You know that scene in your favorite action movie where something explodes near the hero and the sound goes all high-pitched-buzzing? Well, at least some level of minor brain trauma has likely happened to them.
Naturally, action movies don’t highlight the brain injury part. But that high-pitched ringing is something known as tinnitus. Tinnitus is most often discussed from the perspective of hearing loss, but it turns out that traumatic brain injuries like concussions can also lead to this particular ringing in the ears.
After all, one of the most prevalent traumatic brain injuries is a concussion. And they can occur for a wide variety of reasons (for instance, falls, sporting accidents, and motor vehicle crashes). How something such as a concussion causes tinnitus can be, well, complicated. But the good news is that even if you sustain a brain injury that causes tinnitus, you can usually treat and manage your condition.
Concussions, exactly what are they?
A concussion is a particular kind of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Think about it this way: your brain is nestled pretty tightly into your skull (your brain is big, and your skull is there to protect it). When something comes along and shakes the head violently enough, your brain starts moving around in your skull. But your brain could end up smashing into the inside of your skull because of the small amount of additional space in there.
This causes damage to your brain! Multiple sides of your skull can be impacted by your brain. And this is what brings about a concussion. When you visualize this, it makes it easy to see how a concussion is literally brain damage. Here are some symptoms of a concussion:
- Ringing in the ears
- Slurred speech
- Headaches
- Vomiting and nausea
- Confusion and loss of memory
- A slow or delayed response to questions
- Dizziness and blurred vision
This list isn’t complete, but you get the idea. Symptoms from a concussion can last anywhere between several weeks and a few months. When somebody gets one concussion, they will usually make a complete recovery. But, repeated or multiple concussions are a different story (generally, it’s the best idea to avoid these).
How do concussions trigger tinnitus?
Can a concussion mess with your hearing? Really?
The question of concussions and tinnitus is an interesting one. After all, concussions aren’t the only brain traumas that can cause tinnitus symptoms. That ringing in your ears can be activated by even minor brain injuries. That might happen in a couple of ways:
- Damage to your hearing: Experiencing an explosion at close range is the cause of concussions and TBIs for many members of the armed forces. And explosions are incredibly loud, the noise and the shock wave can damage the stereocilia in your ear, causing hearing loss and tinnitus. So it isn’t so much that the concussion caused tinnitus, it’s that the tinnitus and concussion have a common root cause.
- Disruption of communication: In some instances, the portion of your brain that controls hearing can become damaged by a concussion. As a result, the messages sent from the ear to your brain can’t be properly processed and tinnitus can be the outcome.
- Disruption of the Ossicular Chain: There are three tiny bones in your ear that help send sounds to your brain. A substantial impact (the kind that can trigger a concussion, for example) can push these bones out of position. Tinnitus can be triggered by this and it can also interrupt your hearing.
- Meniere’s Syndrome: A TBI can cause the development of a condition known as Meniere’s Syndrome. When pressure accumulates in the inner ear this condition can occur. Significant hearing loss and tinnitus can become a problem over time as a result of Menier’s disease.
- Nerve damage: There’s also a nerve that is in charge of transmitting sounds you hear to your brain, which a concussion can damage.
- A “labyrinthine” concussion: This form of concussion happens when the inner ear is damaged due to your TBI. This damage can create inflammation and lead to both hearing loss and tinnitus.
It’s important to stress that every traumatic brain injury and concussion is a little different. Personalized care and instructions, from us, will be given to every patient. You should certainly give us a call for an assessment if you believe you might have suffered a traumatic brain injury.
When you get a concussion and tinnitus is the result, how can it be treated?
Most frequently, tinnitus related to a concussion or traumatic brain injury will be short-term. After a concussion, how long can I anticipate my tinnitus to linger? Weeks or months, unfortunately, could be the time period. Then again, if your tinnitus has lingered for more than a year, it’s likely to be irreversible. Over time, in these circumstances, treatment plans to manage your condition will be the best plan.
This can be accomplished by:
- Therapy: Sometimes, patients can learn to disregard the sound by undertaking cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). You ignore the sound after accepting it. It will require some therapy, practice, and time though.
- Hearing aid: Sometimes, tinnitus becomes prominent because the rest of the world takes a back seat (as is the case with non-TBI-caused hearing loss, everything else becomes quieter, so your tinnitus sounds louder). A hearing aid can help raise the volume of everything else, ensuring that your tinnitus fades into the background.
- Masking device: This device goes inside your ear much like a hearing aid, but it generates particular noises instead of making things louder. Your particular tinnitus symptoms determine what sound the device will generate helping you ignore the tinnitus sounds and be better able to pay attention to voices and other external sounds.
In some situations, further therapies may be necessary to achieve the desired result. Getting rid of the tinnitus will often require treatment to the root concussion. Depending on the status of your concussion, there could be a number of possible courses of action. As a result, a precise diagnosis is incredibly important in this regard.
Consult us about what the right treatment plan might look like for you.
TBI-caused tinnitus can be managed
Your life can be traumatically affected by a concussion. It’s never a good day when you get a concussion! And if you’ve been in a car crash and your ears are ringing, you may wonder why.
It could be days later or immediately after the accident that tinnitus symptoms emerge. But you can effectively manage tinnitus after an accident and that’s important to keep in mind. Call us today to make an appointment.