Hello, New Here, My Personal Experience So Far

Hello everyone I am new and guess what I got tinnitus.

As far as hearing loss goes I was told I have completely normal hearing, of course this is up to only the standard audiogram range of 8 kHz. I've finally scheduled some more tests that will be upcoming in the next month or two such as speech in noise and such- hoping to maybe reveal more?

From playing around with an online tone generator and my own decent audio equipment I can hear upward to 16 kHz before I need significant amplification. I can hear 20K but it requires high volume. I am 31 years old and I have been told that this is 'normal' hearing loss for my age. My girlfriend is younger than me and while I struggle to hear those 18K tones she screams at me to turn it off haha.

So as far as I can tell the only reason I've gotten tinnitus is from high frequency hearing loss which is considered 'normal' - there was no one significant event where I suddenly had tinnitus afterwards. I did frequent noisy environments for a few months (bars with lots of people) and some a concert here or there (only a handful in my lifetime, not much of a live music guy). I have used headphones for a lot of PC gaming though. So if anything caused my hearing loss over time it was just normal noise exposure and headphone use.

My tinnitus fluctuates dramatically day to day or even within the same day. It is usually at it's worst when I first wake up and then calms down over time. I know that I suffer from sleep apnea (which I will be doing some official testing for and get a CPAP) so maybe that is something that aggravates it.

I've noticed that when I am in a situation of high concentration (specifically a video game like a moba that requires a lot of attention) my tinnitus will go down dramatically afterwards. I've noticed it being a consistent 'quiet' trigger. Don't ask me, I have no idea why!

Otherwise it is pretty random and I can't pinpoint why it's better on some days and worse on others. There have been days of almost complete silence (having to plug my ears and only hearing the quietest sound in my left ear) and days where I can hear my tinnitus over all ambient noise and is extremely distracting. It can be a bit of a roller coaster emotionally due to it's instability but it is what it is.

I tried all sorts of crap that didn't work, same story you hear from everyone.

I guess that about sums it up. Just wanted to share my personal experience so far and say hello!

 

I'm sorry to hear that you've got the tinnitus Kyle, I hope it goes away with time.

 

Possible, but not all tinnitus is a result from hearing loss. For example, issues with the jaw (TMJ) or neck muscles (my case) can result in T as well. Don't solely think of this as a hearing condition simply because there is an experience of sound involved: the ears are only one possible cause of the many.

Nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt to ditch the headphones to play it safe. I got a studio microphone for online communication, so I can use the normal speakers for game sound. It can take a bit of time to figure things out, but even recording for youtube is not a problem if your setup is done correctly.