It isn’t unusual for people to have ringing in their ears, also known as tinnitus. Some estimates suggest that 10 percent of people experience tinnitus at one point or another, making it one of the most prevalent health conditions in the world. The condition manifests as a sound in the ear that isn’t actually there, typically, it’s a buzzing or ringing, but tinnitus can take the form of other sounds too.
Sadly, the causes of tinnitus aren’t as evident as the symptoms. In part, that’s because tinnitus may be caused by a wide variety of causes, some of which are temporary and others that can be more long lasting.
That’s why your environment can be critically important. After all, every setting has a soundscape, and when that soundscape is loud, you could be doing damage to your ears. If your tinnitus is a result of damage, it may end up being permanent.
Why do so many individuals experience tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a condition in which you hear a noise that isn’t really there. Tinnitus typically manifests as a ringing or buzzing, but can also manifest as other noises, like screeching, thumping, or humming. The sounds are typically rhythmic in nature. For the majority of individuals, tinnitus will occur over a short period of time before resolving itself and vanishing. In less common cases, tinnitus may become effectively permanent, a condition known as chronic tinnitus.
Tinnitus is so common for a couple of reasons. The first is that the environmental factors that contribute to tinnitus are also relatively common (more on that in a bit). The second reason is that tinnitus is usually a symptom of a root condition or injury. In other words, there are many such injuries or conditions that can result in tinnitus. Tinnitus is quite prevalent for these reasons.
How is tinnitus affected by environmental factors?
Other things can also cause tinnitus, including ototoxic medications and chemicals. However, when most people talk about “environment” in terms of tinnitus, they actually mean the noise. Some locations, such as noisy city streets, can get really loud. Likewise, anyone who works around industrial equipment all day would be at risk of their environment exacerbating their tinnitus.
These environmental factors can be exceptionally significant when considering your hearing health.
As with hearing loss, noise-related damage can eventually trigger tinnitus symptoms. In these cases, the resulting tinnitus tends to be chronic in nature. Some of the most common noise and environment-related causes of tinnitus include the following:
- Traffic: Traffic in densely populated locations can be a lot louder than you may expect it to be. And you might 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.
- Music: Listening to music at high volumes is a fairly common practice. Doing this on a consistent basis can frequently cause tinnitus symptoms.
- Events: If noise is loud enough, even over short stretches, tinnitus can sometimes be the result. Firing a gun or going to a rock concert are instances of this type of noise.
- Noise in the workplace: It might come as a surprise that lots of workplaces, sometimes even offices, are pretty noisy. Tinnitus can eventually result from being in these places for eight hours a day, whether it’s industrial equipment or the din of a lot of people talking in an office.
People frequently wrongly think damage to their ears 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 frequently be avoided altogether by doing this.
If I have tinnitus, what should I do?
So, does tinnitus resolve? Well, in some instances it might. In other situations, your symptoms may be irreversible. There’s no way to know which is which at the beginning. Likewise, just because your tinnitus has gone away for now doesn’t mean that noise damage hasn’t occurred, leading to an increased chance of chronic tinnitus down the road.
Individuals tend to underestimate the minimum volume that damage starts to occur, which is the most significant contributing factor to its development. If you experience tinnitus, your body is telling you that damage has already probably occurred. This means that there are several things that you should do to change your environment so as to prevent more irreparable damage.
Here are a few tips you can try:
- Stop damage by using hearing protection like earplugs or earmuffs. Noise canceling headphones can also be an asset in this regard.
- Reducing the volume of your environment when possible. If you have any machinery that’s not in use, turn it off, and shut the windows if it’s noisy outside, for instance.
- If you’re in a noisy environment, limit the amount of exposure time and give your ears rests.
How to manage your symptoms
The symptoms of tinnitus are often a big distraction and are really unpleasant for the majority of individuals who deal with them. This prompts them to try and find a way to ease the severity of their symptoms.
You should give us a call for an appointment if you are hearing a persistent buzzing or ringing in your ears. We can help you determine the best way to regulate your particular situation. For the majority of cases of persistent tinnitus, there’s no cure. Symptom management may include the following:
- Hearing aid: This can help amplify other sounds and, as a result, drown out the ringing or buzzing produced by tinnitus.
- Retraining therapy: In some instances, you can work with a specialist to retrain your ears, gradually modifying the way you process sound.
- Relaxation techniques: High blood pressure has sometimes been associated with an increase in the intensity of tinnitus symptoms. So taking some time to relax (with meditation, for example) can sometimes help decrease your tinnitus symptoms.
- White noise devices: Using a white noise device around your house can help you tune out your tinnitus in some instances.
- Masking device: This is a device that fits similarly to a hearing aid and plays sounds to mask your symptoms. The exact calibration of your device will depend on your particular symptoms.
There’s no cure for tinnitus. A great first step would be to safeguard your hearing by managing your environment.
But tinnitus can be addressed and managed. We’ll be able to formulate a specific treatment plan according to your hearing, your tinnitus, and your lifestyle. For some people, managing your tinnitus might simply mean making use of a white noise machine. For others, management might be more demanding.
Learn how to best manage your tinnitus by making an appointment right away!