You Know when you’re watching an action movie and the hero has a loud explosion close by and their ears begin to ring? Well, guess what: that likely means our hero sustained at least a mild traumatic brain injury!
To be certain, brain injuries aren’t the part that most action movies focus on. But that ringing in our hero’s ears represents a condition called tinnitus. Usually, hearing loss is the topic of a tinnitus conversation, but traumatic brain injuries can also cause this condition.
After all, one of the most prevalent traumatic brain injuries is a concussion. And they can occur for a wide variety of reasons (car crashes, sports accidents, and falls, for instance). How something like a concussion triggers tinnitus can be, well, complicated. But the good news is that even if you suffer a brain injury that triggers tinnitus, you can normally treat and manage your condition.
Concussions, exactly what are they?
A concussion is brain trauma of a very specific kind. One way to think about it is that your brain is protected by sitting snuggly in your skull. When something occurs and shakes the head violently enough, your brain starts moving around in your skull. But your brain could end up smashing into the inside of your skull because of the small amount of extra space in there.
This causes harm to your brain! Multiple sides of your skull can be hit by your brain. And this is what causes a concussion. This illustration makes it quite evident that a concussion is literally damage to the brain. Symptoms of concussions include the following:
- Ringing in the ears
- Loss of memory and confusion
- Blurry vision or dizziness
- Vomiting and nausea
- A slow or delayed response to questions
- Headaches
- Slurred speech
This list isn’t complete, but you get the point. Symptoms from a concussion can last anywhere between a few weeks and several months. When somebody gets a single concussion, they will typically make a complete recovery. But repeated concussions can cause irreversible brain damage.
How is tinnitus caused by a concussion?
Can a concussion interfere with your hearing? Really?
It’s an interesting question: what is the link between tinnitus and concussions? After all, concussions aren’t the only brain traumas that can cause tinnitus symptoms. Even minor brain injuries can lead to that ringing in your ears. That might happen in a couple of ways:
- Damage to your hearing: Experiencing an explosion at close distance is the cause of concussions and TBIs for lots of members of the armed forces. Irreversible hearing loss can be caused when the stereocilia in your ears are injured by the exceptionally loud shock wave of an explosion. Tinnitus isn’t inevitably caused by a concussion, but they definitely do share some root causes.
- Nerve damage: A concussion might also trigger injury to the nerve that is responsible for transmitting the sounds you hear to your brain.
- Meniere’s Syndrome: A TBI can cause the onset of a condition called Meniere’s Syndrome. When pressure builds up in the inner ear this condition can occur. Sooner or later, Meniere’s syndrome can lead to significant tinnitus and hearing loss.
- Disruption of the Ossicular Chain: There are three bones in your ear that help send sounds to your brain. A substantial impact (the kind that can trigger a concussion, for instance) can push these bones out of place. This can disrupt your ability to hear and cause tinnitus.
- Disruption of communication: Concussion can, in some instances, damage the portions of the brain that control hearing. Consequently, the signals sent from the ear to your brain can’t be properly processed and tinnitus can result.
- A “labyrinthine” concussion: This kind of concussion happens when the inner ear is damaged as a result of your TBI. This damage can create inflammation and cause both hearing loss and tinnitus.
Of course it’s important to keep in mind that no two brain injuries are exactly the same. Every patient will get individualized care and instructions from us. Indeed, if you think you have suffered a traumatic brain injury or a concussion, you need to call us for an assessment as soon as possible.
When you suffer from a concussion and tinnitus is the result, how can it be addressed?
Most frequently, tinnitus caused by a concussion or traumatic brain injury will be temporary. After a concussion, how long can I anticipate my tinnitus to last? Well, it could last weeks or months. But, it’s likely that your tinnitus is long lasting if it lasts more than a year. In these circumstances, the treatment strategy changes to controlling your symptoms over the long term.
This can be achieved by:
- Hearing aid: Sometimes, tinnitus becomes prominent because the rest of the world goes into the background (as is the case with non-TBI-caused hearing loss, everything else gets quieter, so your tinnitus seems louder). A hearing aid can help turn the volume up on everything else, ensuring that your tinnitus fades into the background.
- Masking device: This device is a lot like a hearing aid, only instead of helping you hear things louder, it creates a particular noise in your ear. Your distinct tinnitus symptoms dictate what sound the device will produce helping you ignore the tinnitus sounds and be better able to focus on voices and other external sounds.
- Therapy: Sometimes, patients can learn to ignore the sound by undertaking cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). You acknowledge that the noise is present, and then ignore it. It will require some therapy, practice, and time though.
In some cases, additional therapies might be required to obtain the expected result. Treatment of the root concussion might be necessary in order to make the tinnitus go away. Depending on the status of your concussion, there may be a number of possible courses of action. This means a precise diagnosis is extremely important in this regard.
Talk to us about what the right treatment plan may look like for you.
You can manage tinnitus caused by a TBI
A concussion can be a substantial and traumatic situation in your life. It’s never a good day when you get a concussion! And if you have ringing in your ears, you might ask yourself, why are my ears ringing after a car accident?
It could be days later or instantly after the crash that tinnitus symptoms emerge. But you can effectively control tinnitus after a crash and that’s important to keep in mind. Schedule a consultation with us today.
