Can Ultrasound Cause Tinnitus?

[Nathalie]

Hey everyone.

I had this weird thing happen to me a month ago after getting ultrasound therapy on the TMJ area and ear tragus.

I was wondering whether therapeutic ultrasound can damage the inner ear structures or cause hearing loss with this kind of body contact if it is applied on the tragus and where the temporomandibular joint is.

The area felt very painful, a deep sharp pain, I was told it was the inflamed nerve. Maybe it was because of the heat.

Can it reach the inner ear? I was told it won't, although you can never be sure right?

My therapist is a very experienced one, although something sure happened during that procedure to my auditory system because

I feel like sounds have been muffled and tinnitus ever since. It is a reactive tinnitus which reacts to sounds and also a high frequency buzzing in my right ear. Tinnitus is in both ears, only the buzzing in one ear.

Has anyone gotten similar ultrasound therapy procedure done?

Share your knowledge please. I am devastated. Is this even possible that ear damage can occur?

 

[Elinor]

Hi. I don't have an answer for you, but I too believe that ultrasound affected my T once. I had regular ultrasonography to look at my organs last summer and I am convinced that my T spiked a little bit that day or week. It was however not permanent. I thought it was strange because my T is usually not reactive.

 

[Tony Phylactou]

I had cataract operation using ultra sound and my Tinnitus has reached the top ,and i have not been the same person since then.Mind you that happened about a week-10 days after,unless it started then and has been gradually increased.My doctors say it is due to stress but I am not 100% convinced.Before I had it done I asked the opinion of 4 Ent doctors and they all said ultra sound cannot damage my ears.I wish I never made that decision.because I could have my eye done 2 or 3 years later.

 

[glynis]

Had lots of ultrasound last week to my body and ears no worse.
Love glynis

 

[Pleasure_Paulie]

No.

 

[Alue]

Old thread, but my doctor wanted to do an ultrasound on my neck, just behind the base of my skull and half way down my neck. I know the ultrasound is a much higher frequency and should be fine, but the close proximity to my ears makes me wonder a bit more.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@Alue I had recently mentioned that I had 5 ultrasounds on my neck at different times in the last year or so. I had no problem - in fact my tinnitus temporarily lowered and no spiking later on. You can use earplugs or noise blocking headphones. The exam isn't loud, not much more than a whisper.

 

[Asian]

I had ultrasound on my neck once to relax those tensed neck muscles and I could hear the static sounds in my ears in sync with the movement of the ultrasound wand on my neck. I wonder what that was.

 

[Alue]

@Alue I had recently mentioned that I had 5 ultrasounds on my neck at different times in the last year or so. I had no problem - in fact my tinnitus temporarily lowered and no spiking later on. You can use earplugs or noise blocking headphones. The exam isn't loud, not much more than a whisper.

Thanks Greg. I don't even think the test is 100% necessary, but if it's non invasive and won't make my tinnitus worse I guess I'll go through with it.

Being that it would start at the base of the skull, I'm not sure how much noise blocking headphones would help as most of it comes through bone conduction. Earplugs may give the occlusion effect, although I'm not sure how much that happens with ultra high frequencies. I wonder what decibel level medical ultrasounds operate at.

 

[Frédéric]

The effect of 40 kHz ultrasonic noise exposure on human hearing.

 

[Frédéric]

Article: Public Exposure to Airborne Ultrasound and Very High Frequency Sound.

Attached as PDF.

 

[K.A.]

Have anyone any knowledge about the possible noise emission from induction cooktops in frequencies higher than what one can hear, and whether these could be a risk?

Anyone know about a reasonable priced microphone/setup that can pick up also ultrasound frequencies? Ordinary microphones go up to 20kHz i guess...