The cause of sudden ringing in a quiet room & bull; hello healthy

Have you ever been in a quiet room and suddenly felt like you heard a ringing sound? Even though there was nothing in the room that made a sound. Ringing ears in medical language is called tinnitus. Why do you think your ears hear a ringing sound when you are in a quiet room?

In some of the oldest medical records throughout history, people have complained about buzzing in their ears. In the past, the Assyrians poured rose flower extract into the patient's ear through bronze tubes. The Ancient Romans suggested pouring boiled water from earthworms and goose fat into the ears. Medieval Welsh physicians recommended their patients tie two layers of hot toast to both ears.

Modern medicine calls it tinnitus, and of course the treatment of ringing ears no longer involves earthworms and toast.

What is tinnitus?

Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, is the sensation of hearing a ringing, buzzing, hissing, chirping, whistling, screaming, or other imaginary sound. Sounds may be heard in one ear or both, from inside the head, or from a distance. The ringing may always be present audible or appear submerged, steady or throbbing. The sound can also vary in loudness level.

Ringing in the ears is a normal condition and is rarely a symptom of a serious underlying condition. About one in three people who complain of ringing in their ears have no apparent problem with their ears or hearing. Almost everyone has had tinnitus for a short time after being exposed to very loud noise. For example, attending a music concert can trigger temporary ringing in your ears.

In-ear ringing will often get worse when the background noise is very low, so you may be most aware of inner noises when alone in a quiet room or at night when you are going to sleep. Musculoskeletal factors - jaw tightening, teeth grinding, or neck muscle tension - can sometimes make ringing more clearly heard. Also, tinnitus can get worse in some people if they drink alcohol, smoke, drink caffeinated beverages, or eat certain foods. For reasons that aren't completely clear, stress and fatigue also seem to exacerbate ringing in the ears.

However, in rare cases (10% of cases), ringing can be so debilitating that it causes difficulty sleeping and concentrating, and even depression.

Why are ears ringing in a quiet place?

Before we can understand how and why we experience ringing in our ears, we need to know how we can hear.

Sound waves travel through the ear canal to the middle and inner ear, where hair cells in the cochlea detect the vibrations and convert them into electrical signals for the auditory nerve to carry to the brain. However, this process is not without hard work. If you've ever tried running in a pool, you know it's a lot harder than running on land thanks to water flow drag and drag. The same principle applies to your ear because the inner ear is filled with fluid. However, this obstacle is helped by the role of the hair outside the cochlea.

Like inner hair cells, outer hairs also detect sound waves but instead of sending a bunch of signals to the brain, their job is to loosen and shrink along with the vibrations they get. As a result, the outer hair cells are able to cancel friction and actually amplify the sound by up to a hundred to a thousand. Thanks to the outer hair cells, our hearing sensitivity increases - especially in the higher frequency ranges.

The outer hair cells can produce their own vibrations. When these cells amplify their vibrations again, this process is intended to amplify sound frequencies that are quieter than loud. This feedback control allows us to filter incoming sounds for the most important information, so we don't get overwhelmed by meaningless noise. This mechanism usually works fine, without you noticing a difference in your hearing.

However, the body's biological systems are not always perfect. Something as simple as experiencing a new sound can even interfere with the smooth passage of the sound and force it to repeat its work to adjust itself. When this happens, these sounds become clear. You can actually hear it. This is what we think of as ringing in the ears, aka tinnitus. Noise can also occur when hair cells are damaged - as a result of a whiplash injury or a side effect of drugs - so that the circuits in the brain are unable to receive the signals they expect. The sound signal eventually circulates in the ear, producing a constant ringing sound. That is why the complaints of ringing in the ears do not go away even after a person's hearing nerves are removed. Tinnitus can also occur in people who have Ménière's disease (a cause of hearing loss and a trigger for vertigo) and otosclerosis (abnormal bone growth in the middle ear).

The ringing in the ear doesn't always come from the ear. Our bodies usually produce sounds (called somatic sounds) that we don't usually notice because we are focused on listening to outside sounds. Anything that blocks normal hearing can bring somatic sounds to our attention. For example, you may experience noise inside your head when a buildup of earwax blocks your outer ear.

How do you get rid of the annoying ringing in your ears?

In most cases, the ringing in the ear will gradually improve on its own. The ears have an automatic mechanism for fixing problems and getting rid of this unpleasant whimper. There is a nerve in the ear that is responsible for telling the hearing nerve and / or hair cells to stop their action. It takes at least 30 seconds for this mechanism to start repairing and sending the message the brain needs to suppress the ringing. After the neural message is sent and received, the mortal voices will fade away.

You can tell that this reaction has occurred because it is often accompanied by a slight decrease in hearing sensitivity (such as background noise or the environment around us hearing suddenly calms down), followed by a feeling of fullness in the ear. It usually takes about a minute for this process to complete.

If a cause for your tinnitus can be found, treatment specifically targeted for the condition can help restore your tinnitus - for example, removing a build-up of earwax. However, tinnitus often persists after the underlying condition has been treated. In such cases, other therapies - both conventional and alternative - such as voice therapy, CBT, or tinnitus training therapy (TRT) can provide a calming solution by either reducing or masking unwanted sounds. You can also use self-help tips, such as relaxation techniques or healthy sleep measures, to help manage your complaints.

There is currently no one definitive treatment for ringing in the ears that works equally well for everyone. However, research in order to find an effective treatment continues.

When to go to the doctor about ringing ears?

You should see a doctor if you hear persistent or frequent sounds such as buzzing, ringing, or humming in your ears. Your doctor can check your ear to see if the ringing problem might be caused by an easily treatable condition, such as an ear infection or a build-up of earwax. Your doctor can also do some simple tests to see if you have a hearing loss.

Continuous, steady, high-pitched ringing in the ears generally indicates a problem in the hearing system and requires a hearing test by an audiologist. Pulsed tinnitus (ringing accompanying the heartbeat) requires immediate medical evaluation, especially if the noise is frequent or persistent. An MRI or CT scan may be needed to check for a tumor or blood vessel abnormality.

If you are frequently exposed to loud noises at work or at home, it is important to reduce the risk of hearing loss (or further hearing loss) by wearing protection such as earmuffs or the like.