Tinnitus is an extremely common condition of the ear. Some estimates suggest that 10 percent of people experience tinnitus at one point or another, making it one of the most prevalent health conditions in the world. The condition is experienced as a sound in the ear that isn’t actually there, typically, it’s a buzzing or ringing, but tinnitus can manifest as other sounds also.
While the prevalence of tinnitus might be evident, the causes are often more opaque. In part, that’s because tinnitus could result from a wide variety of causes, some of which are temporary and others that can be more permanent.
This is why environmental factors can play a major role in tinnitus symptoms. If the background sound of your particular setting is very noisy, you may be harming your hearing. This environmental tinnitus might sometimes be long lasting or it might sometimes react to changes to make your environment quieter.
Why do so many individuals experience tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a condition in which you hear a noise that isn’t really there. For most individuals, tinnitus manifests as a ringing or buzzing, but it might also present as thumping, humming, screeching, or other sounds as well. The sounds are normally rhythmic in nature. Tinnitus will normally clear itself up after a short period of time. In less common cases, tinnitus might become effectively permanent, a condition referred to as chronic tinnitus.
There are a couple of reasons why tinnitus is so prevalent. Firstly, environmental factors that can play a role in 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 trigger tinnitus. As a result, tinnitus tends to be quite common.
How is tinnitus affected by environmental factors?
Other things can also cause tinnitus, including ototoxic medications and chemicals. However, when the majority of people discuss “environment” in terms of tinnitus, they really mean the noise. Some settings, such as noisy city streets, can get very loud. Likewise, anyone who works around industrial equipment all day would be at risk of their environment worsening their tinnitus.
These environmental factors can be exceptionally important when considering your hearing health.
Noise induced damage, as with hearing loss, can cause tinnitus symptoms. When tinnitus is caused by noise damage, it’s typically chronic and often permanent. Some of the most prevalent noise and environment-induced causes of tinnitus include the following:
- Music: Listening to music at loud volumes is a fairly common practice. Doing this on a consistent basis can frequently trigger tinnitus symptoms.
- Traffic: Traffic in densely populated areas can be much louder than you might expect it to be. And noise damage can occur at a lower volume than you may expect. Long commutes or consistent driving in these loud settings can eventually result in hearing damage, including tinnitus.
- Noise in the workplace: Lots of workplaces, including offices, are frequently the source of loud noises. Whether it’s industrial equipment or chatty office neighbors, spending eight hours a day around constant workplace noise can eventually lead to tinnitus.
- Events: Tinnitus can sometimes be caused by loud noises, even if they aren’t experienced over a long time-frame. Shooting a gun or going to a rock concert are instances of this kind of noise.
Damage to the ears can happen at a far lower volume than people usually expect. For this reason, hearing protection should be used at lower volumes than you may expect. Noise related tinnitus symptoms can frequently be avoided altogether by doing this.
What should I do if I’m experiencing tinnitus?
So, does tinnitus go away? Maybe, in some cases. In other cases, your symptoms may be irreversible. There’s no way to know which is which at the outset. Moreover, just because your tinnitus has reseeded doesn’t mean that noise damage has not occurred, resulting in an increased risk of chronic tinnitus in the future.
One of the most main contributing factors to the development of tinnitus is that individuals tend to underestimate the volume at which damage occurs to their ears. If you experience tinnitus, your body is telling you that damage has already likely occurred. If this is the situation, finding and changing the source of the noise damage is essential to prevent additional damage.
Here are some tips you can try:
- Wearing hearing protection (either earplugs or earmuffs) in order to counter damage. You can also get some amount of protection from noise canceling headphones.
- Reducing the amount of time you spend in noisy environments without giving your ears a chance to recuperate.
- If possible, try to lower environmental volume. If you have any machinery that isn’t in use, turn it off, and shut the windows if it’s noisy outside, for example.
Managing symptoms
Many people who experience persistent tinnitus find the symptoms to be extremely disruptive and uncomfortable. Because of this, they often ask: how do you quiet tinnitus?
You should give us a call for an appointment if you are hearing a persistent buzzing or ringing in your ears. We can help you figure out the best way to regulate your particular situation. There’s no cure for most forms of chronic tinnitus. Here are a number of ways to manage the symptoms:
- Relaxation techniques: High blood pressure has sometimes been associated with an increase in the severity of tinnitus symptoms. So taking a little time to relax (with meditation, for instance) can sometimes help reduce your tinnitus symptoms.
- Retraining therapy: You can sometimes retrain your ears with the assistance of a specialist, which will gradually retrain the way you process sound.
- White noise devices: Using a white noise device around your house can help you tune out your tinnitus in some instances.
- Masking device: This is a device that fits similarly to a hearing aid and plays sounds that mask your symptoms. Your device will be specifically calibrated to mask your tinnitus symptoms.
- Hearing aid: The ringing or buzzing created by tinnitus can be drowned out by boosting the volume of outside sounds with hearing aids.
There’s no cure for tinnitus. That’s why managing your environment to protect your hearing is a great first step.
But tinnitus can be addressed and managed. We’ll be able to establish a specific treatment plan based on your hearing, your tinnitus, and your lifestyle. A white noise machine, for many, might be all that’s required. For other people, management may be more demanding.
Learn how to best manage your tinnitus by making an appointment right away!