You Know when you’re viewing an action movie and the hero has a thunderous explosion close by and their ears begin to ring? Well, at least some level of mild brain trauma has likely happened to them.
Obviously, action movies don’t emphasize the brain injury part. But that high-pitched ringing is something known as tinnitus. Tinnitus is most often discussed in the context of hearing loss, but it turns out that traumatic brain injuries such as concussions can also trigger this particular ringing in the ears.
Concussions, after all, are one of the most common traumatic brain injuries that happen. And they can happen for a wide variety of reasons (car crashes, sports accidents, and falls, for instance). How something such as a concussion causes tinnitus can be, well, complicated. But here’s the good news: even if you suffer a brain injury that triggers tinnitus, you can normally treat and manage your condition.
What is a concussion?
A concussion is brain trauma of a very particular kind. One way to think about it is that your brain is protected by sitting snuggly in your skull. When anything comes along and shakes the head violently enough, your brain starts moving around inside of your skull. But your brain could wind up crashing into the inside of your skull because of the small amount of extra space in there.
This causes harm to your brain! Multiple sides of your skull can be impacted by your brain. And when this happens, you experience a concussion. When you visualize this, it makes it simple to see how a concussion is literally brain damage. Symptoms of concussions include the following:
- Headaches
- Confusion and loss of memory
- Ringing in the ears
- Blurry vision or dizziness
- Vomiting and nausea
- A slow or delayed response to questions
- Slurred speech
This list isn’t complete, but you get the point. Symptoms from a concussion can continue anywhere between several weeks and a few months. Brain damage from one concussion is generally not permanent, most people will end up making a total recovery. But, repeated or multiple concussions are a different story (generally, it’s the best idea to avoid these).
How is tinnitus triggered by a concussion?
Is it really possible that a concussion may affect your hearing?
It’s an interesting question: what is the connection between tinnitus and concussions? Because it’s more correct to say that traumatic brain injuries (even mild ones) can lead to tinnitus, It isn’t just concussions. That ringing in your ears can be set off by even mild brain injuries. Here are a few ways that might take place:
- Nerve damage: A concussion might also cause damage to the nerve that is responsible for transferring the sounds you hear to your brain.
- Damage to your hearing: Experiencing an explosion at close distance is the cause of concussions and TBIs for lots of members of the armed forces. Irreversible hearing loss can be caused when the stereocilia in your ears are injured by the tremendously noisy shock wave of an explosion. So it isn’t so much that the concussion caused tinnitus, it’s that the tinnitus and concussion have the same underlying cause.
- A “labyrinthine” concussion: This form of concussion happens when the inner ear is injured as a result of your TBI. This damage can create inflammation and cause both hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Meniere’s Syndrome: A TBI can cause the development of a condition called Meniere’s Syndrome. When pressure accumulates in the inner ear this condition can occur. Eventually, Meniere’s syndrome can result in noticeable tinnitus and hearing loss.
- Disruption of communication: In some instances, the portion of your brain that controls hearing can become damaged by a concussion. When this occurs, the signals that get transmitted from your ear cannot be properly processed, and tinnitus might occur consequently.
- Interruption of the Ossicular Chain: The transmission of sound to your brain is aided by three bones in your ear. These bones can be knocked out of place by a substantial concussive, impactive event. This can interrupt your ability to hear and result in tinnitus.
It’s significant to stress that every traumatic brain injury and concussion is a little different. Personalized care and instructions, from us, will be provided to every patient. Certainly, if you think you have suffered a traumatic brain injury or a concussion, you should call us for an evaluation as soon as possible.
When you suffer from a concussion and tinnitus is the consequence, how can it be addressed?
Most often, tinnitus related to a concussion or traumatic brain damage will be temporary. After a concussion, how long can I anticipate my tinnitus to linger? Weeks or possibly months, sadly, could be the time period. However, if your tinnitus has lasted for more than a year, it’s likely to be long lasting. In these circumstances, the treatment approach transitions to controlling your symptoms over the long run.
This can be achieved by:
- Therapy: In some situations, therapy, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can be utilized to help patients disregard the noise produced by their tinnitus. You accept that the noise is there, and then ignore it. This technique takes therapy and practice.
- Hearing aid: In a similar way to when you have hearing loss not caused by a TBI, tinnitus symptoms seem louder because everything else is quieter. Hearing aids help your tinnitus fade into the background by turning up the volume on everything else.
- Masking device: This device goes inside your ear a lot like a hearing aid, but it produces specific noises instead of making things louder. This noise is custom tailored to your tinnitus, overpowering the sound so you can focus on voices, or other sounds you actually want to hear.
Obtaining the expected result will, in some cases, call for added therapies. Treatment of the underlying concussion might be required in order to make the tinnitus go away. The correct course of action will depend on the status of your concussion and your TBI. In this regard, an accurate diagnosis is key.
Talk to us about what the right treatment plan may look like for you.
TBI-triggered tinnitus can be managed
Your life can be traumatically impacted by a concussion. It’s never a good day when you get concussed! And if your ears are ringing, you may ask yourself, why are my ears ringing after a car accident?
It may be days later or immediately after the accident that tinnitus symptoms surface. But you can successfully control tinnitus after a crash and that’s significant to keep in mind. Call us today to schedule an appointment.