If Tinnitus Is in the Head, Is It Only Anxiety? Do You Perceive Your Tinnitus in Ears or Head?

https://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms/humming-sound-in-your-head.shtml

According to this website, if your tinnitus is heard in the head, not in the ears, then it's not tinnitus, but anxiety?

Any thoughts?

How many of you have the tinnitus sound in your head, and how many in ears?

I don't know where mine is

 

I think that the sound travels. Like you damage the auditory part of your brain and then the damage/excitability just travels to other spots in your brain. If you have brain tinnitus then it’s hard to deal with at first but you get used to it just like your ears.

If that article was true then why don’t most people have it? We have more anxious people now than ever.

 

That's not quite what that website says: it just says that anxiety can be a cause of Tinnitus.

If you hear a noise when there is no external source for it, then it's called Tinnitus no matter what causes it (anxiety, hearing loss, other).

Having read a lot of research about T, I am doubtful about anxiety being a root cause of T, but I sure can imagine it can exacerbate T and make it harder to cope.

Have you gone down the diagnosis path to try to find a root cause for yours?

 

I have tinnitus for unknown reasons but stress/anxiety is a likely cause in my case. I only hear it in my left ear.

 

I was reading this website - and came across the same thing.

I have left ear tinnitus that is like an electrical noise.

More recently tho - I’ve got “head noise” like hissing in the head somewhere - no recent noise trauma however.

Ears full of wax
2 colds in 2 months with blocked nose etc
Recent anxiety/heightened stress and depression - this is an ongoing issue for me.

Anyway I will get my ears cleaned, maybe use some sudafed and restart my medication to keep on top of my anxiety disorder.

 

Head screams, so do ears. I find that I can really feel the head tinnitus though, can feel the haywire brain activity happening. The tinnitus also gets in my face, and eyes, I can change the sound of the tinnitus by moving my eyes back and forth.

 

Do you have visual snow too?

 

I’m not sure exactly what visual snow is, but I have these kind of transparent worm looking things floating around.

 

Floaters and they’re normal - more common older you get

 

I have a ton of dark floaters and static vision. If you don’t know if you have it, don’t be paranoid and start looking it up.

 

Is tinnitus is the head, ear, face or both? Non physical tinnitus is straight and forward - damage to the ears.

Hearing loss tinnitus can accompany all types of tinnitus, except with PT, but PT hearing loss may develop with association to other troubled areas. All types of tinnitus which differ such as physical tinnitus have pathways to the brain. Any nerve, artery which also can be influenced by a hard structure - a joint - travels in pathways to the brainstem 100% of the time.

Very common with physical tinnitus - c spine degenerative conditions such as with arthritis to the axial areas.

Another associated physical connection is the inferior alveolar nerve which begins at the mandibular foramen, a hole toward the back of the lower jaw, where it branches off from the mandibular nerve. The mandibular nerve, in turn, is the third, bottommost branch of the trigeminal cranial nerve, which controls most of the sensation and motion of the face. Trigeminal interaction goes to the brain, ears and face. With physical tinnitus there is at least some brainstem input from the trigeminal nerve 95% of the time.

 

Quit spreading misinformation.

 

Regarding the OP and my tinnitus:

If tinnitus is equal in both ears it's perceived in the brain or as occupying the full space between the ears as well as the ears.

But if there's a higher and louder pitch in one ear only, it's perceived and felt more in that particular ear and less so between the ears or brain.

 

Hmmm. I haven’t heard this before. Mine is perceived in the brain, between the ears. Absolutely filling the space between my ears. I will get occasional fleeting tinnitus in one ear or the other for a minute or two. Generally I don’t hear it both places at once.

 

I study physical/somatic and pulsatile causes, anatomy and associated behaviors,
but I know little about white noise generators.

We used a sleep program that depended on any other physical conditions. Sometimes patients would wake with less tinnitus and sometimes these practices would lower perception over time.

1. Fluids three hours before sleep.
2. Magnesium before sleep, but not with conditions such as kidney problems.
3. Lower back light touch massage before sleeping.
4. A dull light on in the bathroom where it's doesn't shine into the face of patient.
5. Sleeping positions is important for physical and pulsatile tinnitus.
6. Soft bubble sounds played at a distance (running stream) - TV feed program or if home a CD from a distance of 10 feet.
7. No sleep aids other than magnesium and controlled Xanax @ 0.25 mg before sleep (Xanax not given often).
8. Always judgement on diet to specific conditions. Careful suggestion of what vitamins to use or not depending on physical conditions.

 

Tinnitus is usually a neurological condition caused by hearing loss, not pyschological ever.

 

What if you can’t tell? How would you tell this?

 

Your cochlea sends neuroelectrical signals to your brain through the auditory nerve. Those signals are turned into a perception (sound) in your brain. Normally your cochlea only send signals to the brain in response to real external stimulus (sound waves). That is: Sound waves go into ears > cochlea convert sound waves to neuroelectrical signals and send to brain > brain creates perception. However, if there is damage in the cochlea they can start sending false signals to the brain. ("False" just meaning they're not the result of real sound waves. In other words, the cells in the cochlea just start firing off signals on their own). Hence you "hear" sounds (ringing, squealing etc.) that don't exist in the real world.