Tinnitus suffering IV. - Concentration difficulties

Anxiety, depression and lack of sleep - all that inevitably brings concentration difficulties (decreased ability to focus on doing something). Although concentration problems could have anyone, by tinnitus it is more serious: not only severe inability to concentrate on work, but often also concentration during talk with friends or colleagues is disturbed. The work remains unfinished or poorly done, communication is complicated. To ease concentration difficulties one must at first alleviate the symptoms of other mentioned mental disturbances.

Tinnitus suffering III. - Sleep disorder

source: flickr

By tinnitus is at most affected your sleeping. A lack of sleep escalates depression, anxiety and creates concentration difficulties. It is simply a serious problem, that can surely erode overall health a life quality. Without enough sleeping may arise health problems and also many aspects of life are complicated. Due to low performance at work one could lost his job. Because person suffering from tinnitus looks generally healthy, thus other people could consider him lazy and think, that he only constantly using various unreal excuses. Overall reliability at work or in social life is downgrading, relationships are getting worser.

Use of melatonin can help - 3 or 5 mg taken before bedtime. Ringing in the ears should be masked, using nature sounds, silent noise, music from the radio or a combination of these things - personally use all three at once. Also, use of benzodiazepines - drugs for anxiety, can have a positive effect.

Anatomy of human ear II. – How work hair cells

Although I am no scientist, I can understand basic principle of hair cells functioning. They are cells of special type and their purpose is to transform mechanic sound waves of acoustic pressure into electrical signals, which is send through Cochlear nerve into hearing centre of brain. On the surface of hair cells there are hair-like projections – stereocilia. Stereocilia are stimulated by incoming sound wave and start to vibrate (they are bending back and forth), and that leads to generating electrical impulses through changes within the hair cells.
Because of aging, hair cells are losing stereocilia and with them also sensitivity to sound – that is natural process. But that could happen also in one moment when one is exposed to acoustic trauma.

Video on functioning of stereocilia in laboratory conditions:



Keep in mind:

One must always keep in his mind, that heavily damaged hair cells die and are replaced with so called support cells. Human hair cells, in contrast with birds, fishes or reptiles, does not regenerate naturally, and up until now there is no known way to regenerate or to stimulate growth of new hair cells medically. Therefore one has to constantly take care about own ears, especially while visiting discotheques, night clubs, music concerts, shooting ranges, fireworks, motorcycles... etc.

More detailed information about hair cells:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10867/