Tinnitus!

Many people still believe that tinnitus can only be caused by loud music or noise. The fact is there are many types of tinnitus and the causes vary.

Here's a list of some of the causes:

Ear infections
Blocked ear canal
Blocked eustachian tube
Otosolerosis
Tumors of the middle ear
Meniere's disease
Damage to the ear caused by drugs (such as aspirin and some Antibiotics )
Hearing loss
Blast injury from a blast or explosion
Temporomandibular and cervical spine disorders


The Swedish researchers Assar Bjorne & Göran Agerberg recently (January 2003) had a controlled
comparative study on the signs and symptoms of temporomandibular and cervical spine disorders
and it's relation to tinnitus in general and Meniere's disease in particular published in
Cranio, a journal that devotes its entire focus to the reporting of temporomandibular disease
and disorders.

The aim of the study was to follow up the outcome of an unique treatment for three years with
regular follow-up examinations every six months. The results of the coordinated
treatment showed simultaneous decreases in the intensities of vertigo, nonwhirling dizziness,
tinnitus, feeling of fullness in the ear, pain in the face and jaws, pain in the neck and
shoulders, and headaches.

The results also suggested that Meniere's disease has a clear association with TMD and CSD and that
these three ailments appeared to be caused by the same stress, nervousness, and muscular tension.

Kresge Hearing Research Institute demonstrated, in 2000, that there is a neural pathway of
trigeminal ganglion projections to the auditory brainstem.

Injuries of the head and neck region can lead to the onset of tinnitus in patients with
no hearing loss (Lockwood et al., 1998). Furthermore, two thirds of patients with tinnitus
(including those with hearing loss) are able to modulate their tinnitus by activating
peripheral nerves which innervate the skin or musculature of the face (Levin, 1999). These
observations lead to the hypothesis that somatosensory input to auditory nuclei can play a
role in the generation and/modulation of tinnitus (Lockwood et al., 1998; Levin, 1999).

If you'd like to find out more about different causes of tinnitus I suggest you start
by checking out these links:

Physiological:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12555932&dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8247590&dopt=Abstract
http://www.khri.med.umich.edu/research/shore_lab/research.shtml#soma
http://acta.uta.fi/english/teos.phtml?4399


Psychological:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2281309.stm
http://medsys.uas.se/tinnitus/outside/Australia%202002.doc
http://publications.uu.se/uu/fulltext/nbn_se_uu_diva-539.pdf

Tinnitus treatment and research

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