This type is called somatic or craniocervical tinnitus, since it is only head or neck movements that have an effect.There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that some tinnitus is a consequence of neuroplastic alterations in the central auditory pathway. These alterations are assumed to result from a disturbed sensory input, caused by hearing loss. Hearing loss could indeed cause a homeostatic response of neurons in the central auditory system, and therefore cause tinnitus. Hearing loss
The most common cause of tinnitus is hearing loss. Hearing loss may have many different causes, but among those with tinnitus, the major cause is cochlear injury.Ototoxic drugs also may cause subjective tinnitus, as they may cause hearing loss, or increase the damage done by exposure to loud noise. Those damages may occur even at doses that are not considered ototoxic. More than 260 medications have been reported to cause tinnitus as a side effect. In many cases, however, no underlying cause could be identified.Tinnitus can also occur due to the discontinuation of therapeutic doses of benzodiazepines. It can sometimes be a protracted symptom of benzodiazepine withdrawal and may persist for many months. Medications such as bupropion may also result in tinnitus. In many cases, however, no underlying cause can be identified. Associated factors
Factors associated with tinnitus include:
ear problems and hearing loss:
conductive hearing loss
acoustic shock
loud noise or music
middle ear effusion
otitis
otosclerosis
Eustachian tube dysfunction
sensorineural hearing loss
excessive or loud noise; e.g.
Types
A common tinnitus classification is into "subjective and objective tinnitus". Tinnitus is usually subjective, meaning that the sounds the person hears are not detectable by means currently available to physicians and hearing technicians. Subjective tinnitus has also been called "tinnitus aurium", "non-auditory" or "non-vibratory" tinnitus. In rare cases, tinnitus can be heard by someone else using a stethoscope. Even more rarely, in some cases it can be measured as a spontaneous otoacoustic emission (SOAE) in the ear canal. This is classified as objective tinnitus, also called "pseudo-tinnitus" or "vibratory" tinnitus. Subjective tinnitus
Subjective tinnitus is the most frequent type of tinnitus. It may have many possible causes, but most commonly it results from hearing loss. When the tinnitus is caused by disorders of the inner ear or auditory nerve it can be called otic (from the Greek word for ear). These otological or neurological conditions include those triggered by infections, drugs, or trauma. A frequent cause is traumatic noise exposure that damages hair cells in the inner ear.When there does not seem to be a connection with a disorder of the inner ear or auditory nerve, the tinnitus can be called non-otic (i.e. not otic). In some 30% of tinnitus cases, the tinnitus is influenced by the somatosensory system, for instance, people can increase or decrease their tinnitus by moving their face, head, or neck.