Tinnitus suffering I. - Anxiety

In first moments after onset of tinnitus human organism reacts with stress. Additionally, stress is strengthened with thinking about whether actual state remains permanently or not. It produces intensive anxiety accompanied with loss of appetite, passivity and unwillingness to do anything, indefinitely postponing of other actual problems. Such feelings must undergone everyone who is affected by ringing in the ears.
As first aid with anxiety one can use drugs of benzodiazepine group, which serve as anxiety suppressors; of the most known are those with active substance of Alprazolam, Bromazepam, Clonazepam. One should bear in mind that, as all drugs with influence on brain chemical processes, these too have side effects, such as sleepiness, dizziness etc. As well benzodiazepines are - after specific period of time – addictive, and thus it is possible to stop using them only by gradual lowering of dosage.

For me personally was very helpful drug with Alprazolam. I've use it for one and half year. Then I considered it was enough and gradually stepped out of usage. But I have it always by hand. From time to time – in case of sleeping problems due to tinnitus – I use 0.25 mg and it reliably helps.

Tinnitus in numbers

From tinnitus suffer millions around the world, other millions are in risk of obtaining it. And these numbers grow constantly because of loudness of modern lifestyle and also because tinnitus is more common with advancing age (longevity is constantly rising in many countries).

• In United States suffer up to 50 million citizens, long-time tinnitus have more than 10% of population
• In Britain have tinnitus cca 6 million people (10% of population)
• In Germany 25% of population suffers or has suffered by some form of tinnitus (13% long-lasting, that means about 10 million). Every year increases number of tinnitus sufferers by 340 thousand
• In Australia suffer 50 million, that is 18% of country population
• In China there is 130 million tinnitus sufferers (cca 10% of population)
• In Brasilia approximately 28 million (cca 14% of population)
• Worldwide estimation is 10 to 15% of adult population suffers tinnitus – more than 500 million people

Sources of data:
http://hearinghealthfoundation.org/tinnitus_statistics
http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/facts-and-figures
http://www.tinnitus-mag.de/tinnitus-wissen/geschichte-und-epidemiologie-des-tinnitus/
http://www.tinnitus.asn.au/tinnitus.htm
http://www.hear-it.org/130-million-people-suffer-from-tinnitus
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1808-86942013000100018&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en

Most common tinnitus cause II. - Prevention, first aid and treatment of acoustic trauma

source: freeimages.com

If anyone has been the victim of acoustic trauma, he or she should act within 48 hours, but ideally within 24 hours! Did you woke up after a noisy concert hard of hearing? Have you been watching live fireworks? Someone threw a firecracker under your legs and whistles blow in your ears? Go straight to your ear doctor, preferably directly to the hospital. Keep in mind that there is time in play.

If your audiologist is a professional, he will send you to the hospital. Ideally, after necessary examinations (audiometry and tympanometry) to determine the degree of hearing damage, you receive cocktail of glucocorticoids, vitamins and vasodilating agents intravenously. Glucocorticoids have anti-inflammatory effects, improving the nourishment of cells and increase the chances, that traumatized auditory cells recover. However, they also have lot of side-effects, but only with prolonged use. Usually overall it is ten drips, one drip per day.

Big doses of NAC and Magnesium as soon as possible after acoustic trauma are very effective too. See study on this issue: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24396768.

If you are not hospitalized and taken intravenous therapy only outpatient, try to use hyperbaric chamber for additional treatment. At a pressure of 2.5 atmospheres blood plasma gets several times more oxygen than the normobaric pressure. Oxygen`s diffusion into tissues helps prevent damaged hearing cells and avoid apoptosis (neuro-sensory cells in the inner ear breathe only by diffusion). Reportedly, at 3 atmospheres, the level of oxygen in the plasma is so big that organism could survive without blood cells.

If you do all of this on due time, you have a great chance that your hearing gets almost to its original state and prospective tinnitus can disappear.

NOTE: Above procedure applies even in case of Idiopathic sudden hearing loss (hearing loss that is due to unknown causes). When you lie down to sleep in the evening and in the morning you wake up deaf - usually affects only one ear.

Tinnitus therapy: Sound masking

source: flickr.com

Every tinnitus sufferer knows: it is good to avoid silence. Sound masking is method of tinnitus therapy that consists of playing various masker sounds or masker noises, which work as covering or partial suppressing or drowning ringing in the ears or other tinnitus noise. While hearing to masking sounds and noises, concentration and perception of sufferer is turned to more pleasing sounds and thus providing him temporary relief (although not completely stopping tinnitus).
Results of this method are not big, but it works and that is enough. No surprise, for tinnitus pioneer Jean Itard already in 1821 suggested “noisy machines that are set off by clockwork or the sound of water streaming into a copper basin”.

Tinnitus masker sounds and masker noises

Common masker sounds or noises that could bring partial relief, are these:

• white noise (high pitched), pink noise (medium pitched) and brown noise (low pitched)
• reproduction of various soothing sounds of nature (ocean sounds, sound of flowing water, wind sound, soft rain sound, cicada or locust sounds)
• relaxing and meditation sounds and music compositions

How to generate masking sounds and masking noises

Frequently used are following masking sound and noise generators:

• radio interference (tuned between two stations with low volume)
• indoor water fountain
• room fan
• various software applications for sound generation
• hearing aids or devices with sound masking functions

Additionally you can use your favorite music or radio playing softly on background.

Sound masking software, masking hearing aids, masking devices

Regarding the software applications I want to say that one can find several such applications (for desktop computers or for mobile devices), some of them really amateurish or even harmful. I think that it is better to pay more for good software or to buy professional masking device or hearing aid (it costs more than software) or go to local audiology center (it costs even more). But good software could do the job for fair price.

Most common tinnitus cause I. - What is acoustic trauma

The most common cause for tinnitus is so called acoustic trauma, or the hearing damage by exposition to loud noise. Shooting without hearing protection, fireworks on Fourth July, New Year and other celebrations, petards, motorcycle exhaust strokes without noise reduction, loud music at concerts, discoteques or pubs, workplace with constant high level of noise - all that can be marked as source of acoustic trauma. Cases are known, and not at all rare, that individual caused himself tinnitus by listening to the loud music in car or using MP3 player.

Acoustic trauma generally arises in all situations where ears are exposed to very loud noises for long enough to ensure that the sensory cells are metabolically exhausted. Noise intensity of 140 db or more causes such exhaustion immediately (e.g. shot, explosion etc.). We can say that the cell is literally drowning in their own secretions (various forms of aggressive oxygen free radicals etc.), which it cannot degrade fast enough. After a short time apoptosis (programmed cell death) begins. Unlike birds and reptiles, by mammals dead neuro cells are not replaced by new ones, so the loss is permanent. However, cell death does not occurs instantly, and here is a chance to repair the damage.

Too loud!

Early sign of acoustic trauma is temporary deafness. Overloaded hair cells temporarily cease to function, those most damaged forever. Hearing gradually begins to return to its original value, but never to such state as before acoustic trauma (also depends on the actual severity of acoustic trauma). I myself have realized few days after acoustic trauma, that I hear a little bit worse.
Unfortunately, it still does not stop here. Some research has shown that stabilization of hearing after acoustic trauma can last up to five years from the moment of acoustic trauma, and may get even worse during that time. It is probably related to the gradual death of damaged hair cells, which have survived the acoustic trauma itself, but perish after a few months or years. It also means favorable forecast to gradually improve potential tinnitus, which often accompanies acoustic trauma.

Acoustic trauma results in loss of perception of higher frequencies, shift in the perception of sound (depending on the degree of severity) and distinctive hole in the zone near 4000 Hz. If you stop hearing in 15 kHz band, you do not need to worry much, these are not frequencies that commonly occur in life. But 4 kHz occurs commonly and hearing loss manifests as follows: the sound is blunted, like when you mute heights in equalizer. Everything sounds somewhat differently and you have decline in quality of perception.