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Tinnitus, a phenomenon of the nervous system, is directly connected to the ear. This phenomenon is characterised by perception of an internal beating or ringing like sound. This sound can appear to be a quiet background noise, or loud enough to drown out all outside sounds.

Some Causes of tinnitus are:

A sudden loud bang or noise

Excessive Ear wax,

Acoustic neuroma,

Hypertension and atherosclerosis,

Severe anemia and renal failure,

Palatal myoclonus

Thyroid disorders

Glomus jugulare tumours

Lyme Disease

Loss of Hearing

Drugs: aspirin overdose, loop diuretics, aminoglycosides, quinine,

Injury to the head

Temporomandibular and cervical spine disorders,

Suppurative otitis media (also chronic infection and serous OM),

Otosclerosis,

Impacted wisdom teeth,

Meniere's disease,

Arteriovenous fistulae and arterial bruits

Stress and depression

Some but not all types of tinnitus can be treated. This leaves the non-treatable types permanent. There are no cures directly for tinnitus, but because often times tinnitus is caused by a physical condition that can be treated, the tinnitus may also dissapear as the physical condition dissapears. Permanent tinnitus can be very stressful psychologically to the affected individual as it distracts them affected from mental tasks and interferes with sleep. This is particularly when there is no external sound.

Often times these individuals will use a device that will generate an artificial noise to mask the tinnitus sound.This process is called tinnitus retraining therapy. It is a widely known and practiced remedy to the noise. Although it doesn't actually make the noise disappear, it makes the noise alot less annoying and disturbing the person who is affected; this makes the noise easier to ignore allowing the individual to concentrate on mental tasks.