Ringing of Ears and Jaw or Skull Alignment Problems
At some point in just about everyone’s life they experience some type of ringing of ears. The medical term for this condition is tinnitus. There is a perception of a sound, often ringing or buzzing, in your ears. There is no external source of the ringing. It is not a sound that other people hear, just you.
Often people think of tinnitus, or the ringing in ears, as a physical ailment. In fact, it is a symptom of a real medical condition.
The most common cause of ringing of ears is a damaged inner ear canal. Usually, the damage is caused by loud noises. If your inner ear is damaged there still may be something else going on to provoke the tinnitus.
The key component of your auditory system is called the cochlea. The cochlea contains a fluid substance and tiny hair cells. When you hear a sound, the vibrations travel down your ear canal to the cochlea. The vibration causes the fluid to move. The movement of the liquid causes the hair cells to move. The movement of the hair cells are translated into impulses that are sent to your brain. Viola! You hear sound.
How do loud noises damage these hair cells?
Think of a loud noise as if the noise was a golf club. Picture yourself swinging the club sharply through the air in order to hit the golf ball on the ground. As your golf club swing approaches the ball you may actually shear off the grass and maybe dig a divot in the turf too.
In your ear, the tiny hairs that transmit the vibrations to your brain are analogous to the grass. Loud noises(the golf club) damage your hearing by bending the tiny hair cells within the inner ear. They may even cause these hair cells to break off or ‘wilt’. When the hair cells break off, the damage to the inner ear is permanent. This leads to a lifetime of ringing of ears.
The louder and longer you subject your auditory system to loud noise, the more likely you are to damage these hair cells. That’s why people who live and work in noise filled jobs suffer from loss of hearing and ringing of ears. These people MUST wear hearing protection. Today’s musicians are using hearing protection to protect their ears from the loud noises blasting out of the amplifiers. If you noticed ringing ears after a concert, the loud music may have damaged your ears.
Head Problems Leading to Ringing of Ears
There are other things that can lead to hearing loss and tinnitus. Head and neck injuries or TMJ (temperomandibular joint syndrom) cause an imbalance in the neck’s or jaws orientation. The temperomandibular joint is where your lower jaw connects to your skull.It moves up and down and sideways. If you grind your teeth, the tension can lead to tinnitus.
Similarly, when you’ve suffered a head or neck injury, the stiffness or misalignment of your spine leads to ringing of ears. It’s not fully understood, but doctors believe that the there is crosstalk between the nerves when your spine is out of line. This crosstalk leads to the sensation of noises in your ears.
Sinus Problems Can Lead to Tinnitus
Sinuses are little pockets throughout your head; 2 at the top of your nose between your eyes, 2 above your eyebrows, 2 below your eyes and one that most people don’t know about located at the base of your skull.
When your sinuses are infected there is a fluid build-up in these pockets. This can cause headaches, toothaches and migraines. If you suffer from allergies and sinus infections, they are very likely causing your tinnitus too.
You may be lucky and the ringing of ears disappears after your sinus condition clears up. For others, the noises hang around even after the infection is gone.
