Low Frequency Tinnitus

Hi, I have just joined this forum and I am now trying to find someone that has also the low frequency tinnitus. I have the high frequency tinnitus in my left ear (whistle / ringing) quite loud and I have the low frequency tinnitus in my right ear (car engine and glass vibration).

From what I have read, most of the people here have the high pitch variation. In my personal case, the low pitch variation affects me much more.

I totally ignore my high pitch tinnitus but I am obsessed with my low pitch tinnitus.

Anyone else has low pitch tinnitus? Like an engine, a vibration?

Thanks!

 

You just described me!

I have been struggling with the drone/generator sound for 3 years now.

It's absolutely horrible.

When on a low side it's somewhat bearable but when it goes up my whole head vibrates with the noise.

I know that high pitch is not a breeze but this is much much worse I believe.

This is where the pitch comes into play.

I fully understand what you are going through.

 

Rachel, I just joined this forum because of your post. I've had a high pitch ringing in my ears for years, that I was used to and could ignore.

But my new form, which started in April, is mostly low frequency sounds and they are much worse! I have the same sounds and sensations you describe, a low motor noise that can make my whole head vibrate, etc. I also sometimes have what sound like pipe organ pedal tones, which randomly change octaves, and other times a bass drum pounding away. I consider it a good day if the sounds are soft or medium loud and if my ears stay pretty open. A bad day is when the sounds get really loud and one or both ears close up. I haven't yet found any kind of pattern to this... It seems totally random.

I am able to sleep though, because I also have fibromyalgia and for that I take 1 Tramadol and 1 mg of Klonopin at night. You might want to try a sleep aid of some kind... It really helps, and good sleep is essential. Good luck!

 

I am so GLAD to have discovered this site. A few years ago, I started hearing what I thought was an idling train or big truck engine near our house. I had been hearing a high pitched squeal for 50 years or so, but this was different. I got on my scooter and drove down to the nearbv switching yard where there was also a truck stop, looking for the source of the sound. Nothing. Finally, today, with this site, I have come to realize that tinnitus can be low pitched as well as high pitched, and the engine/generator sound some of you describe is IT! I may not be able to do anything about it, but at least I know I'm not crazy. Not on this point, anyway.

 

I'm glad that I'm not the only one with both high and low tinnitus problems. Like many other people, I had high tinnitus first in one ear, and then the low frequency tinnitus buzzing started decades later.

In desperation, I found a doctor willing to cut the inner ear muscles, in the hope that the buzzing was caused by them spasming. After the operation, I had packing in my ear for a week, to allow the eardrum to heal. I still heard the buzzing after the operation, but by the time I had the packing out, I found I had some relief from the buzzing during the day. I was able to stay in a quiet room without hearing it. Although the buzzing still returned late at night, and also if I lied down during the day.

But when the outside temperature cooled, the the air conditioning at work and home was no longer needed. I experienced extended period of times of very little background noise, and that seems to have caused the buzzing to return again. Although I can't say for sure if that was the cause. Maybe it would have come back anyway. In any event, it's almost constant, unless I have low frequency background noise to drown it out (or suppress it, I'm not which is really happening).

My puzzle is, what caused this partial relief. Was it the fact that having packing in my ear for a week, settled down the neurons or brain, long enough to temporarily change my brain pattern? I'm almost wanting to ask the doctor to put in packing for a week and see if I obtain relief again. But it would still likely be a temporarily solution.

Has anyone tried wearing an snug fitting ear plug of some sort (silicon or customized), for an extended period of days, to see if blocking noise would have an effect? I have worn a silicon plug for a whole day in the past, but eventually I have the desire to take it out, because it becomes to irritating to the ear. Someday, I'll try to force myself to keep it in for a significant number of days, and see if that achieves anything!

FWIW, I've read a paper that theorizes that there are sections of the ear structure, that basically not much is known about, which could be the cause of some forms of tinnitus. Also, a lot of medicines can cause tinnitus. But since it's considered a rare side effect, people aren't warned about it. For example, both Lyrica and Neurontin were triggers for my very low frequency hum. Although I had experienced the hum before taking those medicines, it had mysteriously gone away on it's own. I also notice, that this hum, gets worse, when I simply lie down! So at least for me, my extremely irritating hum, is probably due to several factors.

The more I mention to people that I have tinnitus, the more people I discover that also have it. One woman told me, hers started, simply due to a minor fender bender accident!

I'll bet if you take people who live in a noisy city like New York city, and put them in a very quiet environment, you'll find that a lot of them have tinnitus that, they aren't aware of. Because I do absolutely fine in a an environment that has constant background noise. At night, when it's quiet, my low frequency hum revs up to very annoying levels (in only one ear, thankfully). Summer is my happy season, because of the air conditioning that is running, wherever I am. I suspect that the only solution for a lot of people, is to try and find environments, which can distract the brain, so that people don't notice their tinnitus as much.

 

I'm new here too. I also have the low frequency, humming type of ringing in my left ear. I had it in 2016 for about 2 weeks than in 2017 for some days and now for a week.

What makes me really scared that back then when the noise stopped it stayed that way, but now, these week it started on Monday, I actually thought that somewhere in the blockhouse one of my neighbour's operating a washing machine. It stopped on Wednesday, came back Thursday night, yesterday no buzzing, but today, from waking up, I've been having the humming. I haven't slept more than 2 hours for a week, and reading all your stories, I know that it's going to be even worse, but I'm miserable. My whole head is vibrating, and I don't know what to do. Tomorrow I'll go to the audiologist, but I'm not too hopeful.

I'm 31, tomorrow is actually my birthday, I can't really think that I could live like this without any relief.

 

If you can't sleep, find a doctor who knows how to prescribe correct sleep meds. Without that for me, the noise would be way too loud for me to sleep much. And if you don't get good sleep, you will be more likely to be anxious and suicidal.

My noise used to drive me to suicidal thoughts. But then I remember that whenever I take a trip to a noisy city like NYC, my hum basically doesn't bother me at all. So if I have to retire from my job, where I have noise background, I'm moving to a city. Because my home is too quiet. At least during the fall and spring. During the summer and winter, my air conditioners and heat provide good background noise.

Meanwhile, a silicon ear plug at home works good when it's very quiet. Foam earplugs don't provide enough of a mouldable tight fit. Does putting your finger in your ear help you?

 

Yes, it does. If I cover my ear very, very tightly creating a vacuum, it stops. If I put my finger in it and press it quite a bit, it stops too. I tried foam earplugs, and nothing, still vibrating as hell. I'm actually at the beginning of examining this thing, I'm pretty sure I will end up at a psychiatrist.

 

I think this condition needs to be more recognized by ear doctors. In any event, here are some of the situations when my hum started and stopped several times. While I might have mentioned all of this in a previous post, I'm going to add one more thing at the end, which is new.

During my first bout, which seemed to occur out of nowhere, I convinced an ear doctor to give me a muscle relaxant, as I thought my problem was an inner ear spasm. I took Flexeril, and it appeared to help. Eventually I stopped it (I can't remember how long I took it) and the hum stayed away.

About a year or so later, the hum occurred again, after I tried taking Lyrica or Neurontin, to help with cornea pain. I stopped the meds, because neither helped the cornea pain, and the hum disappeared. The cornea pain resolved on its own, thankfully.

Then I developed a constant headache (NDPH), which was caused by a routine procedure (perhaps a bad reaction to the meds that were given to me). The only thing that could treat the headache was Neurontin. I knew that I was taking a chance that the hum would return, but I couldn't function with a constant headache. The hum returned.

After I had surgery to cut all my inner ear muscles in that ear, it temporarily made the hum much less of a problem during the day, although I heard it when I lied down to either sleep or rest. After about 6 weeks, the constant hum returned.

2 weeks ago I had hernia surgery. Bizarrely, the hum was greatly decreased afterwards, just like after the ear surgery. Unfortunately, this effect only lasted after 4-6 days. What caused this? I have no freaking idea. Was it the anti-nausea meds? Was is it the anesthesia? The shot of blood thinner (Heparin), combined with Advil (which also thins the blood)? I would love to have the flexibility to try different meds and supplements, and throw everything at my condition, to see if the hum would go away. When I get through healing from my hernia surgery, I might go back to the doctor that did my ear surgery, and see my new observation from the hernia surgery, might help him to consider experimenting with other meds. FWIW! - Mark

 

I’ve still got low frequency tinnitus. Strange thing is that the low frequency tinnitus is usually worse in the morning (when my anxiety and stress is higher) or after exercise or after listen to music on headphones. Other times it’s faint and I can only hear it when I’m in quiet environments. The only way the low frequency tinnitus disappears is if I cover my affected ear.

 

Quick intervention here, because I feel for Team "Low Frequency Tinnitus".

11 months ago I woke up with a very low brrrrrrrrrrr noise in my right ear. I had an acoustic trauma 4 weeks before that, so pretty sure it is from that + building up for many years with loud unprotected raves and in ear headphones.

First 4 weeks were hell on earth.

I then moved down into the kitchen and slept there. Our kitchen has a ventilation system that is on 24/7. It is not loud but loud enough to keep my brain busy, it seems.

The moment I started sleeping in the kitchen, the low rumbling stopped.

11 months in now, and I've had the low rumble come back every now and then.
One way I can bring it back is by sleeping on my right ear (the low rumbling one), so by closing it off an entire night from any external sounds.

So - TL;DR: No, it is absolutely not dumb to assume that the low rumbling tinnitus will go away or you'll find a way to cage that beast. Absolutely not dumb.

In the mean time I also got high frequency static hiss and reactive tinnitus (MacBook fan noise and dishwasher triggers it). I'm currently following treatment with neuromodulation at Brai3n institute in Ghent, Belgium + as per their advice I am taking Deanxit which I am calling a miracle drug (for my tinnitus or the way I cope with it).

You'll get over it, I promise. Keep fighting. So many people have this.

 

Hi all! Joining the low frequency team now since April 30, 2021. It sounds like a distant lawn mower or engine going on. My anxiety and stress have been high but am also experiencing a lot of ear pressure and pain. Lots and lots of popping. New headache. I’ve had the high pitched ringing coming and going for years (since I was 8) but this new sound is scary and sort of bothers me.

What happened in April was my allergies and stuff got super bad. I recently switched to a new allergy medicine. There are also lots of people on my neighborhood suddenly taking out lawn mowers. I heard like ten in one day.

I have an ENT appointment on May 14th to get a hearing test done and a proper diagnosis. Yesterday my doctor pulled out a lot of earwax but that didn’t make a huge difference. Anyway I am glad I’m not the only one who hears this. So far going outside for walks and listening to white noise/music helps, although neighbor has been noisy for weeks making a new pool.

During the day it’s easier to deal with but at night it can be a bit of a pain.

 

Is your tinnitus affected if you play back this sound?

Starship Sleeping Quarters | Sleep Sounds...

 

Does your drone (momentarily) stop when:

1) Someone talks to you (drone sound carries on in between spoken words?)

2) You shake your head in a "no" movement?

 

Ah - the number #1 go-to YouTube video for low drone tinnitus sufferers. I have this on (at very low volume) during the night. If I don't have it on, the drone will start back up.

Important part here being: VERY LOW VOLUME. It seems enough to keep my brain busy not to start up the drone. Very strange. It is almost as if my ear/brain, when it does not get the low noise input, says "dang, he needs low frequency noise, let's start it up."

 

It used to work exactly like that for me to!

But now since I managed to damage my left ear (I had music on during night to mask both the drone and my “fluctuating tone” in my right ear, my ears were fatigued and the music I’d been using for months this time made my left ear do a warped “chirp” in the middle of the night), I now have a high pitched hiss and some high frequency hearing loss (same frequencies as the hiss?) on this ear. I feel like an idiot for not taking a break on music when I actually felt my ear were “full” and whooshing before going to bed. I did put some toilet paper in to dampen things a little, but it wasn’t enough.

Anyway, my point is now that my left ear has a hiss, the drone I had is almost gone! I can hear/feel it slightly in some places where it used to be much louder before my left ear trauma.

Is your drone connected to one of the ears in some way? Doesn’t it seem to stop if one ear is covered? Covering my left ear always seemed to take away the drone for me, but maybe that’s just because covering the ear actually makes is whoosh a little.

 

My drone is connected to my right ear.

I don't think the drone in my right ear stops when I cover my left ear. I would love to try this right now, but as I said, my drone only comes on after car rides, or if I have slept on my bad ear for an entire night, or when I sleep without white noise.

I don't understand - are you saying you damaged your ears further by playing very low volume music/masking during the night? How is that even physically possible? Noise damage only occurs from 80 dB/90 dB and up - I can't imagine you blasting 90 dB while you were sleeping.

So now your right ear drone is gone and has been replaced by a left ear hiss?

Weirdness intensifies.

 

Aha. My drone was there more or less the entire time – albeit easily masked near a fan or outdoors – and felt as if it was in the head, not coming from the ears. It was about two months ago that I noticed the hum seemed connected to the left ear.

I don't really understand either, but it seems the volume I had was enough in my case – iPhone 12 Pro Max in speaker mode, 3-4 steps from zero. Nowhere near 80 dB. And some toilet paper in the ear.

But since my ear was fatigued – I had "fullness" in the ear and it was whooshing when I went to sleep it was probably enough even if I'd been doing similar night listening for months before.

I also suspect it's the sometimes high frequency sweeping synth in the music I was listening to that was the culprit, since our ear to my understanding seems more sensitive to higher frequencies than lower when played back at a low volume.

This is the music I was listening to in a loop (should have set a timer...):

https://tidal.com/album/77525403

Woke up after two hours sleep that night and the left ear did the "chirp" and then a high pitched hiss started.

The drone in my head is almost gone since the left ear got trauma. I can notice it slightly in a quiet room where it used to be rather loud. I can still mask it fully with that Space Ship Sleeping Quarters sound.

My right ear keeps doing its "ringing" – an upper mid/lower high frequency tone that kind of stutters quickly. It's not a constant tone, but almost. This ear seems unaffected by what has happened to my left ear. Good thing is the tinnitus in this ear fluctuates quite a lot. Sometimes it can be totally quiet to my perception.

Both the "hum" and elevated activity of my right ear tinnitus (the right ear one has been with me since my teens, but hardly ever thought about it for decades) was triggered in conjunction with one night of drinking beers in December 2020.

Before this incident in December I didn't really have any tinnitus problems at all! But here I am now with sometimes three sounds in my head (albeit the hum is very low now) and some high frequency hearing loss on one ear.

It just feels surreal at times – but I guess we never know when and with what life's going to hit us.

 

You were just drinking beers? No noise exposure?

Alcohol still does that, as in spike you?

 

Yes, definitely no noise exposure that night. Very calm because of the COVID-19 situation. No loud music or anything. Strange, huh? Never heard of tinnitus being triggered by drinking — not even that much drinking. Maybe it's a combination of other factors (traumatic dream?) that triggered it, but I was feeling well that night and had done some workout during the day. But sure, I was definitely drunk when going to bed.

I haven't had any alcohol since that night (not that I drink much anyway, can go months in between), so not sure how it would affect my tinnitus. I'm a bit afraid to try to be honest. My plan was to not drink any alcohol until (if) my tinnitus eased off and until I felt physically better – had some brain fog and "itchy scalp" and kind of "felt" my brain when doing cardio vascular workout, months after that December night.

I feel better when it comes to that now, so if I dare to take a beer or two in the future I'll report back how it goes.

Now I'm just so depressed because of my sound induced trauma two weeks ago.

Hope to find acceptance of my situation soon, but having a hard time doing that. Need more time I guess...

 

It sounds more like bloody hydrops if you had no noise and it was just a random drunk day, especially if it's low humming.

Nothing else that you ingest makes it worse?

Have you tried drinking more water for a week?

 

OK, thanks. Bloody hydrops is a new thing to me. Will try to look into it.

I didn't really find any direct correlation between good or drink and a hum volume increase. Maybe coffee, but not sure. I did try to drink a lot of water and eat healthy. The hum did vary a little in intensity from time to time, but no direct correlation to food I think.

If anything I think the hum got louder after cardiovascular exercise.

But like I said, my hum is much lower now since my left ear acoustic trauma happened a little over two weeks ago.

 

I had a call yesterday with Prof. Dirk De Ridder about my low buzzing tinnitus. I told him how after a car ride my buzzing comes on for 1 minute, starts to stutter and then stops. Another way for my buzzing to come on is if I sleep in total silence (or I put my buzzing ear (right one) on a pillow > I usually sleep on my left side to prevent this.)

De Ridder also saw something in my testing results from Brai3n center that may indicate something. I wasn't quite able to follow everything but apparently in my right ear there is a nerve that sort of functions worse than it should and therefore my right ear transmits sounds slower than it should. He said Tegretol could work.
He then also mentioned that this (or another medication he proposed) could help against the brain creating phantom noise when it is not getting any input.

He carried on to say that "or you could just have low frequency hearing loss that does not show up on an audiogram since audiograms only test up to 8 kHz, as you know."

 

I hope it's just a minor nerve issue for you @Ben Winders. If you're going for Tegretol, please let me/us know how it goes.

 

This is exactly my story too. I have had high frequency tinnitus for about 20 years which I was quite habituated to.

I noticed I began to be sensitive to certain low frequencies in 2019 and I had some buzzing and droning in the past (even earlier than that) but it was not constantly.

Then in April 2021 I suddenly noticed that I got a constant low-frequency drone based on my pulse rhythm. Also, I got more sensitive to certain sounds.

My drone stops indeed if someone talks with a particular frequency in their voice and then in between appears in some crazy mix of drone + voice. I didn't do the head shaking yet.

I don't know how I can not pay attention to it, it is very difficult. First it was only in my right ear, but now when I cover my left ear, it also starts droning. So, when I lie on my right ear it's relatively mild, though I can feel some vibrations, but then the left ear starts droning.

I am really desperate. I am living in the Netherlands just for your information.

 

Didn't you have a call with Dirk De Ridder too? Did he also mention the nerve issue to you? Not sure if it's minor though as there probably is no cure for it either.

But again - if I actually have hearing loss induced low hum tinnitus, why on earth do I not have it all the time and why on earth after a car ride when I briefly have it, after a minute it starts stuttering brr brr brr and then stops completely?

Regarding Tegretol >> why on earth are all drugs that may or may not help us ototoxic? Dirk De Ridder mentions Tegretol, I get off the call and Google it: first link that shows up: a person that got tinnitus from Tegretol stating it is ototoxic. This condition just keeps on giving.

 

Hello,

I have something similar. Mostly a hissing with feeling of vibration in one ear but when it becomes more intense, a low frequency buzzing appears. I can mask it in the night with a free App "noise generator" where you can select frequency range and color of the spectrum (unfortunately I am not able to mask the hissing). Not too high volume otherwise it stimulates more the buzzing... Also I have to be careful to not press against that ear or sleep on that ear side as it awakes the buzzing.

I tried Tegretol and Trileptal, both help, but I should maintain a low dose because of secondary effects.

 

No, I haven't talked to Dr. De Ridder so far. If I get the real deal with HD-tDCS in Antwerp, then maybe I'd contact him for additional treatment in Ghent.

I actually have something similar like you. Aside from the high pitch tinnitus (white noise/hiss), I also have intermittent low tinnitus that often appears when it's silent. However, it's rather more like a centralised ''head'' tinnitus than that it appears in one of my ears. My audiogram also supports the theory that I have hearing loss in the 125 <Hz area, so I don't think that Tegretol would work for me.

If that's true, then Tegretol is ironically the last thing you need. That would almost leave you with HD-tDCS or HD-tES intervention. But are you actually planning to go ahead with that at the Brai3n clinic?

 

(In a not-aggressive voice) so all this time you were sitting on a cure for low buzzing and you never thought about mentioning it to us ?

More seriously though, I hope you find the time to answer these questions:

1) If you have the buzzing, does it stop momentarily when you shake your head in a "no" motion, or when someone talks to you?

2) What secondary effects are you talking about regarding Tegretol? Does the Tegretol fully stop the buzzing? Say: if you take Tegretol, can you just sleep on your bad side again or sleep without white noise without awakening the buzzing?

3) Do you also have the buzzing after driving in a car and then when you go listen for it in a quiet room it starts to stutter after 1 minute before fully stopping? Because you say "I have to be careful not to press against that ear or sleep on that ear side as it awakes the buzzing", I'm assuming you don't have the buzzing all the time. Only when you "awaken" it.

 

Can you explain this sentence? I don't quite get what you are trying to say.

Actually, I'm on the list for the treatment at UZA. I'm scheduled for August.

That said: Dr. De Ridder wasn't a big fan of the current setup of UZA's treatment. He said: "I'm working on a new protocol in New Zealand that shows a lot more promise."