Do you sometimes hear a high pitched ringing in your ear?
This might sound familiar to you: seemingly out of nowhere, your ears start ringing. It feels very random and as soon as it arrived, it disappears again. But what does this ringing noise mean? And how can you get rid of it?
Mistake
Luckily, this mysterious ringing noise is just a little glitch. Short explanation: in your ear, there are two types of hair cells that transform sound waves into an electric signal for your brain. One of those types of hair cells causes vibrations, causing a soft noise to get loud enough for you to hear it. Sometimes the hair cells move around when there is no sound to be heard. And this little glitch causes you to hear a ringing noise when there is no actual sound to trigger it. As soon as your body realizes it’s mistake, the ringing noise disappears again.
Problematic
Even though this might seem completely harmless, ringing in your ears is sometimes a cause for concern. For some people, the ringing noise doesn’t go away after a few seconds and might even last for days. Sometimes, it doesn’t go away at all anymore. And that could mean that the hair cells in your ear are damaged, resulting in a condition called Tinnitus. This can be caused by stress, lack of sleep, blood pressure or medication. The most common cause is damage due to exposure to loud noise. For example when you attend a rock concert or listen to loud music on your headphones.
Tinnitus
If you think you might have tinnitus, it would be wise to visit your doctor. Even though there is no cure, there are ways to learn how to deal with that annoying ringing in your ear. If you only experience a short ringing that lasts one or two seconds, you have nothing to worry about. Just make sure you protect your ears and don’t let the ringing get worse.
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Source: Happy in Shape | Image: Unsplash, Kimia Zarifi