Why Do I Hear White Noise? It May Be Tinnitus

Amongst the most common issues that your audiologist helps their patients with is the experience of tinnitus. This complex symptom is one that affects a wide range of people, with someone experiencing it only for days, while others experience it for their whole life.

If you’re hearing white noise, then it may be tinnitus. A lot of people experience tinnitus as a ringing, buzzing or hissing noise that other people around them cannot hear. Many people will experience short-term tinnitus if, for instance, they have recently heard a very loud noise, but that tends to go away rather quickly. If you’re experiencing a longer-term kind of tinnitus, then the information below can help you get a better idea of what it is and what you can do about it.

About Tinnitus

Tinnitus is a symptom, or rather a range of different symptoms, rather than a specific condition. It is typically defined as when the individual is hearing noises that don’t have an outside source and, in most cases, can’t be heard by others. Some kinds of tinnitus might be identifiable with a specific listening device, but usually, it’s just the individual experiencing it who can hear it.

One of the things that can tinnitus so complex is that it can affect the individual people experiencing it very differently. For some people, it might be intermittent, while others might get it more consistently. Some people have it for a few months, others might experience it for the rest of their life. As such, the exact mechanics of tinnitus aren’t always easy to pinpoint, making it one of the trickier symptoms to treat.

In some cases, we are able to identify the underlying causes of your tinnitus. We may be able to relieve tinnitus by treating those underlying causes but, in most cases, the aim of the audiologist treating tinnitus is to help the person experience it to acclimate to or cancel out the noise.

The Symptoms of Tinnitus

As mentioned, every individual’s experience of tinnitus can be different, so don’t be surprised if you find that not everyone’s experience of tinnitus is matching your symptoms. The symptoms that you should be looking out for is that you’re hearing any noises that don’t have a discernable outside source, whether it feels like the noise is in your ears or in your head. This can include noises such as ringing, clicking, buzzing, hissing and humming, whether it’s in one ear or both. If you are experiencing hearing loss, not only is that notable in its own right, but it can be a risk factor for tinnitus.

The Risk Factors of Tinnitus

As mentioned, hearing loss is a risk factor of tinnitus. But it’s not the only one. If any of the factors below are affecting you, it increases the chances that the symptoms you are experiencing are, indeed, linked to tinnitus:

• Hearing loss
• Stress, anxiety or depression
• Using ototoxic medications
• Ear infections
• Meniere’s disease
• Earwax buildup
• High blood pressure
• Head and neck injuries
• Hyperacusis

If you are experiencing any of the risk factors mentioned above, alongside the symptoms of tinnitus, then you might want to get in touch with your audiologist to find out how they can help.

The Impacts of Tinnitus

Tinnitus can be a jarring symptom to experience and most people who do experience it is going to want to seek treatment for it. However, if you’re on the fence, you should make sure you get help in order to prevent or mitigate some of the impacts it can have on your quality of life. This can include an increased experience of stress, anxiety and irritability, worse quality of sleep, and it can make it harder to relax. Many find that it can interfere with both their personal and professional life. For that reason, you certainly want to get to the bottom of the problem.

Your Audiologist Can Help

If the symptoms, risk factors, and impacts of tinnitus are on your mind and you think you might be experiencing them, then you should get in touch with your audiologist at your convenience. Audiologists can help to treat tinnitus by, for instance, helping you find devices that can mask your tinnitus with white noise or help you better acclimate to the noise so that it becomes a lot less noticeable. If your tinnitus comes along with hearing loss, you might want to start using a hearing aid, too.

If you are experiencing tinnitus, get in touch with your audiologist. You can get call the team at Audiology and Hearing Aid Center at (920) 486-6922