If you hear noises in your head, chances are you're not crazy, you're just suffering from tinnitus.

For approximately 36 million people, ear noises are an occasional bother. But for seven million people nationwide, loud and constant "ringing" in the ears is severe enough to interfere with normal living.

Nearly all tinnitus sufferers have some degree of either temporary or permanent hearing loss. Often, if hearing can be restored or improved, tinnitus will either go away or decrease in intensity.

Tinnitus may be described as the sound of escaping air, running water, the inside of a seashell, or as a sizzling, musical, buzzing, or humming noise.

Tinnitus is a symptom of almost any ear disorder including ear infections, foreign objects or wax in the ear, otosclerosis, Meniere's, acoustic trauma, and others.

Tinnitus may be associated with hearing loss including occupational hearing loss. It is also a symptom of certain forms of cardiovascular disease such as occlusion of the carotid arteries, anemia, vascular (blood vessel) malformations, aneurysm, and tumors in the head.

The sounds perceived include ringing noises, blowing sounds, buzzing, hissing, whistling, high or low pitched sounds, roaring, pulsating sounds, and others.

The mechanism that causes the perception of sounds where there is no outside source of the noise is not known.

Tinnitus is common. Almost everyone experiences a mild form of tinnitus where they hear noises for several minutes. Persistent tinnitus sometimes accompanies sensory hearing loss.

Tinnitus may interfere with the ability to concentrate or sleep and may cause psychological distress. Some common causes for tinnitus are reaction to medication, presbycusis (hearing loss due to aging), anxiety, damage from noise (acoustic trauma) heavy smoking, drugs such as alcohol, aminoglycoside antibiotics, indomethacin, quinine, or salicylates.

At Tinnitus-Meniere's Clinic, we treat the patient to normalize the functions of the nose, sinuses, Eustachian tubes and middle ears.

The clinic has successfully treated patients for over 20 years.