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Tinnitus - advice sought

N

novak

pfm Member
Hi, I have a listening related question…

Tinnitus - does anyone suffer from it? How do you deal with it? Did it go away?

I’m due to see a specialist as it has became noticeable this year. My my ears are relatively young, at 41. I think my hearing is fine.

I have super tweeters in my speakers. It might be a stupid question - could these be having an effect?

I never listen loud, and I rarely use earphones. I don’t do any noisy work, and I’m rarely in a loud environment. These days, a chatty pub or a busy London street is about as crazy as it gets.

Any thoughts or experiences welcome - I must say, I’m a little concerned about it.
 
Although I have long suffered from tinnitus, a sort of "passive" ringing in both ears (annoyingly at different frequencies), this year I've had the sudden onset of a new tinnitus only in my left ear which is much more "active" and insistent. It comes and goes, and seems to mainly be triggered by sound rather than masked by it. That is, I don't hear it when I'm going to bed at night, but I do when I'm sitting at my desk and listening to music or even just to the fans on my computer.

I have also gone to a doctor about it, went to have my ears cleaned only to find out that they're fine, and now I have a phone appointment with a specialist lined up in a couple weeks. The main thing to keep in mind is that, in all likelihood, it's nothing serious. Beyond that, there can be other triggers. Like you, I'm rarely in a noisy environment, especially over the last year. However, the last year for me has been extremely stressful, which can be a trigger for tinnitus. Keep in mind also that COVID-19 and the vaccines can have some impact on tinnitus [citation needed].

I think generally you're going to be encouraged to learn some mindfulness techniques in order to facilitate just living with it. In my case at least, I long ago learned to live with my usual tinnitus, so it generally doesn't bother me. This new one is a sonofabitch though so I might need some new tools for it....
 
The problem with tinnitus (AIUI) is that it's a neurological issue and therefore impossible to cure currently. When the tiny hairs in the ear are damaged, the brain just 'makes up' the missing frequency (much the same way your brain 'fills in' the massive hole in the back of your eye where the optic nerve and blood supply runs, rather than a black hole in your vision) which is why you can't ever get rid of it - it's literally fake noise.

Mine's an 8khz triangle wave, constant all the time - for that I'm actually thankful, it does make it a little easier to 'tune out', I know it takes many different forms and can often be very
intrusive. Mine unfortunately comes from younger years of drumming and being too cool to wear ear-plugs. Over a decade of regular loud noise from cymbals and a snare only a couple of feet away took their toll.

I've learned to protect what I do have now; I was at the BTCC on Sunday and the noise from the cars is insane - I'm very glad I took my ear plugs!
 
I have slight tinnitus and have done for many years. Thankfully, I can ignore it easily enough but it is always there, never goes away.

I never go to concerts etc without ear plugs now.
 
I have it, goes away completely when I rest my chin on my chest or lean forward so my nose is pointing down.
 
I've gone through brief periods of it but have now had quite a bad case of it for months - does seem to be Covid related in my case. Listening to music currently making it worse, and is also not bringing me much pleasure. No doubt I'll learn to live with it.
 
I have it and have done for as long as I can remember - I can distinctly recall being in bed as a young child and realising that I could train myself to tune it out when it got louder.

It's got a little worse over the years but I mostly only notice it when I'm really tired when it can become quite loud. Stress also does it as does high blood sugar (I'm diabetic). From what I can tell my brain filters it out pretty well but gives up trying when it's overloaded with other stuff!
 
There have been a few tinnitus-related threads here over the years, so it’s fairly common. Mine was probably brought on by too many loud concerts when I was young, although it’s not so bad that I notice it all the time.
For the last fifteen years I’ve taken earplugs to gigs, to prevent further damage.

Mick
 
Yes I suffer. Just ignore it. Divert your attention elsewhere, don't give it space, don't elevate it, don't worry about it.
I haven't noticed it all day, but now I've read this thread it's there, singing away. I will now ignore it, and it will be in the background again.
Your brain will learn to tune it out if you give it space.
 
Mine is 'just' a looped blood vessel by the ear canal they would require a bit of skull removing to deal with. It's not terrible but is noticeable.
 
Seeing the specialist is the obvious thing to do.
I have tinnitus in my right ear after fracturing my innermost auditory bone (the stapes) but luckily I can ignore it, only becoming aware of it again when I read posts like this.
Other than trauma, there are numerous possible causes for the brain to start creating ‘noises’ but the specialist will no doubt be aware of the possible cause of your problem, and should be able to direct you to treatments to, if not eliminate, ameliorate, the problem.
 
…..apart from process of elimination; syringing (or suction), visual inspection and hearing tests, there’s no other advice I could suggest. Apparently it can be a side effect of ageing process and/or natural degradation of hearing. One thing I would doubt, is that it’s your super-tweeter….I wish you all best as I suffer too.
 
Everyone's Tinnitus is unique and there's no one-fit solution. I've had mild Tinnitus for years but I got it go away by doing the following:

1) Hearing protection around anything loud: vacuum cleaner, law mower, concerts. I'll even plug my ears around loud trucks.
2) Avoiding chewing gum... ENT doctor clued me into this one. Something to do with the TB joint in the jaw.
3) Flare Audio Calmer's: There's lots debate on these, but I was able to get rid of the constant ringing in my ears by wearing these in loud spaces. They're not expensive, worth trying.

Good luck!
 
The Flare Audio Calmer didn’t work for me but it comes with a money back guarantee so worth trying. My tinnitus is a geiger counter type noise, extremely annoying.
 
I got mild tinitus from working in light engineering - like grandad who got it from working in heavy engineering. I don't notice it much and it doesn't bother me but I feel that it affects the way I enjoy listening to music.
 
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