What Causes Tinnitus?

Tinnitus affects about 1 in 10 people around the world and presents as a ‘ringing in the ears’, hissing, clicking, or whistling sounds in the ear. Sometimes there is the sound of a heartbeat in the ear, which is cause for concern as it could mean that there is a growth or tumour in the ear that needs immediate medical attention.

Although anybody can develop tinnitus, there are certain factors that can cause tinnitus. These include:

1. Excessive or sustained noise levels
2. Certain medications and antibiotics could cause tinnitus
3. Head and neck injuries
4. Ear infections
5. A foreign object, or earwax touching the eardrum
6. Eustachian tube (middle ear) problems
7. Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders
8. Stiffening of the middle ear bones
9. Traumatic brain injury
10. Cardiovascular diseases
11. Diabetes

What are the Risk Factors?

There are several risk factors for contracting tinnitus. These include:

1. Noise exposure from work, headphones, concerts, explosives
2. Smoking
3. Gender – men are affected more than women
4. Hearing loss
5. Age – older individuals have a higher likelihood of developing tinnitus.

What are the Symptoms of Tinnitus?

The most common symptom of tinnitus is that you ‘hear’ a sound on the inside of your ear. It is not a sound that comes from outside your body – it is generated inside your ear. The sound can be either loud or soft, continuous or intermittent, in just one ear or both ears, and be either a low- or a high-pitched sound or squeal. Very often,tinnitus is accompanied by a certain amount of hearing loss. Usually it is most notable during the night or when you are surrounded by quiet.

What Do I Do If I Have Tinnitus?

Although there is no cure for tinnitus, there are several ways that it can be managed. Speak to Darroch Hearing today about your options as soon as you start experiencing the symptoms.

The Original article Published at Darroch Hearing Blog

Should the NHS Do More to Address Hearing Loss?

When NHS England launched its Action Plan on Hearing Loss in 2015, the primary goal was to improve services designed to address hearing loss and its consequences among patients. The Action Plan has done well thus far, but some say more can be done. Action on Hearing Loss chief executive Paul Breckell is among them.

Breckell has publicly stated that his organisation hopes the Action Plan will eventually include more strategies designed to encourage people to address hearing loss as soon as possible, rather than waiting the roughly ten years it now takes for the average person to start looking for help.

The call for the NHS to do more is a direct result of the recent release of World Health Organisation (WHO) data in advance of World Hearing Day. According to the WHO, the global cost of hearing loss is upwards of £750 billion annually. Here in the UK, it is estimated that just diminished access to employment alone affects our economy to the tune of some £25 billion every year.

How We Can Help

Should the NHS do more to address hearing loss? That’s for the charities, think tanks and politicians to decide. In the meantime, we are here to help those who are ready to address their hearing loss. We offer free hearing tests along with earwax removal, tinnitus therapy, occupational audiometry, digital hearing aids, and more.

If you are suffering from any form of hearing loss, do not hesitate to give us a call or stop in for a visit. We want to help you hear better. As the Action on Hearing Loss charity says, don’t wait years to address your hearing loss. The sooner to take action, the more we can do to help you.

The Original article Published at Darroch Hearing Blog

3 Things You Might Not Know about Tinnitus

Tinnitus is a condition affecting tens of millions of people around the world. Also known as ringing in the ears, tinnitus can range from being mildly annoying to completely debilitating. It all depends on how the individual deals with the distraction tinnitus is known to cause.

Here at Darroch, there are several different methodologies we can use to approach the issue of tinnitus. There are also a number of studies currently underway with the hope of finding a pharmaceutical treatment to alleviate the condition. In the meantime, here are three things you might not know about tinnitus:

1. The Causes of Tinnitus Are Many

Tinnitus is a symptom of an underlying health issue in most cases. Tinnitus can be caused by obstructions in the middle ear, head and neck trauma, sinus pressure, and other conditions. It is most commonly caused by noise or age-related hearing loss.

2. There Are Two Kinds of Tinnitus

There are two types of tinnitus, the first being subjective tinnitus. This first variety comprises just about 99% of the known cases. With subjective tinnitus, there is no sound recognised by anyone other than the sufferer. Objective tinnitus, which accounts for 1% of the world’s cases, does involve a sound that is audible to both the sufferer and others around him or her.

3. There Are Ways to Measure Tinnitus

Though 99% of all tinnitus cases are subjective in nature, there are still ways to evaluate the characteristics of tinnitus and how these impact the individual sufferer. We do it through things such as speech recognition tests, acoustic reflex testing, and pure tone audio testing.

If you’re suffering from tinnitus, we urge you to contact Darroch right away. We might be able to help alleviate your discomfort significantly.

The Original article Published at Darroch Hearing Blog