Tinnitus is an incredibly common condition of the ear. It’s one of the most prevalent health conditions in the world with some estimates suggesting that up to 10 percent of the population experiences it at one time or another. Even though 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 obvious, the causes are frequently more cloudy. In part, that’s because tinnitus may be caused by a wide range of causes, some of which are temporary and others that can be more long lasting.
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 damaging your hearing. If your tinnitus is due to damage, it may end up being permanent.
What is tinnitus (and why is it so prevalent)?
Tinnitus is a condition that causes you to hear a noise that isn’t really there. Tinnitus usually manifests as a ringing or buzzing, but can also manifest as other sounds, like screeching, thumping, or humming. Typically, the sounds are constant or rhythmic. Tinnitus will normally clear itself up after a short time period. Though not as common, chronic tinnitus is effectively permanent.
There are a couple of reasons why tinnitus is so prevalent. Firstly, environmental factors that can play a role in tinnitus are fairly prevalent. The second reason is that tinnitus is usually a symptom of an underlying condition or injury. Put simply, there are lots of such injuries or conditions that can cause tinnitus. As a result, tinnitus tends to be quite common.
How is tinnitus affected by environmental factors?
There are a wide variety of factors that can contribute to tinnitus symptoms, including ototoxic chemicals and medications. But when it involves “environmental” triggers, noise is the biggest offender. For instance, some locations are louder than others (traffic noise in some settings can get exceptionally high). Someone would be in danger of environmental tinnitus, for instance, if they worked around loud industrial equipment.
These environmental factors can be incredibly significant when considering your hearing health.
As with hearing loss, noise-associated damage can eventually cause tinnitus symptoms. When tinnitus is a result of noise damage, it’s typically chronic and frequently permanent. Here are a few of the most common noise-related causes of tinnitus:
- Noise in the workplace: It could come as a surprise that lots of workplaces, sometimes even offices, are fairly noisy. Tinnitus can eventually result from being in these settings for eight hours a day, whether it’s industrial equipment or the din of lots of people talking in an office.
- Music: Listening to music at loud volumes is a pretty common practice. Doing this on a regular basis can often cause tinnitus symptoms.
- Events: If noise is loud enough, even over short stretches, tinnitus can sometimes be the result. Shooting a gun or going to a rock concert are instances of this kind of noise.
- Traffic: Traffic in heavily populated areas can be a lot louder than you may expect it to be. And you may not even recognize that your ears can be damaged at lower volumes than you might expect. Long commutes or regular driving in these loud environments can eventually lead to hearing damage, including tinnitus.
People frequently wrongly think hearing damage will only happen at extreme volume levels. For this reason, hearing protection should be used at lower volumes than you might expect. Hearing protection can help you avoid tinnitus symptoms from developing in the first place.
What should I do if I have tinnitus?
Will tinnitus go away on its own? Well, in some cases it could. But your symptoms may be irreversible in some instances. There’s no way to tell which is which at the beginning. Likewise, just because your tinnitus has gone away for now doesn’t mean that noise damage has not occurred, leading to an increased chance of chronic tinnitus down the road.
People tend to underestimate the minimum volume that damage begins to occur, which is the most significant contributing factor to its advancement. If you experience tinnitus, your body is telling you that damage has already likely occurred. This means that there are a number of things that you should do to change your environment so as to prevent more permanent damage.
Here are some tips you can try:
- Reducing the amount of time you spend in loud environments without giving your ears a chance to recover.
- Using hearing protection (either earplugs or earmuffs) in order to prevent damage. Noise canceling headphones can also be an asset in this regard.
- If possible, try to lower environmental volume. If you have any machinery that isn’t in use, turn it off, and shut the windows if it’s noisy outside, for instance.
Managing symptoms
The symptoms of tinnitus are often a huge distraction and are really uncomfortable for most individuals who deal with them. This prompts them to attempt to find a way to ease the severity of their symptoms.
You should call us for an appointment if you are hearing a persistent ringing or buzzing in your ears. We can help you figure out the best way to handle your specific situation. There’s no cure for most kinds of chronic tinnitus. Here are a few ways to manage the symptoms:
- Retraining therapy: In some situations, you can work with a specialist to retrain your ears, gradually modifying the way you process sound.
- Relaxation techniques: Tinnitus symptoms can sometimes be exacerbated by high blood pressure. Your tinnitus symptoms can sometimes be eased by utilizing relaxation techniques like meditation, for example.
- White noise devices: In some cases, you can tune out some of your tinnitus symptoms by using a white noise generator around your home.
- Hearing aid: This can help amplify outside sounds and, as a result, drown out the ringing or buzzing produced by tinnitus.
- Masking device: This is a device that fits similarly to a hearing aid and plays sounds that mask your symptoms. The precise calibration of your device will depend on your specific symptoms.
Tinnitus has no cure. That’s why controlling your environment to safeguard your hearing is a practical first step.
But treating and controlling 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 individuals, may be all that’s needed. In other situations, a more intensive approach might be necessary.
Schedule an appointment to learn how to regulate your tinnitus symptoms.