Health Information

What is Tinnitus? - Tinnitus is the sound of buzzing, whooshing, roaring or other sounds are heard without any external sound source. Tone of voice can be high or low, regular or irregular (noisy), continuous or dotted, begins suddenly or slowly, and heard by one or both ears or in the head.

Tinnitus is a fairly common condition. It is estimated that one in five people in the world are experiencing tinnitus. A study in England found that 10% of adults experience tinnitus often lasting more than 5 minutes, 1% experienced tinnitus is disturbing, and 0.5% had severe tinnitus that limit normal activities.

Tinnitus is classified into two forms, namely objective and subjective.

    Objective tinnitus. This type of tinnitus can be heard by others with a stethoscope or just by ear pressed to the ear of the patient. Objective tinnitus occurs in less than 5 percent of cases and is often associated with vascular disorders or muscle. Noises are usually caused by vascular anomalies, repetitive muscle contractions, jaw joint problems or ear structural defects. Patients may hear mendenyut flow from the carotid artery or jugular vein whizzing from. Objective tinnitus can also be a sign of increased pressure inside the skull that may be followed by other neurological disorders. Noise may arise from blood flow through the vein structure at the base of the brain compressed. Other causes of objective tinnitus are things that cause abnormal muscle movements, such as the stapedius muscle spasms (which is attached to the stirrup in the middle ear).

    Subjective tinnitus. Tinnitus is only heard by the patient. A highly trained doctors could not hear it also. Subjective tinnitus is much more common (about 95 percent of cases) and is a symptom associated with almost all ear disorders, especially neurosensory hearing loss caused by nerve damage and / or hair cells that transmit sound impulses to the brain.

Tinnitus therapy

It is important to remember that tinnitus is a symptom, not a disease. Thus, treatment is directed to eliminate the underlying condition, not just alleviate symptoms. Causes of tinnitus objective tinnitus is subjective because it is different from that source should be physically capable of producing sound waves. Causes of objective tinnitus especially are the things that cause the faint sound of examiners (physicians) but potentially hard for sufferers.

Some medical causes associated with tinnitus include:

     #Disturbance in the outer ear, such as ear wax, hair touching the eardrum, a foreign object or a perforated eardrum.

     #Disturbances in the middle ear, such as the negative pressure of the eustachian tube dysfunction, infections, otosclerosis, allergies or benign tumor.

     #Disturbance in the inner ear, such as neurosensory hearing loss due to noise exposure, aging, inner ear infection or Meniere's disease.

     #Systemic disorders such as high or low blood pressure, anemia, diabetes, thyroid dysfunction, glucose metabolism disorders, vascular disorders, tumors in the jugular vein, acoustic tumors and aneurysms head or neck.

     #Other disorders such as trauma to the head or neck, temporomandibular disorder (TMJ), and neck sprain.

     #Certain drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen, quinine, sedatives, antidepressants, antibiotics and certain chemotherapeutic agents.

The current study showed that although the initial tinnitus can be caused by injury to the ear, auditory pattern eventually created in the brain. Therefore, treatment approaches directed at the brain, not the ear.

If you have tinnitus, consult with your doctor to determine the cause and treatment.