Tinnitus is an incredibly common condition of the ear. Some estimates suggest that 10 percent of people experience tinnitus at one point or another, making it one of the most common health conditions in the world. Although the most common manifestation of tinnitus is a phantom ringing or buzzing in your ear, it can also present as other sounds too.
Sadly, the causes of tinnitus aren’t as evident as the symptoms. Some of the wide variety of tinnitus causes are temporary, while others can be more permanent.
This is why environmental factors can Have a major impact on tinnitus symptoms. After all, every setting has a soundscape, and when that soundscape is noisy, you might be doing damage to your ears. This environmental tinnitus might sometimes be long lasting or it might sometimes react to changes to make your environment quieter.
Why do so many individuals experience tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a condition in which you hear a sound that isn’t actually there. For most people, tinnitus manifests as a buzzing or ringing, but it could also present as rumbling, humming, screeching, or other sounds as well. Normally, the sounds are consistent or rhythmic. For the majority of people, tinnitus will occur over a short period of time before solving itself and going away. Though not as common, chronic tinnitus is effectively permanent.
There are a couple of reasons why tinnitus is so common. The first is that the environmental factors that play a role in tinnitus are also relatively common (more on that in a bit). The second reason is that tinnitus is often a symptom of an underlying condition or injury. In other words, there are lots of such injuries or conditions that can trigger tinnitus. As a result, tinnitus tends to be rather common.
How is tinnitus affected by environmental factors?
There are a large number of factors that can bring about tinnitus symptoms, including ototoxic chemicals and medicines. But when it comes to “environmental” triggers, noise is the biggest offender. Some settings, such as noisy city streets, can get really loud. Likewise, anyone who works around industrial equipment all day would be at risk of their environment exacerbating their tinnitus.
When assessing the state of your health, these environmental factors are very important.
Noise related damage, as with hearing loss, can activate tinnitus symptoms. When tinnitus is a result of noise damage, it’s usually chronic and frequently permanent. Some of the most prevalent noise and environment-related causes of tinnitus include the following:
- Events: Tinnitus can sometimes result from loud noises, even if they aren’t experienced over a long time-period. Shooting a gun or going to a rock concert are instances of this type of noise.
- Music: Many people will frequently listen to their music at loud volumes. Tinnitus will often be the outcome if you do this frequently.
- Traffic: Traffic in heavily populated places can be much louder than you may expect it to be. And noise damage can happen at a lower volume than you may expect. Long commutes or regular driving in these loud environments can eventually result in hearing damage, including tinnitus.
- Noise in the workplace: Many workplaces, including offices, are frequently the source of loud noises. Whether it’s industrial equipment or gabby office neighbors, spending eight hours a day around constant workplace noise can eventually result in tinnitus.
Damage to the ears can happen at a much lower volume than people usually expect. For this reason, hearing protection should be utilized at lower volumes than you might expect. Hearing protection can help prevent tinnitus symptoms from developing in the first place.
If I have tinnitus, what should I do?
So, does tinnitus resolve? Well, in some cases it could. But your symptoms might be irreversible in some instances. Initially, it’s basically impossible to know which is which. If you have tinnitus due to noise damage, even if your tinnitus does clear up, your chance of having your tinnitus come back and become chronic is a lot more likely.
People tend to underestimate the minimum volume that damage starts to occur, which is the most significant contributing factor to its development. If you experience tinnitus, your body is telling you that damage has already probably happened. If this is the situation, finding and changing the source of the noise damage is crucial to prevent additional damage.
Here are a few tips you can try:
- Using hearing protection (either earplugs or earmuffs) in order to prevent damage. You can also get some degree of protection from noise canceling headphones.
- Reducing the volume of your environment where possible. For instance, you could close the windows if you live in a loud area or turn off industrial machinery that isn’t in use.
- If you’re in a noisy setting, limit the amount of exposure time and give your ears breaks.
How to deal with your symptoms
Lots of individuals who experience chronic tinnitus find the symptoms to be extremely distracting and uncomfortable. Because of this, they often ask: how do you calm tinnitus?
You should contact us for an appointment if you are hearing a persistent ringing or buzzing in your ears. We can help you determine the best way to handle your particular situation. For most cases of persistent tinnitus, there’s no cure. Here are a few ways to manage the symptoms:
- White noise devices: In some instances, you can tune out some of your tinnitus symptoms by utilizing a white noise generator around your house.
- Relaxation techniques: High blood pressure has sometimes been connected to an increase in the intensity of tinnitus symptoms. Your tinnitus symptoms can sometimes be alleviated by utilizing relaxation techniques like meditation, for example.
- Masking device: This is a device that fits like a hearing aid and plays sounds to mask your symptoms. Your device will be specifically calibrated to mask your tinnitus symptoms.
- Hearing aid: The ringing or buzzing created by tinnitus can be drowned out by boosting the volume of outside sounds with hearing aids.
- Retraining therapy: You can sometimes retrain your ears with the help of a specialist, which will progressively retrain the way you process sound.
Tinnitus has no cure. That’s why managing your environment to safeguard your hearing is a practical first step.
But tinnitus can be managed and managed. We’ll be able to establish a specific treatment plan according to your hearing, your tinnitus, and your lifestyle. For some people, dealing with your tinnitus may simply mean using a white noise machine. For others, management may be more demanding.
Set up an appointment to learn how to regulate your tinnitus symptoms.