Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Psychology, health and illness
- Medical topics
- Abortion
- Accidents and unintentional injuries
- Acne
- Alcohol abuse
- Allergies to drugs
- Allergies to food
- Allergies: general
- Amnesia
- Amputation and phantom limb pain
- Anaesthesia and psychology
- Antenatal care
- Aphasia recovery, treatment and psychosocial adjustment
- Asthma
- Back pain
- Blindness and visual disability
- Blood donation
- Breastfeeding
- Burn injuries: psychological and social aspects
- Cancer: breast
- Cancers of the digestive tract
- Cancer: general
- Cancer: gynaecologic
- Cancer: head and neck
- Cancer: Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Cancer: leukaemia
- Cancer: lung
- Cancer: prostate
- Cancer: skin
- Carotid artery disease and treatment
- Chemotherapy
- Child abuse and neglect
- Chromosomal abnormalities
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): chronic bronchitis and emphysema
- Cleft lip and palate
- Cold, common
- Complementary medicine
- Contraception
- Coronary heart disease: impact
- Coronary heart disease: cardiac psychology
- Coronary heart disease: heart failure
- Coronary heart disease: rehabilitation
- Coronary heart disease: surgery
- Cystic fibrosis
- Acquired hearing loss
- Dementias
- Diabetes mellitus
- Domestic violence, intimate partner violence and wife battering
- Drug dependency: benzodiazepines
- Drug dependence: opiates and stimulants
- Drugs: beta-blockers
- Drugs: psychotropic medication
- Dyslexia
- Eating disorders
- Eczema
- Endocrine disorders
- Enuresis
- Epilepsy
- Epstein–Barr virus infection
- Facial disfigurement and dysmorphology
- Fetal wellbeing: monitoring and assessment
- Gastric and duodenal ulcers
- Growth retardation
- Haemophilia
- Head injury
- Headache and migraine
- Herpes
- HIV/AIDS
- Hormone replacement therapy
- Hospital acquired infection
- Huntington's disease
- Hyperactivity
- Hypertension
- Hyperthyroidism
- Hyperventilation
- Hysterectomy
- Immunization
- Incontinence
- Infertility
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Intensive care unit
- Intimate examinations
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Lymphoedema
- Malaria
- Mastalgia (breast pain)
- Meningitis
- Menopause and postmenopause
- MMR vaccine
- Motor neurone disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Myasthenia gravis
- Neurofibromatosis
- Non-cardiac chest pain
- Obesity
- Oral care and hygiene
- Osteoarthritis
- Osteoporosis
- Parkinson's disease
- Pelvic pain
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Postnatal depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Premature babies
- Premenstrual syndrome
- Psoriasis
- Radiotherapy
- Rape and sexual assault
- Reconstructive and cosmetic surgery
- Renal failure, dialysis and transplantation
- Repetitive strain injury
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Road traffic accidents: human factors
- Screening: antenatal
- Screening: cancer
- Screening: cardiac
- Screening: genetic
- Self-examination: breasts, testicles
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Sickle cell disease
- Skin disorders
- Sleep apnoea
- Sleep disorders
- Spina bifida
- Spinal cord injury
- Sterilization and vasectomy
- Stroke
- Stuttering
- Suicide
- Tinnitus
- Tobacco use
- Toxins: environmental
- Transplantation
- Urinary tract symptoms
- Vertigo and dizziness
- Vision disorders
- Voice disorders
- Volatile substance abuse
- Vomiting and nausea
- Index
- References
Tinnitus
from Medical topics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Psychology, health and illness
- Medical topics
- Abortion
- Accidents and unintentional injuries
- Acne
- Alcohol abuse
- Allergies to drugs
- Allergies to food
- Allergies: general
- Amnesia
- Amputation and phantom limb pain
- Anaesthesia and psychology
- Antenatal care
- Aphasia recovery, treatment and psychosocial adjustment
- Asthma
- Back pain
- Blindness and visual disability
- Blood donation
- Breastfeeding
- Burn injuries: psychological and social aspects
- Cancer: breast
- Cancers of the digestive tract
- Cancer: general
- Cancer: gynaecologic
- Cancer: head and neck
- Cancer: Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Cancer: leukaemia
- Cancer: lung
- Cancer: prostate
- Cancer: skin
- Carotid artery disease and treatment
- Chemotherapy
- Child abuse and neglect
- Chromosomal abnormalities
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): chronic bronchitis and emphysema
- Cleft lip and palate
- Cold, common
- Complementary medicine
- Contraception
- Coronary heart disease: impact
- Coronary heart disease: cardiac psychology
- Coronary heart disease: heart failure
- Coronary heart disease: rehabilitation
- Coronary heart disease: surgery
- Cystic fibrosis
- Acquired hearing loss
- Dementias
- Diabetes mellitus
- Domestic violence, intimate partner violence and wife battering
- Drug dependency: benzodiazepines
- Drug dependence: opiates and stimulants
- Drugs: beta-blockers
- Drugs: psychotropic medication
- Dyslexia
- Eating disorders
- Eczema
- Endocrine disorders
- Enuresis
- Epilepsy
- Epstein–Barr virus infection
- Facial disfigurement and dysmorphology
- Fetal wellbeing: monitoring and assessment
- Gastric and duodenal ulcers
- Growth retardation
- Haemophilia
- Head injury
- Headache and migraine
- Herpes
- HIV/AIDS
- Hormone replacement therapy
- Hospital acquired infection
- Huntington's disease
- Hyperactivity
- Hypertension
- Hyperthyroidism
- Hyperventilation
- Hysterectomy
- Immunization
- Incontinence
- Infertility
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Intensive care unit
- Intimate examinations
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Lymphoedema
- Malaria
- Mastalgia (breast pain)
- Meningitis
- Menopause and postmenopause
- MMR vaccine
- Motor neurone disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Myasthenia gravis
- Neurofibromatosis
- Non-cardiac chest pain
- Obesity
- Oral care and hygiene
- Osteoarthritis
- Osteoporosis
- Parkinson's disease
- Pelvic pain
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Postnatal depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Premature babies
- Premenstrual syndrome
- Psoriasis
- Radiotherapy
- Rape and sexual assault
- Reconstructive and cosmetic surgery
- Renal failure, dialysis and transplantation
- Repetitive strain injury
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Road traffic accidents: human factors
- Screening: antenatal
- Screening: cancer
- Screening: cardiac
- Screening: genetic
- Self-examination: breasts, testicles
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Sickle cell disease
- Skin disorders
- Sleep apnoea
- Sleep disorders
- Spina bifida
- Spinal cord injury
- Sterilization and vasectomy
- Stroke
- Stuttering
- Suicide
- Tinnitus
- Tobacco use
- Toxins: environmental
- Transplantation
- Urinary tract symptoms
- Vertigo and dizziness
- Vision disorders
- Voice disorders
- Volatile substance abuse
- Vomiting and nausea
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Tinnitus is an auditory perceptual phenomenon that is defined as the conscious perception of internal noises without any outer auditory stimulation. The sounds may be very loud and bizarre and the most common ones are heard like a high-pitched musical tone, or a rushing sound like escaping steam, or air. Other descriptions can be more complicated such as metallic sounds, multiple tones of varying frequencies and mixtures between buzzing and ringing (see ‘Deafness and hearing loss’).
Tinnitus is in most cases a temporary sensation, which many people have experienced at least sometime in their life. However, it may develop into a chronic condition, and prevalence figures show that at least 10–15% of the general population have tinnitus (Davis & Rafaie, 2000). However, most cases of tinnitus are not severe. Only about 1–3% of the adult population has severe tinnitus, in the sense that it causes marked disruption of everyday activities, mood changes, reduced quality of life and disrupted sleep patterns. Tinnitus has been reported in children, but in its severe form, it is more common in adults and in particular in the elderly (see also ‘Ageing and health’ and ‘Noise: effects on health’).
Tinnitus is known to occur in association with almost all the dysfunctions which involve the human auditory system (Lockwood et al., 2002). This includes damage to the middle ear, the cochlea, the audiovestibular cranial nerve and pathways in the brain from cochlear nucleus to primary auditory cortex. A common distinction is often made between so-called objective (somatosounds, which can actually be heard from the outside) and subjective tinnitus (sounds that are heard only by the afflicted person).
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- Information
- Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine , pp. 906 - 908Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007