STOP THE RINGING
“Tinnitus,” the perception of sound in the head when there is no outside sound source, is a symptom. Causes of tinnitus can include exposure to loud noises, stress, injury, Meniere’s disease, hypertension, migraine headaches, drinking too much coffee, and even over-accumulations of earwax. “Ringing in the ears,” as it is more commonly known, may also […]
HEARING YOUR OWN PULSE
To understand “pulsatile tinnitus,” it is helpful to know the difference between the two main types of hearing loss: “conductive” and “sensorineural.” Conductive loss is due to problems involving the ear canal, eardrum, or middle ear; sensorineural loss involves problems of the inner ear. With this in mind, people suffering from a condition causing conductive […]
ANTIDEPRESSANTS MAY EXACERBATE TINNITUS
If you take antidepressant medication in the class of drugs known as “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors” (SSRIs) and experience tinnitus (ringing in the ears), you should know that your medication might be making your tinnitus worse. The irony of this link between SSRIs and worsening tinnitus is that previous research indicates that people with tinnitus […]
SELECTIVE SOUND SENSITIVITY SYNDROME
The alliterative term “selective sound sensitivity syndrome” (or “misophonia”) is used to describe a condition whereby a person experiences an intense emotional reaction to a specific sound. It may be a constant tapping of a foot on the floor or hearing someone eat that causes a misophonic individual to fly into a rage. The word […]
A RINGING ENDORSEMENT
Ringing in the ears (tinnitus) often accompanies hearing loss. In fact, most tinnitus can be traced to noise-induced damage and age-related changes that occur among the sound-sensing “hair cells” of the inner ear. With this in mind, individuals who experience ringing or buzzing noises in their ears that does not come from an external source […]
HYPERSENSITIVE TO SOUNDS
The term “hyperacusis” is used to describe people who find the sounds of everyday life to be intrusively loud, uncomfortable, and even painful. It is conservatively estimated that about two percent of the population suffers from this problem. A minority of this percentage is severely affected, while the rest report that hyperacusis makes it difficult […]