Occasionally Hearing a Buzzing sound in your Ear / Head

A number of people often hear ringing, buzzing or whistling sound in their ears. Some often worry if its something wrong or its just a normal fact. For your knowledge its a common phenomena. Mostly it occurs in one ear only and lasts for a minute or two. But if that buzzing sound don't fade up in two minutes and continues to appear or if it occurs more often then you are suffering from Tinnitus and you should consult a doctor.

Why do we occasionally hear Buzzing Sound in Ear

There are some hair cells inside our ear (on the walls of inner ear) which help us in hearing. These hair cells catches the vibrations in outer world and send its electrical signals to our brain through some nerves. This process is to help us in hearing. But when sometimes something goes wrong with any one of these hair cells and it sends the signal of continuous beep sound to our brain. That is when we hear the whistle sound. But our brain detects this defect in a few seconds. To stop this sound our brain disconnects the nerves from that particular hair cell to stop that whistle sound. Thus within a minute or two everything is normalized and beep sound disappears gradually. (Human body is more genius than we think.)

The phenomena of Ringing in Ears is known as Tinnitus in medical terminology. Tinnitus becomes a problem when the whistle sound don't disappear. In that case your general physician may refer you to a specialist called Audiologist.

What causes Tinnitus

There are various reason which can cause tinnitus but the most common is exposure to noise. Other reasons for Tinnitus are

• Stress
• Some underlying disease
• Head injuries
• Lack of Sleep
• Lack of Sodium in body

Smoking can make tinnitus more critical as the amount of oxygen that reaches brain is reduced.

Tinnitus Side Effects

• Hearing Loss
• Fear
• Insomnia
• Depression

Some Facts about tinnitus

• Sometimes people think that its the sound in their imagination as nobody else hears it. But reality is that its a real sound in your head.
• Tinnitus is the condition when that sound disturbs you for hours or just don't go off ever.
• Pulsatile Tinnitus is the condition when that whistle/buzzing sound appears with the rhythm of your heartbeat.
• Almost everybody experiences temporary Tinnitus various times during a lifetime.
• The sound heard in tinnitus is different for different people.
• 10% of the UK population suffers from tinnitus according to an estimate by British Tinnitus Association. 10 to 18% population around the world suffers from tinnitus.
• There is no exact cure of tinnitus. Most of the treatments just lower the disturbing sound or just teaches you to live with it. However some therapies are still under research and hope is still there.