Auditory Fatigue and Tinnitus
Tinnitus is the perception of a sound in one or both ears when there is no external source.
It may sound like a whistling, rumbling or buzzing. Tinnitus is not a disease, but rather a symptom of a possible disruption in the auditory system.
The causes of tinnitus are numerous and usually quite hard to determine accurately. Possible causes include jaw or neck problems, high blood pressure or some medication. However, one of the most common causes remains hearing loss. A lack of stimulation of the brain’s auditory center can lead, in some cases, to the production of a sound by the brain itself: tinnitus.
Permanent or Temporary Hearing Loss?
Permanent hearing loss is caused by irreversible damage usually in the inner ear (cochlea). Causes include the natural decline of the ear cells due to aging (presbycusis), acoustic trauma (shows, gunshots, etc.) or extended exposure to high noise levels.
It’s also possible to experience temporary hearing loss after noise exposure. The damage is usually not permanent, and hearing goes back to normal after a while. You may experience the effects of temporary hearing loss when you watch TV in the evening at a certain volume and feel like the same TV volume is too loud the next morning. Your ears do get tired at the end of the day. This is called auditory fatigue. For example, a worker who is exposed to high noise levels during the day may feel their hearing decrease at the end of the day and go back to normal overnight.
This temporary hearing loss may lead to the onset or increase of tinnitus. It’s important to mention that despite a return to normal hearing, damage to the auditory system may persist. This type of damage can’t be measured by a traditional hearing assessment. Some recent studies have called this phenomenon synaptopathy, though it’s more complex than that. New research suggests that synaptopathy may contribute to the onset of tinnitus.
So even if you don’t notice any hearing damage, it’s important to protect your ears in noisy environments since the consequences can emerge many years later.
If you have any questions about your hearing, don’t hesitate to talk to an audiologist practicing in a Lobe clinic.
