What is pulsatile tinnitus and how does it differ from regular tinnitus. What are the common causes of pulsatile tinnitus. When should you be concerned about hearing your heartbeat in your ear. How is pulsatile tinnitus diagnosed and treated.

Understanding Pulsatile Tinnitus: A Rhythmic Sound in Your Ear

Pulsatile tinnitus is a unique auditory phenomenon characterized by a rhythmic thumping, pulsing, or whooshing sound that occurs in sync with your heartbeat. Unlike regular tinnitus, which often manifests as a constant ringing or buzzing, pulsatile tinnitus has a distinct pattern that aligns with your pulse. This condition can affect one or both ears, though it’s more commonly experienced in just one ear.

The sound originates from turbulent blood flow in the blood vessels near your ear or head. While it may be concerning to suddenly hear your heartbeat in your ear, in most cases, pulsatile tinnitus is not a cause for immediate alarm. However, understanding its potential causes and knowing when to seek medical attention is crucial for your peace of mind and overall health.

Common Causes of Pulsatile Tinnitus: From Hearing Loss to Vascular Issues

Several factors can contribute to the development of pulsatile tinnitus. Here are some of the most common causes:

• Conductive hearing loss
• Carotid artery disease
• High blood pressure
• Blood vessel disorders

Conductive Hearing Loss and Its Impact

Conductive hearing loss is often the culprit behind pulsatile tinnitus. This type of hearing impairment can result from various factors, including:

• Middle ear infections
• Inflammation in the middle ear
• Fluid accumulation in the middle ear
• Problems with the ossicles (small bones involved in hearing)

When conductive hearing loss occurs, it can amplify internal head noises, including the sound of blood flowing through the carotid artery and jugular vein. These large blood vessels, which circulate blood to and from the brain, pass through each ear. The intensification of these sounds due to hearing loss can lead to the perception of pulsatile tinnitus.

Carotid Artery Disease: A Vascular Cause

Carotid artery disease is another potential cause of pulsatile tinnitus. This condition occurs when fatty plaque builds up inside the carotid arteries, which are responsible for supplying blood to your brain. The accumulation of plaque can create turbulent blood flow, resulting in a pulsating sound that you may perceive as tinnitus.

High Blood Pressure and Its Auditory Effects

Elevated blood pressure can contribute to pulsatile tinnitus. When your blood pressure is high, the blood flow through the carotid artery becomes more turbulent. This increased turbulence can manifest as a pulsating sound in your ear, synchronized with your heartbeat.

Blood Vessel Disorders: Rare but Significant

In some cases, pulsatile tinnitus may be caused by various blood vessel disorders. These can include:

• Aneurysms (weakened, bulging patches in blood vessels)
• Arteriovenous malformations (abnormal connections between arteries and veins)
• Twisted arteries
• Glomus tumors (benign blood vessel tumors behind the eardrum)

While these conditions are less common, they can be significant contributors to pulsatile tinnitus and may require medical intervention.

Diagnosing Pulsatile Tinnitus: What to Expect at the Doctor’s Office

If you’re experiencing pulsatile tinnitus, it’s important to consult a healthcare professional for proper diagnosis. During your appointment, you can expect the following:

1. A thorough medical history review
2. Physical examination of your ears
3. Auscultation (listening with a stethoscope) of the blood flow through the arteries in your neck
4. Possible additional testing, such as a hearing test

In some cases, if the doctor hears a bruit (an unusual sound made by blood rushing past an obstruction) in one or both carotid arteries, they may recommend further tests to check for carotid artery narrowing or other malformations.

When Should You Be Concerned About Pulsatile Tinnitus?

While pulsatile tinnitus is often benign, there are certain situations where it may warrant immediate medical attention. You should consult a doctor if:

• The pulsatile tinnitus persists for more than a few weeks
• It becomes significantly bothersome or affects your quality of life
• You experience sudden hearing loss or dizziness along with the pulsatile tinnitus
• The sound is accompanied by other symptoms such as headaches or vision changes

Remember, most cases of pulsatile tinnitus are not cause for alarm. However, seeking medical advice can help rule out any underlying conditions and provide peace of mind.

Treatment Options for Pulsatile Tinnitus: Addressing the Root Cause

The treatment for pulsatile tinnitus largely depends on its underlying cause. Here are some potential treatment approaches:

• Treating underlying conditions (e.g., high blood pressure, middle ear infections)
• Addressing vascular issues through medication or surgical intervention
• Using sound therapy to mask the pulsatile tinnitus
• Cognitive behavioral therapy to help manage the emotional impact of tinnitus

In many cases, treating the root cause of pulsatile tinnitus can alleviate or eliminate the symptom. However, if no specific cause is identified, management techniques may be employed to help you cope with the condition.

Differentiating Pulsatile Tinnitus from Regular Tinnitus

It’s important to understand the distinction between pulsatile tinnitus and regular tinnitus, as they have different characteristics and potentially different underlying causes.

Regular Tinnitus: The More Common Form

Regular tinnitus is characterized by a constant ringing, buzzing, or whistling sound in the ears that is not synchronized with the heartbeat. It affects more than 50 million Americans and can be caused by various factors, including:

• Exposure to loud noises
• Age-related hearing loss
• Certain medications
• Ear infections
• Head or neck injuries

Key Differences Between Pulsatile and Regular Tinnitus

The main differences between pulsatile and regular tinnitus include:

1. Rhythm: Pulsatile tinnitus is rhythmic and synchronized with the heartbeat, while regular tinnitus is usually a constant sound.
2. Sound quality: Pulsatile tinnitus often sounds like a whooshing or thumping, whereas regular tinnitus is typically described as ringing, buzzing, or hissing.
3. Underlying causes: Pulsatile tinnitus is often related to blood flow issues, while regular tinnitus can have a wider range of causes.
4. Detectability: In some cases, a doctor may be able to hear pulsatile tinnitus using a stethoscope, which is not possible with regular tinnitus.

Understanding these differences can help in accurately describing your symptoms to a healthcare provider, leading to a more precise diagnosis and appropriate treatment plan.

Living with Pulsatile Tinnitus: Coping Strategies and Lifestyle Changes

While waiting for a diagnosis or if treatment doesn’t completely eliminate the pulsatile tinnitus, there are several strategies you can employ to manage the condition:

• Sound masking: Use white noise machines or apps to help mask the pulsatile sound.
• Stress management: Practice relaxation techniques such as meditation or deep breathing exercises.
• Avoid triggers: Identify and avoid any factors that seem to worsen your tinnitus, such as caffeine or loud noises.
• Stay active: Regular exercise can improve blood flow and potentially reduce the intensity of pulsatile tinnitus.
• Maintain a healthy lifestyle: Manage your blood pressure through diet and exercise.
• Seek support: Join support groups or seek counseling to help cope with the emotional impact of living with tinnitus.

Remember, while pulsatile tinnitus can be distressing, many people successfully manage the condition and maintain a good quality of life. Working closely with your healthcare provider and implementing these coping strategies can help you navigate life with pulsatile tinnitus more effectively.

Emerging Research and Future Treatments for Tinnitus

While current treatments for both pulsatile and regular tinnitus can be effective for some individuals, researchers are continuously working on developing new and more targeted therapies. One promising area of research is focused on better understanding and measuring tinnitus itself.

The Challenge of Measuring Tinnitus

One of the main obstacles in tinnitus research has been the difficulty in objectively measuring the condition. As Daniel Polley, director of the Lauer Tinnitus Research Center at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye and Ear, explains, “There’s no way to measure it directly. The only way we know you have tinnitus is if you tell us.”

This reliance on subjective reporting makes it challenging to assess the effectiveness of treatments or understand the underlying mechanisms of tinnitus. However, researchers are working to overcome this hurdle.

Converting Tinnitus into a Measurable Problem

Polley and his colleagues are focusing on developing methods to convert tinnitus into a measurable problem. This approach could revolutionize both the diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus. By creating objective measures of tinnitus, researchers hope to:

• Improve diagnosis accuracy
• Develop more targeted treatments
• Better assess the effectiveness of therapies
• Gain deeper insights into the underlying causes of tinnitus

Understanding the Origin of Tinnitus

Recent research has shed light on the potential origins of tinnitus. Polley describes it as a type of feedback that occurs with age. As the auditory nerve connecting the ear to the brain starts to fray, it diminishes normal sounds. In response, the brain may try to compensate by increasing internal volume.

This compensation mechanism can lead to increased sensitivity to background sounds in the brain, similar to how a microphone picks up its own sound when placed too close to a speaker. This understanding opens up new avenues for potential treatments targeting the brain’s compensatory mechanisms.

Potential Future Treatments

Based on current research, future treatments for tinnitus might include:

1. Targeted neurostimulation to reset the brain’s volume control
2. Gene therapies to repair damaged auditory nerves
3. Advanced sound therapies that can more effectively mask or cancel out tinnitus sounds
4. Pharmacological interventions targeting the neurological processes involved in tinnitus

While these potential treatments are still in the research phase, they offer hope for more effective management and possible cures for both pulsatile and regular tinnitus in the future.

Conclusion: Understanding and Managing Pulsatile Tinnitus

Pulsatile tinnitus, characterized by a rhythmic sound in sync with your heartbeat, can be a concerning symptom. However, in most cases, it’s not a cause for immediate alarm. Understanding its potential causes, from conductive hearing loss to vascular issues, can help you better communicate with your healthcare provider and seek appropriate care.

If you experience persistent pulsatile tinnitus, it’s important to consult a medical professional for proper diagnosis. They can help identify any underlying conditions and recommend appropriate treatment options. Remember, while pulsatile tinnitus can be bothersome, many people successfully manage the condition with proper care and coping strategies.

As research in this field continues to advance, we can look forward to more precise diagnostic tools and potentially more effective treatments in the future. Until then, working closely with your healthcare provider and employing various management strategies can help you maintain a good quality of life while living with pulsatile tinnitus.

Ask the doctor: Is it worrisome to hear a pulse in my ear?

If you hear “heartbeat” thumping in your ear, it may be pulsatile tinnitus

Q. One morning last week I woke up hearing my heartbeat in my left ear. I hear it most clearly when I am in bed or sitting quietly. My health is good, and I was told after a recent cardiac workup that my heart was “perfect.” Should I be worried that I can hear the rhythmic pattern of my heart from inside my left ear?

A. What you describe sounds like pulsatile tinnitus (pronounced TIN-nih-tus or tin-NITE-us). It is a type of rhythmic thumping, pulsing, throbbing, or whooshing only you can hear that is often in time with the heartbeat. Most people with pulsatile tinnitus hear the sound in one ear, though some hear it in both. The sound is the result of turbulent flow in blood vessels in the neck or head. The most common causes of pulsatile tinnitus include the following:

Conductive hearing loss.  This is usually caused by an infection or inflammation of the middle ear or the accumulation of fluid there. Sometimes it is caused by problems with the ossicles (small bones involved in hearing). This type of hearing loss intensifies internal head noises — sounds like breathing, chewing, and blood flowing through the ear. A conductive hearing loss also makes it easier to hear blood flowing through two large vessels that travel through each ear, the carotid artery and the jugular vein, which circulate blood to and from the brain.

Carotid artery disease. The accumulation of fatty plaque inside the carotid arteries can create the kind of turbulent blood flow that resounds as pulsatile tinnitus.

High blood pressure. When blood pressure is high, blood flow through the carotid artery is more likely to be turbulent and thus cause a pulsating sound.

Blood vessel disorders. A variety of malformations and disorders are occasionally the source of pulsatile tinnitus. These include a blood vessel with a weakened, bulging patch (aneurysm), an abnormal connection between an artery and vein (arteriovenous malformation), twisted arteries, or a benign blood vessel tumor (glomus tumor) behind the eardrum.

If you were my patient, I would take a careful history (a patient’s story often holds important clues), and then examine your ears. I would also use a stethoscope to listen to the blood flow through the arteries in your neck. If I did not find any obvious cause for your symptoms, I would likely recommend some additional testing, including a hearing test. If I heard a bruit (BROO-ee) — the unusual sound that blood makes when it rushes past an obstruction — in one or both carotid arteries, I would suggest you have a test to look for a narrowing in the carotid arteries or other malformations.

Most of the time, pulsatile tinnitus is nothing to worry about. If it doesn’t go away on its own after a few weeks or becomes really bothersome, talk with your doctor about it.

Image: Casara Guru/Getty Images

As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content.
Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date,
should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

Closing in on tinnitus treatments

New research aims to capture and eventually cure incessant ringing in the ears.

More than 50 million Americans struggle with tinnitus, a constant or recurring ringing in the ears that ranges from irritating to debilitating. Some treatments work for some people, but none seems to work for everyone.

Tinnitus is a tough condition for doctors to study. “There’s no way to measure it directly. The only way we know you have tinnitus is if you tell us. Even if there were a cure, we wouldn’t know how it worked because we have to rely on verbal descriptions of what your tinnitus sounds like and how loud it is,” says Daniel Polley, director of the Lauer Tinnitus Research Center at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye and Ear.

But Polley and his colleagues are trying to convert tinnitus into a problem that can be measured, which is needed for diagnosis and effective treatment.

What’s that noise?

While some people describe tinnitus as a high-pitched ringing, others say it sounds more like crickets, “whooshing,” or scraping. What is it?

Polley says it’s a type of feedback that occurs with age. The auditory nerve connecting the ear to the brain starts to fray, diminishing normal sounds.

“In some people the brain tries to compensate for this loss of input by turning up internal volume,” Polley explains. “The sensitivity knobs are turned up and now tuned into background sounds in the brain, the same way a microphone picks up the sound of itself when it’s too close to a speaker.”

In rare cases, the noise can be caused by a tumor or cyst pinching the auditory nerve or by a buildup of earwax.

Making it tangible

Scientists can help you reproduce the sound of your tinnitus so that others understand what you’re hearing. Polley and his colleagues have programmed a machine that allows you to control pitch, loudness, and other acoustic features until you feel it matches the sound in your head. But that’s not enough to identify tinnitus.

Researchers at the Lauer Center are trying to develop a more tangible physical signature of tinnitus.

They’re using hearing tests as well as measurements of electrical activity in the brain and pupil movement in the eyes (the pupils change size depending on the amount of effort used to listen), and plugging the results into a computer.

“We’re measuring what makes someone with tinnitus different from someone without tinnitus. Then we use artificial intelligence to find a signature that identifies the presence of tinnitus. Our goal is to identify a physical representation of this phantom sound.”

Eventually, Polley says, computer programs will help scientists understand what changes physically when tinnitus comes and goes.

Lauer Center scientists are tackling tinnitus in other ways as well.

These researchers have been learning about the underlying biology of the problem. They’ve been using lab animals to figure out more about the auditory connections lost to age.

They’re also researching how to regenerate and restore hearing signals from the ear to the brain. Private biotech companies are investigating this approach, too.

Experimental therapies

Potential tinnitus treatments being studied elsewhere include therapies that aim to “zap” away tinnitus with tiny amounts of electricity. The idea is to minimize the activity of oversensitive brain cells that turn up the background noise.

These experimental therapies — repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) — deliver electromagnetic pulses to the scalp. But be careful if you’re offered such a treatment.

“There’s no convincing evidence that passing electrical current into your brain is going to make your tinnitus go away. You could make tinnitus worse,” Polley cautions.

What works right now?

Current treatments attempt to make tinnitus less annoying. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnosis aim to redirect negative thoughts and emotions linked to tinnitus.

Sound therapy tries to mask the noise of tinnitus. The masking sound, which comes from wearable or external devices for the ear, is meant to distract overactive brain cells.

“Maskers are safe and somewhat effective,” Polley notes. “You pump more signals through the remaining connections between the ear and the brain, and that can temporarily compensate for the lost connections.”

These therapies only manage symptoms. They don’t work for everyone, but they’re all we have.

A ray of hope for some people: if tinnitus is caused by earwax or a cyst, it can sometimes be eliminated.

So talk to your doctor. Otherwise, you won’t know what’s causing your tinnitus and whether there’s anything you can do.

Image: © Maica/Getty Images

As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content.
Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date,
should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

This woman’s struggle to diagnose the ‘whooshing’ in her ears

Seven years ago, New York lawyer Emma Greenwood awoke to the beat of a pulse on one side of her head. The internet told her she had tinnitus, often called ringing in the ears. So did her doctor.

She knew that wasn’t right. When she listened to the “sounds of tinnitus” online, they reminded her of a whistling teakettle or squealing brakes. The sound dogging her days, by contrast, was a low-pitched rhythmic whoosh, pulsing in sync with her heartbeat.

It took a few months, but Greenwood finally found a doctor who understood what she was hearing and diagnosed her with a vascular condition. Her “whoosh” was, in medical terms, a “bruit” — the sound of turbulent blood flow through a narrowed vein in her brain.

Greenwood figured she couldn’t be alone: Many other patients hearing a whoosh had no doubt had been told they had tinnitus — for which there is no medical treatment. That’s a problem because whooshing can be treated — and sometimes, needs to be addressed quickly. The pulsing sound can indicate a condition that could lead to seizure, stroke, or death.

So Greenwood set out on a crusade to awaken the world to the whoosh.

She started a website, whooshers.com, with links to medical research and tips to help physicians understand the symptom. In a bid to raise awareness among the general public, she sells $25 “Do You Whoosh?” T-shirts, with the question mark shaped like an ear. Some patients have given the T-shirts to their doctors.

Greenwood, who also runs a Facebook support group, encourages patients to share their stories through social media on “Whoosher Wednesdays. ” And she posts recordings of people’s whooshes, which are sometimes loud enough to be captured with a smartphone. They’re the most popular part of the site.

At the heart of her activism: A quest to get whooshing (the common name is “pulsatile tinnitus”) recognized as a symptom separate from tinnitus within the medical coding system. It often heralds a vascular condition, after all, not an auditory problem like tinnitus. The sound isn’t a ringing, but a swishing, pulsing, or thumping that is sometimes even described as a bird flapping its wings.

“Pulsatile tinnitus is not tinnitus,” Greenwood said. “It’s a travesty that the two share a name.”

Over four years, she collected more than 2,500 signatures on an online petition to get whooshing its own medical codes — and it finally happened. In the latest update to the codes, which took effect on Oct. 1, pulsatile tinnitus gets its own designation.

“Awareness is key,” Greenwood said. When her whoosh first struck, “I didn’t even know it had a name,” she said. “I recognize the desperation people feel.”

A rare condition

Pulsatile tinnitus is far less common than regular tinnitus, which afflicts around 20 percent of adults in the United States. Information is scant, but one small study found that 4 percent of patients reporting tinnitus actually had pulsatile tinnitus.

Doctors often overlook the symptom. When patients start noticing a noise in the ear, they usually consult first with an otolaryngologist, or ENT. They’re routinely, and mistakenly, told nothing can be done medically. That’s true for tinnitus. But not for pulsatile tinnitus.

“If these patients are taking advice from doctors who know nothing about the distinction, they are not going to get the help they need,” Greenwood said.

Greenwood, 41, urges fellow whooshers to get the appropriate diagnostic imaging — often including an MRI — and circulate the films to doctors who might help. Many cases are fixable, often by a catheter-based procedure and occasionally by surgery.

(It’s important to make sure you have pulsatile tinnitus before getting an MRI, however, because the noisy scan can be dangerously loud for patients with regular tinnitus.)

A proper diagnosis also helps for insurance purposes. “If you have vague or outdated codes, it is difficult for payers to figure out what they’re paying for,” said Sue Bowman, senior director of coding policy and compliance at the American Health Information Management Association. “This could lead to a request for more information or a denial of reimbursement.”

Greenwood’s efforts have “really impacted how pulsatile tinnitus is viewed,” said Dr. Maksim Shapiro, an interventional neuroradiologist at New York University Langone Medical Center, who treats patients with vascular abnormalities.

“Patients are oftentimes educating doctors, and it’s a legitimate education,” Shapiro said. “Pulsatile tinnitus is typically not a concern of the ear per se. The ear is doing what the ear is supposed to do — picking up sound. ”

His department now hosts regular information sessions on whooshing.

The crusade continues

Sometimes the whoosh can be heard with a stethoscope placed on the skull. Another way to identify it, Shapiro said, is to have patients tap to the beat of the crescendo they’re hearing while he takes their pulse. The pulsatile beat is always in sync with the heartbeat. When patients exercise, their heartbeats will quicken. So will the pace of their whoosh.

Even if the underlying condition isn’t life-threatening, it can be intensely annoying. “If I do a procedure purely based on relief of the sound, I tell the patient it’s very legitimate to treat a sound that is so disturbing that it ruins the quality of life,” Shapiro said.

Greenwood opted not to have any procedure to address her whoosh. She said her own condition is tolerable.

But she’s not yet done with her crusade.

She would dearly love to get the condition renamed so it doesn’t include the term “tinnitus” at all.

The four new codes — for pulsatile tinnitus of the right ear, left ear, both ears, and unspecified ear — are categorized under “diseases of the ear and mastoid process.” Because the pulsing can indicate so many conditions, Greenwood would much rather see them listed under “not elsewhere classified” category.

“That word ‘ear’ just irks me,” she said.

This article is reproduced with permission from STAT. It was first published on Oct. 6, 2016. Find the original story here.

Tinnitus – NHS

Tinnitus is the name for hearing noises that are not caused by sounds coming from the outside world. It is common and not usually a sign of anything serious. It might get better by itself and there are treatments that can help.

Check if you have tinnitus

Tinnitus can sound like:

• ringing
• buzzing
• whooshing
• humming
• hissing
• throbbing
• music or singing

You may hear these sounds in 1 or both ears, or in your head. They may come and go, or you might hear them all the time.

Non-urgent advice: See a GP if:

• you have tinnitus regularly or constantly
• your tinnitus is getting worse
• your tinnitus is bothering you – for example, it’s affecting your sleep or concentration, or is making you feel anxious and depressed
• you have tinnitus that beats in time with your pulse

Urgent advice: Call 999 or go to A&E if you have tinnitus:

• after a head injury
• with sudden hearing loss, weakness in the muscles of your face, or a spinning sensation (vertigo)

What happens at your appointment

The GP will look in your ears to see if your tinnitus is caused by something they can treat, like an ear infection or a build-up of earwax.

They might also check for any hearing loss.

You may be referred to a specialist for further tests and treatment.

Things you can try to help cope with tinnitus

Don’t

• do not have total silence – listening to soft music or sounds (called sound therapy) may distract you from the tinnitus

• do not focus on it, as this can make it worse – hobbies and activities may take your mind off it

The British Tinnitus Association (BTA) has more information about sound therapy, and runs support groups and a free helpline on 0800 018 0527.

RNID also has a free helpline on 0808 808 0123.

Treatments for tinnitus

If the cause of your tinnitus is unknown or cannot be treated, your GP or specialist may refer you for a type of talking therapy.

This could be:

• tinnitus counselling – to help you learn about your tinnitus and find ways of coping with it
• cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) – to change the way you think about your tinnitus and reduce anxiety
• tinnitus retraining therapy – using sound therapy to retrain your brain to tune out and be less aware of the tinnitus

Tinnitus retraining therapy may be available on the NHS for people with severe or persistent tinnitus. It’s unclear if tinnitus retraining therapy works for everyone. It’s widely available privately.

If tinnitus is causing you hearing loss, hearing aids may be recommended.

Causes of tinnitus

It’s not always clear what causes tinnitus, but it’s often linked to:

Video: tinnitus (BSL version)

In this video, learn about tinnitus, its possible causes and the effects and how to deal with it.

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Media review due: 1 June 2024

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Next review due: 02 October 2023

Do you hear that? Noises In My Ear That No One Else Hears

Have you ever heard a sound that no one else hears? You are not alone. There are many sounds that can be heard in the ears or head. Some are benign. Others may be need to be evaluated. All can be concerning if you have never experienced a sound no one else hears.

One category of sounds in the ear is tinnitus. Tinnitus is very common. It affects almost one in five people. It becomes more prevalent the older you are. It is associated with both hearing loss and acoustic trauma. It may sound like buzzing, humming, whistling, birds, insects, etc. Although it is often perceived in the ear, current science suggests it is generated in the central nervous system.

In healthy ears, hearing cells within the inner are connected to nerves that transmit sound from the ear to the brain. Although hearing cells are destroyed with hearing loss, the nerves deeper in the brain are not always lost. These nerves no longer receive stimulation, and begin to create signals on their own. Because these signals are not generated from the outside world, we perceive sound that no one else does.

Tinnitus, therefore, is a sign that hearing loss has occurred. It often occurs after a loud concert, sports event, or work experience. Tinnitus that occurs in only one ear or occurs with episodes of dizziness is more concerning than tinnitus that occurs in both ears over many years.

Some tinnitus sounds like whooshing and occurs with your heart beat. This is called pulsatile tinnitus. Normally our ear is protected from hearing internal blood flow. Medical conditions may decrease the shielding of our ear from internal sounds. Hearing your pulse only on your pillow, however, is not abnormal.

Wax or fluid in the ear may increase the resonance of blood flow making it audible. Weight loss may leave the Eustachian tube stuck open causing audible breathing sounds and heart sounds. Hernia of the brain into the ear also causes awareness of one’s heartbeat.

Other conditions increase the blood flow above normal levels. Head trauma may result in aneurysm or fistula of blood vessels near the ear. Vascular tumors may increase blood flow around the ear. Anemia and dehydration increase the force of the heartbeat resulting in pulsatile tinnitus. Some medications may increase brain pressure and cause pulsatile tinnitus.

A rare cause of thumping sound in the ear is muscle twitching. Muscles attached to the hearing bones or the Eustachian tube will make a thump when they contract. Just like a muscle twitch can occur in the eye lid, a muscle twitch of these muscles can occur and will cause a rapid thumping sound.

Crackling or popping is normal to occur with chewing, swallowing, or yawning. Excessive crackling or popping may be due to a Eustachian tube that is stuck closed.

Noisy ears associated with hearing loss or dizziness should be evaluated.  Pulsations that are persistent should also be evaluated.  At the Dallas Ear Institute, there are professionals to help you know more about the sounds your ear is making. Call (972) 566-7600 to schedule an appointment.

NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders)

There are numerous, varied causes of non-rhythmic tinnitus, the most common of which are hearing loss and/or noise exposure. Rhythmic tinnitus is usually caused by disorders affecting the blood vessels (vascular system) or muscles (muscular system).

Pulsatile tinnitus is generally caused by abnormalities or disorders affecting the blood vessels (vascular disorders), especially the blood vessels near or around the ears. Such abnormalities or disorders can cause a change in the blood flow through the affected blood vessels. The blood vessels could be weakened from damage caused by hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis). For example, abnormalities affecting the carotid artery, the main artery serving the brain, can be associated with pulsatile tinnitus. A rare cause of pulsatile tinnitus is a disorder known as fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD), a condition characterized by abnormal development of the arterial wall. When the carotid artery is affected by FMD, pulsatile tinnitus can develop.

It is possible that the most common cause of pulsatile tinnitus is sigmoid sinus diverticulum and dehiscence, which can be collectively referred to as sinus wall abnormalities or SSWA. The sigmoid sinus is a blood carrying channel on the side of the brain that receives blood from veins within the brain. The blood eventually exits through the internal jugular vein. Sigmoid sinus diverticulum refers to the formation of small sac-like pouches (diverticula) that protrude through the wall of the sigmoid sinus into the mastoid bone behind the ear. Dehiscence refers to absence of part of the bone that surrounds the sigmoid sinus in the mastoid. It is unknown whether these conditions represent different parts of one disease process or spectrum, or whether they are two distinct conditions. These abnormalities cause pressure, blood flow, and noise changes within the sigmoid sinus, which ultimately results in pulsatile tinnitus. Narrowing of the blood vessel that leads into the sigmoid sinus, known as the transverse sinus, has also been associated with pulsatile tinnitus.

Superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome is another not uncommon cause of pulsatile tinnitus. The superior semicircular canal is one of three canals found in the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear. The vestibular apparatus helps to maintain equilibrium and balance. In this syndrome, a part of the temporal bone that overlies the superior semicircular canal is abnormally thin or absent. Superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome can affect both hearing and balance to different degrees.

Additional conditions that can cause pulsatile tinnitus include arterial bruit, abnormal passages or connections between the blood vessels of the outermost layer of the membrane (dura) that covers the brain and spinal cord (dural arteriovenous shunts), or conditions that cause increased pressure within the skull such as idiopathic intracranial hypertension (pseudotumor cerebri). Sigmoid sinus dehiscence may be associated with pseudotumor, but this connection has not been firmly established. It possible that cases of pulsatile tinnitus associated with pseudotumor may be caused by an undiagnosed SSWA. Head trauma, surgery, middle ear conductive hearing loss, and certain tumors can also cause pulsatile tinnitus. Obstructions within in the vessels that connect the heart and brain can also cause pulsatile tinnitus.

Muscular tinnitus can be caused by several degenerative diseases that affect the head and neck including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or multiple sclerosis. Myoclonus can also cause muscular tinnitus, especially palatal myoclonus, which is characterized by abnormal contractions of the muscles of the roof of the mouth. Spasms of the stapedial muscle (which attaches to the stapes bone or stirrup), which is the smallest muscle in the body, and tensor tympani muscle, both of which are located in the middle ear, have also been associated with objective tinnitus. Myoclonus or muscle spasms may be caused by an underlying disorder such as a tumor, tissue death caused by lack of oxygen (infarction), or degenerative disease, but it is most commonly a benign and self-limiting problem.

Patulous Eustachian tubes can be associated with tinnitus. The Eustachian tube is a small canal that connects the middle ear to the back of the nose and upper throat. The Eustachian tube normally remains closed. In individuals with a patulous Eustachian tube, the tube is abnormally open. Consequently, talking, chewing, swallowing and other similar actions can cause vibrations directly onto the ear drum. For example, affected individuals may hear blowing sounds that are synchronized with breathing.

The Causes Of Pulsatile Tinnitus | Arches Tinnitus Formula

By Barry Keate
Barry Keate, has lived with tinnitus over 40 years and has published 150+ research articles on numerous aspects of tinnitus. He is an expert on the condition and a well-known advocate for those with tinnitus.

Pulsatile tinnitus is the type of ear noise that is perceived as a rhythmic pulsing that is often in time with the heartbeat. It can be experienced as a thumping or whooshing sound. It is sometimes referred to as vascular tinnitus because in the majority of cases, it is related to disturbances in the blood flow. About 3% of tinnitus patients experience this type of tinnitus.

Pulsatile tinnitus usually originates within the blood vessels inside the head or neck region when disturbed blood flow occurs. This results from either increased blood flow or a narrowing of the opening of the blood vessel, both of which result in turbulent blood flow that can be heard in the ears. In this regard, it is totally different from and independent of continuous tinnitus which results from damage to the cochlea and/or hearing nerve.

It is very possible to have both pulsatile and continuous tinnitus together. People who have both of these generally say the pulsatile component is the more bothersome.

It is important to investigate all instances of pulsatile tinnitus. In some cases, a serious underlying condition could exist. In rare cases, this can lead to a catastrophic event such as stroke. A series of tests, beginning with an examination of the head and neck by a physician familiar with the condition, through complex imaging techniques, is performed. Individuals who find that the initial imaging results do not reveal abnormalities should insist on further examination and investigation. It is possible to misread or miss these trouble spots that may be tangled in other structures or hidden by bone or other tissue. Newer imaging techniques, such as Magnetic Resonance Angiography and Carotid Artery Ultrasonography, have been employed that help determine the site of the problem in the majority of pulsatile tinnitus cases. The cure rates for pulsatile tinnitus are quite high once the problem area has been identified. The correct specialist to consult on pulsatile tinnitus is a vascular surgeon.

The following section describes some of the more common causes of pulsatile tinnitus and relevant therapies.

1 – Benign Intracranial Hypertension (BIH). This is a condition where there is increased pressure of the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the brain. The majority of these patients are young females who are generally overweight. Other symptoms of BIH may include hearing loss, ear fullness, dizziness, headaches and visual disturbances. Management of this condition includes weight loss and administration of a diuretic. Most patients improve dramatically with weight reduction alone.

2 – Glomus Tumor. This is a benign vascular tumor usually located in the ear or just below the ear at the skull base. It consists of a mass of intertwined blood vessels. Hearing loss is also a common symptom. Young patients are usually treated surgically, to remove the tumor, while older patients may need no treatment since they are very slow growing.

3 – Atherosclerotic Carotid Artery Disease. Atherosclerosis is the narrowing of the artery due to cholesterol build-up on the artery wall. This reduces the opening resulting in turbulent blood flow that produces pulsatile tinnitus. This usually occurs in older patients with a history of hypertension, elevated cholesterol, diabetes, angina and smoking. The condition can usually be controlled through medication.

4 – Intracranial Vascular Lesions. These include aneurysm and arteriovenous malformations, which is an abnormal connection between an artery and a vein.The blood flows directly from a high pressure artery to a lower pressure vein without going through the capillaries. Either aneurysm or arteriovenous malformation can lead to bleeding in the brain and can be extremely dangerous. Therapies include surgery and embolizing (closing off) the blood vessels.

5 – Middle Ear Effusion. The middle ear is normally an air-filled space. If fluid accumulates in the middle ear due to infection, inflammation or Eustachian tube dysfunction, pulsatile tinnitus can result. It is sometime accompanied by decreased hearing, a feeling of fullness, and may also include pain. This is most often treated with antibiotics, decongestants, nasal sprays, etc. or sometimes surgery.

6 – Venous Hum. Patients who are pregnant, anemic, or have thyroid problems, may develop increased blood flow through the jugular vein, the largest vein in the neck. The jugular vein traverses the middle ear and any turbulent flow in the vein can be heard in the middle ear as a “hum” which may or may not fluctuate with the pulse. Correction of the underlying problem generally results in improvement or resolution.

7 – Hypertension. There are reports of patients with high blood pressure whose pulsatile tinnitus started after they began taking blood pressure medication. Tinnitus subsided in most after four to six weeks. For the remainder, a change to another medication resolved the issue. Others developed tinnitus from elevated blood pressure and it resolved after medication reduced the pressure.

8 – Twisted Arteries. Twisted arteries in the head and neck cause turbulent blood flow leading to pulsatile tinnitus. It generally does not require treatment.

These are the primary causes of pulsatile tinnitus but not an exhaustive listing.

9 – Other Causes. Other causes can include Arnold-Chiari malformation where an elongation of the cerebellum is pushed down through the opening of the base of the skull, blocking the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. Hyperthyroidism, a condition where the thyroid gland overproduces hormones, can cause pulsatile tinnitus. Iron deficiency can cause pulsatile tinnitus in some cases. Iron deficiency thins the blood and it rushes through the bloodstream. Anything that increases blood flow can cause pulsatile tinnitus. Muscle spasm in the soft palate can cause a clicking sound which is rapid (60-200 beats per minute), repetitive and intermittent. This is associated with multiple sclerosis, small vessel disease, tumor or degenerative neurological disorders. The small muscle attached to the stapes bone in the middle ear can spasm which produces a crackling or rumbling noise. There are other, mostly rare, causes of pulsatile tinnitus as well as those mentioned here.

If pulsatile tinnitus is caused by turbulent flow in arteries, pressure applied to the upper neck on the side of the tinnitus should alter or reduce it. If it is venous in origin, the Valsalva maneuver may improve it. This is performed by forcibly exhaling against closed lips and pinched nose, forcing air into the middle ear, provided the Eustachian tube is open. Neither of these is a fool-proof way of identifying or alleviating the problem but positive results may lead to a better diagnosis by a physician.

Arches Tinnitus Formula® is helpful in many cases of pulsatile tinnitus. The mechanism of action is Ginkgo biloba extract reduces the viscosity of the blood and arterial pressure which in turn reduces the throbbing or pulsing effect. People with pulsatile tinnitus should always undergo a thorough evaluation to ensure that serious consequences, such as stroke, will be prevented.

90,000 causes and treatment, how to diagnose

Tinnitus (from Latin tinnītus “ringing”) is the sensation of sound in one or both ears in the absence of an external sound source. The sensation is generally described as ringing in the ears, but sounds can also be similar to hiss, hum, clicking, or buzzing. Tinnitus or ringing in the ears can be severe, mild or moderate, persistent or intermittent. The perception of tinnitus is individual.

Although tinnitus is heard in the ears, it occurs in the nerve circuits of the brain, which causes us to hear sounds in the head.It is not yet known exactly what is going on in the brain to create the illusion of a sound that is not actually there. Tinnitus is the most common disorder affecting 10 to 15% of the world’s population.

Causes of tinnitus or ringing in the ears

Tinnitus may be caused by prolonged exposure to loud noises or certain lifestyle habits. Tinnitus can also occur in healthy people and for no apparent reason. However, in many cases, the appearance of noise or ringing in the ears is associated with hearing impairment.

The reasons that can provoke the appearance of tinnitus can be divided into the following groups:

Medical

• Sulfur plug in the ear
• Diseases of the outer, middle or inner ear
• Otosclerosis
• Meniere’s disease
• Anemia
• Diabetes
• Tumors of the head and neck
• Low serotonin levels
• Problems with blood pressure
• Diseases of the thyroid gland (hypothyroidism).

Hearing impairment

According to statistics, 80-85% of patients suffering from tinnitus have hearing impairment of varying degrees. Despite the fact that tinnitus is not the cause of hearing impairment, its effect negatively affects concentration and performance, since constant sounds in the head distract and interfere with focusing on really important sound information. Irritating noise distracts from daily tasks and interferes with meaningful communication with family, friends, and loved ones.

Head injury and brain disease
Head injuries such as concussion can damage the inner ear and cause tinnitus. Also, neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, can lead to tinnitus, and acoustic tumors of the auditory or vestibular nerve, putting pressure on the nerve endings, can create tinnitus. In this case, the treatment of tinnitus should begin with an appeal to a neurologist.

Problems with the heart and blood vessels

If your tinnitus is pulsating in nature, it may be caused by abnormalities in the functioning of the blood vessels.

Medicines that cause tinnitus

The most common medicines that cause tinnitus are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (eg, aspirin, gentamicin), diuretics, certain antibiotics, and cancer drugs. If you experience tinnitus after starting or changing the dosage of the drug, consult your doctor right away to determine further treatment.

Risk factors for tinnitus

Tinnitus is often observed in people with hearing impairment of different ages, but elderly people and those whose professional activities are associated with exposure to high noise levels are at increased risk.

Age-related hearing loss

Hearing loss due to aging is called presbycusis and begins at the age of 60. The greater the hearing loss, the higher the likelihood of tinnitus.To prevent the appearance of annoying noise, you must first contact an audiologist for a hearing diagnosis in order to assess its acuity (i.e. at what frequencies there is a decrease) and then choose a method for correcting the identified violations.

Loud exposure to noise

Regular exposure to loud noise in professional activities (employees of airports, factories, construction sites, city transport drivers, military, hunters) is a common cause of hearing impairment and tinnitus.Using earplugs at work will help protect your hearing.

Lifestyle
Prolonged listening to music with headphones at high volumes or frequent concerts can also cause permanent hearing damage. Excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, and the abuse of foods and beverages containing caffeine can cause tinnitus. Frequent fatigue and stress can also be risk factors.

If you have tinnitus, begin your treatment journey with a hearing care professional who specializes in tinnitus diagnostics to help determine the underlying cause.If common causes of tinnitus have been ruled out, your doctor will refer you to another specialist for further evaluation and treatment.

How to reduce the effect of tinnitus

Since tinnitus is a purely subjective sensation, it is quite difficult to diagnose it, therefore, independent adherence to the recommendations of audiologists will help alleviate the condition:

• Try to control your blood pressure, measure it regularly;
• Try to eat less salt becausej. its use is one of the causes of circulatory disorders;
• Avoid loud noise sources and use earplugs for protection in professional work;
• Learn to relax, take some relaxation minutes;
• Refrain from using tobacco, coffee, cola, tea;
• Exercise regularly, exercise improves blood circulation, which helps to reduce tinnitus;
• Use a hearing aid. It not only helps with hearing impairment, but also has a masking effect that will help you get rid of annoying ear noise and reduce its impact on your daily life.

Hearing impairment and tinnitus

Noise or ringing in the ears or head is often not treatable, but the good news is that tinnitus can be controlled. The latest technological solutions in the field of audiology and audiology come to the rescue. Clinical studies show that digital hearing aids are not only effective in addressing hearing impairment, but they can also help reduce the effects of ear noise and improve overall health.
The amplification of ambient sounds through the hearing aid activates the auditory nervous system, which reduces the perception of tinnitus.With constant exposure to enhanced ambient sounds, the auditory part of the nervous system is rebuilt, which has a beneficial effect on the function of nervous activity, restoring it and weakening the hypersensitivity to auditory sensations.

Modern hearing aids are equipped with the function of generating sounds such as white noise or ocean noise, the intensity of which can be controlled independently by the user using a smartphone thanks to the mobile application for iPhone and Android.

Find out more about today’s digital hearing aid models that can help you manage your tinnitus.

Khairulina Svetlana Ivanovna

Otorhinolaryngologist-audiologist of the first category. Work experience: since 2007. She has been receiving adults and children from birth.

Receptions for adults and children:

Minsk, Independence Avenue, 83 Center for Good Hearing

Noises, everything rings in my head …

O.V. Veselago
Candidate of Medical Sciences, Otoneurologist
Research Institute of Neurology, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences

The human body constantly has conditions for sensing noise, because during its work, so-called somatic, or vibratory, sounds are created. They arise as a result of breathing and heartbeat, muscle contraction, movement of joints, blood flow in the vessels, etc. In a figurative expression, “a healthy body always sounds.” Usually a person does not hear these noises – they are masked by external sounds.Somatic sounds become available to perception and turn into audible noises under certain circumstances.

They can be:
1) heightened perception of the normal noise;
2) a sharp increase in these normal noises;
3) Abnormal noises occur.

If in the first case the noise is felt only by the patient himself (subjective noise), then under two other circumstances it can be heard by those around him (objective noise). Objective noise is less common than subjective noise.It occurs due to special disorders accompanied by mechanical contraction or vibration. The origin of this noise is usually understandable, and the appointment of a specific treatment can lead to its complete disappearance. The most common causes of objective murmur are vascular and muscular pathologies. Muscle and vascular murmurs are quite characteristic. Vascular murmurs are constant, synchronous with the pulse, change their intensity (up to disappearance) when the vessels are compressed.A change in the position of the head (body) can lead to a change in intensity, the appearance or disappearance of noise. An increase in vascular noise is often observed with an increase in blood pressure.

Muscle murmur is not associated with the pulse, it is less constant. Neuromuscular disorders most often make noise like grasshopper crackling, fluttering of butterfly wings. Patients may also describe this noise as “clicking” or “machine gun fire”.

Primary diagnosis of objective noise is carried out on the basis of auscultation (listening) of the skull bones using a phonendoscope.

Subjective noise is an abnormal auditory sensation that occurs in the ear or head without obvious external stimuli, i.e. without the participation of the external environment. Subjective noise can be perceived as ringing, squeaking, rustling, buzzing, hum, ocean noise, siren whine, crackling, etc. Noises of different quality may be present in one patient, simultaneously or independently of each other. They are heard with one ear, with both ears, or are heard throughout the head.

The sensation of subjective noise can occur with damage to the auditory analyzer at any level, but most often it is observed with pathology of the cochlea.

It is hypothesized that subjective noise occurs when the sensitive cells of the auditory analyzer are spontaneously activated due to some damage. This spontaneous arousal, which mimics a sound signal, is transmitted to the brain through the auditory nerve. The brain tries to decipher this signal and give an acceptable meaning to the given auditory impression. But since these signals do not carry any information about the world around them, they are automatically perceived as danger signs and seem frightening, ominous.Many people feel completely helpless in front of these painful sounds. People can literally panic, especially when they first appear.

But how dangerous is ear noise actually? No matter how unpleasant and interfering with normal life the effect of subjective noise on a person, it nevertheless does not pose a threat to life. There are very few really dangerous diseases that a doctor can and should detect or rule out. For example, a tumor in the auditory nerve.The fears about a possible deterioration of the general condition are justified. Depression, often accompanying subjective noise, leads to social isolation, lack of vital stimuli, decreased physical activity and immunity.

A common cause of tinnitus is damage to the auditory analyzer due to external noise – this is about 30% of cases.

Other possible causes are:
• acute and chronic sensorineural hearing loss
• age-related hearing loss
• Meniere’s disease
• acoustic neuroma (tumor of the auditory nerve)
• traumatic brain injury with or without temporal bone fracture
• intoxication with ototoxic (toxic to the auditory nerve) antibiotics, diuretics, salicylates, quinine, anticancer drugs
• chronic inflammatory diseases of the middle ear
• diseases of the heart and blood circulation, kidneys
• metabolic diseases (for example, diabetes)
• degenerative changes in the cervical the spine, etc.

Search for the cause of the noise should be undertaken as early as possible. Moreover, not only the otorhinolaryngologist should deal with the patient, but also doctors of other specialties, since there is only the tip of the iceberg in the inner ear.

Subjective noise can manifest itself in different ways. Many people talk about intermittent or persistent noises that they hear in silence or at night, but which do not interfere at all or are very insignificant, while other patients are seriously disturbed by these obscure noises.

Physicians use the term “tinnitus” to refer to subjective noise. It includes not just noise in the ears or head, but the whole set of related problems – mental, emotional, social. Up to 5% of the world’s population suffers from chronic tinnitus. Chronic tinnitus occurs when the usual, very quiet tinnitus increases and becomes dominant. A person pays more and more attention to him and as the noise increases, he becomes fixed on this ailment. Nervous strain caused by constant noise and the inability to enjoy silence lead to insomnia, irritability, impaired concentration and unexplained fears.

It has been established that in most cases, initially strong manifestations of tinnitus gradually, over the next 6-20 months, soften. Over time, the disease is perceived less acutely and less often it becomes a cause of tension and stress, sleep and general well-being improve.

Treating tinnitus requires a collaborative effort between physician and patient. Finding a drug with “noise-suppressing” activity is not easy, since it is impossible to objectively measure the parameters of noise. Nevertheless, among the drugs that have a “noise-suppressing” effect, drugs that improve blood circulation in the inner ear and brain have proven themselves well.These are tanakan, betaserk, trental, vazobral. The active component of Betaserc is betahistine hydrochloride, a substance that specifically acts on histamine receptors in the brain and inner ear. In recent years, it has been convincingly shown that Betaserc improves microcirculation and increases blood flow in the basilar artery and vessels of the inner ear, and also reduces the excitability of neurons in the vestibular nuclei. These properties make the drug one of the drug of choice for the treatment of tinnitus and dizziness of various origins.Tanakan is very effective in this category of patients – a well-known natural drug to many. According to the results of more than 200 clinical studies conducted in leading clinics in the world, Tanakan significantly reduces the severity of symptoms of cerebrovascular insufficiency such as dizziness, tinnitus and head noises, improves memory and attention, restores working capacity, and improves the quality of life.

In addition, an important place is given to the diagnosis and treatment of psychoemotional disorders accompanying tinnitus.Psychotherapy plays a significant role both in eliminating the causes of tinnitus and in relieving the stress it causes.

Masking tinnitus with hearing aids or tinnitus maskers, or a combination of both (special tinnitus machines), is the basis for the treatment of tinnitus in Anglo-Saxon countries. Such devices are very effective for both partial and complete suppression of subjective noise. The efficiency of treatment with devices reaches 50%.

When treating this pathology, it is customary to follow an integrated approach – to combine various methods of treatment (drug therapy, physiotherapy, psychotherapy, the use of devices).

A person with tinnitus should consciously avoid anything that leads to increased tinnitus or poor health. The patient’s goal should eventually evolve from “What can I do about the noise that is haunting me?” in “What can I do for myself?” It is necessary to develop a new positive way of thinking.

To successfully cope with tinnitus, it is necessary to recognize the following fact: the problem will probably never go away completely, however, using an integrated approach in its treatment, it is possible to weaken the symptoms so much that the ailment will no longer dominate the patient’s mind.Tinnitus will simply turn into one of the ambient sounds of everyday life.

© Magazine “Nerves”, 2005, №3

FORM of an appointment with a specialist …

Tired of tinnitus?

2019.12.01

The word tinnitus comes from the Latin word for ringing. People describe tinnitus as a loud noise, others as a buzzing, howling, waving, or whistling sound. No matter how tinnitus is described, anyone who has it is never described as pleasant.Simply put, ringing in the ears is the sensation of a sound that doesn’t exist.

This has serious negative consequences for almost all people who experience it, including stress, anxiety attacks, anger and insomnia. More than 80 percent of people with tinnitus have hearing problems that they are not aware of. There is no cure for tinnitus. Unfortunately, very little is known about the reasons for this. Tinnitus is not a disease, but a symptom caused by many reasons. There are about 200 possible reasons in total.Anyone else who has no tinnitus suffers from mild to unbearable tinnitus. About 50% of people with tinnitus also have hearing loss. Consequences: Inability to concentrate, insomnia, depression. Tinnitus usually comes on suddenly and, although not dangerous, causes a very unpleasant and ultimately debilitating sensation.

The most common, but far from the only, cause is excessive exposure to excessive noise, which can damage the hair cells in the inner ear.It converts the sounds you hear into signals that your brain understands. If the hair is damaged, the brain receives fewer signals. The brain then tries to compensate for the missing signals and creates a new sound.

How does tinnitus affect people?

Some people may ignore tinnitus, while others may experience stress, tantrums, trouble concentrating and separation from the environment, and tinnitus may prevent them from sleeping well at night.

What to do to prevent tinnitus?

There is no cure for tinnitus, but there are many ways to control it and reduce its impact on your life. The expression “tinnitus silence” came from the fact that he noticed that the noise in the ears (in the head) was heard in silence, without interfering with extraneous sounds. Sometimes this tinnitus is a symptom of neurological or LOR diseases. Often, the noise is skipped when it calms down, when no other pathology is found.Sometimes medication helps; other times, you can use a pre-timer music player to play soothing music or nature sounds before falling asleep. A more accurate interpretation can be provided by a specialist after consultation.

When treating tinnitus, it is very important to change your attitude. One of the most important tinnitus treatment tactics is to pay less attention to it. We must learn not to react to this. Autogenic training, yoga, meditation can help.

Tinnitus (from Lat. Tinnītus “ringing”) is a sensation of ringing and noise in the ears, in which there is no external stimulus. Approximately every fifth inhabitant of the earth and every third elderly person suffers from this unpleasant phenomenon. Moreover, approximately 13% of adolescents without hearing impairment experience occasional tinnitus. American sources claim that approximately 18 million Americans seek medical attention with this problem, with 9 million beingof them report serious tinnitus, and 2 million are disabled due to tinnitus.

Many people experience tinnitus in completely different forms. It can be not only the sensation of ringing in the ears, but also buzzing, whistling, hum, hiss or even the sound of waves. Moreover, in terms of intensity, tinnitus can be both barely audible and very strong, almost deafening.

What are the reasons?

Tinnitus itself is not a disease. This is a symptom that occurs for completely different reasons:

• Diseases or trauma of the outer, middle, inner ear
• Sulfur plug
• Natural hearing loss due to aging
• Otosclerosis
• Meniere’s syndrome
• Atherosclerosis of cerebral vessels
• Osteochondrosis of the spine
• Thyroid disease
• Blood pressure problems
• Tumors of the head and neck
• Middle ear tumor
• Injuries to the head and cervical spine

Tinnitus is common in people with hearing impairment.It can also be a side effect of taking certain medications (aspirin, gentamicin, furosemide, etc.) or allergies.

In 1953, scientists Heller and Bergman conducted an interesting study. They took turns placing 80 students, who did not suffer from hearing impairment or tinnitus, in a soundproof chamber. After five minutes in this chamber, 93% of the subjects reported tinnitus in the form of buzzing and whistling sounds. Thus, the researchers concluded that unnatural noise levels in industrialized countries are often the cause of tinnitus.

How to help yourself?

Since tinnitus is a purely subjective experience, it is difficult to diagnose. If tinnitus appears, we recommend that you consult an otorhinolaryngologist, audiologist, neurologist, who will conduct the necessary examinations to identify the causes of tinnitus and, if indicated, will prescribe the necessary therapy.

Here are some doctor’s recommendations that will tell you what to do in case of tinnitus:

• Try to control your blood pressure, measure it regularly
• Avoid loud noise source
• Try to eat less salt becausebecause its use is one of the causes of circulatory disorders
• Learn to relax, have some relaxation minutes
• Refrain from using tobacco, coffee, cola, strong tea
• Try to abstract from tinnitus
• Exercise improves blood circulation, which can reduce tinnitus
• Use a hearing aid. It not only helps with hearing impairment, but also has a masking effect that will help you get rid of ear noise
• Tinnitus maskers will also help you.These are hearing aids, but they generate masking noise
• Use tinnitus maskers in combination with a hearing aid. This will enhance the positive effect

Hearing aid? Output!

Clinical studies show that hearing aids are not only a solution to the problem of hearing impairment, but also help patients with ear noise problems. they distract attention from tinnitus and provide better speech intelligibility, which is extremely difficult with tinnus.

Why is this happening? The amplification of ambient sounds through the hearing aid activates the auditory part of the nervous system, which reduces the perception of tinnitus. With constant exposure to enhanced ambient sounds, the auditory part of the nervous system is rebuilt, which has a beneficial effect on the function of nervous activity, restoring it and weakening the hypersensitivity to auditory sensations.

Binaural hearing aids and the use of broadband hearing aids with controlled and controlled noise cancellation systems help best in this case.It is worth remembering that the hearing aid must be individually matched to each patient and must meet their needs.

Remember that in especially serious cases, tinnitus can lead to hearing impairment, problems with sleep and performance! This problem should not be underestimated, so using a hearing aid should be a necessary element in the treatment of tinnitus, even if it is only part of the therapy.

Does ringing or noise in your ears (head) interfere?

Tinnitus masker (tinnitus masking) distracts the hearing aid wearer from tinnitus.Specially developed by Unitron and incorporated into the Moxi Kiss Series hearing aids, tinnitus masking is intended to be used as part of a comprehensive tinnitus therapy program. It works by distracting the attention of the wearer from unnecessary sound and ringing in the ears.

The Noise Masking function is a sound broadband sound generator, recommended as a sound therapy, which can be used as part of a personalized tinnitus management program to provide temporary relief.These devices are prescribed for hearing loss and tinnitus in adults 18 years of age or older. The basic principle of sound enrichment is to provide additional noise stimulation that can help defocus attention from tinnitus and avoid negative reactions.

Learn more about Moxi Kiss hearing aids from Unitrom …

Sounds that energize the brain / Parents / Children’s Art School. V.V. Andreeva

“Some sounds work just as well as a couple of cups of coffee,” says Alfred Tomatis, an outstanding French expert in the field of hearing.

This means that we can use music as a tonic.

Since the time when humanity first created music, it has served its daily purposes. Lullabies, war songs, sea songs – the list is as long as history and culture.

Today Tomatis has discovered a high-tech method of unlocking the inner power of sound, the power that actually has “superpower” to increase mental abilities, heal and energize.

According to Tomatis, “sound can be an extraordinary source of energy.” Today, in his seventy years, he is still energetic, enough for him to sleep three to four hours a day, because when he works, special music sounds in the background. But Tomatis did not focus only on tonic music.

For several decades, he carried out special measurements using sophisticated equipment to find out how different sound frequencies affect a person: which ones supply him with energy and which ones take it away from him.

And how does this happen? He came to a startling discovery. “The ear is not just for hearing,” Tomatis said publicly, “the ear is for energizing the mind and body.”

Do you receive energy through your ears? When Tomatis experimented with the music of Bach, Mozart, Gregorian writings, his scientific instruments read that fatigue, fatigue and relaxation from stress occurs when the gray cells in your brain are not receiving enough electrical energy.In other words, they lack strength.

Tomatis claims that these cells work like small electric batteries. They generate electricity in your brain, supplying it with brain waves that are recorded on the EEG. You might think that these little batteries are charged by the body’s metabolism. Not quite, Tomatis says. And this is precisely his main achievement.

Your battery cells are charged by something from the outside, and this something is sound, in particular high-frequency sound.The transformation of the energy coming from the outside is done by the cells of the corti. If you were to travel through your inner ear, after wandering through the tangled labyrinths of the ear cochlea, you suddenly come to the Corti Line, the longest line of the most accurate dancers in the entire world.

Arranged in rows, 24,600 elongated cages dance exactly to each sound, like a corps de ballet in the Music Hall of Radio City.

The energy generated from this unusual dance flows into your brain, and part of it is separated to travel through the vestibular branch of the cerebellum to the muscles of your body.

High frequency sounds energize your brain while relieving muscle tension and balancing your body in various ways. They affect you even after you listen to them. Some of these high frequency, energy-filled sounds are used in Superlearning music as well.

But you don’t get energy just by listening to high frequency sounds. It is this discovery of Tomatis that explains why some North Americans do not get a boost of vitality from listening to Baroque music, as do the people of Eastern Europe.There is something else that accompanies hearing, mainly caused by sound pollution – since Eastern Europeans are used to a different sound background than ours.

Tomatis also discovered that you get used to listening within the sound spectrum of your native language. As a result, people perceive music in very different ways. The range of listening in Slavic languages ​​includes both very low and very high frequencies. The area of ​​American English is much narrower.

You come to this world with the ability to perceive a wide range of sounds, with the ability to perceive sounds with a frequency of 16 Hz to 20,000 Hz.Then age, sometimes ear infections and almost always sound pollution impair perception. The noise of a jackhammer with its frequency of 3,500 beats per minute, traffic, sirens, subways, screaming music, knocking mechanisms – all this reduces the spectrum of hearing.

According to Tomatis, one of the reasons why we start to feel worse as we age is that we cannot hear high frequency sounds that can recharge us.

Dr. David Lipscomb of the University of Tennessee Sound Laboratory reported back in 1982 that 60% of university applicants have significant high frequency hearing impairment.Their hearing was comparable only to that of an elderly person. “These young people start their working lives with the ears of old people,” Lipscomb said.

Can “aged” ears become young again? And again, Dr. Tomatis is the savior. He determined that you can renew your ears using sounds. It seems like a paradox to restore hearing with the help of hearing. But for Tomatis, the son of a famous opera singer, whose house was full of musicians all the time, it was perfectly natural to turn to the healing effects of music and sounds.

Do you remember how in high school biology lessons you memorized three memorable names for the organs located behind the eardrum – the hammer, the incus and the stirrup?

Now imagine you are surfing the sound wave in your middle ear. You can see the muscles tense and relax to position the eardrum correctly, similar to positioning a satellite dish to match the position of the eardrum to different input frequencies.

You see that your muscles are too flabby, and it seems to you that not all of them are doing their job. Suddenly there is a whistling sound. Your muscles flinch as if a stern instructor had yelled at them. Tighten, relax, tense up and relax again, and again, and again. And this training is to subject the muscles of the inner ear day after day until they are recovered enough to properly control the eardrum.

The “electronic ear”, a device developed and patented by Tomatis, plays the role of a whistle instructor.It emits a burst of varying low and high frequency sounds that change from ear to ear that cause the muscles of the middle ear to work on themselves.

While this is happening, the inner ear “opens” and the ability to hear high frequencies is restored. It doesn’t sound very impressive, but you can talk to Canadian novelist Patricia Joudry, who thought an electronic ear device would help solve her hearing problems. The device helped, but what struck her the most was “an unimaginable influx of vitality and, even better, creative energy.”

It turned out that this method was able to become not only something like a sesame for accelerated learning, but also the key to enable broad, ever-growing learning abilities.

“The ear is designed to serve the individual, both mentally and physically,” says Tomatis. You may have already heard about “free energy”.

Tomatis gave this concept a material explanation. With the help of the ear, you can enter the flow of the natural nourishing cosmic energy.And the flow of cosmic energy never disappears.

What frequency should the sound be used to enlighten the mind? Sounds with a frequency of five to 8000 Hz recharge the “brain batteries” the fastest. The fastest recharge occurs when exposed to 8000 Hz sound.

After testing music written by various composers, Tomatis found that Mozart’s music contains the most high-frequency sounds that recharge the brain.

At the same time, he found out which frequencies have a depressing effect on the brain and body.These are low-frequency sounds – for example, traffic, airports, factories. Some of the low-pitched, pounding sounds in rock music are also mind-sucking, says Tomatis.

Source: http://www.psyinst.ru/library.php?part=article&id=2230

90,000 I hear a ringing – where is it from? Why there is noise in the head | Healthy life | Health

Reason: severe stress

With emotional experiences, severe fear, anxiety in a person, the temporal muscles are strained.Constant tightness of these muscles can lead to squeezing of the vessels of the ear canal, which causes a sensation of noise, ringing, hum in the ears.

What to do?

Acupressure will help – a light massage of active points with your fingertips. It should be carried out in a circular motion with light pressure.

Press the point located in the fossa above the upper lip with your index finger for 7 seconds. Then, with medium effort, press the point at the end of the root of the nose, near the eyebrows – also for 7 seconds.Repeat these techniques several times a day.

For 7 seconds, press firmly with your ring finger on the place where the earlobe meets the face. Then another 7 seconds – just in front of the uvula (there, if you touch, you will feel a small fossa). And in conclusion, another 7 seconds – at the beginning of the upper part of the cartilage of the auricle (there you should also feel the fossa). There is usually a pleasant warmth after exercise, which indicates improved circulation.

Cause: sulfur plug in the ear

It is formed, as a rule, only on one side and, in addition to a hum in the head, can cause dizziness and a slight violation of coordination of movements.

What to do?

Consult an otolaryngologist who, using a special syringe, will flush the ear canal and process the ear to restore its damaged integument.

Cause: osteochondrosis

In this condition, nerves associated with the auditory brain can be compressed. This often happens during sleep if you have taken an uncomfortable position. The result is an unpleasant high, continuous hum of varying intensity in the head. It can sound like a running refrigerator or the hum of cars during a traffic jam.

If the hum in the head is associated with osteochondrosis, it should decrease or disappear altogether when assuming an upright position.

What to do?

Be attentive to the conditions of your sleep. The pillow should fit you exactly, not too high or too low.

After waking up, it is good to do some exercises for the cervical spine. Rotate your head, stretch your ear to your shoulder, push an imaginary ball under your chin towards your chest.

Cause: cerebrovascular atherosclerosis

Usually, the sensation of hum or noise in the head associated with atherosclerosis is similar to the sound of the sea, that is, it has a low tonality and rhythmic structure. Sometimes this noise increases after sleeping in an uncomfortable position.

What to do?

It is necessary to undergo an examination by a neurologist as soon as possible, to do an MRI or Doppler ultrasonography of the vessels of the brain. If the diagnosis is confirmed, you should limit the consumption of animal fats that cause the deposition of atherosclerotic plaques on the walls of blood vessels.They are found in butter, meat, sausages, complex sweets, sour cream, cream. Also, the doctor will prescribe drugs that lower cholesterol levels and improve the condition of the vascular wall, vasodilators and other drugs.

Cause: vegetative-vascular dystonia

In this condition, the regulation of the tone of the blood vessels is impaired, and the pressure often decreases. This can cause mild, uniform or pulsating tinnitus, dizziness, and poor coordination.

What to do?

See your doctor to confirm the diagnosis. If it’s in vascular dystonia, move more: walk, swim, dance, take bike rides. Cool douches and general strengthening massage are also useful. Make sure you get enough sleep. It is necessary that there is an influx of fresh air into the bedroom at night. Give up bad habits.

It is important to learn how to relieve stress. For example, before going to bed, you can, lying on your back, imagine how all the muscles of the body, from the toes and hands to the muscles of the face, relax in turn, a feeling of pleasant warmth appears in them.It is also helpful to take a few deep breaths and slow exhalations.

Cause: cochlear neuritis

This is damage to the auditory nerve, which threatens deafness. The sensations during the disease are rather sharp – a high ringing, a squeak in the ear, more often on one side (but maybe on two), a distinct hearing loss. Sometimes this is accompanied by dizziness, nausea.

What to do?

Urgently consult an otolaryngologist who will prescribe a course of medications.If you apply within a week, or preferably three days, the onset of deafness can be avoided; if you are late, the chances are low.

Save your ears – Interview with professor, DMN S. V. Ryazantsev

Interview with professor, doctor of medical sciences Sergei Valentinovich Ryazantsev

A person “earns” age-related hearing loss from a young age. The modern world is full of pleasures, many of which are highly questionable. And among them there are those who will surely “backfire” over time, when a person enters the period of maturity.Today we will talk about hearing loss – a problem that more and more elderly and even young people face. What is the reason, can this be prevented and what to do if the hearing loss has reached such a degree that life becomes uncomfortable and even dangerous? The deputy director of the St. Petersburg Research Institute of ENT, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Sergei Ryazantsev tells about this.

– Sergey Valentinovich, there is such a term – “age-related hearing loss”. Does this mean that at a certain age, everyone will inevitably face the problem of hearing loss?

– There are different opinions on this matter.But most Russian scientists believe that after 60 years there is a natural hearing loss, which is called age-related hearing loss, or presbycusis. There is an interesting French work: scientists tested the hearing of nuns who lived in a monastery in silence, in excellent conditions, but even they had an age-related hearing loss. Although there are examples when, even at an advanced age, people retain normal hearing. But there are not many of them.

– What do scientists say about the reasons that cause this violation?

– The reason is exactly the same as in many other diseases – age-related involution of the body, when the hair turns gray, the bones become thinner, the skin loses its elasticity …

– That is, the ear, like the eye, like all other organs , in principle, not inclined to longevity?

– A small, but natural hearing loss will still be in any case.

– What living conditions can be more conducive to the fact that with age a person will hear worse than his peers?

– First of all, hearing loss is promoted by working with noise – this is mainly in the older generation. For young people now the greatest danger is – and I want to focus on this – headphones! When I ride the subway and hear a melody that comes from a young girl’s earphones, I know for sure that by the age of 30–40 she will have hearing problems.It is important to talk about this to adolescents and young people today. We test the hearing of students who use music players and find that they have the same hearing loss as workers in noisy workshops! Working in noisy conditions is an occupational hazard. For example, at airfields. There, headphones save from the rumble of engines, although this is also an unreliable protection. And young people with their help voluntarily ruin their health.

– And what about discos and parties where you can’t even hear the one who shouts in your ear?

– We also tested the hearing of the employees of discos.And everyone, even at a very young age, already has a noticeable hearing loss. And discos, and the whole club culture in this sense are very harmful. I am afraid that in 10-15 years we will have negative consequences of this “noisy” culture.

– What are the first symptoms of hearing loss?

– First, a person loses hearing at high frequencies, the auditory analyzer is damaged. Beethoven, who, as you know, completely lost his hearing by old age, first stopped hearing the chirping of a grasshopper.

– What other sounds, besides the chirping of a grasshopper, can be attributed to high-frequency?

– This is any subtle high sound. For example, some whistling sounds.

– What, besides loud music, can give impetus to hearing loss?

– In addition to age and noise exposure – influenza infection. That is, the transferred viral disease sometimes gives us a hearing loss.

– Is it reversible?

– Irreversible.If, within a month after the flu, we do not create the conditions for correcting this situation, then hearing problems remain forever.

– Otitis is also common with colds and flu. They probably also contribute to the subsequent development of hearing loss?

– Yes, this is another reason for hearing loss – ear disease. By itself, otitis media gives a cicatricial lesion, that is, the internal bones are in the scar and begin to move poorly. And there is another form of lesion, when there is not just pus in the ear, but pus with an unpleasant, carious odor.Then the bones inside the ear melt, until they disappear completely. This is tympanosclerosis or epitympanitis, a chronic disease of the middle ear.

Sergey RYAZANTSEV, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor:

Headphones pose the greatest danger to young people! When I ride the subway and hear a melody that comes from a young girl’s earphones, I know for sure that by the age of 30–40 she will have hearing problems.

There is one more disease, which is not so rare – it is otosclerosis.More often women suffer from it – up to 80 percent. In this case, a sound-conducting type of hearing loss begins. Why it arises, no one knows. It occurs at about 40 years old, and by the age of 50 a person has a noticeable hearing loss. In women, this is due to endocrine conditions, even childbirth sometimes provokes it. If the stage of the disease is initial, then we operate. We change this bone for a prosthesis – Teflon or gold – and the patient immediately begins to hear normally. We carry out many such operations. But if this is a far advanced stage, when the sound analyzer also stops working, then it is difficult to operate.Although now they have learned to work with otosclerosis.

– That is, if a person with a hearing problem seeks a doctor on time, can something be corrected?

– Yes, and the doctor must make an accurate diagnosis. Because in the initial stages, many diseases have no symptoms other than hearing loss. As they say in our industry, the doctor sees nothing, and the patient hears nothing.

– Sergey Valentinovich, in popular articles they write that age-related hearing loss, in principle, cannot be treated … What should a person do if he was diagnosed with this?

– Age-related hearing loss, unfortunately, is not treated, it is irreversible, but the percentage of age-related hearing loss is very small.It is believed that you can live up to 80 years old completely calmly, in the sense of socially calm. However, if your hearing problem is uncomfortable, we recommend using hearing aids.

– Nowadays there is very aggressive advertising of hearing aids everywhere …

– And here’s the paradox: in Russia hearing aids are used much less often than abroad. It is considered normal for us to wear glasses when there is a visual defect, but wearing a hearing aid is considered something shameful.Another thing is that the devices that are issued in Russia for social security (the so-called “earplugs”) are very noticeable. And there are devices the size of a pea, they are inserted into the ear canal and are practically invisible. Here they are used mainly by well-to-do patients, although their cost is not so prohibitive: a good device costs about a thousand euros.

– What advice would you give to those who are thinking about buying it?

– Patients are often addicted to advertising and buy the wrong thing.The fact is that even the most expensive device may not be suitable for a patient, because everyone loses their own frequencies, and the device must restore them. Therefore, a doctor should select a hearing aid – individually. But there is another important point: specialized institutions can pick up a hearing aid for a patient, but they often do not have a license to sell it. And those who have it may not have a staff of good specialists.

– And what about?

– I would advise you to contact government agencies, city deafness centers.You need to find an experienced doctor.

– You spoke about operations that are shown in the most hopeless cases. What are these operations?

– Somewhere from the mid-90s, such a direction as cochlear implantation appeared in medicine: we learned how to install artificial organs. The eye cannot be restored in this way, as well as many other organs, but hearing is possible. A very thin electrode is implanted directly into the auditory nerve, which transmits sounds in the form of an electrical signal.Even if the patient is 100% deaf, he still begins to hear.

– Is this operation covered by government funding?

– Our country allocates a lot of money for it. For example, last year we carried out 800 such operations, and they are fully funded from the budget. And if someone starts “all over the world” to collect money for cochlear implants for a child, these are dishonest people. Because it is for children that we receive one hundred percent funding.With adults it is a little more difficult, they have a tougher selection.