Tinnitus
It is essential that medical opinion is
always sought to identify or to rule out any treatable pathology. Any programme
of tinnitus management including the Tinnitus E-Programme can and should only
be contemplated AFTER having sought medical opinion about your tinnitus.
Tinnitus is a
collection of electrical signals that pass between the ear and the brain. These
electrical signals are present in every one, but most people's brains do not
register them because they have no significance or meaning. The signals are
NORMAL where there is normal hearing, a clear MRI scan and there are no
symptoms of treatable pathology.
TRIGGER
It takes a trigger to enable the brain to register these electrical signals. Common triggers may be any of the following:
1. TRAUMA
- Physical trauma e.g. a bang on the head from a fall
- Emotional trauma e.g. bereavement
- Noise trauma e.g. exposure to a sudden very loud noise or loud noise over a long period of time
2. INFECTION
3. SOME MEDICATIONS
- E.g. the "mycin" group of antibiotics known to be ototoxic (poisonous to the ear)
- Aspirin if taken in very large doses
- Quinnine if taken in very large doses
Sometimes, we are aware what has triggered the tinnitus. In many cases, it may not be possible to identify the cause. Whatever the cause has been, the "sound" has now been registered by the auditory brain and it tries to do its job of interpreting what the sound means.
THE BRAIN AND TINNITUS
The brain will only try to do its job of interpreting the meaning the electrical signals it "hears", just as it hears speech and other sounds in your environment. The problem is that the "tinnitus sound" cannot be related to anything in its environment. There are no messages being received from the eyes or other areas to corroborate what the sound is or where it is coming from.
A process then begins where the brain will send out messages to different parts of itself trying to investigate.
One of the areas of the brain involved in this process is the LIMBIC centre of the brain. This centre deals with emotions and feelings.
Because there is nothing very positive that the limbic centre can make of these signals, there is a negative response given from the limbic part of the brain. The limbic centre is also known as our "emotional brain" and responds emotionally by increasing levels of arousal. Increased levels of arousal turn up "sensitivity" including sensitivity to sound. Tinnitus is a very tiny sound but with high arousal levels having been triggered, our perception of it heightens and the tinnitus sounds very loud to us.
HOW TINNITUS IS MANAGED
There are 3 main aspects to the effective management of tinnitus:
- Knowledge and understanding of tinnitus – what it is and why it behaves in the way that it does
- Management of Stress – tinnitus is very responsive to stress and tension
- Prosthetic Management – in the case of a hearing loss, this should be managed by use of an appropriate hearing aid. In some cases where there is no aidable hearing loss, white noise therapy can be used
Here are some useful relaxation exercises
