Are you bothered by ringing, buzzing, or ringing sounds in your ears? If so, you have a condition known as tinnitus. Tinnitus is a common problem that affects approximately 50 million adults in the United States (there are no exact data on the number of tinnitus cases in Indonesia). For most people, tinnitus is just annoying but for others it can interfere with sleep and ultimately cause difficulty in concentrating and working. Tinnitus can cause psychological stress that can have a negative impact on work and personal relationships if not treated successfully. The good news is that tinnitus is treatable in most cases. However, the cause of tinnitus must be found first to be able to treat it.
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Method 1 of 2: Finding the Cause of Tinnitus
Step 1. Think of potential triggers that come from the environment
Environmental factors influence your experience with the world around you. Prolonged exposure to loud noises is the most common cause of tinnitus. Repeated exposure to loud noises, such as loud music, gunshots, airplanes, and heavy equipment can damage the tiny hairs in the cochlea that transmit electrical impulses to the auditory nerve when sound waves are detected. If bent or damaged, the hairs will send electrical impulses to the auditory nerve even though no sound waves are detected. Then, the brain interprets it as a sound, which is known as tinnitus.
- Individuals at greatest occupational risk associated with developing tinnitus include carpenters, road repair workers, pilots, musicians, and landscape architects. Individuals who work with loud equipment or who are around loud music repeatedly have a higher risk of developing tinnitus.
- Sudden single exposure to a very loud sound can also cause tinnitus. For example, tinnitus is one of the most common types of disability among individuals who serve in the armed forces and are exposed to bomb blasts.
Step 2. Evaluate potential lifestyle and health causes
There are several health-related causes of tinnitus, including aging, poor lifestyle habits, and hormonal changes.
- The natural aging process can affect the development of tinnitus. The aging process causes a decline in cochlear function, which can be exacerbated by exposure to loud noises in the environment over time.
- Smoking or drinking alcoholic or caffeinated beverages can trigger tinnitus. In addition, tension and fatigue can build up if not treated properly, causing tinnitus.
- Although no direct cause-and-effect relationship has been found, anecdotal evidence suggests that changes in hormone levels in women can and do trigger tinnitus. These hormonal changes occur during pregnancy, menopause, and during hormone replacement therapy.
Step 3. Reflect on whether you have ever had any problems with your ears
Blockage in the ear canal can change the way sound reaches the sound-sensitive cells in the cochlea, thereby triggering tinnitus. The blockage may be the result of earwax, ear infections, sinus infections, and mastoiditis (infection of the mastoid bone at the back of the ear). These health conditions alter the ability of sound to pass through the middle and inner ear, leading to tinnitus.
- Meniere's disease can cause tinnitus or muffled hearing. This disease is a disorder of unknown cause but affects the inner ear and causes severe dizziness, ringing in the ears, hearing loss, and a feeling of tightness in the ear. Meniere's disease generally affects only one ear and can trigger bouts of tinnitus after a long period of time or only after a few days. Meniere's disease can strike at any age but tends to occur in individuals between the ages of 20 and 60 years.
- Otosclerosis is a hereditary disorder that causes excessive bone growth in the middle ear and can lead to deafness. This condition makes it difficult for sound to reach the inner ear. White, middle-aged women have a greater risk of developing otosclerosis.
- Tinnitus can be caused by a benign tumor on the auditory nerve, the nerve that allows sound to be conveyed to the brain and interpreted, but this is rare. These tumors are called acoustic neuromas and develop on the nerves of the brain (cranial nerves) that run from the brain to the inner ear, often causing tinnitus to occur on only one side of the ear. These tumors generally will not develop into cancer, but can grow to a fairly large size - it is best to treat the tumor when it is small.
Step 4. Determine if you have any previous medical conditions related to tinnitus
Diseases related to the circulatory system, such as high blood pressure, capillary malformations, diabetes, heart disease, anemia, atherosclerosis, and coronary artery disease also affect circulation to other parts of the body, including the supply of oxygen to cells in the middle and inner ear. Loss of blood and oxygen supply can damage these cells and increase the potential risk of developing tinnitus.
- Individuals with temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJ) are at higher risk of developing tinnitus. There are different theories about the underlying influence of the TMJ on tinnitus. The masticatory muscles are so close to the muscles in the middle ear that they can affect hearing. There is a potential direct connection between the ligaments that attach to the jaw and the bones of the middle ear. Alternately, the nerve supply from the TMJ is linked to the part of the brain concerned with hearing.
- Trauma to the head or neck can also damage the inner ear, nerves that affect hearing, or brain functions related to hearing. These injuries generally cause tinnitus in only one ear.
- Brain tumors can damage the part of the brain that interprets sound. Patients may experience tinnitus in one or both ears in such cases.
Step 5. Calculate the drugs
Medications are another factor that can trigger tinnitus. Certain medications can cause medication-induced ototoxicity, or "ear poisoning". If you are taking medication, look at the information inserted in the package or ask your doctor to see if tinnitus is listed as a side effect of the drug. In general, there are other similar medications that your doctor can prescribe to treat your condition without causing the potential for tinnitus.
- There are about 200 different medications that list tinnitus as a side effect, including aspirin, certain antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, sedatives, antidepressants, and quinine. Cancer drugs and diuretics are also listed as drugs related to tinnitus.
- Antibiotics frequently associated with tinnitus include vancomycin, doxycycline, gentamicin, erythromycin, tetracycline, and tobramycin.
- In general, the higher the dose of the drug used, the worse the tinnitus symptoms will be. Tinnitus usually clears up when these medications are stopped.
Step 6. Recognize that tinnitus can occur without any cause
Even with all the conditions and associated triggers, some people can develop tinnitus for no apparent reason. These conditions are generally not serious, but can lead to fatigue, depression, anxiety, and memory problems if left untreated.
Method 2 of 2: Diagnosing Tinnitus
Step 1. Understand what tinnitus is
Tinnitus is not actually a condition, but a symptom of other problems or conditions that range from age-related hearing loss to circulatory system abnormalities. Treatment of tinnitus is based on the underlying cause, which is why finding the cause of the disease is so important. Tinnitus can occur primary or secondary. Primary tinnitus occurs when there is no identifiable cause other than hearing, and secondary tinnitus occurs as a symptom of another medical condition. Determining the type of tinnitus experienced can increase the potential success rate of treatment.
- Tinnitus can be classified into two categories. The first category is objective tinnitus, also known as pulsatile tinnitus, which accounts for only 5% of all cases of tinnitus and can be heard by observers listening through a stethoscope or standing close to the patient. This type of tinnitus is associated with vascular or muscular disorders of the head or neck, such as a brain tumor or brain structural abnormality, and is generally synchronized with the patient's heart rate. The second category is subjective tinnitus, which can only be heard by the patient and is more common, accounting for 95% of all tinnitus cases. Subjective tinnitus is a symptom of many different ear disorders and is reported to be experienced by more than 80% of people with sensorineural hearing loss.
- Tinnitus can affect each individual differently, although all sufferers hear identical noises and loud noises. The seriousness of tinnitus can be seen from the function of individual reactions to the condition.
Step 2. Recognize the symptoms of tinnitus
Tinnitus is generally described as a ringing sound in the ear, but it can also sound like a buzzing, hissing, rumbling, or clicking sound. The sound height and pressure can vary and vary from person to person. In addition, patients can also hear noise in one or both ears, which is an important differentiator and needs to be known by doctors for diagnosis. In addition to ringing in the ear, sufferers may also experience symptoms such as dizziness or lightheadedness, headache, and/or neck, ear, or jaw pain (or other TMJ symptoms).
- Some people will experience hearing loss while others have no difficulty hearing at all. Again, these differentiating factors are very important in establishing the diagnosis.
- Some people also become very sensitive to a certain range of frequencies and volumes of sound, a condition known as hyperacusis. Hyperacusis is closely related to tinnitus and a person can suffer from both conditions at the same time.
- The secondary effects of tinnitus include difficulty sleeping, depression, anxiety, problems at work and home, deterioration of the individual's emotional state.
Step 3. Think about potential causes and recent events
Think about what has happened in your life recently and look for situations and circumstances that could be the cause of tinnitus. Keep a record of your symptoms and other information that may be relevant to the development of your symptoms to prepare yourself for a doctor's visit for a diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus. For example, note if you:
- Ever been exposed to a very loud sound
- Have or have had a chronic sinus, ear, or mastoid infection
- Recently or currently taking any of the medicines listed above
- Have been diagnosed with circulatory system problems
- Suffering from diabetes
- Suffering from TMJ
- Suffered a head or neck injury
- Suffering from hereditary osteosclerosis
- Are female and have had recent changes in hormone levels, such as pregnancy, menopause, or starting/stopping hormone replacement therapy
Step 4. Consult a doctor
The doctor will perform a thorough history to determine environmental exposures or past health conditions that may trigger tinnitus. Treatment of tinnitus will depend on the underlying medical cause of the condition.
- Talk to your doctor about changing medications if you are taking medications that can trigger tinnitus.
- Auditory nerve retraining may be necessary for people with hyperacusis.
Tips
Although associated with hearing loss, tinnitus does not necessarily cause the sufferer to lose hearing and hearing loss is not always the cause of tinnitus
Warning
- Some causes of tinnitus cannot be cured completely, and the therapeutic effects of some tinnitus-causing drugs can offset the side effects of the disease: in this case, the sufferer usually learns how to treat ringing or buzzing in the ears.
- Don't ignore bouts of tinnitus. Like other symptoms, ringing or buzzing in the ears is a warning sign. The middle body is telling you that something wrong is going on.
