Tinnitus at a Glance: What Causes the Swishing Sound inside Your Ear

Tinnitus is described as the ringing in the ears, from its Latin origin, which means ringing. A sufferer from tinnitus hears a ringing noise, buzzing sound, whistling sound, or sounds of a blowing wind usually describes this symptom. Millions of people all over the world suffers from Tinnitus, in fact, one out of five Americans suffers from this symptoms. The sounds that one can hear ranges from a quiet cricket like background noise or those that can be heard over loud external sound. The sound that one can hear oftentimes creates distress and interferes with the sufferer’s daily activities. In most severe cases, a sufferer finds it difficult to hear, work, have problems with balance, and even have difficulty in sleeping.

However, this is not a disease or a disorder in itself but it is a symptom associated with hearing loss or an underlying poor health condition. The ringing in the ears can come from any of the four section of the ear, namely: the outer ear, the middle ear, the inner ear, and the brain. Sometimes head sound is normal, often, we are not aware of these sounds because the outside noise masks them.

Diseases in the eardrum or tympanic membrane can cause tinnitus, fluid retention or infection in the middle ear can also cause ringing ears. One of the most common causes is the damage of the ears microscopic endings; this is the hearing nerve inside the ear. It is a hair like membrane or cilia, which is responsible in sending the signals that our ear receives and then sends this signals in our brain. Older people are more prone because of their age, which results in hearing nerve impairment, thus hearing loss is inevitable to older people and consequently tinnitus.

The underlying health condition that causes ringing in the ears, are allergies, elevated blood pressure, low blood pressure, increase in the blood sugar level, tumors or polyps in the ear, problems in the heart and blood vessels, high cholesterol levels, stress, are disorders that contributes to blood vessels contractions thus, restricting blood flow and oxygen flow to the blood vessels. Another, problem is that, if there are jaw and neck problems, such as tooth impaction and other neck injuries. It can also be a symptom of serious health problems such as aneurysm, brain tumor particularly acoustic neuromas (a benign tumor that presses against the auditory nerve), and diseases in the inner ear, such as Meniere’s syndrome.

It is a disorder wherein the flow of the fluid and regulation of the fluid in the inner ear is abnormal. Some medications can also contribute to tinnitus, according to doctors and pharmacists, there are more than 200 medicines that can cause tinnitus, and they are aspirins, antibiotics, anti-depressants, anti-inflammatory drugs, those with naproxen sodium as one of their drug components, oral contraceptives, and medicines for chemotherapy to name a few.

Today, exposure to extreme loud noises contributes to ringing in the ears. People who are constantly exposed to loud noises like those that operates heavy machinery, works in factories with large equipments, and those that loves high intensity music, musicians, and works in a firing range or has a hobby of firearms shooting, has a harmful effect in the ear.

It is very important that you see a doctor when you suspect that you are suffering from tinnitus. This is not a disease in itself but it is a symptom with an underlying health condition, your doctor will run a series of test to know the exact cause of the symptom.

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Posted on August 18, 2011 at 12:57 pm by admin · Permalink
In: General

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