Could You Have Tinnitus?

Tinnitus is defined as a symptom of hearing loss. It’s also something that can be caused by consistent damage to your hearing or a one-off noisy event that does permanent damage. For the most part, tinnitus can be temporary, but it’s important you take great care with your hearing to avoid doing any further damage to your ears.

What is Tinnitus?

Tinnitus is often described as a ringing in the ears, but the sound in question can sound different from person to person. It could be a hissing sound to a whooshing noise and it often comes with a second of muffled sound. Tinnitus is a common occurrence and can impact 15-20% of adults, so it’s a symptom that many will experience in their lifetime.

Again, it’s only temporary, but it’s important to know how to keep it from becoming something more severe or causing permanent hearing loss. With that in mind, here are some signs that you might have tinnitus.

General Hearing Loss

Repeated conversations are one of the most recognizable sounds that are common with hearing loss. Remember that tinnitus is a symptom of hearing loss, so if you’re experiencing any signs of hearing loss, then this could be why you have tinnitus in the first place.

Signs of hearing loss beyond asking others to repeat themselves may include not hearing noises that you would have heard before, like the doorbell or the sound of footsteps on the pavement. These signs can indicate that you have some form of hearing loss, and if you experience tinnitus, then this might be the reason why.

Discomfort

No one likes to experience discomfort in the body, especially when it comes to things like toothache or earache. Seeing as they are small areas of the body, they can be the most debilitating when you are experiencing discomfort with them. If you’re experiencing any sort of pain in the ear, then it’s likely down to tinnitus, and this can occur through infection or inflammation of the inner ear canal.

Ways to Treat Tinnitus

There are many ways that you can treat tinnitus in order to reduce the impact of it. This can be tinnitus retraining therapy and lifestyle modifications like alternative medicines or alterations to existing medication. You could quit smoking or drinking if applicable and remove any excess earwax. You could also try out hearing aids as these can help mask the sound of tinnitus to help with any negative impacts that have been caused from it.

It’s useful to speak to a hearing professional and to get a hearing test to see what might be happening within your ear canal. By getting it checked out by professionals, you will help discover what’s wrong and how to find a solution to the tinnitus itself. Help it be a temporary problem, rather than a permanent one.