#1 27-11-2007 21:15:00

kenji
Member
Registered: 27-11-2007
Posts: 43

questions

What are the possible mechansims of tinnitus?

I understand that there are 2 kinds. Ear related and head related.

Either way how can we tell which it is?

Kenji

Offline

 

#2 28-11-2007 17:32:05

Thomas
Administrator
Registered: 28-08-2007
Posts: 1563
Website

Re: questions

Hi Kenji,

Welcome to the forum.

Tinnitus can obviously be related to ear problems, but it can be due to other conditions as well. The tinnitus is in any case caused by a reaction of the nervous system to these conditions (the ears on their own, being basically just a passive system, are simply unable to produce the tinnitus). The problem is that this nervous condition can develop its own dynamics due to a kind of feedback mechanism, so it can prevail even though the original cause doesn't exist anymore. This is why usually the doctor tells the tinnitus patient that there is nothing obviously wrong with their ears (or otherwise with their health) and that they can't do anything about it. In these cases one just has to wait until the tinnitus loses its momentum, which a) can take a very long time, and b) might require some changes to your daily life such that the nervous system is not additionally strained (e.g. by nerve stimulants like caffeine and alcohol), but on the contrary relaxed as far as possible.

Thomas

Offline

 

#3 28-11-2007 17:38:03

kenji
Member
Registered: 27-11-2007
Posts: 43

Re: questions

what about spontaneous otoacoustic emission. Is this not a way in which the cochlea is producing a 'sound' or signal which is 'heard'?

Offline

 

#4 28-11-2007 17:43:15

kenji
Member
Registered: 27-11-2007
Posts: 43

Re: questions

the other question is this. My tinnitus did 'lose its momentum' because it sort of turned into a very high pitch only( even though there were many different sounds heard) and then for about 15-30 seconds it disappeared completely. I believe that during those brief moments I experienced silence. This was only a couple of days ago but since then it has gone up again.

Why?

and how do I make it go away forever?

When it went away, I did everything I could to further calm myself but it just came back on its own..

Offline

 

#5 29-11-2007 19:58:45

Thomas
Administrator
Registered: 28-08-2007
Posts: 1563
Website

Re: questions

kenji wrote:

what about spontaneous otoacoustic emission. Is this not a way in which the cochlea is producing a 'sound' or signal which is 'heard'?

The question is whether the emissions are actually caused in the cochlea, or whether they are produced as a result of signals coming from the central nervous system in a kind of reversal of the normal process (i.e. electrical signals converted into mechanical ones rather than the other way around).

Thomas

Offline

 

#6 29-11-2007 20:00:27

Thomas
Administrator
Registered: 28-08-2007
Posts: 1563
Website

Re: questions

kenji wrote:

the other question is this. My tinnitus did 'lose its momentum' because it sort of turned into a very high pitch only( even though there were many different sounds heard) and then for about 15-30 seconds it disappeared completely. I believe that during those brief moments I experienced silence. This was only a couple of days ago but since then it has gone up again.

Why?

and how do I make it go away forever?

When it went away, I did everything I could to further calm myself but it just came back on its own..

The nervous functions are quite variable depending on a lot of factors which can not be very well controlled (like your state of mind, your body chemistry etc.). So it is not unusual to have sometimes only a weak noise or it even disappearing temporarily. The point is that as soon as you become aware of it and concentrate on the issue it tends to come back again.
There is not a lot you can do about these variations in the short term, but it is more important anyway that the tinnitus gets weaker overall in the long term.

Thomas

Offline

 

#7 30-11-2007 00:38:24

kenji
Member
Registered: 27-11-2007
Posts: 43

Re: questions

but how do I even know if it is improving given the highly fluctuating nature of tinnitus?

thanks
kenji

Offline

 

#8 01-12-2007 18:01:47

Thomas
Administrator
Registered: 28-08-2007
Posts: 1563
Website

Re: questions

Well, if the average intensity of your tinnitus gets less, then you could say that it is improving. A certain variability will always be there, but this is pretty much irrelevant (although of course you can to some degree minimize this by adopting a suitable life style that keeps your nervous system in a more steady state; this in itself should then already imply an overall improvement).

Thomas

Offline

 

#9 02-12-2007 16:28:32

kenji
Member
Registered: 27-11-2007
Posts: 43

Re: questions

I read about a woman who got tinnitus after fire alarm went off.

Surely this was not enough to cause much damage if any so how can this happen?

this is a litle bit similar to my experience because at first the ringing was only very quiet after teh initial exposure.

It didn't affect my hearing to the best of my knowledge at the time.

Offline

 

#10 03-12-2007 14:47:34

Thomas
Administrator
Registered: 28-08-2007
Posts: 1563
Website

Re: questions

Yes, fire alarms can be quite loud. I can only confirm this because there have been many false alarms over the years in the house where I live, and sometimes it took several minutes until it was disabled again. The best thing is to put in ear plugs when it goes off.

Thomas

Offline

 

Board footer

Based on PunBB 1.2.19