subject: Ringing In The Ears - How To Prevent And Treat It [print this page] How would you feel if you were hearing this almost constant and very loud ringing sound in your ears, day after day? The condition is called tinnitus. There are many causes of tinnitus and they are often related to disorders in the middle or inner ears, and sometimes even in the brain.
Usually tinnitus symptoms are rather mild and they don't cause any major annoyance for the sufferer. Nevertheless, there are millions of people worldwide who seriously suffer from the condition. Tinnitus is not actually a disease; it is just a symptom of some other malfunction in a human system. Often these issues can be solved but this is not always the case.
Some typical causes of tinnitus include earwax build-up, a foreign object in the ear, and accumulation of fluid in the ear. Some ear infections can also cause the ringing sensation in the ears.
Age-related hearing lost can also be a culprit of tinnitus. Probably the most common cause of tinnitus is an exposure to loud noises.
Those who work or expose themselves to loud noises often are advised to wear ear plugs or protect their ears from these sounds. Listening to loud music constantly can eventually result in ringing in the ears due to nerve damage and hearing loss.
Many tinnitus patients wish that there would be some ultimate cure for the condition. However, there is not. Nevertheless, there are many ways to treat tinnitus in order to get some relief from it. An appropriate tinnitus treatment option is determined according to every specific case.
Sometimes a hearing aid is prescribed for the patient. In some cases counseling is used as a tinnitus treatment. This includes helping the sufferer to learn how to live with the condition by learning to tolerate the sound. One common treatment option is also a wearable sound generator which produces some background sound to mask tinnitus.
If the ringing is annoying enough to cause problems in falling asleep, there are tabletop sound generators available to assist the patient in falling asleep through relaxation. The device can be set to produce rain fall sounds, waves on the shore, waterfall sounds and night time sounds of summer. These sounds will mask the ringing and allow sleep.
Niacin supplements have been found to help. Antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs have also been prescribed for tinnitus treatment. There are also cochlear implants used for severe hearing loss and ringing in the ears.
