Clinical: Red flag symptoms - Tinnitus.(Disease/Disorder overview)

Provide reassurance but watch out for serious underlying causes.

Tinnitus (from the Latin for ringing) is a common ear complaint which can affect people of all ages.

At least 15 per cent of the UK population experience it at some stage, and for a few patients it can lead to a significant and permanent impairment of their subjective well-being.

Tinnitus is defined as perceived noise in one or both ears in the absence of an external stimulus. Patients describe whistling, hissing, humming or clicking noises, or a mixture of sounds.

We all have a degree of noise in our ears, probably caused by baseline electrical activity and natural blood flow within …