Tinnitus is when you think that there is noise when there really is no sound. It is very common and is not very serious either. It affects about 1/5th of the population. It is worth note that tinnitus is not a condition. Instead, it is a symptom of having a condition. These conditions range from hearing loss, an ear injury or even a circulatory system disorder. Even though tinnitus does worsen with age however it can also improve with treatment. If you know the cause of tinnitus, it does help treat it. Here is everything you need to know about tinnitus.

Symptoms of Tinnitus
As mentioned earlier, tinnitus is a ringing, hissing, clicking or buzzing sound which only you can hear and no one else.

Causes of Tinnitus
There are many common causes of tinnitus including:
1. Age-related hearing loss: Tinnitus is commonly caused due to hearing loss.
2. Meniere's disease: Meniere's disease is a type of inner ear disorder. It is when there are abnormalities in the fluid pressure of your inner ear.
3. Medications: Many medications have a side effect of tinnitus as well including certain antibiotics, antidepressants, cancer medications and even aspirin.
4. Loud noise exposure: Exposure to loud noise once in a while will not cause tinnitus. However, constant exposure to loud noise might cause tinnitus.
5. Changes in the shape of your ear bone: Otosclerosis is an abnormal bone growth which results in the bones in your middle ear stiffening.
6. Acoustic neuroma: There is a nerve, which goes from the brain straight to the inner ear. When this nerve develops a tumor, it is known as acoustic neuroma which is a common cause of tinnitus.

Treatment of Tinnitus
Tinnitus can be only be stopped if the underlying condition is treated. However, there are certain electronic devices, which help suppress the noise including:
1. Hearing aids: Hearing aids are already helpful for people who have hearing loss; however they can also help reduce tinnitus.
2. Masking device: Wearing a masking device which continuously emits a low-level noise helps stop the buzzing, clicking, hissing or ringing sound which comes with tinnitus.

Causes and Treatment of Tinnitus

Having a foreign object stuck inside a child s ear or nose is an issue many parents encounter, especially while their child is a toddler. At the early developmental stages, it s natural for children to be curious and attempt such things. It is also quite common for children as well as adults to get insects caught inside their nose or ear. In situations such as this, it s best not to worry, as people tend to aggravate the situation when they panic.
The first thing you should try if you have any foreign object stuck inside your nose is to blow your nose. Be careful not to push too hard so as to not risk injury. Often children will be able to expel foreign objects from their nose only when asked to blow their nose.

If the foreign object in question is not stuck up the nose, but up the ear, or if blowing your nose has not helped, you should try and remove the object with a pair of clean tweezers. Do not try to use household items other than tweezers, as they might push the object further up the cavity. Do keep in mind to have someone help you while removing foreign objects from your own ear as well as to keep in mind to be extra careful not to be too harsh as you might puncture your ear drum. If the foreign object is stuck up your child s nose or ear and they refuse to keep still, it s best to take them to a professional.

What can an ENT specialist do?
If you have a foreign object stuck in your nose or ear and can t get it out easily, it s safest to go to the doctor rather than risk hurting yourself or your child. An Ear-Nose-Throat Specialist can use a local anesthetic to numb the area and use their expertise to better navigate the cavity and remove the object from the ear or nose. If the object is too far up the nose to reach, the ENT Specialist can administer medication to induce a nosebleed which will naturally dislodge the object from the cavity without having to insert anything into it.

When faced with problems such as a foreign object stuck in the ear or nasal cavity, it s best to consult a professional as soon as possible instead of leaving the problem untouched for a long duration of time, as activities such as sniffing or scratching may further aggravate the issue.

Foreign Body Inside Ear, Nose Or Throat - What To Do And What Not To?

An eardrum rupture or perforation is a little gap or tear in your eardrum and the tympanic membrane. The tympanic membrane is a thin tissue that partitions the canal of the middle ear and outer ear. This layer vibrates when sound waves enter your ear. The vibration proceeds through the bones of the center ear. Since this vibration allows you to listen, your hearing can be affected if your eardrum is harmed. A ruptured eardrum is additionally called a perforated eardrum. Permanent hearing loss could be an end result in some cases.

A ruptured eardrum, similar to thunder; can happen all of a sudden. You may feel a sharp pain in your ear, or an ear infection that you've had for some time all of a sudden leaves. In some cases, the person may not feel any signs of the rupture.

Some of the causes for such a perforation are:

Infection: Ear infections are a major reason for eardrum rupture, particularly in children. Liquids tend to deposit behind the eardrum in such cases.
Exercises: Exercising can bring about pressure changes in the ear and lead to a punctured eardrum. This is known as barotrauma, and takes place when the pressure outside the ear is not the same as the pressure inside the ear. Activities that can bring about barotrauma include scuba diving or flying on plane.
Other activities: Wounds can likewise burst your eardrum. Any injury to the ear or side of the head can bring about a crack.
Diagnosis: Your specialist can use a few approaches to find out whether you have a ruptured eardrum:

A liquid test in which your specialist tests liquids that might spill from your ear from infection.
An otoscope exam in which a specific gadget with a light is used to investigate your ear channel
An audiology exam, in which your specialist tests your listening to range and eardrum limit
Tympanometry, in which your specialist uses a tympanometer to test the pressure changes in your ear.
Treatment: The treatments are as follows:

Patching: In the event that your ear does not recuperate by itself, your specialist may fix the eardrum. Fixing includes setting a sedated paper patch over the tear in the film.
Antibiotics: Anti-toxins can clear up contaminations that may have prompted your eardrum break. They additionally shield you from growing new diseases from the aperture. Your specialist may endorse oral antibiotics or eardrops.
Surgery: In uncommon cases, surgery might be required to fix the gap in the eardrum. A surgical repair of a punctured eardrum is called tympanoplasty.
A cracked eardrum generally recuperates without any invasive measures. Many patients with cracked eardrums encounter just transitory listening problems.

Eardrum Rupture - Causes, Symptoms & Treatments

Ear aches are a very painful condition, which tends to affect mostly children. However, adults can be affected by ear aches as well, which can disrupt their routines and be quite painful. Let's have a look at some of the aspects of ear aches in adults.

Causes of ar aches in adults
There are many causes for ear aches in adults and it may vary from one person to another. However some general causes of ear aches in adults are listed below:

    Infections within the body: If you have a throat infection or cold, it could trigger an ear ache as a side effect. Treating the underlying problems will, thus reduce the ear ache or it will go on its own when the symptoms of the cold subside. 
    Ear canal injury: Adults are most often guilty of putting in sharp objects to clean their ear canal, which may result in an injury and also lead to infections. These injuries can also be infected and cause fluid discharge and ear aches.
    Blockages caused by the regular use of ear buds: Using ear buds or other sharp objects to clean the ear will only result in pushing the ear wax further into the ear. This will result in blockages of the ear canal and cause ear aches.
    Dental problems: Certain dental problems, such as wisdom tooth growth can result in problems. Even gum disorders have been known to create ear aches in adults.
    Jaw pain and facial pain: Jaw pain and even facial nerve pain has been known to affect ears and cause aches as well.

Symptoms that may accompany ear aches
Depending on what the causes of the ear aches are, the symptoms may vary. Still, let's have a look at some of the known common symptoms of ear aches in adults:

    Irritability and lack of focus: Ear aches may initially manifest as a headache and make the person irritable.
    Poor sleep: Fluids may build up within the body and thus cause issues while sleeping as the fluids may shift from one area to another.
    Ear drainage: If in case fluids build up, they may drain from your ear, which could vary anywhere within yellow to dark brown colour. This may even indicate that your eardrum is ruptured.
    Hearing problems: Fluid buildup or other underlying causes may also cause hearing difficulties.
    Fever: Sometimes, fever may run as high as 104 degree C due the very infections, which may be causing the ear ache.

Whatever may be the cause, if you have ear aches for sustained periods without underlying reasons, you should visit your doctor immediately to get it checked out, so that appropriate treatment can start quickly.


Ear Ache in Adults

The human ear is divided into three parts, namely the outer, middle and inner ear. All these parts function in coherence with each other and help us in converting vibrations into sound and information. The middle ear consists of the air space between the inner ear and the outer ear and contains the bones that transmit the vibrations of the outer ear and translate them into information. This area is prone to infections, especially among children and thus may cause discomfort or pain. 

Symptoms of middle ear infections
Middle ear infections primarily tend to manifest themselves as inflammation of the tissues and buildup of fluids. Some of the symptoms are mentioned below.

1. Infections in children - middle ear infections primarily occur in children although it can occur in adults as well. Some of the common symptoms could be:
A. Ear pain either sitting or standing up and especially while lying down
B. Irritability and crying, which in infants could translate to more than usual crying 
C. Problems with sound and difficulties in hearing
D. Fluid buildup causing balance related problems
E. Discharge of fluid in certain cases
F. Unable to sleep and also loss of appetite
G. In some cases children may have high fever

Causes of middle ear infections 
The primary cause of middle ear infection is due to the presence of bacteria or virus in the area. The eustachian tube, which runs from the middle ear to the back of the throat, is connected to nasal passages as well. Any infection that affects the throat or the nose may also affect the middle ear through this tube. Primary causes for the infections could be
A. Cold or flu like symptoms, which then infect the middle ear as well
B. Otitis media, which is the buildup of fluid and inflammation either due to the presence of bacteria and viruses or even without it
C. Seasonal infections, which are common during late autumn or winters
D. Air pollution is also known to be a factor
E. Infection from others, especially in the case of children when they are part of a group care
F. Children from 6 months to 2 years are also susceptible to middle ear infections as their immune systems are much less developed.

Treatment of middle ear infections
Usually, middle ear infections resolve on their own within a day or so. You can try warm compress with a soft piece of cloth to ease the pain. However, if pain persists for too long then antibiotic medications may be required to fight the infection with pain relief medications to lessen the pain and discomfort.

All About Middle Ear Infections

BAHA Implant
Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) is a device surgically implanted to help people suffering from a loss of hearing. Most conventional hearing aids transmit sound through air conduction. The BAHA device is suitable for conductive or mild-moderate mixed hearing loss.

Problems with hearing in the middle or outer ears can be helped with the BAHA device. The sound waves received by the BAHA device bypass the middle ear and get delivered straight to the functioning cochlea in both ears.

A BAHA device comprises of two parts:
a) The processor 
b) A fixture which is surgically implanted behind the ear in the bone.

The implant is embedded in the bone. The processor, which remains outside, is attached to the implant. There is a microphone on the processor that picks up sounds. The sounds are passed on to the implant. The implant vibrates which triggers the Cochlear. You can consider wearing a BAHA implant if other conventional hearing aids do not work for you. BAHA implants are also given to people with collapsed or irritated ear canals.

Cochlear Implant Surgery

A complex, small electronic device that helps hearing in people with severe hearing loss or deafness is used in the Cochlear Implant Surgery. The cochlear implant comprises of an external piece behind the ear and another piece that is surgically implanted under the skin. A cochlear implant comprises of four parts:
1. A microphone which picks up sounds from the surroundings
2. A speech processor which chooses and arranges the sounds the microphone picks up
3. A receiver/stimulator and transmitter that picks up signals from the speech processor and changes them into electric impulses
4. An electrode ray, a bunch of electrodes, receives impulses the stimulator sends and transmits them to different areas of the auditory nerves.
The implant does not cure deafness; it only gives you a useful portrayal of sounds in the environment and considerable aid in understanding speech.

The surgery is done in the following way:
i. The area around the site of the implant is shaved or cleaned
ii. The patient's vital signs are monitored through cables, patches and monitors attached to him or her
iii. General anaesthesia is administered through IV or through a face mask
iv. After the device is implanted, the patient is taken to the recovery room for the anaesthesia effect to lessen.

BAHA Implant and Cochlear Implant Surgery

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