Meaning & use
tinnitus
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablemedical
A condition in which a person hears ringing, buzzing or hissing in the ears when there is no outside sound.
Grammar: Uncountable: she has tinnitus, not a tinnitus.
Patterns
- suffer from tinnitus
- tinnitus in one ear
Loud concerts left him with constant tinnitus.
She hears a high ringing sound because of tinnitus.
Tinnitus can make it hard to sleep in a quiet room.
Common combinations
- suffer from tinnitus
- Many older people suffer from tinnitus.
- develop tinnitus
- He developed tinnitus after years of working near loud machines.
- persistent tinnitus
- Persistent tinnitus should be checked by a doctor.
- tinnitus symptoms
- Tinnitus symptoms include ringing, buzzing and clicking.
- manage tinnitus
- Background sound can help you manage tinnitus at night.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ringing in the ears
- Ringing in the ears is the everyday description of the experience, while tinnitus is the formal medical name and can also mean buzzing or hissing.
- ear noise
- Ear noise is a looser phrase that could also describe real outside sounds, which tinnitus does not involve.
Word family
- tinnitus sufferer noun
- a person who has tinnitus
- tinnitic adjective
- relating to tinnitus, used in medical writing
Commonly confused: tinnitus or vertigo? tinnitus or tonsillitis?
tinnitus vs vertigo
Vertigo is a feeling of dizziness or spinning, not a sound in the ears.
tinnitus vs tonsillitis
Tonsillitis is a throat infection, and is unrelated despite the similar beginning.
Practice
A patient hears constant ringing with no outside source. This condition is called ____.
Choose one answer.
Tinnitus is hearing sounds without an outside cause. Vertigo is a feeling of spinning and is the most tempting wrong answer.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tinnitus”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.