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If You Have Tinnitus, Get Your Heart Checked


Woman getting her blood pressure checked; tinnitus related to small heart concept

An article summary called "Haemodynamic profile of young subjects with transient tinnitus" from Audiological Medicine (dated December 8, 2009) says a study shows that people (between the ages of 18 and 40) with a history of transient tinnitus seem to have smaller cardiac structural characteristics than normal, even though their ultrasounds were normal. 

It makes sense that a smaller heart or valves can't pump or circulate blood quite as forcefully as a normal sized heart can. 

And this comparatively poor blood circulation affects organs adversely -- including the cochlear in the inner ear -- with its adverse effect showing up as tinnitus. 

The summary concludes that the observation indirectly supports the theory of a cochlear origin of tinnitus in a number of cases and is reminiscent of what happens in hypertension and heart failure.

You can read an abstract of the report or the summary.

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