What is the reason for hearing cicadas chirping in my ears when it is quiet?

Many friends feel the sound of cicadas in their ears when it is late at night, which causes them to suffer from insomnia. This actually has a great impact on health. There are many causes of tinnitus, such as otitis media, chronic otitis externa, excessive psychological stress, etc., which can cause tinnitus, so it is best for patients to find out the specific cause before treatment.

Tinnitus is the result of different pathological changes of many diseases involving the auditory system. The cause is complex and the mechanism is unclear. It is mainly manifested as the absence of corresponding external sound sources or electrical stimulation, but the subjective sensation of sound in the ear or brain. Clinically, it is both a concomitant symptom of many diseases and the first symptom of some serious diseases (such as acoustic neuroma).

Causes of symptoms

(1) Subjective (non-vibratory) tinnitus

1. Otolaryngology diseases: Ear diseases are the most common cause of tinnitus.

(1) Tympanic region, such as middle ear infection, otosclerosis, and proliferative obstruction of the inner ear window.

(2) Lesions of the petrous cochlea and cranial nerve VII. The former is common in Meniere's disease, while the latter is common in acoustic neuroma.

(3) Central nervous system: Except for senile cerebral sclerosis, organic diseases of the central nervous system rarely cause tinnitus.

2. Cardiovascular disease: It is also a common cause of tinnitus. Tinnitus often fluctuates. Hypertension, anemia, atherosclerosis with vascular embolism, etc. can all cause tinnitus.

3. Metabolic diseases: Hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism and diabetes can cause tinnitus.

4. Neurological diseases: craniocerebral trauma, brainstem injury, encephalitis, concussion and multiple sclerosis can cause tinnitus.

(ii) Other-conscious tinnitus

1. Open Eustachian tube: The patient can hear the friction sound of air flow when he breathes.

2. Vascular origin: The internal carotid artery and vein pass through the front and bottom of the tympanic cavity respectively, and there may be a gap or even defect between the blood vessels and the tympanic cavity. Pulsating tinnitus is often heard. Carotid artery aneurysm, glomus jugular tumor, or internal jugular vein protruding into the tympanic cavity can cause tinnitus. Hematoma and arterial thrombosis near the ear can also cause tinnitus.

3. Myogenic: Spasm of muscles near the ear, such as the tensor tympani, stapedius, tensor veli palatini and other soft palate muscles and Eustachian tube pharyngeal muscles, can cause tinnitus.

4. Temporomandibular joint disease or malocclusion: sometimes it can cause popping sounds in the ears.

Differential diagnosis

1. The nature of tinnitus

Low-pitch tinnitus is mostly acoustic transmission, high-pitch tinnitus is mostly sensory, and high and low pitches existing at the same time or alternating with each other are mostly mixed, with low-pitch tinnitus occurring first, followed by high-pitch or mixed tinnitus, indicating that the lesion starts from the acoustic transmission organs and then extends to the sensory organs.

2. Lateral differentiation of tinnitus

Unilateral tinnitus is mostly caused by lesions of the sound transmission system, while bilateral tinnitus is mostly caused by diseases of the sensory system. However, acoustic neuroma is mostly unilateral tinnitus, while tinnitus caused by hypertension is usually bilateral.

3. Disease situation

After the onset of conductive tinnitus, it rarely changes, so it is often persistent. Some sensory tinnitus are short-lived and often occur or disappear suddenly. When there are long-term lesions in the sound sensory organs, tinnitus is often persistent.