What should I do if I have tinnitus?

Ears are the most important hearing organs of people. Without ears, we cannot hear the sounds from the outside world. This is a very terrifying state for people and it greatly hinders people's information exchange. There are many ear diseases, among which tinnitus is a common symptom. There are many causes of tinnitus, both internal and external. However, no matter what the cause of tinnitus is, it should be taken seriously, because severe tinnitus can cause permanent hearing problems in patients and cause immeasurable harm to patients. Let’s take a look at what to do if you have tinnitus in your ears?

There are many causes of tinnitus, the most common ones are colds, earwax blockage, otitis media, neurological diseases, ear canal diseases, mental stress, etc. Severe tinnitus not only affects the patient's hearing, but also brings great psychological pressure to the patient and affects the patient's spiritual life. People with tinnitus should receive timely treatment to avoid serious harm.

1. Otoscope examination: Check whether the external auditory canal has redness, swelling, stenosis, cerumen blockage, foreign matter, secretions, collapse of the posterior upper wall, etc. Check whether the tympanic membrane is congested, retracted, thickened, perforated, atrophied, has calcifications, or has tympanic effusion.

2. Audiological examination: pure tone hearing threshold, suprathreshold function test, acoustic immittance test, electrical response audiometry, otoacoustic emission test, etc.

Tinnitus tone test and loudness test: test the intensity of the main tone and loudness of the patient's tinnitus tone. Most tinnitus is felt at levels between 10-15 dB.

3. Tinnitus masking hearing test: Test the minimum intensity level of pure tone or narrow-band noise of each frequency that can just mask tinnitus. Connecting the two is the tinnitus masking hearing test or tinnitus masking hearing curve.

4. Check other body systems: If tinnitus is suspected to be caused by internal medicine, surgery, neurology, psychiatry and other diseases, relevant systems should be checked.

5. Psychological evaluation: Since tinnitus is often related to psychological factors such as anxiety, patients with severe tinnitus should undergo a psychological evaluation.