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Tinnitus,
or ringing of the ears, is one of the most common presenting
complaints in the Otolaryngologist's office. Most people do notice at least
some sound in their ears if they get into a quiet room, but
for some patients this can be so loud it interferes with
their life. Some people have difficulty sleeping because the
tinnitus is so bothersome.
Tinnitus is an actual electrical
signal that is generated either in the cochlea, or hearing
nerve, or in the nerve that connects the cochlea to the
brain stem. It is very similar to the noise signals that are
present in telephone lines. It is much more common in older
individuals and persons having noise induced hearing loss.
The degree of ringing perceived in the ears often correlates
with the degree of hearing loss that is present.
The problem related to
tinnitus appears to be one that for certain persons the
sound is perceived much more loudly than it is for other
people. Current research is directed toward attempting to
understand why one person would be so much more severely
affected than another and how to change the problem. It is
virtually impossible to make tinnitus go away, but it is
possible to assist people with decreasing the effect of
tinnitus.
The principle mechanism to
make tinnitus more tolerable is that of masking noise.
Simply put, you need to listen to something besides the
ringing in your ears. Some people accomplish this by keeping
a radio playing softly in the background. Other people tune
a radio to the crackling white noise between stations, and
yet other people purchase a white noise generator which can
be tuned to sound like falling rain, surf at the seashore or
forest noises. For most people, this is an effective method
of coping with their tinnitus.
Hearing aids can be of
benefit in managing the tinnitus as they amplify useful
environmental sound that gives something other than ringing
to focus the mind upon.
At present, there is no
medicine or surgery that has been proven to give benefit to
patients who experience tinnitus. Hundreds of medicines and
several surgical procedures have been tried but none of
these are consistent in their effect, and thus we cannot
recommend any particular treatment as definitely effective.
Taking Melatonin at bedtime has been shown to assist with
improvement in sleep and may help patients who are bothered
by their tinnitus at night. The herbal remedy, Gingko Biloba,
is currently touted as a tinnitus remedy and there are good
anecdotal reports of its ability to improve ringing. It is
worth a try but is not as yet a proven treatment.
Avoidance of caffeine helps
many patients with tinnitus. For persons taking aspirin or
Ibuprofen, a switch to Acetaminophen would be potentially of
benefit. Some patients experience tinnitus as a side effect
of their medication, so if you are on medications that can
be switched to another type of compound, you might talk to
your doctor about this. In general, a person with tinnitus
should attempt to minimize the amount of medication they
take.
Stress and tiredness both
tend to adversely affect tinnitus. You will notice that your
tinnitus is worse when you are fatigued or under a great
deal of stress. Minimizing your stress and staying well
rested can keep the symptoms quite tolerable. Tinnitus is
one of those problems for which there is not likely to be a
miracle cure, but there will always be creative ways to
adapt to the problem and minimize its effect on your life.
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