Posted: 10/5/2016
October is Protect Your Hearing Month
Is that ringing in your ears becoming too incessant to ignore?
Millions of Americans suffer from tinnitus – ringing or humming or some other sound they constantly hear that can become disruptive to their daily lives. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 50 million people in the United States experience some form of tinnitus, with 20 million of them suffering from a chronic form of the condition, and 2 million have extreme or debilitating cases.
October is Protect Your Hearing Month, and a great opportunity to learn more about how to care for that very valuable sense.
“The impact tinnitus can have on a person varies greatly,” said Teresa V. Chan-Leveno, MD, Chief of Otolaryngology at Parkland Health & Hospital System and Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “In its most extreme forms, it can have a major negative impact on a person because it can result in lack of concentration, loss of sleep and even depression.”
Dr. Chan-Leveno noted that while there currently is no cure for most tinnitus cases, several treatment options are available to help manage the condition and reduce its effects on a person.
For most people tinnitus is not usually considered to be serious, but is a symptom of an underlying condition such as hearing loss that comes with age, ear injury or a circulatory system problem. There are two basic kinds of tinnitus: subjective and objective. Subjective is when only the person can hear the noise. This is usually caused by problems in the outer, middle or inner ear, as well as certain nerves or pathways. Objective tinnitus is when someone else, such as your doctor, can hear a sound when he or she does an examination. This is much rarer and is most often the result of a blood vessel problem, middle ear condition or muscle contractions.
While age-related hearing loss is the most common cause of tinnitus, it can also be brought on by exposure to loud noise such as heavy equipment or firearms; even loud concerts can cause temporary tinnitus. But it is important to know that prolonged exposure to loud noise can result in permanent damage. The damage we do to our ears accumulates over our lifetimes and may not be seen until a person is in their 60s.
“There are a variety of treatment options available to patients with tinnitus, including hearing aids, devices that suppress the tinnitus sounds, white noise machines, biofeedback and others,” Dr. Chan-Leveno said. “There are even some medications that your doctor can prescribe to relieve the symptoms, but they are not cures and are reserved for the most refractory, or resistant, cases. There is some hope in the realm of neuromodulation with vagal nerve implants (stimulating the vagal nerve with electrical impulses) but this is still in trials and a long way from a treatment option for the general public.”
There also are some things you can do to help ease the problem, including avoiding loud noises, caffeine and nicotine, use a fan, a soft radio or other method to cover up the sounds in your ear; manage stress because it can aggravate the problem; and avoid alcohol because it can create greater blood flow even in the blood vessels in your ears. Because the majority of tinnitus is related to either age-related or noise-related hearing loss, your best intervention is prevention. Turn the volume down on your headphones or your TVs. Use noise protection when you know you are going to a concert or working with heavy machinery.
“You do have to remember that no two patients are exactly alike. When it comes to symptoms or treatments, you need to work with your healthcare provider to find the right option for you,” Dr. Chan-Leveno said.