Learning about tinnitus and its causes, symptoms, and treatments is important if you have tinnitus or if you know someone who has tinnitus. Tinnitus is ringing in the ears that are not created by sources in your environment. Hearing weird noises that nobody else can hear drives most people crazy. That’s why people with tinnitus are prone to psychological problems and isolation from their social circles. Fortunately, most treatments are directed to dealing with the effects of tinnitus and living peacefully despite the constant noises that take place in the affected person’s head. Learning to cope with tinnitus is easy with the right therapy.

About Tinnitus 

Tinnitus is a condition in which a person hears sounds that do not come from outside their body. Tinnitus is not a disease. It is a symptom of certain diseases and problems. The noises a person hears when they have tinnitus are noises that are usually not heard by other people. There are a few instances when other people hear the noises, too (when they get close enough to the affected person). These kinds of tinnitus noises are caused by inner movements in the affected person’s body. This kind of tinnitus needs medical attention as soon as possible. If you hear ringing in your ears, it might be tinnitus.

Symptoms

Symptoms of tinnitus are the hearing of sounds that are not caused by sources outside the body. These sounds may be heard only every now and then, or continuously. Some people have tinnitus in only one ear, and there are people who have tinnitus in both ears. The sounds can be low-pitched or high-pitched. The sounds have varying volumes at different times but are known to be at their loudest when the person’s environment is extremely quiet. Tinnitus also involves occasional loss of hearing. Tinnitus varies in different people, but its primary symptom is the hearing of internal noises.

Treatments

Because other diseases and problems cause tinnitus, the treatment of these diseases and problems is how to treat tinnitus. Tinnitus is usually incurable because damage to the ears is irreversible. So when it comes to treatments of tinnitus, the procedures are directed to coping with the condition instead of preventing or curing the condition. The best treatment for tinnitus is ignoring it. It is also the quickest, cheapest, and simplest treatment. If this is not successful, though, tinnitus can cause worse problems like insomnia, anxiety, depression, hearing difficulties, and social problems. This is when other treatments must be used.

Other Treatments

Other treatments of tinnitus involve sound therapy, tinnitus retraining therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy. In sound therapy, external sounds are used to distract the affected person from hearing the noises of their tinnitus. These external sounds are pleasant, but awareness of the tinnitus returns when the sound therapy is stopped. In tinnitus retraining therapy, the ears of the affected person are trained to accept the noises of tinnitus as normal. It involves counseling. In cognitive behavioral therapy, the depression of people with tinnitus is fixed. These treatments are successful with most patients.

 Causes

The primary cause of tinnitus is damage to the inner part of the ears. Older people are more prone to getting tinnitus. Prolonged exposure to loud noises can also be a cause of tinnitus. There are also some findings that tinnitus can be caused by an absence of a certain sound frequency, and that the abnormal sounds the affected person hears are only made by the brain to make up for the missing sound frequency. Strangely, certain medications also cause tinnitus. Other causes of tinnitus include head injuries, infections in the ears, a foreign object reaching the eardrum, traumatic injuries in the brain, and many other problems.

Despite being just a small group of noises that unaffected people don’t hear and not really being a disease, there are plenty of things to learn about tinnitus. Tinnitus is usually incurable, especially when it involves real damage to the ear. It’s why treatments for tinnitus deal with coping with the condition more than with making the condition go away. Therapies that help you cope with tinnitus usually involve changing your state of mind.