Tinnitus -ringing in the ears
Tinnitus is commonly called "ringing in the ears" or "ear noise." It is different from auditory hallucinations (see Hearing, Disturbances of). Tinnitus consists of a sensation of noise, hissing, ringing, buzzing, thumping, whistling, or roaring, and is often associated with partial deafness.
Tinnitus is caused by an irritation, and thus an abnormal stimulation, of parts of the organs of hearing or of the nerve fibers that carry impulses from the inner ear to the brain. It may occur in infectious processes that involve the organs of hearing, as a part of Meniere's disease, from the taking of certain drugs (notably quinine, streptomycin, or salicylates), in excessive smoking or drinking, in certain diseases of the heart and blood vessels in which the impulse of the heartbeat is accentuated, in a type of brain tumor which compresses the auditory nerve, and in hysteria.
