Ringing in the ears is an annoying problem, which makes the sufferer experience some disturbance or even pain, depending on its severity. It is referred to as tinnitus in medical terms.
The causes for ringing ear problem may vary from person to person. Some diseases like cold and flu, allergy flare-up or living in a noisy atmosphere can trigger the condition of Tinnitus. Sometimes, high blood pressure, brain or head injury, hypothyroidism and stress may also cause ringing in ear disorder.
A research done at John Hopkins University shows that more than ten percent of adults aged more than 70 experience ringing in left ear or right ear. Some people may even suffer from ringing in both the ears. The best remedy for aged people is to wear a hearing apparatus that masks the ringing sound. This mask is specially designed so that the sufferers can tolerate outside noise better than the inner head noise.
Ringing in ear, though not a serious problem, affects nearly 50 million people in the United States. Nearly one to two million people are affected by this problem severely and they are unable to lead normal lives.
A person suffering from severe tinnitus problem has to seek immediate medical help. The ear specialist can diagnose the problem with the help of specialized tests. X-rays can help determine structural problems, which may cause tinnitus. If necessary, high-tech tests like a CT scan or MRI is conducted to diagnose the condition.
Audiogram is a hearing acuity test, which gauges and records the ability of a person to hear the sound. Most of the time, hearing loss is associated with ringing in the ear problem. Hence, audiogram is helpful in this diagnosis.
If a person complains about ringing in my ear problem, then Evoked Response Audiometry test is conducted. This test involves computerized inner ear recordings in a painless manner. This method is effective in diagnosing the ringing ear problem in either the left or right ear.
Tinnitus Pitch Match test is taken to identify the pitch of the ringing ear condition. This test is based on the fact that the normal physical tones have a certain pitch corresponding to the frequency of some tones.
Tinnitus loudness match test helps to evaluate the loudness of ringing in the ear. This is done by adjusting the loudness of an external tone, which corresponds to the sounds of the ringing ear condition.
Maskability of tinnitus and residual inhibition test are conducted to diagnose the amount of time that the noise is reduced during the period of masking. This test proves to be very effective in diagnosing the tinnitus problem.
Once the tinnitus problem has been diagnosed by the ear specialist, the sufferer can then be given appropriate treatment. Using a hearing aid or a tinnitus masker is recommended by the physician to make the ringing ear condition tolerable.
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