You Know when you’re viewing an action movie and the hero has a loud explosion close by and their ears start ringing? Well, guess what: that most likely means our hero suffered at least a minor traumatic brain injury!
Obviously, action movies don’t highlight the brain injury part. But that high-pitched ringing is something known as tinnitus. Tinnitus is most often talked about in the context of hearing loss, but actually, traumatic brain injuries such as concussions can also lead to this particular ringing in the ears.
Concussions, after all, are one of the most common traumatic brain injuries that occur. And they can happen for many reasons (car accidents, sports accidents, and falls, for instance). It can be a bit complex sorting out how a concussion can lead to tinnitus. But here’s the good news: even if you sustain a brain injury that causes tinnitus, you can normally treat and manage your condition.
What is a concussion?
A concussion is brain trauma of a very distinct type. Think about it this way: your brain is nestled pretty tightly into your skull (your brain is large, and your skull is there to protect it). When something comes along and shakes the head violently enough, your brain starts moving around in your skull. But because there’s so little extra space in there, your brain may literally crash into the inside of your skull.
This hurts your brain! The brain can impact one or more sides of your skull. And when this happens, you get a concussion. This example makes it quite clear that a concussion is literally damage to the brain. Symptoms of concussions include the following:
- Ringing in the ears
- A slow or delayed response to questions
- Confusion and loss of memory
- Vomiting and nausea
- Slurred speech
- Headaches
- Blurry vision or dizziness
This list is not exhaustive, but you get the point. Several weeks to several months is the normal duration of concussion symptoms. When someone gets a single concussion, they will normally make a complete recovery. But repeated concussions can cause permanent brain damage.
How do concussions trigger tinnitus?
Can a concussion mess with your hearing? Really?
The matter of concussions and tinnitus is an intriguing one. Because it’s more correct to say that traumatic brain injuries (even mild ones) can result in tinnitus, it’s not only concussions. That ringing in your ears can be set off by even minor brain injuries. That may occur in a couple of ways:
- Meniere’s Syndrome: The onset of a condition known as Meniere’s Syndrome can be caused by a TBI. When pressure builds up in the inner ear this condition can occur. Sooner or later, Meniere’s syndrome can lead to significant tinnitus and hearing loss.
- Nerve damage: There’s also a nerve that is responsible for sending sounds you hear to your brain, which a concussion can harm.
- Damage to your hearing: For members of the military, TBIs and concussions are frequently related to distance to an explosion. Irreversible hearing loss can be caused when the stereocilia in your ears are injured by the incredibly loud shock wave of an explosion. Tinnitus isn’t always caused by a concussion, but they definitely do share some root causes.
- A “labyrinthine” concussion: When your TBI injures the inner ear this kind of concussion occurs. This damage can cause inflammation and cause both hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Interruption of the Ossicular Chain: There are three tiny bones in your ear that help transmit sounds to your brain. A significant impact (the type that can trigger a concussion, for instance) can jostle these bones out of place. This can disrupt your ability to hear and cause tinnitus.
- Disruption of communication: Concussion can, in some instances, harm the portions of the brain that control hearing. As a result, the messages sent from the ear to your brain can’t be precisely digested and tinnitus can be the outcome.
Of course it’s significant to keep in mind that no two brain injuries are precisely the same. Individualized care and instructions, from us, will be given to every patient. You should definitely call us for an assessment if you think you may have suffered a traumatic brain injury.
When you suffer from a concussion and tinnitus is the consequence, how can it be addressed?
Most frequently, tinnitus triggered by a concussion or traumatic brain damage will be short-term. After a concussion, how long can I anticipate my tinnitus to last? Well, it may last weeks or months. But, it’s likely that your tinnitus is permanent if it lasts more than a year. In these cases, the treatment approach transitions to controlling your symptoms over the long run.
Here are some ways to achieve this:
- Therapy: In some cases, therapy, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can be used to help patients ignore the noise produced by their tinnitus. You disregard the sound after acknowledging it. It will require some therapy, practice, and time though.
- Masking device: This device is a lot like a hearing aid, only instead of helping you hear things louder, it produces a distinct noise in your ear. Your particular tinnitus symptoms dictate what sound the device will produce helping you ignore the tinnitus sounds and be better able to pay attention to voices and other external sounds.
- Hearing aid: In a similar way to when you’re dealing with hearing loss not triggered by a TBI, tinnitus symptoms seem louder because everything else is quieter. Hearing aids help your tinnitus go into the background by turning the volume up on everything else.
Achieving the desired result will, in some situations, call for additional therapies. Treatment of the root concussion might be required in order to get rid of the tinnitus. The right course of action will depend on the status of your concussion and your TBI. As a result, an accurate diagnosis is extremely important in this regard.
Talk to us about what the right treatment plan may look like for you.
TBI-triggered tinnitus can be controlled
Your life can be traumatically impacted by a concussion. When you get concussed, it’s a bad day! And if you have ringing in your ears, you might ask yourself, why do I have ringing in my ears after a car crash?
It may be days later or instantly after the crash that tinnitus symptoms surface. However, it’s essential to remember that tinnitus after a head injury can be successfully managed. Contact us today to schedule an appointment.