We use the word tinnitus as an umbrella term, in the same way as we use the word pain:
- it is only perceived by the person who has it
- it can be experienced in many ways
- it can have different causes
- people’s tolerance of it can vary.
There are many people who experience some sort of tinnitus during their lifetime. Most commonly this might be after they have been in a noisy place, like a club or live music venue. When they come out, they feel that their hearing is muffled and they are aware of a ringing or hissing in their ears. This usually resolves after 12-24 hours.
But some people find that they have a noise in their ears that doesn’t go away and it can become bothersome or cause them to worry.
These are some of the ways that people might describe tinnitus:
“When the room is quiet, I can hear a hissing in my ears.”
“I seem to have a buzzing in my head all the time.”
“This ringing noise is there when I go to bed and I can’t get to sleep.”
“I get a whooshing noise. At first, I thought that the neighbour’s washing machine was on all night, but when I went on holiday, the noise was still there!”
“If I didn’t have this whistling noise all the time, I would be able to hear OK.”
It is important to talk to your doctor if you have a constant ringing noise that does not go away or if you can hear a bumping or pulsing in your ears or head. The doctor will be able to take a full medical history and may refer you to a specialist for further tests.
Doctors may find it difficult to trace a link between the emergence of the tinnitus and any specific physical cause. There is no test or scan that can show the presence of tinnitus on its own, so experts believe that it is more likely to be seated in the brain rather than the ears. We do know that people can become aware of tinnitus when they are stressed or anxious, or after a bereavement for example. Clinicians rely on the patient’s description of what they are experiencing as well as other tests or scans to make a diagnosis.
We do not recommend searching the internet because unfortunately some of the things you read can be inaccurate, negative or worrying. Some sites may even make promises to ‘cure’ the tinnitus, usually with a hefty price tag. However, there is currently no proven cure for tinnitus.
Very often, looking for ways to get rid of their tinnitus can actually make people focus on it more, so it becomes more troublesome.
This is because of the way that our brains react to sound.
We have evolved to monitor sounds in our environment to keep us safe. This goes on in a part of the brain called the amygdala and is often something that we are not conscious of thinking about. The sounds that we hear can affect our emotions in a positive way, but they can also make us anxious. Think of your favourite song, the sound of a child giggling that makes you smile, a balloon popping that makes you jump, or a horn blaring that gets your heart racing. This is because the amygdala triggers emotions, and is also involved in activating our body’s fight or flight response.
For some people, the tinnitus can cause them to worry about what might be wrong with them and sometimes they will begin to blame the tinnitus for other problems like not hearing very well, feeling dizzy or not being able to sleep. This can lead to the tinnitus becoming like a warning sound to their brain. Over time, this message becomes like a well-used short cut and if this happens, it makes the tinnitus very hard to ignore.
In fact, if you have spoken to someone you know about being bothered by a ringing in your ears, they might say things like “try to ignore it” or “don’t think about it”. Because of the way our brains work, this could make the tinnitus even more noticeable.
How do we deal with tinnitus?
Again, in some ways the approach is the same as that for managing chronic pain.
The first step is to get checked out by the doctor to make sure that there is not a medical cause for the noises.
Once tests have shown that there is nothing wrong with your ears, and you understand what tinnitus is, then you can begin to retrain your brain so that it doesn’t keep alerting you to the presence of the tinnitus. This will take some time and there is no one thing that works for everybody, so don’t lose heart if you don’t get relief straight away. You may require help in the form of advice and support from the audiology department who can discuss what you are experiencing and help you to find ways to manage it.
Some people may need more in-depth help from someone who specialises in cognitive behavioural therapy. We do not offer this service in Audiology, however, you can self-refer to Lincolnshire Talking Therapies.
Reducing your stress and physical tension can be beneficial. We are not always the best judge of how stressed or anxious we are because we learn to cope and our bodies get used to the feeling until something pushes us over the edge. Using techniques such as mindfulness, breathing exercises or yoga can help you to recognise and deal with the symptoms of stress.
It can be helpful to have some form of background sounds to help to distract from the tinnitus. The key is to have sounds that you enjoy and that they are not loud. Don’t try and drown out the tinnitus.
It is important to protect your ears from noise. If you work with machinery or even if you go to live music venues or nightclubs, use hearing protection in the form of well-fitted plugs or ear defenders. We know that noise can damage hearing and will aggravate tinnitus.
Very often, tinnitus is associated with a deterioration in hearing which might simply be due to getting older. In this case hearing aids can help because they bring more of the outside sounds into your ears to help to distract the brain from noises on the inside. If you have noticed that you need to turn the TV up, or your family and friends are complaining that you don’t hear them, think about getting your hearing tested.
Useful links
Below are some links to content on the internet that you might find helpful in understanding and managing your tinnitus. If you watch videos on YouTube, turn off Autoplay as this might lead you to content that we would not recommend.
- How I Cured My Tinnitus
- Living with tinnitus – Tinnitus UK
- Nature Sounds – Apps on Google Play
- Amazon.co.uk : musicozy sleep headphones
- Diaphragmatic Breathing: How to, Benefits, and Exercises (verywellhealth.com)
- The Role of the Amygdala in Human Behavior and Emotion
- The Sleep Charity
- Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)
- Lincolnshire Talking Therapies
Patient information leaflet