Hearing problems aren't a common MS symptom. But people with MS can sometimes experience problems including tinnitus, increased sensitivity to sound and loss of hearing.
In MS, nerve damage disrupts the electrical signals that travel from your ears to your brain. That sets off a ringing sound in your ears. Tinnitus isn't dangerous but can be very distracting and annoying. There currently is no cure.
Neurologic causes include head injury, whiplash, multiple sclerosis, vestibular schwannoma (commonly called an acoustic neuroma), and other cerebellopontine-angle tumors.
These blood flow changes can cause tinnitus or make tinnitus more noticeable. Other chronic conditions. Conditions including diabetes, thyroid problems, migraines, anemia, and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus have all been associated with tinnitus.
Tinnitus, or ringing in your ear(s), is often a symptom of some other underlying health condition. As it's not a disease itself, it can be challenging to treat, and many people avoid going to the doctor. However, if your symptom persists, you must seek medical attention.
An MRI scan may reveal a growth or tumor near the ear or the eighth cranial nerve that could be causing tinnitus. Imaging tests can also help doctors evaluate pulsatile tinnitus. They can show changes in the blood vessels near the ears and determine whether an underlying medical condition is causing symptoms.
You may need to see your doctor if: You have tinnitus that sounds like a heartbeat (pulsatile tinnitus) You also have dizziness, vertigo, or hearing loss. Your tinnitus comes on suddenly.
It's not clear exactly why it happens, but it often occurs along with some degree of hearing loss. Tinnitus is often associated with: age-related hearing loss. inner ear damage caused by repeated exposure to loud noises.
In short: Tinnitus is understood to be a neurological condition, usually caused by hearing damage. The brain mechanisms behind tinnitus can potentially be detected using cutting edge techniques, at least in groups of people with tinnitus rather than individuals, but they are still not fully understood.
[23] Vitamin B12 deficiency may cause the demyelination of neurons in the cochlear nerve, resulting in hearing loss and tinnitus.
The vestibulo-cochlear nerve, or eighth cranial nerve, carries signals from the inner ear to the brain. Tinnitus can result from damage to this nerve.
The pathophysiology of tinnitus is closely related to that of acquired hearing loss, and there is increasing evidence that inflammation may contribute to the pathophysiology of hearing loss [5,6]. Accordingly, inflammation may also be one of the key processes in the development of tinnitus.
Short answer: probably not. Most ringing in the ear is a frustrating but straightforward case of tinnitus. Sometimes, however, the tone you're hearing may be symptomatic of other issues, including the presence of a noncancerous tumor on the auditory nerve, called an acoustic neuroma.
Like many other conditions that affect the hearing, tinnitus can also affect your quality of life. Many people who have tinnitus claim that they find it hard to think, sleep, concentrate, or enjoy silence. Untreated tinnitus can wreak even more havoc on your life, leading to irritability, insomnia, and even depression.
Most people experience tinnitus in both ears, called bilateral tinnitus. Less commonly it develops in only one ear, called unilateral tinnitus. Tinnitus may be a sign of injury or dysfunction of the inner ear, and is often associated with age- or noise-related permanent hearing loss.
Sleep and stress
Our stress levels go up with less sleep or if you are suffering from long-term sleep difficulties. And, when stress levels go up tinnitus can seem louder. If you have not slept properly one night you might experience higher stress levels, and your tinnitus might seem louder than on a normal day.
It makes ringing, chirping, hissing, buzzing, clicking, roaring and maybe even shrieking sounds—or sometimes a combination of sounds at varying degrees of loudness.
See an audiologist if it persists more than two weeks
Most temporary tinnitus cases will last for two weeks, so if your symptoms last longer than that and things aren't getting better, it makes sense to take action.
Do you ever hear ringing in your ears? What about roaring, buzzing, or hissing? Do these noises interfere with your daily life, making it difficult for you to relax or sleep? If so, you may have tinnitus, a condition characterized by the hearing of sound when no external sound is present.
Tinnitus has been reported in about 15% of the world population, most of them between the ages of 40 and 80 years. [1] The prevalence of chronic tinnitus increases with age, peaking at 14.3% in people 60–69 years of age.
If you experience the following tinnitus symptoms, you should see an otolaryngologist (ENT doctor) and audiologist: When the tinnitus is only in one ear. When the sound is affecting your quality of life. When the sound starts suddenly or changes in volume or duration.