Some years ago my thoughts on tinnitus turned inwards, looking back this was probably out of total despair as I had exhausted every single external option available trying to figure out the reason for the ringing in my ears. When I could no longer frantically search for help “out there” I inadvertently turned inwards and the mystery behind my ears ringing slowly revealed its self.

The irony behind surrendering and accepting the ringing in my ears was that it allowed a space to open up where I could now take the pressure off myself too constantly search for a cure. It also made me realize how much energy went into constantly resisting the ringing in my ears. Slowly I began to take a subjective look as to how my ears ringing affected my life and wellbeing. This shift led me on a journey inwards, where my healing eventually took place.

Let me attempt to describe how viewing my tinnitus in a subjective manner helped me alter my perspective.

It started with an important question. This question served as the catalyst for my personal transformation from tinnitus sufferer to tinnitus free.

“Why is it that one person can have buzzing in the ears and it drives them bonkers whilst another person can have their ears ringing and it doesn’t seem to bother them at all”?

The Answer might come as a surprise to you as it did to me. It turns out it has nothing to do with the tone, pitch, type or volume of their tinnitus. Rather it has everything to do with their nervous system and how and why it responds in the way it does to the ringing in the ears (tinnitus).

Let me also state another fascinating fact, did you know that in total silence most people experience ringing in the ears or one of their ears ringing. An experiment conducted in the 1950’s found that 93% of participants reported noises in the ears (or other noises) even though the participants were in complete silence. It’s likened to the way your eyes react when in total darkness. They adjust, dilate, and do everything in their power to help you see automatically. Well, much the same happens with our hearing.

 The truth of the matter is that our ears work all the time and only relax once they have latched onto harmless background noise. It’s part of our evolution. We feel safe when our senses are familiar and relate with our environment. So, if it is completely silent, most people’s hearing intensifies until it becomes hypersensitive and starts detecting internal nervous information. This is what is called “hypersensitivity.”

The entire process activates a stress response in your system, and increases your internal auditory hypersensitivity. Take a minute to ask yourself, why am I constantly aware of a noise in my ears? When most of the population is blissfully unaware of the ringing in their ears? More importantly, has my hearing become so sensitive and latched onto internal sounds? Instead of asking why are my ears ringing we should be asking why am I so hyperaware of my tinnitus.

So why has my hearing become so, so sensitive?

Right this second, you might not feel anxious, but your central nervous system could be in a state hyper alertness. Under a cool exterior, your whole system has locked itself into a state of emergency, as if it senses that there is a threat. This is a very subtle and silent process and you’ve probably already guessed it’s called stress!

Stress releases certain hormones, notably adrenaline. These chemicals keep your entire system locked into a stress state. So why does your body get into this state in the first place?

If you can recognize these patterns in yourself it’s a major step toward finding the answer to the question why are my ears buzzing? And you’re one step closer to prevention and intervention.

In letting go of the notion of finding an easy external cure for my tinnitus I found that the key to understanding tinnitus was in learning to understand your body’s relationship with my stress. For when you have high levels of stress hormones surging through your system, your body senses an emergency. And although you might not be aware of it, when your senses become heightened (fight or flight) your sense of hearing becomes acute (hypersensitivity) Sound familiar?
And with this you become much more reactive to the world around you. There’s nothing wrong with this, it is an essential survival mechanism that has evolved into your nervous system primarily for protection. The problem arises because we no longer live in times where we need this response to survive. You see our body hasn’t changed in thousands of years, but our environment has changed a great deal in a very short time.

Ironically enough, this is why most people start complaining about ringing in their ears after periods of high levels of stress. Too much stress, releasing cortisol and adrenaline, over a long period of time can give way to tinnitus and a myriad of other stress related conditions. To read a more in depth account about the relationship between tinnitus and stress visit www.tinnitusretrain.com

In closing, I frequently get asked a question from people who have ringing in the ears directly due to noise damage and do not feel like stress play any part in their tinnitus. Well, if one is hearing impaired (conduction deafness) partially deaf or completely deaf, every time they strain to hear something they are increasing that hypersensitivity, this in and of its self is a form of stress. When the brain does not get enough information from the external world, it tries to increase its receptivity by raising the inner volume. This is why the vast majority of people with hearing loss quite often experience tinnitus.

Tackling stress and its associated hormones is an important first step in eventually getting to grips with your ringing ears.

Stress hormones cause you to become hyper aware of nervous impulses which in turn can present as internal noise, noise that you normally would not usually respond to. If your adrenaline and cortisol levels are in balance then your sensory perception becomes less acute, and your tinnitus tends to stop grating on the nerves.

Tinnitus can be a classic symptom that your nervous system is taxed to the max. Tinnitus won’t let go of you until you address some patterns in your life. So take control and never have to ask yourself “why are my ears ringing?” again! www.tinnitusretrain.com