If you are one of the millions of people in the U.S. suffering from a medical disorder known as tinnitus then you probably know that it tends to get worse when you are attempting to fall asleep. But what’s the reason for this? The buzzing or ringing in one or both ears is not a real noise but a side-effect of a medical issue like hearing loss, either permanent or temporary. Naturally, knowing what it is won’t explain why you have this buzzing, ringing, or whooshing noise more frequently at night.
The truth is more common sense than you might think. To know why your tinnitus gets louder as you try to sleep, you need to understand the hows and whys of this really common medical issue.
What is tinnitus?
For most people, tinnitus isn’t a real sound, but this fact just compounds the confusion. It’s a sound no one else is able to hear. It sounds like air-raid sirens are going off in your ears but the person sleeping right beside you can’t hear it at all.
Tinnitus by itself is not a disease or condition, but a sign that something else is happening. Substantial hearing loss is usually the root of this condition. For a lot of people, tinnitus is the first sign they get that their hearing is in jeopardy. Individuals with hearing loss often don’t recognize their condition until the tinnitus symptoms begin because it develops so slowly. Your hearing is changing if you begin to hear these sounds, and they’re warning you of those changes.
What causes tinnitus?
At this time medical scientists and doctors are still unsure of exactly what triggers tinnitus. It might be a symptom of a number of medical issues including damage to the inner ear. There are tiny hair cells inside of your ears that vibrate in response to sound. Often, when these little hairs get damaged to the point that they can’t efficiently send messages to the brain, tinnitus symptoms happen. Your brain converts these electrical signals into identifiable sounds.
The current theory pertaining to tinnitus has to do with the absence of sound. Your brain will start to compensate for signals that it’s waiting for because of hearing loss. It attempts to compensate for input that it’s not receiving.
That would explain some things about tinnitus. For starters, why it’s a symptom of so many different conditions that affect the ear: mild infections, concussions, and age-related hearing loss. That could also be why the symptoms get louder at night sometimes.
Why are tinnitus sounds louder at night?
Unless you are profoundly deaf, your ear receives some sounds during the day whether you know it or not. It will faintly pick up sounds coming from a different room or around the corner. At the very least, you hear your own voice, but that all stops during the night when you try to fall asleep.
Suddenly, all the sound fades away and the level of confusion in the brain goes up in response. It only knows one thing to do when confronted with complete silence – generate noise even if it’s not real. Hallucinations, including phantom sounds, are frequently the result of sensory deprivation as the brain attempts to create input where there isn’t any.
In other words, it’s too quiet at night so your tinnitus seems worse. Creating sound may be the remedy for individuals who can’t sleep due to that aggravating ringing in the ear.
Generating noise at night
A fan running is often enough to decrease tinnitus symptoms for many people. Just the sound of the motor is enough to decrease the ringing.
But you can also get devices that are exclusively made to reduce tinnitus sounds. Environmental sounds, like ocean waves or rain, are generated by these “white noise machines”. The soft sound soothes the tinnitus but isn’t distracting enough to keep you awake like leaving the TV on might do. Your smartphone also has the ability to download apps that will play calming sounds.
Can anything else make tinnitus symptoms worse?
Your tinnitus symptoms can be amplified by other things besides lack of sound. Too much alcohol before bed can contribute to more extreme tinnitus symptoms. Other things, like high blood pressure and stress can also be a contributing factor. Give us a call for an appointment if these tips aren’t helping or if you’re feeling dizzy when your tinnitus symptoms are active.
References
https://hearinghealthfoundation.org/hearing-loss-tinnitus-statistics/
