Common Causes of Tinnitus

by | Jun 18, 2020 | Tinnitus causes

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tick boxes for tinnitus causes4 Common Causes of Tinnitus

How do you know if you have tinnitus? How do you know if you will get tinnitus? Can you prevent tinnitus? Is something happening in your life that will cause tinnitus? The fact is that you may not even know that you may be suffering from tinnitus, but there are some common causes of tinnitus that you should be aware of. Paying attention to potential causes may reduce your risks.

How does tinnitus present?

Ringing or buzzing in your ears is a common description of tinnitus. It can be loud, soft, continuous, occasional or intermittent. It affects people of any age, from all walks of life.

What happens in the ear in Tinnitus?

One of the most common causes of tinnitus is damage to your inner ear cell. Your inner ear cell is composed of tiny, gentle hairs that move in relation to the pressure of sound waves. This triggers your ear cells to release an electrical signal through a nerve from your ear to your brain. Your brain then understands these signals as sounds.  Unfortunately, if the hairs inside your inner ears are damaged, they can “leak” random electrical impulses to your brain causing tinnitus.

Top 4 common causes of Tinnitus:

  • Being exposed to loud noise such as things like firearms, chainsaws and heavy equipment are sources of noise-related hearing loss.
  • Change in your ear bone causes the bones in your middle ear to become stiff which may affect hearing and cause tinnitus. This tends to run in families and is caused by an abnormal bone growth.
  • Earwax blockage is when you have too much earwax being accumulated. It becomes very hard to wash away naturally which leads to hearing loss or eardrum irritation which can lead to tinnitus.
  • Getting older sometimes means that your hearing worsens with age. This loss of hearing can be associated with tinnitus.

There are other causes of tinnitus. You should always consult with your doctor or audiologist if you are having any issues or are worried that something in your environment or your body may be causing tinnitus or changes to your hearing.