Tinnitus is an exceptionally common condition of the ear. Some estimates suggest that 10 percent of people experience tinnitus at one point or another, making it one of the most common health conditions in the world. The condition manifests as a sound in the ear that isn’t actually there, typically, it’s a buzzing or ringing, but tinnitus can take the form of other sounds too.
While the preponderance of tinnitus may be obvious, the causes are often more opaque. In part, that’s because tinnitus may result from a wide variety of causes, some of which are temporary and others that can be more long lasting.
This is why environmental factors can Have a major impact on tinnitus symptoms. After all, every environment has a soundscape, and when that soundscape is noisy, you could be doing damage to your ears. This environmental tinnitus might sometimes be permanent or it may sometimes respond to changes to make your environment quieter.
Why do so many individuals experience tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a condition in which you hear a sound that isn’t actually there. For most people, tinnitus manifests as a ringing or buzzing, but it could also present as rumbling, humming, screeching, or other sounds as well. The sounds are normally rhythmic in nature. For the majority of people, tinnitus will occur over a short period of time before resolving itself and going away. Though not as common, chronic tinnitus is effectively permanent.
There are a couple of reasons why tinnitus is so prevalent. The first is that the environmental factors that play a role in tinnitus are also quite common (more on that soon). The second reason is that tinnitus is usually a symptom of a root condition or injury. Put simply, there are lots of such injuries or conditions that can trigger tinnitus. As a result, tinnitus tends to be quite common.
How is tinnitus affected by environmental factors?
There are a wide variety of factors that can contribute to tinnitus symptoms, including ototoxic chemicals and medicines. However, when the majority of individuals talk about “environment” in terms of tinnitus, they actually mean the noise. Some settings, such as noisy city streets, can get very loud. Someone would be in danger of environmental tinnitus, for example, if they worked around loud industrial equipment.
When assessing the state of your health, these environmental factors are extremely important.
As with hearing loss, noise-associated damage can eventually cause tinnitus symptoms. When tinnitus is caused by noise damage, it’s normally chronic and often permanent. Some of the most common noise and environment-related causes of tinnitus include the following:
- Music: Listening to music at loud volumes is a fairly common practice. Doing this on a regular basis can frequently result in tinnitus symptoms.
- Noise in the workplace: Many workplaces, including offices, are often the source of loud noises. Tinnitus can eventually result from being in these places for eight hours a day, whether it’s industrial equipment or the din of a lot of people talking in an office.
- Traffic: You might not even recognize how loud traffic can be in heavily populated locations. And noise damage can occur at a lower volume than you may expect. Long commutes or consistent driving in these noisy environments can eventually result in hearing damage, including tinnitus.
- Events: Tinnitus can sometimes be caused by loud noises, even if they aren’t experienced over a long time-period. For example, going to a concert or using firearms can both trigger tinnitus if the volumes get to a high enough level.
Hearing damage can occur at a much lower volume than people generally expect. For this reason, hearing protection should be used at lower volumes than you might expect. Hearing protection can help you avoid tinnitus symptoms from developing in the first place.
If I’m experiencing tinnitus, what should I do?
Will tinnitus clear up by itself? Well, in some cases it could. But your symptoms may be permanent in some instances. There’s no way to tell which is which at the beginning. Likewise, just because your tinnitus has gone away for now doesn’t mean that noise damage has not occurred, resulting in an increased risk of chronic tinnitus down the road.
People often underestimate the minimum volume that damage starts to happen, which is the most significant contributing factor to its development. Damage has most likely already happened if you’re experiencing tinnitus. This means that there are a number of things that you should do to change your environment so as to prevent more irreparable damage.
Here are some tips you can try:
- Decreasing the amount of time you spend in noisy environments without giving your ears a chance to recover.
- Stop damage by using hearing protection like earplugs or earmuffs. Noise canceling headphones can also be a benefit in this regard.
- If possible, try to decrease environmental volume. For instance, you could close the windows if you live in a noisy area or turn off industrial equipment that isn’t in use.
Managing symptoms
Many people who experience persistent tinnitus find the symptoms to be extremely disruptive and uncomfortable. As a result, they often ask: how do you quiet tinnitus?
If you hear a buzzing or ringing sound, it’s important to set up an appointment, especially if the sound doesn’t go away. We will be able to evaluate your symptoms and identify how best to deal with them. For most cases of chronic tinnitus, there’s no cure. Here are a few ways to manage the symptoms:
- White noise devices: In some instances, you can tune out some of your tinnitus symptoms by using a white noise generator around your house.
- Relaxation techniques: High blood pressure has sometimes been connected to an increase in the severity of tinnitus symptoms. Your tinnitus symptoms can sometimes be eased by using relaxation techniques like meditation, for example.
- Masking device: This is a device that fits like a hearing aid and plays sounds that mask your symptoms. Your device will be specially calibrated to mask your tinnitus symptoms.
- Retraining therapy: You can sometimes retrain your ears with the assistance of a specialist, which will gradually retrain the way you process sound.
- Hearing aid: The ringing or buzzing created by tinnitus can be drowned out by amplifying the volume of external sounds with hearing aids.
Tinnitus is not curable. That’s why managing your environment to safeguard your hearing is a great first step.
But tinnitus can be managed and managed. We’ll be able to develop a specific treatment plan based on your hearing, your tinnitus, and your lifestyle. A white noise machine, for many, might be all that’s necessary. For others, management might be more demanding.
Learn how to best control your tinnitus by making an appointment right away!