Have you just been in an accident? Do you hear a strange ringing in your ear? Don’t worry, this is common among most accident victims.
Bruises and cuts aren’t the only damage a car accident can inflict on your body. There are other internal injuries you may not be aware of until certain symptoms appear. Tinnitus is one of these internal injuries sustained in an accident. It is a medical condition that makes you hear sounds or noises in your ear in the absence of any external sound source. This sound can take the form of a whistling, blowing, hissing, or clicking sound. Tinnitus occurs when the normal functioning of the ear is disrupted, and various factors, including car accidents, can cause this disruption.
Symptoms of Tinnitus
In most cases, tinnitus does not appear immediately after a car accident. In fact, it is not diagnosed in the emergency room. The diagnosis is always based on symptoms, and these may not appear until several days or even weeks later. Initial care after an accident often focuses on visible injuries and imaging tests to rule out internal bleeding or damage to a vital organ. The ear receives little attention, unless there is an obvious sign such as bleeding. While it is easy for doctors not to diagnose tinnitus immediately after an accident, it is even easier for you not to notice that your hearing has been affected. Like doctors, your attention is focused on the injuries or pain of the moment. But the absence of a diagnosis does not mean that the accident spared your hearing. A few hours or days later, you may begin to experience the following symptoms:
A noise in the ear in the absence of any external sound source.
Partial or total hearing loss
Nasal congestion
Otalgia or ear pain
Difficulty concentrating.
Anxiety or depression
Insomnia or difficulty sleeping.
Types of accidents at risk of tinnitus
The nature or severity of an accident largely determines the extent of damage to your body. In most cases, the main cause of injuries and tinnitus in an accident is the force or impact of the collision. Accidents that most often cause tinnitus are severe accidents. In some cases, however, a light impact is enough. Tinnitus is then not due to your head hitting an object, but to the sudden back-and-forth movement of the head, which tears certain nerves and ligaments and leads to tinnitus. Here are some types of car accidents that can cause tinnitus to varying degrees.
1. Head-on collision
A head-on collision occurs when vehicles traveling in opposite directions collide head-on. These collisions are more likely to cause serious damage and fatalities. They account for 10% of fatal accidents each year. In a head-on collision, your body is thrown forward: it continues its course until it hits a component of the passenger compartment, the airbag or the seat belt. This sudden movement and impact can damage your body in many ways. Your rib cage can be broken, your collarbone fractured, or your lungs can collapse. You can also suffer from whiplash, which can cause tinnitus. Other possible injuries in a head-on collision include herniated discs, head injuries, tears of muscles, tendons and ligaments, spinal cord injuries and cervical fractures.
2. Side collision (T-bone)
A T-bone collision occurs when the front of one vehicle collides with the side of another vehicle, forming a T at the point of impact. This type of accident often occurs at intersections, when a driver runs a stop sign and crosses the intersection, hitting another vehicle entering it. The consequences of a T-bone collision are often more serious than those of a minor fender bender. Frequent injuries include concussions, whiplash — caused by the violent back-and-forth movement of the neck — fractures, spinal cord injuries, and paralysis. Whiplash and concussion sustained in a T-bone collision can lead to tinnitus of varying severity.
3. Rollover
A rollover accident occurs when a vehicle tips onto its side or makes a full rotation until it ends up on its roof. Although rare, these accidents are deadly. They can involve a single vehicle or several. There are two types of rollovers: tripped rollovers and untripped rollovers. The former often involve a single vehicle: they occur when a car leaves the road and overturns after hitting an object. The latter are rare and occur during the collision of two vehicles coming from different directions. In most cases, one of the vehicles performs a maneuver or swerve to avoid a vehicle that has appeared in front of it. Rollovers can be caused by loss of control due to speed, insufficient grip due to worn tires, too much grip, drunk driving or an overloaded vehicle. Possible injuries include internal organ damage, lacerations and cuts, head and neck injuries that can cause tinnitus, arm and leg injuries, fractures, spinal injuries and whiplash. The latter can also lead to tinnitus.
4. Rear-end collision
A rear-end collision occurs when a vehicle strikes the one in front of it. This type of accident is often due to a distracted driver, sudden or panic braking, reduced grip due to worn road surfaces or wet weather, insufficient following distance, or brake failure. Whiplash is one of the most frequent injuries in a rear-end collision. Head and brain injuries, neck injuries, facial injuries, back and spinal injuries, as well as fractures and broken ribs, are among the other injuries caused by a rear-end collision.
What Causes Tinnitus After a Car Accident?
Various factors can cause tinnitus after an accident. It can be due to the force of the impact, the intense noise of the impact or the airbag, but also to physical contact between your body and an object, or to trauma. If you have experienced two or more of these events in an accident, it can be difficult to pinpoint which one specifically caused the tinnitus. In most cases, tinnitus is the result of the cumulative effect of everything that happened during the accident. Here are the main causes of tinnitus after a car accident.
1. Airbag deployment
This is one of the most frequent causes of tinnitus in accident victims. Airbags were created to reduce fatalities in accidents, and so far, they have proven very effective. Accident victims in cars without airbags often suffer more damage than those with them. However, there are risks associated with airbag deployment, and tinnitus is one of them. In an accident, airbags deploy in milliseconds, between the time the computer detects the collision and the moment you are thrown against the steering wheel. The combination of the explosive force of deployment and its speed, about 200 miles per hour, generates a noise capable of damaging your ears. One of the main causes of tinnitus is precisely constant or sudden exposure to loud noise. Hearing disorders caused by intense noise or sound are called acoustic trauma. The noise produced during airbag deployment exceeds the normal sound threshold: the sound pressure generated is around 178 decibels. This is about twenty percent more than the sound level likely to cause permanent hearing loss. It is even higher than the noise level of a crowded stadium, which is around 130 decibels. This sudden change in pressure and exposure to intense noise can damage the hair cells in the inner ear. These cells are responsible for hearing and balance: they detect pressure variations and send signals to your brain, which interprets them as sounds or noises. Sudden or prolonged exposure to noise can cause them to bend or break. They then begin to send random signals to the brain, which produces tinnitus. If the noise has only bent the hair cells, the tinnitus will be temporary: once the cells straighten, their proper functioning is restored and the tinnitus disappears. On the other hand, if the noise has broken or destroyed these cells, the damage is permanent, because damaged hair cells do not repair themselves and do not regrow: the tinnitus will then be permanent. In addition to damage to the inner ear hair cells, the explosion or deployment of the airbag can also cause a ruptured eardrum and fracture the ossicles of the ear. This results in a sudden loss of balance, dizziness, hearing loss or tinnitus. Other injuries associated with airbag deployment include fractures, facial cuts, spinal injuries due to sudden head recoil, whiplash, broken ribs and, in some cases, blindness.
2. Head trauma / head injury
Head trauma, also known as intracranial injury, is brain damage caused by an external force—a blow, shake, or jolt to the head—that disrupts normal brain function. In a car accident, the head is abruptly thrown forward and hits the steering wheel or airbag. Brain function can then be affected. In some cases, an object in the passenger compartment can penetrate and reach brain tissue. Head trauma is characterized by loss of vision, speech changes, memory loss, disorientation, difficulty concentrating, and tinnitus. Tinnitus related to head trauma occurs when the neural networks of the ear are disrupted. This disruption leads to a reorganization of the brain's tonotopic map, which reactivates certain previously dormant nerve groups. Signals sent from the inner ear to the brain are then redirected through a pathway not intended to interpret auditory information. The transmission of sound signals by these nerves makes them sensitive to sound and creates ringing in the ear. In addition, trauma or head injury can affect blood circulation to the auditory nerve, auditory pathways, and inner ear, which can cause tinnitus. Tinnitus due to a head injury can be temporary or permanent, depending on the severity of the damage and the speed of medical care. Untreated head trauma can, in some cases, lead to death.
3. Whiplash
Whiplash is a neck injury caused by a rapid and violent back-and-forth movement, like the cracking of a whip. It is one of the most frequent injuries in non-fatal accidents. The sudden movement of the head stretches the ligaments and muscles of the neck beyond their normal range, causing a tear. In most cases, whiplash is not due to the speed of the vehicle, but to the sudden jolt caused by the impact or by the deployment of the airbag. The risk of whiplash is higher when you wear a seat belt, because the restraint of the torso by the belt accentuates cervical injuries. Whiplash in an accident can cause tinnitus. The sudden back-and-forth movement of the head and neck forces the mouth to open and close abruptly, which leads to the elongation and compression of the temporomandibular joint and causes a dysfunction of this joint, one of the main causes of tinnitus. This sudden movement of the head can also damage nerves and ligaments in the skull. If the auditory nerve, responsible for hearing, is affected, tinnitus may appear. Other factors, such as the force of the collision, a concussion, trauma or an increase in blood pressure, can also cause tinnitus after a car accident.
Conclusion
You should see a doctor immediately after a car accident, no matter how minor it seems. As mentioned above, tinnitus may not be diagnosed immediately after the accident. If you start to experience any of the symptoms mentioned above, a few hours or days after an accident, report it to your doctor without delay. The presence of tinnitus is a sign that something is wrong in your body: the sooner the root cause is identified and treated, the less your hearing will be damaged. In some cases, delaying medical care not only affects your hearing, but can also harm other aspects of your health. Have you ever experienced tinnitus after a car accident? How long after the accident did you notice the symptoms? Share your experience with us, at CLARIA, in the comments.
