Tinnitus Causes

Introduction to Tinnitus Causes

Tinnitus is not an illness or disease in itself, but rather a sign of some problem within the body that causes the symptoms of tinnitus to appear. These manifest themselves in the form of the noises that we call tinnitus or ‘ringing in ears.’ This is why identifying tinnitus causes is so important…

Unfortunately, it is worth mentioning at the very beginning that, tinnitus causes cannot always be identified. One study has indicated that around forty three percent of tinnitus sufferers had no obvious cause for their tinnitus.

This means that in many cases it is difficult to eliminate tinnitus, simply because the underlying tinnitus cause cannot be identified. This is one of the chief reasons why so many sufferers turn to holistic tinnitus remedies that treat the ‘whole body’ in a more multi-faceted way, employing a broad range of remedies and healing strategies.

But, let’s look at the tinnitus causes. There are three over-arching causal areas for tinnitus you need to consider…

3 Main Tinnitus Causes

(1) Damaged / Impaired Hearing

This refers to hearing that has been impaired because of damage to the cochlea. The cochlea is shaped rather like the shell of a snail and is the part of the inner ear that is responsible for transforming the pressure waves that enter our ears (external sound) into the electrical impulses that travel along the auditory nerve to the brain, where they are processed into the sounds we can then ‘hear.’

The most common ways that one can end up with cochlea damage are things like; loud noise exposure, head blow / trauma, inner and middle ear infections, dental surgery, ear / nasal surgery, impacted ear wax that has not been removed professionally, etc. You can also damage your cochlea through swimming accidents. But hearing can be impaired simply due to the normal ageing process, so that many people suffer tinnitus as they grow older, particularly into retirement.

(2) Sinus Problems

This is an issue that may also cause tinnitus. This can occur when drugs, such as antibiotics and antihistamines, are being taken over the longer term to relieve sinus infections, allergies and related problems. As with most drugs, these can have negative side effects that can actually help to cause tinnitus among other things.

One such problem that can occur is when the mucus found in the mucus membranes that surround the middle ear becomes thicker than normal due to the effect of these types of drugs.

Under normal conditions this mucus cleanses the middle ear and then drains away via the Eustachian tube into the throat. But, if it gets more viscous (thick and sticky) then it can actually block the tube. This then backs-up, putting pressure on the middle ear which can then cause tinnitus as well as middle ear infections.

(3) Stress and Anxiety

Stress and anxiety can aggravate tinnitus. In other words, for any one person, they may not be the underlying cause, but they can make the symptoms (noises) worse. This can happen because stress and anxiety cause chemical changes to occur in your body which then result in issues such as raised blood pressure (hypertension), increased heart rate, lowered immune system, heart problems, allergies, anxiety / depression, digestive problems, sleep problems, etc.

So, in a way, tinnitus and stress is a vicious cycle that you need to breakout of. In other words, when you have tinnitus that really troubles you, you cannot help getting stressed and anxious. But, when you get stressed, the resulting physical changes can have a negative impact on your tinnitus and makes it worse. You get even more stressed, and so on and on: a vicious cycle. Have you noticed how your tinnitus seems much worse when you are stressed?

Now, is stress in itself a direct cause of tinnitus? Certainly many people with stress have tinnitus and many people with tinnitus suffer from stress. But which came first?

[Note: I have noticed that there are many claims that psychological stress can actually be a direct cause if tinnitus. However, I haven't yet found a definitive medical study that has been widely accepted to prove this. This doesn't mean that stress cannot be a direct cause of tinnitus, it just means that it hasn't been medically proven yet, as far as I can see at any rate. But this is only my personal opinion. Ed.]

But what does direct cause of tinnitus mean? And is it really all that important?

Because, what we do know, is that prolonged stress and anxiety definitely lowers your immune system, which is at the very heart of your health system.

A compromised immune system leaves you open to many health problems such as allergies and infections. So that if this results in, say ear infections and / or other associated sinus allergies, then we already know that this may very well proceed to tinnitus. So, by this argument we could say that stress and anxiety can cause tinnitus.

Meniere’s Disease Causes Tinnitus Too

It’s worth adding some information here about Meniere’s disease, which is also known to cause tinnitus, but it only affects a relatively small number of people, around 0.2%.

Meniere’s disease is named after a French physician, Prosper Meniere, who first described the symptoms of this condition in 1861. It is believed that, on average, around 0.2% of people suffer from the condition, but this % figure varies widely around the world.

Meniere’s disease is a disorder occurring in the inner ear and is accompanied by vertigo, hearing loss, ear pressure / ‘fulness’ feeling in the ear, and tinnitus. The disorder can be characterised by sudden ‘attacks’ of vertigo (dizziness), physical imbalance, nausea, and vomiting. These instances can last anywhere from a couple of hours to three or four hours, leaving the victim emotionally and physically drained. In the majority of cases, people with this disease suffer progressive hearing loss which, as we know, can cause tinnitus.