Seems Like There Are Many Types of Tinnitus

There is obviously "noise induced tinnitus".

What are the other types?

Are they poorly described because, as I am told, no one knows what the cause/s are?

 

First of all glad you are curious, most people don't care.

In a nutshell tinnitus is disruption in the the auditory brain (pusatile tinnitus is not true tinnitus)

Three most common causes of tinnitus
1: Hearing loss
2:TMD and (neck/jaw problems)
3: Direct trauma to the auditory brain itself
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1: The most common and solidly confirmed cause of tinnitus is hearing loss (any form from sensori-neural to simple ear wax)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4208401/

Roland Schaette talks about tinnitus research...

2: In TMD (Temporomandibular joint dysfunction) it may be a combination of conductive hearing loss and problems similar to cervical tinnitus.
https://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/hearing/tinnitus/cervical tinnitus.html


3: Brain tumor, trauma as in hit in the head with a baseball bat, something that directly damages the audiotory brain, this is rare and usually fatal if it's a tumor. But there are some people here who got tinnitus because of a head injury.

 

1) Tinnitus caused by loud noise/destruction of hair cells
2) TMJ
3) Tinnitus caused by ototoxic medication
4) Trauma to the ear/head.

 

Ototoxic medicines and acoustic trauma both kill hair cells/synapses and count as hearing loss.

1 & 3 are in the same category, even aspects of TMD are.

 

true

 

That's because most tinnitus communities are TRT hugboxs and don't show appreciation to the researchers that are trying to help them. Science understands what triggers tinnitus, and how it behaves in it's early phases, and brain scans that show higher brain functioning compensating for hearing loss. As well as brain scans that show the actual tinnitus signal.

What science doesn't understand is long term brain changes associated with tinnitus, and why some people with hearing loss get tinnitus and why others don't, it's up for debate about tinnitus hypothetical relationship to hyperacusis and obviously the most important goal, how to cure it

But science is working on it, and more research is needed. There is research to stop the over activity in the audiotory brain causing tinnitus, Epilepsy drugs that are shown to help with tinnitus and phantom limb pain, and and the question of rather reversing hearing loss would undo the faulty brain plasticity that is tinnitus due to research of hearing regeneration going on with 2-3 active clincal trials for hearing loss.

Science is not there yet but help is on the way and people may get a real reduction of tinnitus and restoration of hearing in 3-15 years. The most closest research device being with 2-3 years.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-university-of-michigan-tinnitus-discovery-—-signal-timing.2805/

Help is on the way!
Don't listen to the people that say we're hopeless.

 

You may find Tinnitus Hub survey helpful. There are some statistics about the causes that survey participants have reported:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-hub-talk-survey-results.14295/

 

1a) T caused by a one-time noise exposure (acoustic trauma)
1b) T caused by a lifetime of ear abuse (T due to noise)

 

Is it possible to separate the two? In today’s society who are the ones not abusing their ears?

In my opinion, what usually happens is something loud triggers the tinnitus but usually, at that point, it’s not the only loud event that that person would have experienced. In fact, it’s far more common that the average person continually abuses their ears until one loud event (or so it seems) triggers the onset of chronic tinnitus.

 

Yup that actually sums up my case. Even before my exact acoustic trauma I was never kind to my ears

 

I have never been to any concerts. I've been to a loud pub only twice in my life. I would always listen to music at low volume. I spent only a few hours listening to music through headphones in a car and in airplanes. So there Are people out there who have not abused their ears.

 

To be honest, Bill, your T more than likely has many psychological factors present. You’re very neurotic about it which is a good way of conditioning the mind to hold onto the signal, and to amplify it. Especially when you obsess over it as well.

Studies have looked into the emotional links, at onset, and how this contributes to the problem. Other areas of the brain become involved that deal with memories, and then an emotional attachment is made and stored. It is believed that these early days and how we react/deal with it can become quite pivotal. It’s very possible in your case that you’re making yours worse by the way you’re reacting, and behaving, which is no fault of your own. That’s just how you’re wired up, but I’d hazard a guess that it’s made tinnitus a problem for you when it may not have done in another person.

Tinnitus is extremely complex; anything can make it become a problem including anxiety and OCD. Your initial cause could have been stress/burnout, ototoxic meds, allergies, ear infection, sinus infection, neck muscle problems, etc, etc.

 

I know some peoples is caused but badly removed ear wax by the doctor trying to remove the wax

 

I don't want to go into the details such as my T's volume and whether or not it has been changing over time, but let me assure you that this information makes it clear that psychological issues are not a factor for me.

Since I was able to create a safe lifestyle for myself, there is no reason for me to obsess about T. (I would worry about it getting worse, if I were to know that I am doing things known to have caused louder T for other people, but I am not, so I don't.)

More evidence against your theory. In the early days it hasn't occurred to me that it might be permanent, so I wasn't as upset. I found out that loud sounds that felt too loud, but that in the past hadn't hurt my ears (i.e., car door slamming) could cause spikes over a month after the onset of my T.

If I were to not do anything (including not consulting my ENT) early on [which is what some other people had done], you are right, I might have been T-free by now...

I don't have OCD.

 

So then what is different about pusatile tinnitus?

 

I find it hard to believe that it would be so easy to find counterexamples if this would be the whole truth.
What about those that develop tinnitus gradually because of long term exposure to noise? They don't probably stress about as it much but still got T. And lot of people with disco T probably think in the first days or weeks "It will go as always". Until it won't.

Not to mention some rock band members from crazy years in 80's or 90's. No ear protection, hazy memory and probably no stress about T either. And they still got T.

 

You completely misunderstood my post. That’s not what I was saying. I’m saying some research suggests there is a link between our reaction, and behaviour, at onset and how we go on to deal with it later on. Other areas of the brain are activated and the signal gets mixed between different regions of the brain creating a complex web of connections.

Exposure to noise, is by far, the most common cause, which I think we all know. Once we detect it, and it enters our awareness, certain emotions take over which can make the perception of it a lot worse if left unchecked. What I’m saying is some of us are especially susceptible to toxic thoughts, and behaviour, and this is known to exacerbate tinnitus in some individuals. I believe there are many layers to how this affects people.

 

This link is not bad: https://www.tinnitus.org.uk/pulsatile-tinnitus

 

I’m still not sure what actually is/was the cause of mine, that would be nice to know.

 

I think I understood what you said very well. I agree what you said in the quote above. Perception can change due to stress and other obsessive behaviour. I just find it hard to believe that a permanent memory record is made, depending on what one does in the early phase. But according to your response, maybe you weren't implying that, so I guess there was a just a confusion.

 

I do have OCD and I had it for a long time before my acoustic trauma. Like you, when I first got T, I didn't realize it was permanent so I wasn't overly concerned. My OCD didn't make me any more upset about it than a normal person would be. While my OCD makes me more prone to obsess about other things, that doesn't mean it will. My OCD is mainly about one set of things that I fear.

Contrast, did you get T from a single loud sound? I guess I wasn't exactly kind to my ears before my acoustic trauma either. Years ago I used to go to concerts and sometimes hang around up front by the speakers. I didn't know any better. I would occasionally come home with ringing in my ears but it never gave me any distress because as far as I knew that was just what happened after a show. It was always gone in the morning. So when I had my ridiculous accident with the speaker phone, I assumed it would be gone by morning.

I don't know where I'm going with this except that I don't believe psychological factors can actually make T louder. Psychological factors can surely make it more distressing, but I don't think they can turn up the volume.

 

A single super extremely loud sound sealed my fate, but before I would have temporarily T from loud music and other stupid things. It all builds up over time I believe, that was just the final insult.

 

I’d disagree. I think the volume is all part of the perception and can/does go up if one is stressed or anxious. Bad thoughts can become hardwired and can make physical changes to our brains.

I’ve always had ringing ears, like you, every time I ever went to a gig or party. And just like you stated it never bothered me so I wasn’t stressed because I knew it would go away. Until it didn’t! I had a total meltdown which made all of my symptoms so much worse. I can only look back and realise this retrospectively.

Tinnitus is just too complicated to be pigeon holed so I’ll stipulate that this is in some cases. We’re not all the same, but toxic thoughts and behaviour can be very detrimental when it comes to dealing with this condition.

 

Then why isn't the opposite true? If bad thoughts can make T louder, why don't positive thoughts make it quieter? Lots of people here have very positive attitudes, yet very loud T.

 

I believe it is. There are various examples of people making huge changes and reducing the impact tinnitus has on their life. I’m one of them.

The problem with forums is that they can magnify the suffering, exponentially. We mainly read posts from people who are really struggling and rarely read posts from people who have moved on with their life. This can definitely have an affect on a person, especially if they are already susceptible to conditioning. We have to be careful what we read on a daily basis as it can have a dramatic effect on our wellbeing.

 

By reducing the impact, you mean the effect it has on your life, not the actual volume of the noise, right?

 

It’s one and the same when you get down to it. I legitimately went from being a suicidal nervous wreck to being totally indifferent to it. I literally only come here to share my story in hopes others can take something from it. People who are living well with tinnitus will not sign up here to tell you all about it. This can skew things somewhat.

A positive mindset has the power to change your entire life. I’ve said this a thousand times but I’ll say it again: we are nothing more than the accumulation of our thoughts. If you change your thoughts you can change your world.

I think I’ve rambled enough so I’ll leave you all to it.

 

You were saying that T can get louder as a result of bad thoughts. Above you are saying that T's Impact can lessen as a result of good thoughts. It would help if you could explain why it is not actually getting Quieter as a result of good thoughts...

This argument hasn't occurred to me. It is great - thank you. At least now there is no reason to feel guilty about our thoughts making our situation worse.

 

What?!

Using this logic, we can solve all of the world's problems. If the poor get themselves to feel that they are rich, the impact of poverty on their lives will be gone, and there is no reason for them to do anything about their poverty. As long as someone's relatives don't let this person's death get to them, it will be as good as that person recovering from their disease and not dying in the first place.

The problem with positive attitude that is not grounded in reality, is that one can't learn from one's experiences. To quote Dave Barry (it is a passage describing someone who has a positive attitutude:

 

Emotions of guilt and I made a stupid mistake will mess with tinnitus. Sudden noise exposure, jaw movements and many other things mostly temporary can increase tinnitus. The number one cause for a temporary increase of T is posture and forward head bending.