High Blood Pressure Ringing in Ears: A concern?

Have you ever experienced persistent high blood pressure ringing in ears? Tinnitus is a common condition that can be very annoying. However, you might not be aware that this ringing in your ears could be caused by high blood pressure. Should you be worried?

Your inner ear is sensitive to variations in blood flow and pressure. If you have hypertension, you can experience vertigo, tinnitus, hearing problems, or a feeling of “fullness” in your ears.

When the force of blood on your artery walls is strong enough to harm your cardiovascular system and other organs, you have hypertension, sometimes referred to as high blood pressure.

High blood pressure can affect various body parts, including your ears because your cardiovascular system is a complex component of many other systems and structures.

To keep you spatially aware of your surroundings, your ears depend on a delicate internal pressure balance. The cochlea and other hearing-related parts of the ear are highly vascularized, with a complex network of small arteries.

Changes in blood flow and pressure brought on by high blood pressure can harm the ear and interfere with its normal activities.

How Does High Blood Pressure Affect Your Ears?

Hypertension is associated with several ear-related health challenges like:

Hearing loss

Although it is not a direct cause of hearing loss, researchers believe that hypertension, along with factors like age, heredity, and high noise exposure, is a substantial risk factor.

According to a cross-sectional study conducted in 2021, individuals with hypertension for more than five years had noticeably higher levels of hearing loss than those without the condition.

When hypertension disrupts the normal blood flow to the cochlea, the inner ear’s hearing organ, it may be a contributing factor to hearing loss. The cochlea’s blood arteries supply nutrition to the hair cells that translate sound waves into electrical impulses that the brain can use.

If hypertension damages these specific cells, they cannot be repaired. Your ability to receive signals from your ears declines as they get damaged, leading to hearing loss.

Tinnitus

The sensation of ringing or buzzing without an outside cause is known as tinnitus. Some people experience pulsating tinnitus, which happens in time with specific physiological rhythms or muscle spasms.

High blood pressure in hypertension can produce a throbbing sound that is loud enough for the ears’ hearing organs to detect. Uncontrolled hypertension is one of the most frequent causes of pulsating tinnitus.

Vertigo

People with hypertension often complain of vertigo, which is the feeling that you or your surroundings are moving while you’re truly motionless.

Furthermore, frequent, recurring vertigo may be a sign of an increased risk of stroke in hypertension, citing a 2019 cohort study.

By reducing blood flow to the vestibular system—the ear structures in charge of balance and spatial orientation—hypertension can result in vertigo.

Ear pressure

The sense of pressure, commonly referred to as “fullness,” or having your ears feel clogged, can be caused by inflammation and changes in the pressure inside the ear.

What Does High Blood Pressure Sound Like in Your Ears?

While not everyone may “hear” hypertension in their ears, some people may experience pulsatile tinnitus, which is a pulsing, ringing, whooshing, or thumping sound.

Others may experience hearing loss as a result of hypertension. You might not hear properly at a particular volume, or sounds can feel muffled.

How to Treat Ear Disorders Caused by Hypertension

The first step in treating ear disorders linked to high blood pressure is to treat hypertension.

Since there are numerous underlying causes of hypertension, a comprehensive care strategy requires a thorough review by your physician. Factors include lifestyle choices, genetics, and co-occurring illnesses such as sleep apnea or heart disease.

For the majority of people, managing hypertension entails a multidisciplinary treatment strategy that addresses underlying medical issues and employs medication and lifestyle modifications to manage symptoms.

Before discovering a pharmaceutical regimen that successfully reduces your blood pressure, you might have to go through a phase of trial and error.

Certain ear-related diseases may resolve on their own as blood pressure drops, depending on the extent of damage and the tissues impacted. However, if you damage any of the ear’s structures, they won’t heal, so you may need to use an auditory aid to restore your complete hearing.

Will Reducing My Blood Pressure Stop Tinnitus?

If hypertension is the cause of your tinnitus, reducing your blood pressure may completely resolve your symptoms, especially if you receive prompt, efficient therapy.

If there are other underlying causes or if hypertension has permanently damaged your ear, tinnitus may persist even after your blood pressure has improved. The persistence of tinnitus may be influenced by age, exposure to noise, and other health issues.

Final Take

Your ears are among the many body components that are impacted by hypertension. Issues including dizziness, hearing loss, and tinnitus can result from variations in blood pressure and flow.

Although some ear damage may be irreversible, lowering blood pressure may help treat hypertension-related ear disorders.

Early identification can help lower the risk of long-term hearing problems by bringing blood pressure under control as soon as feasible.