Tinnitus refers to a sensation of “sound in one ear or both ears, such as buzzing, ringing, or whistling, occurring without an external stimulus” 1. It can be subjective or objective.
It is thought that as many as 40 million people in the United States may have tinnitus. The reported prevalence ranges around 7-32%.
Tinnitus can arise from a wide range of patholgical entities. It can be divided into
This is often guided by whether the tinnitus is pulsatile or non pulsatile. For pulastile tinnitus, usually a vascular lesion is suspected and is usually evaluated by a contrast CT-PTB or a MRA. For non pulsatile tinnitus a normal drum, magnetic resonance imaging is preferred if a retrocochlear lesion is suspected, while high-resolution CT-PTB is recommended if a cochlear abnormality is thought likely.
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