Can you hear a pulsating sound in your ears? It might be pulsating tinnitus. Tinnitus is usually characterized as a ringing sound in your ears; buzzing, hissing or a pulsating sound. When you have the pulsating tinnitus type, your ringing ears blood pressure flow is loud enough to imitate a steady pulsating buzz.
Measuring tinnitus methods can determine what type of tinnitus you have. Tinnitus’s ringing sound will always be proportional to the sample noise introduced during the test. If you have pulsating tinnitus, you won’t hear the pulsating sound anymore when you are introduced to sounds that are slightly louder than the normal the sound you hear from your ringing ears from high blood pressure. The sample sound may just be a few decibels louder, usually 5 decibels up from the volume of normal vascular flow.
If you indeed have pulsating tinnitus, your ringing ears can be due to blood pressure being high due to a blockage, a similar effect when you partially obstruct the flow of water in the hole of a watering hose. The obstruction is usually a paraganglioma, a neuroendocrine neoplasm that may have developed at the middle area of your ears. The type of paraganglioma that causes your ringing ears due to blood pressure to be audible is usually called Glomus tympanicum or Glomus jugulare. A glomus tympanicum usually manifests as a reddish bulge “Red Drum” inside the ear drum. Most paraganglioma can be treated by embolization, surgery and sometime radiotherapy.
In some cases, the sound you are hearing from your ringing ears associated with blood pressure may point to Atherosclerosis, an indication of artery thickening often caused by excessive cholesterol. It may also indicate other circulatory problems like vasculities, where an inflammation in the blood vessels may cause the obstruction of vascular blood flow. Pulsating tinnitus can also indicate carotid artery aneurysm, where your ringing ears blood pressure may be blocked by blood filled dilation in blood vessels near your ear.
When you hear that pulsating sound in your ear, it’s best to consult your doctor immediately for proper diagnosis. Tinnitus may be an indication of a simple ear infection or noise induced hearing loss. But in some cases, it can indicate symptoms of life threatening disorders. Your ringing ears and blood pressure turbulence may indicate a circulatory system problem. Remember, early detection is always a life-saving action.
