Let’s start by defining tinnitus — ‘the perception of sound in the absence of external sound’. What this basically means is that sounds, like ringing in the ears, whistling or buzzing, can only be heard by the person affected.
An estimated 10-15% of a population has tinnitus but most cases go untreated. This is due to a lack of information and the fact that most people are unaware of who will understand and assist them. While some cases are minor, some require more specific treatment to overcome possible long term effects. These may vary from sleep disorders and trouble focusing to stress or becoming socially reclusive.
Let’s start by defining tinnitus — ‘the perception of sound in the absence of external sound’.1 This basically means that sounds, like ringing in the ears, whistling or buzzing, can only be heard by the person affected.
An estimated 10-15% of a population has tinnitus2 but many cases go untreated. This is due to a lack of information and the fact that most people are unaware of who will understand and assist them. While some cases are minor, some require more specific treatment to overcome possible long-term effects. These may vary from sleep disorders and trouble focusing to stress or becoming socially reclusive.3
Tinnitus is often described as a ringing sound in the ears, but it can also come across as a buzzing, humming or hissing sound or just as general noise in the ears. The sound can be constant or intermittent and it can appear to come from one ear or both.
Although Tinnitus is usually only heard by the affected person there are rare cases where the sound can be observed externally. This type of Tinnitus is called “objective tinnitus”4 - in contrast to the more common “subjective tinnitus” where only the affected person hears the sounds.
Tinnitus can be further distinguished by characteristics of the perceived sound:
Tonal tinnitus refers to a, more or less, continuous sound with specific frequencies whereas non-tonal tinnitus takes the form of hissing or clicking sounds-
Tinnitus that pulsates - often in sync with the affected person’s heartbeat.
Also known as “Musical Ear Syndrome”. A form of tinnitus where the sound takes the form of a constantly looping tune.
One of the most common causes of tinnitus is damage to the hair cells in the inner ear – either from exposure to noise or age-related. Since these hair cells are responsible for a person's hearing tinnitus often coincides with hearing loss.
Other common causes of tinnitus include:
While millions of people experience the distress of tinnitus, few are aware of the various methods that can help them manage the tinnitus to reduce the annoyance. Although there is no cure for tinnitus, you’ll be relieved to know that there are various effective forms of counseling and management techniques available.
Sound therapy aims to reduce awareness of the tinnitus by providing sounds for the ears that actively mask and/or divert attention away from it. Over time the brain will be retrained to ignore the tinnitus as the lack of attention allows the brain to reclassify it as irrelevant and blend it into the background.
Learn more about Sound Therapy
If tinnitus coincides with hearing loss it is often beneficial to improve the general hearing to reduce the awareness of the ringing in your ears. Phonak hearing aids also offer additional support for people with tinnitus by providing sounds that can be used for sound therapy.
The first step is to speak to a tinnitus specialist near you for more in-depth information.
The impact tinnitus has on my everyday life decreased tremendously — I can focus.