What is neurological tinnitus?

The health of the ears is mainly reflected in hearing. People with good hearing generally do not have ear health problems, while people with poor hearing often have some disease symptoms. For example, tinnitus is a common symptom. Tinnitus can have a great impact on the patient's life. Moreover, there are many types and degrees of tinnitus. Let's take a look at what neurological tinnitus is? I hope everyone can understand.

Neurological tinnitus, also known as sensorineural tinnitus, emphasizes the patient's subjective feelings. Refers to the abnormal sound sensation that people experience without any external stimulation. If you feel monotonous or mixed sounds such as cicadas, buzzing, hissing, etc. in your ears, or if it is persistent tinnitus, especially accompanied by other symptoms such as deafness, dizziness, and headache. Tinnitus can be divided into sensorineural (originating from the cochlea), peripheral neural (originating from the auditory nerve) and central nervous system tinnitus.

Clinical manifestations

1. Sensorineural tinnitus

The nature of tinnitus varies greatly and is often accompanied by hearing loss. The severity and incidence of tinnitus are significantly related to hearing loss. The more severe the sensorineural hearing loss, the more likely it is to develop tinnitus. The loudness of tinnitus also increases as hearing loss worsens. However, tinnitus can also occur in people with normal hearing. Moreover, about one-third of people with moderate and severe hearing loss do not experience tinnitus, which remains unexplained.

2. Tinnitus caused by acoustic neuroma

It is the first symptom in about 10% of cases. For those with unilateral tinnitus and normal hearing, acoustic neuroma must be ruled out.

3. Central nervous system tinnitus

Tinnitus often appears as white noise. When tinnitus occurs at the same time as a cerebrovascular disease attack, if there is no hearing impairment, it is mostly central nervous system tinnitus. In addition, when the patient complains that the tinnitus is inside the head, it may be central, but it may also be bilateral cochlear tinnitus where the location of the tinnitus cannot be described.

4. Earache

The occurrence of tinnitus is not just a problem that affects hearing. Acute otitis media will cause persistent dull ear pain or occasional throbbing pain, while patients with chronic otitis media will not have obvious ear pain.