Tinnitus is the perception of noise and/or ringing in the ears, when no external sound is present, caused by a symptom of an underlying condition.
Definition
Tinnitus is the perception of noise and/or ringing in the ears, when no external sound is present, caused by a symptom of an underlying condition. Tinnitus can be improved with treatment and is typically not a sign of any severe health issues.
Symptoms
People with tinnitus can experience these types of phantom noises in the ears:
Tinnitus can vary in volume and frequency and depending on the severity it may interfere with the ability to concentrate or hear external sound(s).
Cause
There are two existing types of Tinnitus:
The symptoms are often caused by an ear injury, age-related hearing loss, ear hair cell damage, and/or a circulatory system disorder. However, other ear problems, chronic health conditions, ear injuries, or conditions affecting the nerves in the ear or the brain’s hearing center may cause tinnitus as well.1
Preclinical data proposes that THC and CBD may be used in the therapeutic treatment of tinnitus, as the endocannabinoid system can be involved in the development of tinnitus via the cannabinoid receptor CB1 and the endocannabinoid 2AG.
THC and CBD can help regulate tinnitus symptoms but to this date, the specific mechanism of cannabinoids remains to be elucidated. 2
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CB1 receptors and 2AG are present in the auditory brainstem (Zhao et al., 2009).
The endocannabinoid system may be involved in multisensory integration in the brain (Zhao et al., 2011).
In rats, a decreased number of CB1 receptors in the ventral cochlear nucleus could be associated with tinnitus development (Zheng et al., 2007).
It is proposed that tinnitus is a form of sensory epilepsy and that cannabinoid receptor agonists may exhibit anti-epileptic activities (Smith and Zheng, 2015).