Tinnitus is an extremely common condition of the ear. It’s one of the most prevalent health conditions in the world with some estimates indicating that up to 10 percent of the population experiences it at one time or another. The condition manifests as a sound in the ear that isn’t actually there, typically, it’s a buzzing or ringing, but tinnitus can manifest as other sounds as well.
While the prevalence of tinnitus may be evident, the causes are often more cloudy. Some of the wide variety of tinnitus causes are temporary, while others can be more long term.
This is why environmental factors can play a major role in tinnitus symptoms. If the background sound of your particular environment is very loud, you could be harming your hearing. If your tinnitus is a result of damage, it could end up being permanent.
What is tinnitus (and why is it so prevalent)?
Tinnitus is a condition in which you hear a sound that isn’t actually there. Tinnitus normally manifests as a ringing or buzzing, but can also manifest as other noises, like screeching, thumping, or humming. Normally, the sounds are consistent or rhythmic. Tinnitus will normally clear itself up after a short time period. In less common cases, tinnitus might become effectively permanent, a condition known as chronic tinnitus.
Tinnitus is so prevalent for a couple of reasons. Firstly, environmental factors that can contribute to tinnitus are quite common. Underlying conditions and injuries can bring about tinnitus symptoms and that accounts for the second reason. And there are quite a few conditions and injuries that can result in tinnitus. Tinnitus is quite common for these reasons.
How can the environment impact tinnitus?
There are a large number of factors that can bring about tinnitus symptoms, including ototoxic chemicals and medications. But when it comes to “environmental” triggers, noise is the biggest offender. Some settings, such as noisy city streets, can get really loud. Likewise, anybody who works around industrial equipment all day would be at risk of their environment worsening their tinnitus.
When assessing the state of your health, these environmental factors are really significant.
As with hearing loss, noise-associated damage can eventually trigger tinnitus symptoms. In these situations, the resulting tinnitus is often chronic in nature. Some of the most common noise and environment-induced causes of tinnitus include the following:
- Music: Listening to music at high volumes is a pretty common practice. Tinnitus will frequently be the outcome if you do this frequently.
- Traffic: You might not even realize how loud traffic can be in densely populated locations. And you may not even recognize that your ears can be damaged at lower volumes than you might expect. Tinnitus and hearing damage can be the outcome of long commutes in these noisy locations.
- Events: If noise is loud enough, even over short intervals, tinnitus can sometimes be the outcome. Shooting a gun or going to a rock concert are instances of this kind of noise.
- Noise in the workplace: It might come as a surprise that lots of workplaces, sometimes even offices, are pretty loud. Whether it’s industrial equipment or chatty office neighbors, spending eight hours a day around constant workplace noise can eventually result in tinnitus.
People frequently wrongly think hearing damage will only occur at extreme volume levels. For this reason, hearing protection should be utilized at lower volumes than you may expect. Noise induced tinnitus symptoms can often be avoided altogether by doing this.
If I have tinnitus, what should I do?
So, does tinnitus go away? Well, in some cases it might. But your symptoms might be irreversible in some instances. At first, it’s basically impossible to know which is which. If you have tinnitus due to noise damage, even if your tinnitus does go away, your risk of having your tinnitus come back and become chronic is a lot more probable.
People often underestimate the minimum volume that damage starts to occur, which is the most significant contributing factor to its development. Damage has probably already happened if you’re experiencing tinnitus. This means that there are several things that you should do to change your environment so as to prevent more irreparable damage.
Here are some tips you can try:
- Wearing hearing protection (either earplugs or earmuffs) in order to prevent damage. Noise canceling headphones can also be a benefit in this regard.
- If possible, try to decrease environmental volume. For example, you could shut the windows if you live in a loud area or turn off industrial machinery that is not in use.
- Reducing the amount of time you spend in noisy environments without giving your ears a chance to recuperate.
Dealing with symptoms
Many people who experience chronic tinnitus find the symptoms to be enormously distracting and unpleasant. This prompts them to try and find a way to ease the intensity of their symptoms.
You should call us for an appointment if you’re hearing a persistent ringing or buzzing in your ears. We will be able to evaluate your symptoms and identify how to best manage them. For most cases of chronic tinnitus, there’s no cure. Symptom management may include the following:
- Relaxation techniques: High blood pressure has sometimes been linked to an increase in the severity of tinnitus symptoms. Your tinnitus symptoms can sometimes be eased by using relaxation techniques like meditation, for example.
- White noise devices: In some cases, you can tune out some of your tinnitus symptoms by utilizing a white noise generator around your house.
- Masking device: This device is a lot like a hearing aid, but instead of boosting sounds, it masks them. Your device will be specially calibrated to mask your symptoms of tinnitus.
- Retraining therapy: You can sometimes retrain your ears with the help of a specialist, which will progressively retrain the way you process sound.
- Hearing aid: This can help amplify other sounds and, as a result, drown out the ringing or buzzing produced by tinnitus.
There’s no cure for tinnitus. A good first step would be to safeguard your hearing by controlling your environment.
But treating and managing tinnitus is possible. Depending on your lifestyle, your hearing, and your tinnitus, we’ll be able to formulate a specific treatment plan for you. For some, dealing with your tinnitus might simply mean making use of a white noise machine. In other cases, a more intensive approach might be needed.
Learn how to best control your tinnitus by making an appointment right away!