What’s that ringing in your ears? - Marc Fagelson

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Published 2020-08-17
Travel into the auditory system to explore the constant ringing sensation of tinnitus, why it happens and how to treat it.

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Tinnitus has been bothering humanity since Ancient Babylon, plaguing everyone from Leonardo da Vinci to Charles Darwin. Today, roughly one in seven people worldwide experiences this auditory sensation. So what exactly is tinnitus, and where does this persistent sound come from? Marc Fagelson travels into the auditory system to explore the loss of silence.

Lesson by Marc Fagelson, directed by Zedem Media.

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All Comments (21)
  • @katgor42
    One in seven people?! I thought that everyone has that.
  • @Novasium
    Someone finally answered that question
  • @R4in46
    5:14 The moment when the sound of the video disappeared was relieving, I wish I could make my tinnitus disappear like that, listen to the sound of silence again, I would cry with joy
  • @RX7jkr
    I've had it for a good 15 years now. I've gotten so used to it that I can only really hear it if I think about it. Kinda like how you can breathe automatically until you think about it and then you take a few manual breaths until you become occupied with something else.
  • @Sashhh-mk6gw
    It only gets worse when you think about the sound itself
  • @Nitrinoxus
    Growing up, I legitimately assumed everybody had a high-pitched ringing in their ear.
  • Yeah, sometimes it definitely causes anxiety and stress. It's like a noise you can never turn off and it gets on your last nerve. I just always thought ringing was normal for everyone.
  • @dadbear5316
    I've always had severe anxiety with panic disorder and tinnitus, when you start having a breakdown that ringing can become deafening.
  • @zynk9149
    So you’re telling me that most people on earth are able to hear absolute silence
  • @Ethan-yg8me
    Literally one of my earliest memories in life was me wondering why quiet was such a loud high pitched sound, it was always normal to me and I have always thought that was just what quiet was lol honestly I just forget about the ringing entirely usually
  • @ratulbanik9007
    I have had it since I was 15 y old. Seeing so many of you dealing with the same medical condition that I endure, it gives me a sense of not being alone. This silence is deafening. Thank you TED-ED for bringing us under one roof.
  • @Jo-chilin
    I thought everyone heard a constant ringing in their ears :(
  • @Wanted797
    I’ve never heard of subjective tinnitus before but I’ve definitely had it my entire life. Whenever I told anyone they’d says it’s tinnitus but usually I was thinking the bad damaging kind but I can still hear really well. Doesn’t matter where if I stop and pay attention I’ll hear the ringing.
  • I do occasionally hear that odd ringing sound in my ear at random times, but I usually just ignore it. Another odd thing that happens in silence is that I can hear the capillaries in my brain pumping blood or the sound of electricity circulating in my head, too, if I attempt to go to sleep, but it's also uncommon.
  • @acerous1528
    It's creepy how youtube knows that my ears are currently ringing rights now
  • @creative8d14
    Me: laying down on my bed Left ear: sorry, all I can do is EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
  • @acidrien
    I never even thought about this in this way. I suspected that other people didn’t have this though. I remember as a child having to go get my ears tested, and the ear doctor would put on high pitched sounds like this one through some headphones to test my hearing. I never knew it was a common problem/phenomenon.
  • @Streek2202
    My whole life, I thought the faint ringing was normal for all people. Now I’m a bit sad knowing I’ll never know what true silence sounds like lol.