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Tinnitus research |
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A condition starting with harmless sounds in the ear that finally capture your whole awareness. Chronic tinnitus is primarily not an illness of the ear, rather it is a disturbance of sound perception within the brain. Therefore the primary goal of modern therapies is to inhibit conscious listening of the disturbing sounds and restore our auditory system back to a normal level of outward-focused sound perception.
If tinnitus does not disappear but persists for longer than 3 months, we call it chronic. The diagnosis "chronic tinnitus" demands a certain diagnostic work, including examination by an ENT-doctor, but also involving a neurologist and orthopaedist. Possible causes may include damage to the inner ear (for example partial hearing loss of age, sudden hearing loss, Menière´s disease), stenosis of major cranial blood vessels, degeneration of the cervical spine, dental disorders and various internal conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or disorders of lipid metabolism. The most frequent cause for chronic tinnitus seems to be initially some damage to the inner ear. A typical example is tinnitus caused by excessive noise. Trauma induced by noise damages the inner ear tissues. Many patients experience their tinnitus sound centered on the frequency of their hearing loss, i.e. in the transition zone between normal hearing and hearing loss.
