Buzzing, beeping, whistling, ringing, hissing or humming in the ear – everyone knows it. Quite unexpectedly ear noises appear and cause discomfort. Mostly they disappear just as suddenly as they appeared.
But what if the noises settle in the ear for hours, days or even years? Doctors speak of “tinnitus aurium” or just tinnitus. The literal translation of the Latin term meaning, appropriately enough, “the ringing of the ears”.
It is an acoustic perception without the corresponding acoustic stimulus from outside. In contrast to acoustic hallucinations, tinnitus has no information content. The phenomenon is frequent: in Germany more than 3 million people have tinnitus. Especially people over 50 years of age are affected, but children and adolescents also suffer from tinnitus.
Causes
There are a variety of causes for tinnitus. In the hearing system alone, 90 diseases have been identified that trigger tinnitus. Regardless of the cause, the balance between inhibitory and excitatory activities of the nerve cells in different areas of the brain is disturbed.
The corresponding neural nerve cells are overactive and trigger the tinnitus. A basic distinction is made between objective and subjective tinnitus. In more than 90% of those affected, there is no sound source, so that subjective tinnitus is present.
Tinnitus also often develops in cases of sudden deafness or hearing loss. Likewise, the intake of certain medications, including antidepressants, antibiotics, painkillers, chemotherapeutic agents or drugs can trigger a tinnitus. Non-organic causes include burnout, stress and psychological strain.
- Blood sponges (hemangiomas)
- A narrowing of the blood vessels (arteriosclerosis)
- TMJ problems
- Cramps in the muscles of the ear or palate
- Rarely a tumor is found in the middle ear
- Sometimes a plug of earwax or other foreign body obstructs the auditory canal.
- A cold could also cause the so-called tube connecting the middle ear and the nasopharynx to become blocked, resulting in tinnitus.
- The same applies to head injuries affecting the middle and inner ear.
- A very classical cause is blast trauma or chronic noise pollution.
- High blood pressure
- Muscular and functional disorders of the temporomandibular joint and cervical spine
- Chronic inflammation of the middle ear
- Autoimmune diseases of the inner ear or metabolic and kidney diseases
- In the case of objective tinnitus, there is an actual sound source produced by the body: