Tinnitus Ear Balance

Tinnitus – Head Noise-Ear Noise

Approximately 50 million people in the United States, alone, suffer from a very annoying condition called tinnitus. For 12 million, it is to some degree disruptive to their normal daily activities. I have known a few people who were suicidal because of tinnitus.

Tinnitus may be described as ringing, roaring, buzzing, cricket, or sound like ocean waves to name a few of the descriptions I have heard. Sometimes it is a swishing pulsing sound and may be synchronous with one’s heart beat. One of the difficult things about this symptom of tinnitus is that it is, generally, not something that anyone else hears and thus it is hard to document with hard evidence, that it is present. Yet, it can be an extremely annoying to those of us who suffer with it. I understand the problem well because it is something which I have had 24 hours a day for the past 40 years.

The cause of tinnitus on the cellular level is unknown. However, there are numerous and varied triggers and associated symptoms. Most of the causes are benign, that is, not life threatening or leading to more serious problems. The vast majority of tinnitus sufferers will be found to have at least a mild hearing loss in one or both ears. This is frequently mostly in the higher frequencies, above those used in conversational speech. Probably the largest number of tinnitus suffers are men who have a long history of exposure to noise levels above 85 db over many years who typically wore noise protection very little if at all.

Some of the common treatable causes of tinnitus or head noise would include ear wax impactions, ear infections (both middle ear and outer ear), fluid behind the eardrums, a perforated eardrum, and similar other mechanical problems.

Some types of head injuries such as skull fractures and concussions may be associated with tinnitus. Neck injuries such as whiplash injuries and TMJ may at times trigger tinnitus. Strokes and TIAs may also trigger head noise or tinnitus.

Blood vessel disease such as hardening of the arteries, aneurysms and congenital or acquired blood vessel malformation may be associated with a throbbing tinnitus. Many of these problems are serious and thus demand medical attention. Tinnitus occurring in only one ear is also something that demands medical evaluation because it may be associated with tumors of the nerve of hearing and balance. Other serious illnesses which may have tinnitus as a symptom include such things as multiple sclerosis.

Certain antibiotics used in treating very serious infections may be toxic to the inner ear and lead to permanent hearing damage and trigger tinnitus. Quinine and aspirin when consumed in large enough quantities may cause tinnitus which is reversible, in most cases, when the drug is discontinued.

The exact cause of tinnitus on a cellular level, is not well understood and it is likely that there are several mechanisms which are responsible. One explanation is that the hearing nerve cells sustain damage which does not destroy them but results in a malfunction that causes them to send a signal to the brain which the brain senses or reads as sound, even though there is no similar sound present in the background around the sufferer.

Author: Gorden McMurry

A great deal of tinnitus research is ongoing throughout the world and The American Tinnitus Association has in the past and continues to sponsor research looking for the cure and/or control of tinnitus. Information can be found on their website, http://www.ata.org/index.php

Dr. Gorden T McMurry http://www.YourDoctorOnDVD.com is a physician with over 30 years experience in the practice of medicine, seeing and treating patients on a daily basis. Through a series of informational DVD’s, The Guides To Healthy Living series, he is providing sound advice to people on health and life style issues to help them control, maintain and improve their health and well being. He developed the series for use in his practice and they were so successful that he decided to significantly expand the list of available titles and make them available to the public at large.
You can contact Dr. McMurry at gorden@yourdoctorondvd.com

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