Causes of Tinnitus

•    Tinnitus can arise in the outer, middle or inner ear or be caused by certain brain abnormalities.
•    The presence of any foreign body or wax in the external ear can cause a person to be more sensitive to sounds in the head.
•    Infection, fluid collection or disease in the ear drums or middle ear bones can also cause tinnitus.
•    One of the most common causes of tinnitus is hearing loss due to damaged endings of the hearing nerve of the inner ear. As a person ages, some amount of hearing nerve impairment is imminent which results in tinnitus.
•    Exposure to loud noises often damages hearing, resulting in tinnitus. Most people do not concern themselves with the harmful effects of loud noise such as those emanating from fire arms, loud music etc.
•    Excessive use of some medications such as aspirin.
•    Presence of other ear diseases such as Meniere’s syndrome can also cause tinnitus. Meniere ’s syndrome is characterized by dizziness, a feeling of fullness in the ear and tinnitus. It can last for some days and go away.
•    Tinnitus can be the symptom of some other serious problem such as an acoustic brain tumor (in this case tinnitus will be felt only in one ear) or aneurysm.
•    Overuse of the quinine and the antibiotic aminoglycoside can also cause tinnitus.