Subjective Tinnitus

Tinnitus can be defined as a noise in a person’s head, when there is no such noise actually present around the person that may be causing the sound. The word itself ‘tinnitus’ comes from a Latin word for tinkle or ringing, and is most commonly caused by a hearing loss but this is not to say it doesn’t occur in normal hearing people too. Almost any problem to do with the ear can cause tinnitus, even something as simple as a buildup of wax. Tinnitus is most commonly associated with sensorineaural hearing loss(SNHL), this is a hearing loss caused by a problem with the inner ear or the neural pathways where ‘individuals may have unilateral or bilateral hearing loss ranging from mild to profound’ (Antonio et al,2014) . For a person suffering from

Objective is when the sound the person is hearing in their head can be heard externally from the body commonly caused by muscles or veins. Subjective tinnitus is when only the tinnitus sufferer can hear the sound, no one

Some are worse than others. The most common perceptions of tinnitus are ringing, whistling, humming, roaring and buzzing. After being exposed to a loud noise or noises, for example in a night club or concert, a person may hear a ringing sound in their head or ears, this can be one perception of tinnitus but normally leaves after a short time. The many perceptions of tinnitus may also be experienced in a pulsatile form, this is like a throbbing tinnitus. Pulsatile tinnitus suggests a vascular neoplasm, vascular anamoly, or vascular malformation (Weissmann et all, 1999). There is also a less common perception of Tinnitus, it is known as Musical tinnitus. This is a form of tinnitus where music is heard instead of the more common ringing type of sound, or a mixture of both. There may be no music being played near the person but they still hear music inside their head. Although not always troublesome in itself, musical hallucination can be a marker of underlying pathology in the ear or brain, or indicate obsessive-compulsive traits or social isolation, and is likely to be clinically underreported (T.E. Cope et al 2009). Musical tinnitus may be ‘underreported’ due to the nature of this type of tinnitus, patient’s may be worried or afraid to mention having these perceptions of tinnitus to