{"id":1233,"date":"2023-02-18T13:18:11","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T05:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/?p=1233"},"modified":"2026-02-23T15:51:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T07:51:43","slug":"tinnitus-how-to-get-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/tinnitus-how-to-get-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Tinnitus of The Ear: How To Get Better!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Tinnitus or “ringing in the ears” is a very common symptom in Singapore which affects many people. Some find it difficult to sleep, work or perform their usual everyday activities. But did you know there are many different types of tinnitus? Tinnitus<\/a> can affect children and adults, due to a wide range of ear, nose and throat conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can Tinnitus Occur with Normal Hearing?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Some patients already have some degree of hearing loss in one or both ears with tinnitus. But others may have perfectly normal hearing, even with tinnitus. Tinnitus is not always a “ringing” sound! Tinnitus may present many ways such as rustling, hissing, buzzing and humming sounds. It may start off as one form and then change with time. This doesn’t necessarily mean that things are getting worse, so don’t panic yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to understand that tinnitus is a stress reflex of the inner ear nerve endings. Stress or anxiety commonly trigger tinnitus. Some forms of tinnitus may present as pulsatile or “heartbeat” sounds, while others sound like intermittent fluttering inside your ear<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can Surgery Treat Some Types of Tinnitus?<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Most cases of tinnitus are subjective, meaning only the tinnitus patient is able to hear it. But some types of tinnitus are objective. So there is an actual structural or anatomical cause underlying the tinnitus symptom. Many ENT conditions can irritate the ears because the ears, nose and throat are all connected via the Eustachian tubes. Nasal allergies (allergic rhinitis<\/a>), sinus infections<\/a>, spasms of the middle ear muscles (myoclonus) and even tumours may present with tinnitus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is so important to have your tinnitus properly checked out to determine the cause of your tinnitus symptoms. Remember: The cause determines the treatment of tinnitus itself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we look at Ear causes of Tinnitus in Singapore, then which conditions might be treatable with surgery? The following list is not exhaustive but includes a few interesting structural problems which may respond to surgery:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Tensor
The 2 muscles of the middle ear are shown above<\/strong>. The one in red is called the tensor tympani, attaches to the malleus, first ear bone. The one in grey, is the stapedius muscle, attaches to the stapes, third ear bone. Both muscles are important in dampening loud sound and protecting the sensitive inner ear from excessive noise.<\/strong> But sometimes, they become hyper-reactive and keep twitching away to cause tinnitus.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WHICH TINNITUS CONDITIONS MAY BE TREATED BY SURGERY?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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1. MYOCLONUS<\/strong>:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is a recurrent twitching of the middle ear muscles which attach to the little ear bones (ossicles) behind the eardrum. There are 2 muscles, the first is called the tensor tympani muscle. This muscle attaches the first ossicle (malleus) to the side of the facial nerve structure inside the middle ear. The second is the stapedius muscle, attaching the third ear bone (stapes) to the deeper bony wall of the ear. Both muscles perform the important job of dampening sound. They protect the inner ear from loud noise exposure by reducing the transmission of sound from the eardrum into the inner ear nerve centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, these little muscles become extra twitchy, leading to a fluttering type of tinnitus. Surgery can sometimes play a role in limiting this twitchiness of the tiny ear muscles. This would involve either injection of a local anaesthetic or even Botox to calm them down. More severe cases may require actual surgical division of these little muscles to stop the recurrent muscle spasms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. OTITIS MEDIA (EARDRUM INFECTIONS<\/a>)<\/strong>:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anything abnormal affecting the ear drum can cause tinnitus to appear. This includes ear drum infections. Infection occurs when the ear drum is inflamed with infected fluid. Treat eardrum infections promptly with a course of oral antibiotics to prevent a ruptured eardrum. Ear drum infections can be quite painful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. RUPTURED EARDRUM<\/a>:<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The eardrum will perforate due to severe infection or if exposed to excessive loud noise. Pressure problems with the Eustachian tube may also result in eardrum perforations. So sinus infections and severe allergies may lead to congestion of the Eustachian pressure tubes. This may prevent them from opening at the right time to equalise the ear pressure. If thick mucus or infected nasal secretions block the Eustachian tube, it cannot “pop” open easily. Hence this may lead to abnormal buildup of pressure behind the eardrum, which may rupture to release the trapped fluid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. CONDUCTIVE HEARING LOSS DUE TO OSSICLE PROBLEMS:<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Any form of hearing loss may cause the onset of tinnitus. The most common condition causing conductive hearing loss is that of otosclerosis. This is a disease which causes fixation of the third ear bone, the stapes. This prevents the stapes moving to conduct sound from the eardrum to the inner ear. So patients will notice a gradually worsening hearing loss, in one or both ears. Some people notice that one ear hears differently when they wear their earphones or headphones. So then they realise that they don’t hear so well from one ear! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some patients have a family history of hearing loss at a young age. Genetic hearing loss can run in families so it’s important to screen for this too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what can we do about otosclerosis? Luckily, surgery can repair this type of conductive hearing loss. This involves the use of a special laser and insertion of a tiny ear implant to replace the diseased stapes ear bone, to help patients hear again. The results of stapes surgery are quite good but there is a slight risk of losing your hearing. If you cannot accept any type of risk, then a hearing aid may be more suitable for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other causes of such hearing loss include fractures and dislocations of the ear bones, such as after head trauma. Sometimes, adhesions or band of scar tissue may grow to “stick” to the ear bones, affecting their movement. In fact, any condition which affects the ear bone mobility will give you an abnormal hearing result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. CHOLESTEATOMA (BENIGN BUT DESTRUCTIVE EAR CYST)<\/a>:<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is a gradually worsening ear disease which some patients may be completely unaware of, until the disease grows out of the eardrum to cause ear infections, ear discharge, dizziness and hearing loss. In advanced cases, patients can suffer permanent or total hearing loss. A few patients even suffer brain abscess infections as complications, presenting with headaches and seizures. There is no magic medicine for cholesteatoma! We advise early cholesteatoma surgery to prevent further destruction of important ear structures such as the facial nerve which controls movement of your face. Other complications include worsening hearing loss and brain-related infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you have a cholesteatoma detected, you should just have it removed as early as possible. It isn’t going to get smaller or disappear! Delaying the decision for surgery does not help. Removing the disease early means better clearance. The problem with this disease is the risk of recurrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. VENOUS ABNORMALITIES IN EAR:<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some patients have abnormal walls of their venous sinuses. These are the vessels which drain the venous blood from your brain through the ear and back to your heart. Some veins are rather large, with other veins growing little “pouches” called a diverticulum. If this happens, the venous bloodflow becomes turbulent, leading to a noisy swirling of blood in the diverticulum. This noise presents as pulsatile tinnitus, a heartbeat sound in your ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some major veins in the ear may not be covered by the usual thin layer of bone. Hence there is no sound buffer to prevent the transmission of the bloodflow in these blood vessels to your ear bones. So your poor ossicles now pick up the bloodflow noises, or the tinnitus. Surgery may have a role to repair such venous abnormalities by rebuilding a layer over the vein with muscle and cartilage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"What
The major veins of the brain drain blood down through the ear, back into the neck to return the blood to the heart. Sometimes, these veins may be abnormally large. In other cases, the thin plate of bone separating these veins from the ear, may be absent. So this will not buffer the bloodflow noises from the ear structures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Well,we have explained that surgery may treat some forms of tinnitus. However, not all causes of tinnitus can be helped by surgery. Remember, tinnitus is only the name of a symptom and NOT the actual cause. Diagnosis depends on careful history-taking and detailed examination by your friendly ENT specialist in Singapore. Ideally, you should see an ENT who has a specialty interest in hearing loss and tinnitus.<\/p>\n

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Tinnitus or “ringing in the ears” is a very common symptom in Singapore which affects many people. Some find it difficult to sleep, work or perform their usual everyday activities. But did you know there are many different types of tinnitus? Tinnitus can affect children and adults, due to a wide range of ear, nose and throat conditions. Can Tinnitus Occur with…
Continue Reading →<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[95,230,133,231,192],"class_list":["post-1233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ear","category-uncategorized","tag-blocked-ear","tag-ear-surgery","tag-hearing-loss","tag-myoclonus","tag-tinnitus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1233"}],"version-history":[{"count":114,"href":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4203,"href":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions\/4203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drannabelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}