Causes for Continuous Ringing in the Ears

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Dr. David Hill and today we are going to be talking about causes for continuous ringing in the ear. Now people refer to an ear ringing but this is a sensation that may not always occur as a pure tone sound, the ring that you may be familiar with. Sometimes it is actually a roaring or a whooshing sound as well. Whatever the nature of the sound the word for this is tinnitus. Now tinnitus almost always seems to occur in the ear more commonly on the right than on the left. That's how sufferers perceive tinnitus but the fact is the process isn't happening in the ear at all it is actually happening in the brain. Tinnitus is the brain's way of responding not to sound but to a lack of sound so anything that decreases hearing from an ear infection to a clogged up ear to nerve damage within the ear or within the nerve that brings sound from the ear to the brain will lead to tinnitus. If you are suffering tinnitus the key question is what's happened to your hearing. It is almost always a sign of some sort of hearing loss. For that reason if you do have tinnitus you are going to want a doctor to check you out, maybe do a hearing test certainly look in the ear to look for anything and you may need to follow up with an audiologist or ear, nose, and throat specialist. Some people may also have experiences of dizziness. Now tinnitus can be treated. There are medicines such as antianxiety medicines that can make it less traumatic. There are even auditory therapies that fight tinnitus with other noises, other pure tone noises to train the brain to ignore that sound or white noise that sort of covers up the sound and makes it less annoying. You'll probably notice that you hear tinnitus if you have it more commonly in quiet situations. When things get loud you tend not to notice because the brain has other stuff going on so remember tinnitus may be a ringing, it may be a whooshing or a roaring sound, it can be quiet or loud. It seems like it is in the ear. It actually happens in the brain and it is almost always a sign of at least some subtle hearing loss. If you have tinnitus be sure and get to your doctor and have it checked out. Talk about ringing int he ears, I am Dr. David Hill."