Tinnitus, tinnitus , ringing in the ear or buzzing, all these names refer to the same problem that has its origin inside the ear and that can develop from infancy to old age. A situation that sometimes goes unnoticed and sometimes becomes annoying. A more common situation than many may believe and that when we notice its symptoms we must go quickly to an otolaryngologist.
Have we ever felt any discomfort in the ear or any noise that did not come from the outside? As a general rule, tinnitus is not serious, but it has certain causes and key symptoms that we must be aware of to detect possible hearing problems in children, adults and ourselves.
What are tinnitus
We must make it clear that it is not a disease, but a symptom related to the auditory system. Tinnitus manifests as buzzing, buzzing, blowing, hissing, and murmuring. It affects men and women equally, and its appearance intensifies after the age of 50.
They are a kind of buzzing or high-pitched buzzing that is located inside the ear or in other parts of the head. As a general rule, they happen without a trigger, but their origin is related to an alteration of the nervous system.
As we have said before, it can be a situation that goes unnoticed and that we do not even notice, but it can also be the case of becoming something very annoying, even interrupting sleep, concentration and causing changes in our character.
Tinnitus or tinnitus could compromise hearing health, affecting hearing, which is why it is recommended to go to a specialist if we notice that we are beginning to feel buzzing and buzzing in the head or inside the ear.
Types of hum
There are clearly two types of tinnitus and we are going to describe each one below, but not before remembering that it is not a serious disease, although it does have certain consequences in very specific homes. Let’s say that the buzzes are small warnings of the human body so that we do not trust ourselves and we go to review from time to time, for example, the cleaning of the ear canal.
- Subjective tinnitus: it is when noise is perceived without it having manifested itself outside, so we only notice and hear it. This can be due to hearing loss (hearing loss), causes of aging, ototoxic drugs, infections and lesions of the nervous system affecting the auditory pathways, obstruction due to excess earwax, etc.
- Objective tinnitus: In this case the noise we notice is blood flow causing an audible pulsating noise that is synchronized with the heart pulse and is sometimes muscle spasms within the ear. This can be due to turbulent blood flow through the carotid vein due to nervousness, anxiety or altered state, it can also be a tumor in the ear, or malformations in the arteries, after a head injury, infectious diseases, multiple sclerosis, etc.
Why does tinnitus occur?
Tinnitus does not have a specific mechanism by which its appearance is triggered, it is simply related to some causes (many of them we have already indicated in the previous section).
You have to be vigilant and, if you have young children who are likely to suffer them or have hearing loss, you have to monitor them very closely to detect the anomaly as soon as possible and put a quick solution to it.
Some of the main causes of ringing and ringing in the ears are:
- Acoustic trauma from exposure to loud noises.
- Old age.
- Hearing loss or hearing loss (regardless of age or gender).
- Migraines
- Anemia.
- Circulation problems.
- Trauma and injuries to the head and skull.
- Stress and anxiety.
- Joint problems.
- Infections (otitis).
- Obstruction in the ear canal.
- Drug and medication use.
- Tumors near the ear or inside.
Symptoms of tinnitus
They are easy to detect and they are warning us that something is wrong and can be from a stressful situation, otitis, migraine, to significant hearing loss, an obstruction of the ear canal and even a tumor or a problem with blood circulation. the carotid vein.
In general, it is usually due more to a state of nervousness and over-excitement and a dirty ear canal than anything else, but it is best to visit an otolaryngologist who is the doctor who specializes in the auditory canal.
Tinnitus is identified by beeps that only we hear, puffs of air coming out of the ear, whistling, noticing the pulse of the heart, a click, a “crack” inside the ear, and so on.
Often, those who suffer from tinnitus also suffer from hyperacusis, which is a greater sensitivity to external noise of high decibels. That is, it has less tolerance for noise.
Tinnitus cured?
The big question for those who suffer from ringing in the ear or tinnitus is, how do they heal? or how is tinnitus treated? From now on we must warn that there is no miraculous treatment , and that the most effective thing is to attack the root of the problem.
That is, it will be the otolaryngologist who determines what is the cause of tinnitus, whether it is hearing loss, dirt, migraines, etc. Once that cause is fixed, the beeps will subside to almost disappear.
We say almost because, if there is a basic problem, at the moment in which the ear becomes dirty, infected, we hit our head, the migraines return or we are very upset, the buzzing could return.
We could choose to prevent , such as not using loud music with headphones, or at least not using them for a long time, checking our minimal ears once a year, using special tampons for showering and swimming and keeping the ear dry and free of liquids, do not take drugs or ototoxic medications, maintain a healthy lifestyle avoiding the accumulation of cholesterol in the arteries, avoid situations of stress and anxiety, do not use the dryer directly on the ear, protect the ears from the winter cold, etc. .
