Rather than being a diagnosis in itself, tinnitus is a symptom, and it’s a term we use for any situation where you are hearing a sound that isn’t coming from an outside source. Find out more here.
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Rather than being a diagnosis in itself, tinnitus is a symptom, and it’s a term we use for any situation where you are hearing a sound that isn’t coming from an outside source.
In 90% of cases, tinnitus is subjective, meaning you’re hearing a sound even though there’s no external sound actually being made. That means that for up to 10% there may actually be an identifiable cause and it’s important to pick these up.
Listening carefully to the details of the symptoms and performing an examination will help a great deal in picking up any abnormalities.
Important questions
Any medications that cause tinnitus? Salicylates, aminoglycoside antibiotics and loop diuretics can also cause tinnitus
In the small proportion that do need to be investigated further and an objective cause is found, there are a number of different causes, all relatively rare, with their own options for treatment.
Causes include:
Beyond this, it’s very important to establish the overall effect that tinnitus is having on quality of life. Is it interrupting sleep? Is it interfering with your job or daily living? In the vast majority of cases, examination and reassurance is all that’s needed, but there are also a number of different evidence-based management options which are available to help with moderate and severe cases.
Our in-house audiology service will be able to provide guidance on all of these interventions.
Medical involvement
There are a number of scenarios where urgent medical attention is needed for tinnitus:
There are also some scenarios where tinnitus should be evaluated by both an audiologist and an ENT specialist:
Our in-house audiology service will be able to provide guidance on all of these interventions.
Medical involvement
There are a number of scenarios where urgent medical attention is needed for tinnitus:
There are also some scenarios where tinnitus should be evaluated by both an audiologist and an ENT specialist:
Tinnitus associated with any other ear symptom – one-sided hearing loss, discharge, pain.
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All our private ENT specialists at OneWelbeck in London are leaders in their sub-specialties, providing the highest quality treatment to ensure you receive the best available care.