Minneapolis Tinnitus Attorney
With the introduction of air bags as standard equipment in vehicles, doctors have seen a surge in the incidence of tinnitus. Tinnitus is defined as sensation of hearing sound when no sound is present. Tinnitus can be constant or intermittent, in one or both ears, in varying volume from low static to high-pitched squeal. Many people with this condition have a difficult time making it through the day. Everything is harder — sleeping, concentrating, reading, even interacting with people. Some people suffering from tinnitus become clinically depressed.
Terry, Slane & Ruohonen has helped hundreds of clients receive significant compensation for tinnitus diagnosis following a vehicle accident. We will give legal representation, handle all of the paperwork, and file your claim. Call 612-362-0000 or submit out contact form.
Why Tinnitus Interferes with Hearing
Tinnitus can start when the hair cells (cilia) in the inner ear (cochlea) get damaged or destroyed. Cilia are arranged at different turns of the cochlea, each turn corresponds to one frequency range. 
To better understand tinnitus, it helps to understand the normal hearing cycle:
- sound creates pressure waves
- the pressure waves move the ear drum in and out
- that flows over the chain of bones in the middle ear until it reaches the last bone (stapes)
- the stapes bone creates waves in the fluids of the cochlea
- suspended in this fluid are cilia
- as the cilia move in the fluid, they discharge an electrical signal to the hearing nerve
- the hearing nerve transmits to the brain
- the brain interprets the sound
If this cycle is broken, hearing does not happen. Tinnitus breaks the cycle at the cilia transmission step. An air bag explosion can damage all of the cilia that pick up sound for that one frequency. This is called a noise notch. The victim usually loses all hearing at that notch.
Why Does Tinnitus Create Noise Instead of Silence?
You would think with the cilia destroyed, there would be absence of sound. That is not necessarily true. Cilia not only transmit the electrical signal of sound; they transmit an electrical signal telling the brain there is silence. If that signal is lost, you get what is called disinhibition — the loss of the signal for silence. When there is no signal telling the brain there is silence, the brain then interprets that as a noise or an abnormal perception — which becomes the noise described as ringing, buzzing, roaring, clicking, whistling, or hissing.
Tinnitus Sounds MP3 Downloads
Tinnitus Buzzing (MP3)
Tinnitis Roaring (MP3)
Tinnitis Static (MP3)
Treatment for Tinnitus
Cilia, like brain cells, do not heal or regenerate — once they are destroyed they are gone forever. There are a variety of treatments to minimize the effects or lessen the severity of tinnitus, including:
- There is a prescription drug that is commercially available in the United States for the treatment of tinnitus, but it has a number of unacceptable side effects; so, it is still not widely used.
- Hearing aids are an option, but can have a boom quality — they amplify frequencies that the patient does not want amplified (frequencies where the cilia was not damaged, so there is still hearing at that frequency).
- Masking devices can be purchased that can create another noise at another frequency that is less objectionable or at a frequency with which there is less interference.
Some people try various alternatives to cope or to lessen the intensity of the tinnitus, such as:
- taking supplements such as magnesium, zinc, Ginkgo biloba, or B vitamins
- acupuncture, cranio-sacral therapy, magnets, hyperbaric oxygen, or hypnosis
- avoid alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, foods with a high sugar content, use of tonic water — all of these items have been known to trigger high-intensity episodes of tinnitus.
Minneapolis Tinnitus Attorney
A Minneapolis Personal Injury Attorney at Terry, Slane and Ruohonen, will work on your behalf to validate your injury to the insurance company. We understand the long-term ramifications of this disability. We have argued and won many cases of tinnitus. We know it is a debilitating condition and we know you need compensation for your loss. Our partners are skilled, aggressive litigators with years of experience with personal injuries from car accidents and truck accidents. They have been named Super Lawyers repeatedly by Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine. Contact us at 612-362-0000.
