According to statistics, about 20% of the population is suffering from tinnitus, so what is tinnitus all about? Tinnitus is defined as the sensation of sound in the ear without the stimulation of external sound sources, and sometimes the sensation of sound in the skull, also known as cranial tinnitus. Tinnitus has a variety of clinical manifestations, often sounding like running water, roaring, cicadas, sirens, wind tides, etc. It can also be composed of multiple sounds. It is a reflection of the physiological noise or the basic activity of the nervous system in the human body, and usually does not bring any adverse feelings to people. It is loud and has a great impact on the patient’s body and mind, such as insomnia, fatigue, depression, lack of concentration and emotional irritability, which seriously affects one’s quality of life. Tinnitus can be divided into two types: subjective tinnitus, in which the patient can feel the sound but outsiders cannot; and objective tinnitus, in which not only the patient can hear the sound but also the examiner or outsiders can hear the sound in the ear through some testing equipment. The former mechanism is unclear, while the latter can often reveal some factors that cause tinnitus, such as vascular malformation or hemangioma, and some muscle dysfunction around the ear like muscle clonus. There are various mechanisms associated with tinnitus, including: damage to the inner and outer hair cells of the inner ear, which is usually accompanied by hearing loss; biochemical mechanisms including increased endogenous endorphins of their own, abnormal 5-Ht levels in the cochlea; disturbances in the spontaneous synchronous activity of nerves; and effects of the internal efferent system including lesions of the auditory efferent system and reticular formation in the brainstem. Systemic diseases can also cause tinnitus: 1. Systemic diseases such as hypertension, arteriosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, microthrombosis or cervical spondylosis, which cause disorders in the blood supply to the auditory system; 2. Endocrine disorders such as hyperthyroidism, which affect the circulation of lymphatic fluid inside and outside the cochlea and changes in ion concentration; 3. Degenerative changes in the nerves, such as degenerative lesions, viral infections, tumors, drug intoxication, etc.; 4. Plant nervous function Disorders, nervousness, depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders can affect the auditory center through the limbic, emotional system. A large amount of evidence shows that the auditory center, especially the cerebral cortex, is involved in the production and maintenance of tinnitus, and tinnitus can persist even after the peripheral lesions (middle ear, inner ear) are lifted. Because of the complex mechanism of tinnitus, patients with tinnitus should pay attention to any changes in their hearing and seek medical attention promptly. Hearing loss with tinnitus is common in: 1. Sudden deafness, where patients may suddenly feel tinnitus that “affects” their hearing. The percentage of tinnitus in patients with sudden deafness is as high as 72.73%, and tinnitus occurs in the sudden deaf ear. Clinical evidence shows that tinnitus may appear as an aura several hours before the onset of sudden deafness, or it may appear at the same time as sudden deafness, and in a few cases, it becomes a persistent disease that is difficult to cure as a sequel to sudden deafness. Patients with sudden deafness should seek medical attention promptly after the onset of the disease, because the longer the interval between the appearance of symptoms and the start of treatment, the poorer the therapeutic efficacy; 2. In Meniere’s disease, patients with this disease mainly suffer from a sensation of spinning in the sky with nausea and vomiting, accompanied by tinnitus and hearing loss. The treatment is recommended to be carried out in ENT department as soon as possible. 3. For jugular venous bullae, the first symptom is pulsatile tinnitus, followed by hearing loss. 4, Nasopharyngeal tumors such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma early symptoms of some patients can appear unilateral tinnitus, accompanied by conductive hearing loss and retractive aspiration 5, auditory neuroma and other post-cochlear lesions, when patients gradually lose hearing and most of them are accompanied by unilateral tinnitus; when the above diseases are excluded clinically, for patients with tinnitus at this time, most of them adopt comprehensive treatment methods, including improving cochlear blood supply, improving energy metabolism of inner ear tissue or Neurotrophic drugs, etc. The diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus first requires a comprehensive examination to exclude some systemic diseases and local factors causing tinnitus, such as cardiovascular system, endocrine system, neurological system, local middle ear cavity infection, cerumen embolism in the external ear canal, posterior cochlear auditory neuroma, pontocerebellar horn tumor, jugular vein bullae tumor, middle ear mastoid cholesteatoma, nasal-sinus infection or nasopharyngeal tumor causing eustachian tube dysfunction, and other diseases. If a comprehensive examination does not reveal an obvious cause, the following habitual and corresponding medication can be administered to reduce the effects of tinnitus on the whole mind and body. The main non-pharmacological treatments for tinnitus are 1. Tinnitus habituation therapy, i.e., not changing the tinnitus, but changing the tinnitus patient’s reaction and attitude to his or her tinnitus, psychological counseling, etc., to adjust the patient’s mind and emotions so as to reduce the annoyance caused by the tinnitus. 2. Tinnitus masking therapy, also known as tinnitus sound therapy, aims to use external sounds to inhibit the spontaneous excitation-enhancing activity of the cochlea or auditory nerve. This method does not actually eliminate or reduce the tinnitus sound itself, but only attenuates the perception of it. There are two basic ways to do this, one is to create background sounds that diminish the ability of the patient’s auditory center to distinguish and perceive tinnitus sounds, such as radio noise, fans, or certain natural sounds such as birds chirping, running water, or ocean waves. Hearing loss patients with tinnitus feel that their tinnitus “disappears” when they wear hearing aids. This principle is also applied, i.e., the surrounding sounds are amplified and the patient’s perception of his or her tinnitus decreases. There is also a type of tinnitus masking sound that is matched to the tinnitus that affects the patient most severely, and a specific broadband or narrowband noise with the best masking effect is chosen as the masking sound for a gradual, long-term treatment. It has been clinically proven to be a truly effective tool. However, not all tinnitus patients are suitable for tinnitus masking treatment. Patients need to be evaluated by a clinical audiologist prior to treatment, based on the patient’s masking curve and residual suppression test results to determine whether the patient is likely to have a therapeutic effect.