Pulsing Tinnitus – What Causes This Tinnitus Type?
What happens with throbbing tinnitus?
Pulsatile tinnitus is a harmonious sound that beats in time with your hearbeat. Not everybody will hear the same pulsating sounds. People most certainly will hear the pulastile tinnitus sounds differently!
While Pulsatile tinnitus is not a common type of tinnitus, it has some well-known causes including hypertension, heart murmur, glomus (globe-shaped) tumor, blocked Eustachian tubes, or an abnormality of a vein or artery. It is always possible to treat pulsatile tinntus because one treats the problem causing the pulsatile tinnitus.
Pulsating tinnitus is normally caused by a blockage of some sort in the arteries in the inner ear.
There are many circumstances, that can be responsible for increased blood flow.
Generalized faster blood flow in the body which occurs during strenuous activity and can be caused by severe anemia.
Generalized increased flow of blood occurs when an artery is narrower than it should be. Obviously other veins in the area will now need to move more blood as a result. The extra flow generates noise and can result in Pulsatile tinnitus.
Potential Causes of Pulsatile Tinnitus Include:
Abnormal groups of arteries and veins that occur within the cranial cavity close to the auditory nerve.
An abnormal connection between a large artery and venous pool within the cranial cavity; usually the result of a severe head trauma.
Chronic Inflammation and infection of the middle ear. Chronic inflammation is accompanied by a forced increase in the flow of blood to the affected tissue. Because this tissue is in the ear, some people are able to hear the increased blood flow.
Middle ear fluid. The middle ear is generally an air-filled space. If infection or inflammation occurs, or there are blocked Eustachian tubes, fluid will gather behind the middle ear, resulting in Pulsatile tinnitus.
Vascular tumors in the middle ear – commonly referred to as glomus (globe-shaped) tumors or paragangliomas. Surgery is required for correction of this problem.
Pulsatile tinnitus will also occur when the is a constriction or a partial blockage of these blood vessels from an atheroma which is a fatty deposit in inner lining of a blood vessel, which can obstruct blood flow and is caused by high levels of cholesterol .
Treatment for Pulsatile tinnitus is related to it’s peculiar cause. As an example, hypertension can be treated with prescription medicines and obstructed or narrowed arteries can be surgically repaired.
Treatment of pulsatile tinnitus normally involves a multi-disciplinary approach which can encompass a variety of symptom controlling approaches. The majority of patients experiencing Pulsatile tinnitus are treated with conventional allopathic methods of tinnitus treatments including drug therapy, and sound and/or relaxation therapy.
John Currie
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/pulsing-tinnitus-what-causes-this-tinnitus-type-102381.html
June 25th, 2010 at 2:42 am
I have a "heartbeat-like" pounding in my ear, but I don't think it's Pulsatile Tinnitus. Any ideas?
It’s been happening on-and-off for as long as I can remember, years and years. Recently it’s gotten a lot worse, with frequent occurrences (usually 8-10 hours long) each week. It’s not always constant – it can also go on for several minutes, stop for a minute, then continue. Often when this is happening, any noises at all around me (even the sound of my typing or people talking at normal volume in the next room over) will cause a sympathetic "boom" in my ear (I don’t know how else to describe it…it’s the same sound as the heartbeat, but in time to outside noises instead of my pulse). It most commonly happens in my left ear alone, but occasionally in both ears at once. I’ve also recently noticed a hearing issue – I can hear fine, both very high and very low sounds, but I have trouble differentiating between sounds (any background noise at all can cause me miss what people say). I am not stressed at all. I have perfect blood pressure, perfect cholesterol… I’m 22 yrs old, and female.
I do clean my ears of wax regularly, using the warm water flushing method, and I’m sure it’s not a build-up of that.
June 25th, 2010 at 7:44 am
wax
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June 25th, 2010 at 7:46 am
I know what you mean but I’m not exactly sure what it is either. Usually I get that when i’m wicked anxious or upset or nervous about something, and it comes periodically. It’s sometimes painful with the loud sounds, but it does go away. I always just thought it was fluid or something but I guess maybe not? Haha i’m gonna ask my doctor. Have you been to your yett?
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June 25th, 2010 at 7:48 am
see your doctor.
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June 25th, 2010 at 7:50 am
You know what’s freaky? I thought this question was out of date and was about to contact you to see if perhaps you might’ve gotten any results from the doctor… but.. I just noticed that you’ve been a member since this day.
The freaky part is this.. I just started getting that too just today when you decided to ask! (maybe we’re soulmates..! j/k)
It pulses.. and pulses.. uncontrollable.
It’s worried the heck out of me since I can’t figure out what it might be.
I’ve done some research.. and apparently there’s nothing simular to it.. just yet.
But yea, I know this response is completely useless.. in the sense of providing a proper answer.. but.. I just wanted to let you know that you weren’t alone..
I’ll try to find more stuff online for us too…
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June 25th, 2010 at 7:52 am
This sounds like a neurological hearing problem, we see this frequently in the clinic, people can hear sound at normal levels, but have difficulty understanding speech, it’s called a central heaing loss. And as far as the pounding, it IS tinnitus, if not that, then your ears are so sensitive that your hearing your own otoacoustic emissions – the sounds that come out of your ears. Hope this helps, good luck!
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I’m a doctoral student in audiology