Tinnitus

What causes ringing and/or noises in the ear? Usually it's from damage to tiny hairs in your inner ear. That changes the signals they send to your brain that control how you hear sound.

When you look at the ear it looks fairly simple. Wrong! The ear contains three parts; the external, middle, and inner ear. The external ear collects sound and serves to protect the delicate parts inside the ear. The middle ear is a narrow, air-filled space between the ear drum and the  outer wall of the inner ear containing the three tiny bones that transmit sound vibrations. The inner ear maintains balance and contains sensory nerve endings for detecting sound. Once information for detecting sound is  collected it is sent to the brain by the hearing nerves to process events into recognizable sound or hearing.

Most people have ringing in the ears occasionally (Tinnitus). A continual noise in the ear e.g. can be caused by damage to the hair cells of the inner ear. The hair cells are responsible for hearing. There are two types of hair cells; the inner hair cells and the outer hair cells. These cells have hairs that stick out; they are sort of three- dimensional. Sound causes the hair cells to vibrate or bend, which creates electrical signals that are transmitted to auditory nerve fibers just below the hair cells. The auditory nerves pass these signals on to the brain. Tinnitus is not usually serious, but it can become a problem.

Tinnitus is the sensation of hearing ringing, buzzing, hissing, chirping, whistling, or other sounds. The noise can be intermittent or continuous, and can very in loudness. Loud noises, certain medications, and some disease can cause loss of hearing. Injury, including perforation of the ear drum, fractured skull or large changes in air pressure can damage hearing.

Tinnitus is often associated with hearing loss, but it does not necessarily cause hearing loss. Sometimes tinnitus can be caused by infections or blockage in the ear. Once it is treated, tinnitus usually disappears.

Take Care of Your Ears:

• Avoid getting water in the ear canal.
• After swimming, tilt the head to drain water from your ears.
• Do not swim in dirty water.
• Use ear plugs.
• Use a shower cap.
• Keep soap and shampoo out of the ears. Dry your ears after bathing.
• Do not take bubble baths!
• Be careful when using hairspray and/or hair dye; it could lead to an infection in the ear. Reduce the risk of ear infections by treating upper respiratory tract infections promptly.
• When removing ear wax from your ears, be careful because you could puncture your eardrum. You might want to see a doctor if you have a problem. They can clean the ear wax out fairly easy. A punctured or ruptured eardrum is a tear in the thin membrane that separates your outer ear from your inner ear. That membrane is made of tissue that resembles skin.
• Do not try to remove all ear wax. You need some wax to protect the ear canal. Do not use cotton balls or try to clean your ears by poking anything pointed into the ear canals. You could injure the delicate skin, or impact earwax.
• Hot and humid weather can produce ear infections.
• Insects, on occasion, can get trapped in the ear, but they can usually be washed out carefully with warm water.
• Be careful if you treat an ear infection or other ear problems yourself because you could make things worse. See a doctor if the pain gets worse or does not get better in twenty-four hours and/or if you experience dizziness or ringing in the ear; infections can spread.
• When using ear drops, warm the drops to room temperature (do not use cold eardrops).

What does this have to do with diabetes? When a diabetic gets an infection, of any kind, it can be very hard to heal and could become serious very quickly.

It is best to leave the ear canal alone. If you have a problem with your ears, it's best to get advice before attempting to handle the situation yourself.