Ringing in ears
Why do I hear ringing in my ears?
Hearing a ringing noise in your ears is a condition which doctors term tinnitus. Tinnitus is a condition in which a person perceives a sound which is absent. No one, other than the affected person, hears the sound. Tinnitus is a symptom and not a disease.
Instead, it indicates that their is an underlying disorder which is causing the patient to hear sounds other people cannot hear. The disorder can be otological which means that the disorder has to do with the ear, or it can be non-otological in which case the disorder is not related to the ear but is present elsewhere in the body.
Hence, the causes of tinnitus can be divided into two categories
- Otological Causes
- Non-Otological Causes
Otological Causes
Otological causes of tinnitus include but are not limited to
- Wax build-up in ears
- Otitis Media
- Fluid in middle ear
- Meniere’s disease
- Noise Trauma
- Age related
- Tumors (1)
Non-otological Causes
Non-otological causes of tinnitus include but are not limited to
- Hypertension
- Migraine headache
- Hypoglycemia (2)
If you are hearing ringing voices in your ears, you should visit an oncologist. The oncologist will examine you to find the cause of your tinnitus. Then he will treat you according to the cause.
If ear wax is causing tinnitus, he will advise you to get your ears cleaned. If you have oitis media, a middle ear infection, he will prescribe antibiotics which will cure the infection. As a result, your tinnitus will disappear. In case hypertension is causing tinnitus, the oncologist may refer you to a cardiologist or may prescribe an anti-hypertensive drug which will lower your blood pressure. Once your blood pressure is lowered, the ringing in your ears will disappear.
Source(s):
- Dhingra PL. Diseases of ear, nose, and throat. 4th ed. New Delhi:Elsevier; 2007. p.126.
- ibid.