Tinnitus and Kids

A surprising amount of children have tinnitus.

The Boston Children's Hospital says about 15% have chronic tinnitus, while the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) says "one-third of children experience it at some point."

It's hard to know exactly how many children have tinnitus.

"In some cases," notes the staff at CHOP, "the child is too young to describe what they are hearing, has come to think of it as normal, or is not troubled by the experience enough to mention it."

The good thing about pediatric tinnitus is that most kids "have otherwise normal hearing and outgrow the symptoms before adulthood," according to the team at Children'sHealth.

If a child is adversely affected by tinnitus (and only about 0.5% of children have troublesome cases) parents usually see behavior issues like anxiety, depression and problems sleeping. School age kids can have difficult concentrating. Unfortunately, young children don't know to complain about the noise in their heads, or even how to describe those noises.

Parents who suspect tinnitus in their child should ask their pediatrician to perform a hearing test or refer them to an audiologist who can conduct other diagnostic tests to rule out tinnitus.

Before you think the worst, remember that one possible cause of tinnitus is wax build-up in the ear canal, which is easily remedied. If it's a medication that causes the tinnitus, that medication can be changed or discontinued. According to CHOP, "in most medication-induced cases, the tinnitus resolves over time."

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Can Allergies Cause Tinnitus?

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Try Saline When Your Hearing Is Muffled After Loud Noise Exposure

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Tinnitus Help - Stop the Ringing in Your Ears

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