MemberSome 'new to me' things listed at this site (apologies if they have already all been posted somewhere):
http://www.randombio.com/tinnitus.html
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Continuous ringing
In this type of tinnitus, the patient hears a continuous, high-pitched ringing or hissing sound that is unaffected by body movement. Often, tinnitus is accompanied by a partial loss of hearing. Usually, only higher frequencies are lost.
Researchers believe it is no coincidence that tinnitus sufferers most often report hearing high-pitched sounds. High frequencies (around 4kHz) are usually the first to be lost after noise trauma (which is a major cause of sensorineural hearing loss), as well as in presbycusis (age-dependent hearing loss). As many as 80% of tinnitus sufferers also have some form of hearing impairment. It is believed that the nervous system adapts to this loss of acoustic stimuli by creating artificial phantom sounds. This is analogous to phantom limb syndrome, where constant pain is felt in a limb after it has been amputated. Thus, patients with a history of exposure to loud noise are most likely to report hearing high pitched ringing sounds.
The pitch of tinnitus often coincides with the frequency region in which the audiogram starts to show a steep decline. This suggests that tinnitus might result from an "edge effect" caused by the brain's attempts to equalize different parts of the acoustic spectrum [16].
There is some relationship between pitch and cause of tinnitus. In the ear, higher-pitched sounds are detected in the outermost portion of the cochlea. Thus, the frequency may depend on the exact part of the inner ear where the original injury occurred. Tinnitus caused by sensorineural hearing loss is usually high pitched. The tinnitus that occurs in Ménière's disease, a disease of the inner ear, is typically of a much lower pitch.
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Non-ringing
When the sound is not a ringing, but a rushing, clicking, thumping, or other atonal sound, it usually represents some mechanical process in or near the ear. Often these sounds can be heard by another person using a stethoscope, and therefore they are called "objective" tinnitus. A common example is a pulsatile bruit caused by turbulent flow through blood vessels in the neck.
Clicking sounds are often associated with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome. Clicking sounds can also be caused by intermittent contraction of various muscles in the middle ear, including the tensor tympani or stapedius muscles. This condition is called middle ear myoclonus. Although thought to be rare, it may actually just be widely undiagnosed. A related condition is palatal myoclonus. A physician may prescribe muscle relaxants such as orphenadrine, or in severe cases, may inject botulinum toxin to stop the muscle from contracting.
Tinnitus that becomes fainter over time
Dental problems Dental problems are another possible cause of tinnitus. Tooth abscesses or impacted wisdom teeth can cause tinnitus [34]. In such cases, further dental work will sometimes cure the problem. Other times, the tinnitus gradually becomes fainter over a period of months [35]. One way dental problems can cause tinnitus is by the prolonged neck bending that occurs during dental surgery. Another way is by aggravation of pre-existing TMD. Injury of the nerves during extraction of a wisdom tooth has also been known to cause tinnitus. Another possibility might be inflammation spreading from an infected tooth. There have been cases of bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (which usually causes tinnitus) following dental surgery
Noise is made better or worse by changes in bodily posture, or arm or neck movements
Muscle spasm Some researchers believe that muscle spasm in head or neck is the most common cause of tinnitus, accounting for as many as 80% of patients [8, 47]. When the noise is made better or worse by changes in bodily posture, or arm or neck movements, the patient has "somatic tinnitus." Somatic tinnitus is usually unilateral. In its earliest stages, it may be caused by hearing trauma, an injury, or a muscle contraction (such as by grinding one's teeth) that compresses some part of the auditory system. Later, cross-talk occurs between the signals the muscles send to the brain and the signals from the ear. For these patients, relaxation therapy and biofeedback, which help the patient establish voluntary control over the muscle, can be helpful. Once alerted to the possibility that stretching and muscle relaxing exercises may be able to alleviate their tinnitus, patients may be able to devise an effective treatment on their own. In extreme cases, botulinum toxin to temporarily paralyze the muscle, or even surgery, can be performed
http://www.randombio.com/tinnitus.html
...
Continuous ringing
In this type of tinnitus, the patient hears a continuous, high-pitched ringing or hissing sound that is unaffected by body movement. Often, tinnitus is accompanied by a partial loss of hearing. Usually, only higher frequencies are lost.
Researchers believe it is no coincidence that tinnitus sufferers most often report hearing high-pitched sounds. High frequencies (around 4kHz) are usually the first to be lost after noise trauma (which is a major cause of sensorineural hearing loss), as well as in presbycusis (age-dependent hearing loss). As many as 80% of tinnitus sufferers also have some form of hearing impairment. It is believed that the nervous system adapts to this loss of acoustic stimuli by creating artificial phantom sounds. This is analogous to phantom limb syndrome, where constant pain is felt in a limb after it has been amputated. Thus, patients with a history of exposure to loud noise are most likely to report hearing high pitched ringing sounds.
The pitch of tinnitus often coincides with the frequency region in which the audiogram starts to show a steep decline. This suggests that tinnitus might result from an "edge effect" caused by the brain's attempts to equalize different parts of the acoustic spectrum [16].
There is some relationship between pitch and cause of tinnitus. In the ear, higher-pitched sounds are detected in the outermost portion of the cochlea. Thus, the frequency may depend on the exact part of the inner ear where the original injury occurred. Tinnitus caused by sensorineural hearing loss is usually high pitched. The tinnitus that occurs in Ménière's disease, a disease of the inner ear, is typically of a much lower pitch.
...
Non-ringing
When the sound is not a ringing, but a rushing, clicking, thumping, or other atonal sound, it usually represents some mechanical process in or near the ear. Often these sounds can be heard by another person using a stethoscope, and therefore they are called "objective" tinnitus. A common example is a pulsatile bruit caused by turbulent flow through blood vessels in the neck.
Clicking sounds are often associated with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome. Clicking sounds can also be caused by intermittent contraction of various muscles in the middle ear, including the tensor tympani or stapedius muscles. This condition is called middle ear myoclonus. Although thought to be rare, it may actually just be widely undiagnosed. A related condition is palatal myoclonus. A physician may prescribe muscle relaxants such as orphenadrine, or in severe cases, may inject botulinum toxin to stop the muscle from contracting.
Tinnitus that becomes fainter over time
Dental problems Dental problems are another possible cause of tinnitus. Tooth abscesses or impacted wisdom teeth can cause tinnitus [34]. In such cases, further dental work will sometimes cure the problem. Other times, the tinnitus gradually becomes fainter over a period of months [35]. One way dental problems can cause tinnitus is by the prolonged neck bending that occurs during dental surgery. Another way is by aggravation of pre-existing TMD. Injury of the nerves during extraction of a wisdom tooth has also been known to cause tinnitus. Another possibility might be inflammation spreading from an infected tooth. There have been cases of bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (which usually causes tinnitus) following dental surgery
Noise is made better or worse by changes in bodily posture, or arm or neck movements
Muscle spasm Some researchers believe that muscle spasm in head or neck is the most common cause of tinnitus, accounting for as many as 80% of patients [8, 47]. When the noise is made better or worse by changes in bodily posture, or arm or neck movements, the patient has "somatic tinnitus." Somatic tinnitus is usually unilateral. In its earliest stages, it may be caused by hearing trauma, an injury, or a muscle contraction (such as by grinding one's teeth) that compresses some part of the auditory system. Later, cross-talk occurs between the signals the muscles send to the brain and the signals from the ear. For these patients, relaxation therapy and biofeedback, which help the patient establish voluntary control over the muscle, can be helpful. Once alerted to the possibility that stretching and muscle relaxing exercises may be able to alleviate their tinnitus, patients may be able to devise an effective treatment on their own. In extreme cases, botulinum toxin to temporarily paralyze the muscle, or even surgery, can be performed
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