Science Journal

Tinnitus

This friend of mine, who I secretly admired, asked me why is her ears ringing so suddenly? We did not hear a sudden loud or noise so it is kinda weird for her to hear those ringing, which I also experienced. I retorted, "I think an alien is trying to send you a message". She chuckled of course. It is a stupid respond. But actually at that time, I do not know the answer but it gave me curiosity to know the science behind. So I read a lot of researches in Google and this is what I learned.

Tinnitus is the scientific term of those "ringing in the ears". It caused by a number of factors from neurological disorders, to ear infections, to allergies and even stress. But the most common cause is exposure to loud noises. Also, tinnitus is a sign of hearing loss temporarily or a lifetime. So let's go to anatomic explanation.

Sounds is a physical wave but the brain can only understand electrical signals. To hear a sound, the sound waves are converted into electrical signals by our eardrum. Those vibrations are amplified and sent along our cochlea. The cochlea is a membrane covered in special cells, hair cells and acts as a tuning fork. Hair cells are not actual hairs but shaped like tiny hairs. Some are short and briskly, some are long and flowy. These determine the frequency of vibrations entered. When short thick hairs move, it interprets the vibrations as high frequency. If on the other hand, the flexible long hairs move, the sound is in low frequency. Their movement also depends on the level of the sound. If it is quiet, the hairs move a little, but if it is loud, the hair trashes around like headbangers. If the loud sounds are above 90 decibels (louder than lawn mower), the hair cells whip around so hard that its tips can break off. When it gets broken, trickles of electrical impulses leak. Those leaks are interpreted by our brain as tinnitus or the high pitched wavering sound. Then after a couple of days, the tip of broken hair cells grow back but if they keep getting damaged, those cells can die.

However, the answers I found does not suffice the question, "why I and she suddenly experience tinnitus while we are in a quiet place". Guys, can you try solving this mystery? I badly want to know why. And please don't answer it's aliens.