Among adults with persistent tinnitus, about 70% of them have hearing impairment. About 59% of hearing impaired children and teenagers experience tinnitus, the figure is higher than that for normally hearing children and teenagers (13%). Ears with hearing loss receive less sensation from external sound and this is not adequate to mask tinnitus.Therefore, tinnitus in hearing impaired ears can be more obvious and persistent. Diseases in outer ears (such as cerumen obstruction, otitis externa) and those in the middle ears (such as perforated eardrum, otitis media, otosclerosis) are usual causes of tinnitus.
The cause of hearing loss is usually a concurrent cause for tinnitus.Impairment in inner ears and auditory nervous system will intensify the spontaneous physiological activities related to tinnitus and make tinnitus louder and more persistent. Typical examples include:
- Injury to inner ears due to exposure to loud noises
- Ageing of auditory organs
- Diseases in inner ears such as Meniere’s disease
- Pathological changes in auditory nervous such as acoustic neuroma
- Intake of ototoxic drugs (such as streptomycin and excessive aspirin)
- Head injury
Not every hearing impaired person may suffer from tinnitus. Likewise,people with normal hearing may suffer from tinnitus. Tinnitus will affect the concentration of people who are suffering from it, though tinnitus itself will not cause any further hearing impairment.
Usually, people who are having tinnitus would accustom to it within 36 months. After that, they need to listen very carefully in a quiet place in order to detect tinnitus again.
Anxiety and nervousness may hinder people to accustom to tinnitus, making them more sensitive to tinnitus, leading to greater emotional reaction or even insomnia.