It isn’t unusual for people to have ringing in their ears, also called tinnitus. Some estimates indicate that 10 percent of people experience tinnitus at one point or another, making it one of the most common health conditions in the world. Although the most common manifestation of tinnitus is a phantom ringing or buzzing in your ear, it can also present as other sounds as well.
While the prevalence of tinnitus might be evident, the causes are frequently more cloudy. Some of the wide range of tinnitus causes are temporary, while others can be more permanent.
That’s why your environment can be critically important. After all, every environment has a soundscape, and when that soundscape is noisy, you may be causing damage to your ears. If your tinnitus is a result of damage, it may end up being permanent.
Why do so many people experience tinnitus?
When you hear sounds that aren’t really there, that’s tinnitus. Tinnitus typically manifests as a ringing or buzzing, but can also manifest as other noises, like screeching, thumping, or humming. The sounds are usually rhythmic in nature. Tinnitus will typically clear itself up after a short time period. In less common cases, tinnitus may 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 rather common. Underlying conditions and injuries can bring about tinnitus symptoms and that accounts for the second reason. And there are lots of conditions and injuries that can result in tinnitus. Consequently, tinnitus tends to be quite common.
How can the environment impact tinnitus?
Other things can also cause tinnitus, including ototoxic medications and chemicals. But when it involves “environmental” triggers, noise is the biggest culprit. For instance, some locations are noisier than others (traffic noise in some settings can get exceptionally high). Likewise, anybody who works around industrial equipment all day would be at risk of their environment exacerbating their tinnitus.
These environmental factors can be incredibly important when considering your hearing health.
Noise induced damage, as with hearing loss, can trigger tinnitus symptoms. In these circumstances, the resulting tinnitus tends to be chronic in nature. Here are some of the most common noise-related causes of tinnitus:
- Music: Listening to music at loud volumes is a fairly common practice. Tinnitus will frequently be the outcome if you do this frequently.
- Noise in the workplace: It might come as a surprise that many workplaces, sometimes even offices, are pretty loud. Whether it’s industrial equipment or gabby office neighbors, spending eight hours a day around constant workplace noise can eventually result in tinnitus.
- Traffic: Traffic in heavily populated places can be much louder than you might expect it to be. And you may not even realize that your ears can be damaged at lower volumes than you may expect. Tinnitus and hearing damage can be the result of long commutes in these noisy settings.
- Events: Tinnitus can sometimes be caused by loud noises, even if they aren’t experienced over a long time-period. Shooting a gun or going to a rock concert are examples of this type of noise.
Damage to the ears can happen at a much lower volume than people usually expect. Because of this, hearing protection should be used at lower volumes than you may expect. Noise associated tinnitus symptoms can frequently be avoided altogether by doing this.
What should I do if I’m experiencing tinnitus?
Will tinnitus go away by itself? Well, in some instances it could. But your symptoms might be irreversible in some instances. At first, it’s basically impossible to know which is which. Likewise, just because your tinnitus has gone away for now doesn’t mean that noise damage has not happened, leading to an increased chance of chronic tinnitus down the road.
One of the most main contributing factors to the advancement of tinnitus is that people tend to underestimate the volume at which damage happens to their ears. If you experience tinnitus, your body is telling you that damage has already probably happened. If this is the case, identifying and changing the source of the noise damage is crucial to prevent further damage.
For example, you could try:
- If possible, try to decrease environmental volume. If you have any machinery that’s not in use, turn it off, and close the windows if it’s noisy outside, for example.
- Using hearing protection (either earplugs or earmuffs) in order to counter damage. You can also get some degree of protection from noise canceling headphones.
- If you’re in a noisy environment, regulate the amount of exposure time and give your ears breaks.
Managing symptoms
Lots of people who experience persistent tinnitus find the symptoms to be extremely distracting and uncomfortable. As a result, they frequently ask: how do you calm tinnitus?
If you hear a ringing or buzzing sound, it’s essential to make an appointment, particularly if the sound won’t go away. We can help you determine the best way to handle your specific situation. For the majority of cases of persistent tinnitus, there’s no cure. Here are a few ways to manage the symptoms:
- Retraining therapy: You can sometimes retrain your ears with the assistance of a specialist, which will gradually retrain the way you process sound.
- Masking device: This is a device that fits like a hearing aid and plays sounds to mask your symptoms. Your device will be specially calibrated to mask your symptoms of tinnitus.
- White noise devices: In some instances, you can tune out some of your tinnitus symptoms by using a white noise generator around your home.
- Relaxation techniques: Tinnitus symptoms can sometimes be aggravated by high blood pressure. So taking some time to relax (with meditation, for instance) can sometimes help decrease your tinnitus symptoms.
- Hearing aid: This can help amplify outside sounds and, as a result, drown out the ringing or buzzing produced by tinnitus.
Tinnitus is not curable. A good first step would be to protect your hearing by managing your environment.
But addressing 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. A white noise machine, for many, might be all that’s needed. For others, management might be more demanding.
Learn how to best control your tinnitus by making an appointment right away!
