Have you noticed a ringing or buzzing sensation in your ears, or feel as if one or both of your ears are plugged? Clogged or ringing ears can be caused by a number of conditions, and lead to discomfort and pain in the ears, as well as tinnitus and hearing loss. These symptoms may be temporary, but depending on the cause of the clogged or ringing in ears, hearing loss may be permanent. Show
Ear InfectionsOne of the most common causes of clogged or ringing ears is an ear infection. Outer ear infections, commonly called swimmer’s ear, are caused by a bacterial or viral infection in the ear canal that leads to a buildup of fluid and pressure in the ear. Middle ear infections, known as otitis media, are an infection in the middle ear that affects the ear drum, and fills the middle ear with fluid. Ear infections are most common in children and babies, but can occur at any age. Symptoms include ear pain, irritability, nausea, insomnia, or even a fever. Treatments for ear infections are effective, and will usually clear the infection in just a few days. Antibiotics that attack the bacterial or viral infection can be taken orally or as drops in the ear, relieving the clogged or ringing in the ear. Cerumen ImpactionCerumen, commonly called ear wax, is vital for the health of the ear. While you may think this substance is sticky or even gross, it protects your ear from damage by trapping dirt, dust, and moisture in the ear canal, keeping the eardrum and inner ear safe. Cerumen impaction, or a buildup of hard, dry wax in the ear canal, is quite common. Earwax normally dries out when it traps dirt and dust, and slowly works its way out of the ear canal, to fall out of the ear, or be flushed away during a shower. However, due to improper ear cleaning or even the shape of the ear canal, earwax can buildup in the ear canal, leading to a clogged feeling, ringing in the ears, and the feeling that all the sounds around you are muffled. Don’t try to remove cerumen impaction by yourself, since this can just force the earwax further into the ear. The best treatment option is to visit your doctor or ENT specialist for an irrigation treatment, where the ear is flushed out with warm water, loosening the ear wax and flushing it out of the ear. Airplane EarAirplane ear describes the clogged or ringing in the ears that some people will experience during airplane take-off and landing. This can also occur when diving underwater or even riding up a very fast elevator. Symptoms may affect one or both ears, and you may feel as though sounds are faint or muffled. You’ll also experience a clogged feeling in the ear, or even vertigo. Airplane ear is caused by abrupt changes in air pressure in the ear. When air pressure changes slowly, the eustachian tubes, which connect the middle ear to the back of the throat, can easily regulate the air pressure in the middle ear. When changes occur very quickly, the added pressure in the ear may cause the ear drum to pull inwards or push outwards, leading to a feeling of pain of discomfort in the middle ear. If you experience airplane ear, it’s important to regulate the pressure in your ear as soon as possible to prevent a ruptured ear drum. You can: Meniere’s DiseaseMeniere’s disease is an illness that affects the inner ear, leading to permanent hearing loss. As the cells in the inner ear are damaged, you’ll experience a clogged or ringing feeling in the ears, and struggle to follow conversations or make sense of the sounds around you. There is no cure for Meniere’s disease, but treatment options do exist. Surgery can drain fluid from the middle ear, and some medications or changes in diet could slow the progress of the illness. Treating hearing loss will help you hearing the sounds around you, and overcome the clogged or ringing feeling in your ears. Tinnitus is commonly described as a ringing in the ears, but it also can sound like roaring, clicking, hissing, or buzzing. It may be soft or loud, high pitched or low pitched. You might hear it in either one or both ears. Roughly 10 percent of the adult population of the United States has experienced tinnitus lasting at least five minutes in the past year. This amounts to nearly 25 million Americans. What causes tinnitus?Tinnitus (pronounced tin-NY-tus or TIN-u-tus) is not a disease. It is a symptom that something is wrong in the auditory system, which includes the ear, the auditory nerve that connects the inner ear to the brain, and the parts of the brain that process sound. Something as simple as a piece of earwax blocking the ear canal can cause tinnitus. But it can also be the result of a number of health conditions, such as:
Tinnitus is sometimes the first sign of hearing loss in older people. It also can be a side effect of medications. More than 200 drugs are known to cause tinnitus when you start or stop taking them. People who work in noisy environments—such as factory or construction workers, road crews, or even musicians—can develop tinnitus over time when ongoing exposure to noise damages tiny sensory hair cells in the inner ear that help transmit sound to the brain. This is called noise-induced hearing loss. Service members exposed to bomb blasts can develop tinnitus if the shock wave of the explosion squeezes the skull and damages brain tissue in areas that help process sound. In fact, tinnitus is one of the most common service-related disabilities among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Pulsatile tinnitus is a rare type of tinnitus that sounds like a rhythmic pulsing in the ear, usually in time with your heartbeat. A doctor may be able to hear it by pressing a stethoscope against your neck or by placing a tiny microphone inside the ear canal. This kind of tinnitus is most often caused by problems with blood flow in the head or neck. Pulsatile tinnitus also may be caused by brain tumors or abnormalities in brain structure. Even with all of these associated conditions and causes, some people develop tinnitus for no obvious reason. Most of the time, tinnitus isn’t a sign of a serious health problem, although if it’s loud or doesn’t go away, it can cause fatigue, depression, anxiety, and problems with memory and concentration. For some, tinnitus can be a source of real mental and emotional anguish. Why do I have this noise in my ears?Although we hear tinnitus in our ears, its source is really in the networks of brain cells (what scientists call neural circuits) that make sense of the sounds our ears hear. A way to think about tinnitus is that it often begins in the ear, but it continues in the brain. Scientists still haven’t agreed upon what happens in the brain to create the illusion of sound when there is none. Some think that tinnitus is similar to chronic pain syndrome, in which the pain persists even after a wound or broken bone has healed. Tinnitus could be the result of the brain’s neural circuits trying to adapt to the loss of sensory hair cells by turning up the sensitivity to sound. This would explain why some people with tinnitus are oversensitive to loud noise. Tinnitus also could be the result of neural circuits thrown out of balance when damage in the inner ear changes signaling activity in the auditory cortex, the part of the brain that processes sound. Or it could be the result of abnormal interactions between neural circuits. The neural circuits involved in hearing aren’t solely dedicated to processing sound. They also communicate with other parts of the brain, such as the limbic region, which regulates mood and emotion. What should I do if I have tinnitus?The first thing is to see your primary care doctor, who will check if anything, such as ear wax, is blocking the ear canal. Your doctor will ask you about your current health, medical conditions, and medications to find out if an underlying condition is causing your tinnitus. If your doctor cannot find any medical condition responsible for your tinnitus, you may be referred to an otolaryngologist (commonly called an ear, nose, and throat doctor, or an ENT). The ENT will physically examine your head, neck, and ears and test your hearing to determine whether you have any hearing loss along with the tinnitus. You might also be referred to an audiologist who can also measure your hearing and evaluate your tinnitus. What if the sounds in my ear do not go away?Some people find their tinnitus doesn’t go away or it gets worse. In some cases it may become so severe that you find it difficult to hear, concentrate, or even sleep. Your doctor will work with you to help find ways to reduce the severity of the noise and its impact on your life. Are there treatments that can help me?Tinnitus does not have a cure yet, but treatments that help many people cope better with the condition are available. Most doctors will offer a combination of the treatments below, depending on the severity of your tinnitus and the areas of your life it affects the most.
Can I do anything to prevent tinnitus or keep it from getting worse?Noise-induced hearing loss, the result of damage to the sensory hair cells of the inner ear, is one of the most common causes of tinnitus. Anything you can do to limit your exposure to loud noise—by moving away from the sound, turning down the volume, or wearing earplugs or earmuffs—will help prevent tinnitus or keep it from getting worse. What are researchers doing to better understand tinnitus?Along the path a hearing signal travels to get from the inner ear to the brain, there are many places where things can go wrong to cause tinnitus. If scientists can understand what goes on in the brain to start tinnitus and cause it to persist, they can look for those places in the system where a therapeutic intervention could stop tinnitus in its tracks. In 2009, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) sponsored a workshop that brought together tinnitus researchers to talk about the condition and develop fresh ideas for potential cures. During the course of the workshop, participants discussed a number of promising research directions, including:
Where can I find additional information about tinnitus?The NIDCD maintains a directory of organizations that provide information on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language. Use the following keywords to help you find organizations that can answer questions and provide information on tinnitus:
For more information, contact us at: NIDCD Information Clearinghouse Publication No. 10-4896 *Note: PDF files require a viewer such as the free Adobe Reader. Last Updated Date: March 6, 2017 Language
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