Interviewer: What's it mean if you have ringing in your ears? We're going to explore that next on The Scope.
Announcer: This is "From the Frontlines," with emergency room physician Dr. Troy Madsen on The Scope. On The Scope.
Interviewer: Dr. Troy Madsen's an emergency room physician at University of Utah Health. And from your perspective as emergency room physician, if somebody comes in and they've got ringing in the ears, what are your concerns?
Dr. Madsen: So ringing in the ears, it's kind of a tough thing because quite honestly, the large majority of the time people have ringing in the ears, we really don't have a great answer. Some people, for whatever reason, just for ears have had this, you know. Most cases I've seen of this is because of work they do, where they've been exposed to a lot of noise, and that's then led to this sort of chronic ringing in their ears just from this noise exposure they've had. And if you do a hearing test on them, and you have them try and hear high-pitched sounds, they absolutely cannot hear these things, just because that ringing is always there. They've just sort of gotten used to it over time.
Interviewer: Gotcha.
Dr. Madsen: If it's the sort of thing where, let's say, just all of a sudden, you start to develop some ringing in your ears, especially if it's just in one ear, you know, you always think about weird stuff like a little tumor, something like that that can sometimes cause some weird things like that. Don't want to scare you and make you, you know, immediately run to get an MRI because you're having some ringing in the ears. But it is the one thing I think about as a physician and if someone's having issues with that, sometimes we'll recommend they get an MRI to look for some sort of tumor there.
But beyond that, oftentimes, like I said, it's something work-related, where they've had a lot of noise exposure. Obviously, concerts, if you've been to that, you've experienced that ringing in your ear afterwards. And that's something that usually goes away within a day or two. But if you're continuing to have issues with it, if you have questions, typically, what I'll do in the ER is, you know, try and get them in to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor. And they can then do further assessment, look for any sorts of abnormalities in the ear, possibly do additional testing like an MRI if they think that's necessary, and then talk to them about where to go from there, what the prognosis is, what to expect.
Interviewer: So it sounds like that some ringing might be common for some people, not necessarily a concern. If it's just in one ear, it could be something weird. Is that a reason to go to the ER, or do you have time to probably go and see an ENT instead?
Dr. Madsen: I can't think of a whole lot of reasons where you would need to go to the ER for that. Maybe if it's associated with a lot of ear pain, certainly if there is drainage, then we could think, "Well, maybe there's an infection there, and you've got some ringing, just some issues associated with that." Something you could go to an urgent care for and they could get you on some antibiotics. But beyond that, I think it's the sort of thing where you could set up an appointment with an ear, nose, and throat doctor, get in there, they could do their assessment, and then take things from there.
Interviewer: So at least generally, in your world, what you're looking for is there an immediate threat to this person's life? Ringing in the ears is not one of those symptoms that you generally get too concerned about.
Dr. Madsen: It's really not. If I see someone that comes in the ER and that's all they have, honestly, there's just not a whole lot we can do in the ER. I'm going to look personally for other neurologic symptoms, if they're having weakness anywhere, difficulty speaking, difficulty with their vision, that changes things. But if it's just ringing in the ears, again, probably . . .
Interviewer: Go to an ENT.
Dr. Madsen: Yeah. You could see an ENT for or see your primary care doctor. They could do some testing, get you a referral if it's necessary.
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