Tinnitus Symptoms

If you hear a noise that seems to be coming from inside your head, you are experiencing tinnitus. Tinnitus is a symptom, not a disease. According to the experts at the National Institute on Deafness, most people will experience tinnitus at some point in their lives. Tinnitus symptoms can be acute (temporary) or chronic (reoccurring or permanent) and can be rooted in a wide range causes, the two most common being hearing loss and loud noise and certain types of medication.

A major cause of tinniuts is hearing loss. Cochlea damage due to trauma caused by prolonged or acute exposure to loud noise aging, diseases and infections of the ear and simple aging can cause hearing loss that is accompanied by tinnitus symptoms. It is theorized that tinnitus due to hearing loss may be the result of the brain not receiving expected auditory impact, triggering the blind-spot response, whereby the brain will fill-in missing information.

The most frequently reported tinnitus symptom is a ringing in the ears. This is usually caused by loud noise, either over a prolonged period of time (e.g., factory workplace), a short period of time (e.g., rock concert) or instantaneously (e.g., explosion). If you have walked out of action movie where the theatre had the volume cranked and normal sounds seemed muffled and there was a ringing sound, you have experienced acute tinnitus. This symptom is an indication you should change or avoid such environments, as prolonged exposure will result in permanent hearing loss.

Commonly used medicines that cause tinnitus symptoms include aspirin and quinine. Overuse of these medications can contribute to problems associated with auditory function. In addition, the aminoglycoside antibotic is known to cause tinnitus symptoms.

Besides the annoying ringing sound, other reported tinnitus symptoms are; a sound like crickets, a high frequency hum, roaring, buzzing, hissing, whistling and clicking.

Clicking sounds heard in the inner ear can be auditory signals that reach the inner ear through skeletal conduction. This sound is usually found to be caused by a misaligned jaw bone, but can also be caused by spasms of the muscles of the ear or throat. Tinnitus symptoms that involve the whoosh of blood being pumped through the vessels of the ear are know as pulsatile (as in pulse) tinnitus. Common causes of pulsatile tinnitus symptoms are high blood pressure, anemia or an overactive thyroid.

On rare occasions, tinnitus symptoms are attributable to tumors or cysts in the middle or inner ears. A tumor that presses on the blood vessels of the ear can cause pulsatile tinnitus. Tumors on the nerve that carries the signals from the ear to the acoustic processing center of the brain cause acoustic neuroma. This condition occurs in only one ear, which distinguishes it from other types of tinnitus and should be examined by a doctor immediately.