Tinnitus is an extremely common condition of the ear. It’s one of the most common health conditions in the world with some estimates suggesting that up to 10 percent of the population experiences it at one time or another. The condition is experienced as a sound in the ear that isn’t actually there, usually, it’s a buzzing or ringing, but tinnitus can manifest as other sounds too.
While the prevalence of tinnitus may be evident, the causes are frequently more opaque. Some of the wide variety of tinnitus causes are temporary, while others can be more permanent.
This is why environmental factors can play a major role in tinnitus symptoms. After all, every setting has a soundscape, and when that soundscape is noisy, you could be causing damage to your ears. This environmental tinnitus may sometimes be long lasting or it may sometimes respond to changes to make your environment quieter.
What is tinnitus (and why is it so prevalent)?
When you hear noises that aren’t actually present, that’s tinnitus. For most people, tinnitus manifests as a buzzing or ringing, but it could also present as thumping, humming, screeching, or other sounds as well. Usually, the sounds are constant or rhythmic. For most people, tinnitus will occur over a short period of time before solving itself and going away. Though not as common, chronic tinnitus is effectively permanent.
There are a couple of reasons why tinnitus is so prevalent. Firstly, environmental factors that can contribute to tinnitus are rather prevalent. The second reason is that tinnitus is frequently a symptom of a root condition or injury. And there are quite a few conditions and injuries that can result in tinnitus. Tinnitus is quite common for these reasons.
How can the environment impact tinnitus?
Other things can also cause tinnitus, including ototoxic medicines and chemicals. But when it involves “environmental” triggers, noise is the biggest offender. Some settings, such as noisy city streets, can get very loud. Somebody would be in danger of environmental tinnitus, for example, if they worked around loud industrial equipment.
These environmental factors can be exceptionally significant when considering your hearing health.
As with hearing loss, noise-associated damage can eventually cause tinnitus symptoms. When tinnitus is caused by noise damage, it’s usually chronic and often permanent. Here are a few of the most prevalent noise-related causes of tinnitus:
- Traffic: Traffic in heavily populated places can be much louder than you might expect it to be. And you might not even recognize that your ears can be damaged at lower volumes than you may expect. Long commutes or regular driving in these loud settings can eventually result in hearing damage, including tinnitus.
- Events: Tinnitus can sometimes result from loud noises, even if they aren’t experienced over a long time-period. Firing a gun or going to a rock concert are examples of this kind of noise.
- Music: Many individuals will frequently listen to their music at high volumes. Doing this on a consistent basis can frequently cause tinnitus symptoms.
- Noise in the workplace: It might come as a surprise that many workplaces, sometimes even offices, are fairly noisy. Whether it’s industrial equipment or gabby office neighbors, spending eight hours a day around constant workplace noise can eventually lead to tinnitus.
Damage to the ears can happen at a far lower volume than people generally expect. For this reason, hearing protection should be utilized at lower volumes than you might expect. Hearing protection can help prevent tinnitus symptoms from developing in the first place.
What should I do if I’m experiencing tinnitus?
Will tinnitus clear up by itself? Well, in some cases it may. In other cases, your symptoms may be irreversible. There’s no way to know which is which at the outset. If you have tinnitus due to noise damage, even if your tinnitus does go away, your risk of having your tinnitus come back and become chronic is much more probable.
People tend to underestimate the minimum volume that damage begins to occur, which is the most significant contributing factor to its development. Damage has probably already happened if you’re experiencing tinnitus. This means that there are several things that you should do to alter your environment so as to prevent more irreparable damage.
Here are a few tips you can try:
- If possible, try to lower environmental volume. For instance, you could shut the windows if you live in a loud area or turn off industrial equipment that isn’t in use.
- Using hearing protection (either earplugs or earmuffs) in order to prevent damage. Noise canceling headphones can also be a benefit in this regard.
- If you’re in a noisy setting, regulate the amount of exposure time and give your ears breaks.
How to deal with your symptoms
The symptoms of tinnitus are often a huge distraction and are quite unpleasant for the majority of individuals who deal with them. Because of this, they often ask: how do you calm tinnitus?
You should call us for an appointment if you’re hearing a persistent buzzing or ringing in your ears. We can help you figure out the best way to manage your particular situation. For most cases of chronic tinnitus, there’s no cure. Here are a number of ways to manage the symptoms:
- Masking device: This is a device that fits like a hearing aid and plays sounds to mask your symptoms. The exact calibration of your device will depend on your particular symptoms.
- Hearing aid: The ringing or buzzing produced by tinnitus can be drowned out by amplifying the volume of outside sounds with hearing aids.
- Relaxation techniques: High blood pressure has sometimes been linked to an increase in the severity of tinnitus symptoms. So taking a little time to relax (with meditation, for example) can sometimes help decrease your tinnitus symptoms.
- Retraining therapy: You can sometimes retrain your ears with the help of a specialist, which will gradually retrain the way you process sound.
- White noise devices: In some cases, you can tune out some of your tinnitus symptoms by utilizing a white noise generator around your home.
Tinnitus is not curable. A great first step would be to protect your hearing by controlling your environment.
But treating and controlling tinnitus is possible. We’ll be able to formulate a specific treatment plan according to your hearing, your tinnitus, and your lifestyle. A white noise machine, for many people, might be all that’s needed. For others, management may be more demanding.
Learn how to best control your tinnitus by making an appointment right away!
