The full tinnitus story

Tinnitus [tin-night-us] is the medical term for noise that originates within the ear rather than from the outside environment. Tinnitus is also called "ears ringing," also can be gentle buzzing sounds, loud humming, roaring noises like a waterfall, sounds like a train whistling, and/or clicking like noises. You can experience the ear ringing from tinnitus in one or both of your ears and the intensity will vary dramatically.

Tinnitus is a condition, not a disease. It's a symptom that can be caused by a number of medical conditions can also include infected middle ear bones; meniere's disease is also a major cause of cochlear damage and tinnitus,. It is a little known fact that most prescription drugs list tinnitus as a side effect.
The phantom noises tinnitus that sufferers experience manifest in the main in the inner ear, the middle of the head, the middle ear and the outer ear. Quite separate from the tinnitus, people may also experience dizziness, pain or a sense of fullness in the ears, and headache.

Most tinnitus stems from damage to the microscopic endings of the inner ear hearing nerve. We have literally millions of these auditory nerve cells in the inner ear that are charged electrically. Minute hairs cover the surface of each auditory nerve cell. The cilia (the microscopic hairs) ripple in time to the pressure of sound waves.

It is this movement that triggers elecrical impulses through the auditory nerve cells. The resulting electronic discharge reaches the brain in a microsecond which then tells you that you have just heard a sound.

If the delicate microscopic hairs become damaged, they move randomly and can no longer hold their electrical charge. Electronic impluses are then generated on a random basis and sent down the auditory nerves, which your brain figures out to be a noise.

Old age is a major cause of auditory nerve damage, nevertheless the leading cause of tinnitus results from exposure to loud noise. People who are very stressed or individuals who are in the military are far more likely to develop tinnitus.
Not all tinnitus is a ringing sound, some sufferers experience pulsing sounds. The ringing ears tinnitus type is tonal tinnitus. Pulsatile tinnitus produces sounds that are intermittent, continuous, or pulsating in unison with the heartbeat.

• Tinnitus is not a chronic condition, but hearing loss is and is permanent.

The great majority of tinnitus sufferers also have high frequency hearing loss. It is recommended that for a correct tinnitus diagnosis to be made, that a hearing test be made A common concern of people with tinnitus is that they may become completely deaf; however, tinnitus does not cause deafness.