfortunately, there is no cure for Meniere's disease, but certain treatments can help reduce the severity and frequency of the dizziness. Inform your hearing care expert if you experience any of the above symptoms.
