Have you noticed a ringing in your ears?

There is a condition called tinnitus, which is becoming more common nowadays.  If you have a ringing in your ears, it is possible you have this and you should see your doctor.

With many of us having mobile phones, desk phones, ipods, or other earphones in our ears fairly often, it was probably inevitable that an increase in this “ringing” would occur.

Tinnitus is a symptom of several conditions.  It is often described as being similar to the sounds you hear when you hold a seashell up to your ear.  You hear the ocean as if it were a swishing sound.  Some people who report ringing in the ears hear a similar sound.

Ringing can arise from any area of the ear.  After a loud rock concert you may hear ringing in your ears.  Ear infections can cause ringing or swishing sounds in the ear as the middle ear fills up with fluid.  Even something as simple as having too much ear wax in your ears can cause ringing sounds.

Start with common explanations for the sound.  It could be that your iPod volume is too loud and over time, tinnitus had become an issue.  In quiet places, you hear sounds in your head that you couldn’t hear before because of other noises.  This is normal.

If the tinnitus is accompanied by other symptoms, it could be something that a doctor needs to diagnose and treat.  People who suffer from Meniere’s disease suffer dizziness and ringing in the ears.  Ears that are red and painful along with the ringing may signal a problem with the middle ear.  Ringing is also heard by people at the beginning stages of a hearing loss due to aging or exposure to loud noises on a constant basis.  In rare cases, the ringing in your ears could be caused by a tumor somewhere in your ear.

Your doctor can evaluate your situation if you give him or her a good description of what you’ve been experiencing.  Is it just ringing?  Are there other symptoms?  You should be able to have a hearing test to assess the seriousness of your condition.

In the most extreme cases, you could also be tested using an MRI, a CT scan or an ABR.  An ABR (auditory brain stem response) looks at the hearing pathway in your head to see if there are any problems there.

For many people with tinnitus, there may be no viable treatment.  The condition is annoying, but when it is not a symptom of anything serious, you may have to learn to deal with it.  Since tinnitus is a symptom, when the underlying problem (such as Meniere’s disease or ear infection) is treated, the tinnitus simply goes away in time.

To your health,

Kimberly