Cicadas/Crickets...

I have a constant tone tinnitus which is a loud hissing in my left ear. When it gets very intense however it sounds very much like crickets/cicadas. I notice that a lot of people describe the same. However I have become aware that the reason mine sounds like that is because it is fluctuating exactly in time with my pulse - otherwise I don't think it would sound like cicadas!

I am wondering if other cicada sufferers have also noticed that it seems to correspond to their pulse? I really don't think I have pulsatile tinnitus per se as most of the time it is just a hiss.

 

I never experienced the cicada noise. Mine is screeching metal sounds. But I do remember having the "hiss" and it felt like a teeny pin hole in my ear drum and air seeping out. Something like that. It was also a feeling and not just a noise thing.

Pulsate is usually the sound of your heart beat within the ear. Many times due to a small vein that may have moved closer to the ear canal.

But you made an interesting observation that the cicada sounds correspond to your pulse.

 

@brownbear also get hissing that goes into cicadas later in the evening generally. Your pulse theory is interesting but the sound is so vague would be hard to work that out. However what if some form of bad circulation was responsible?

 

Ear circulation to be precise...

 

Oh my goodness I know exactly what you mean! It took me a while to be accustomed to the "it's just the crickets, your t is not that loud"...it still freaks me out. Some nights I lay awake listening to the crickets and I day dream that the crickets have T too and we are all in it together and that helps me fall asleep lol ♥

 

That what I call "my cicada" has a pulsatile pattern, too.
It's not that loud, but it often annoys more than a persistent sound.

 

Mine is more like a live electrical wire. This becomes the dominant sound when I am stressed or have been exposed to loud noise. I also have loud pure tones in background. I can sometimes hear my heartbeat in my ear at night, as well as whoosing sounds and vibrating ear drum sensations. A marvelous concophony of horrible sounds and sensations, which would make a fine torture technique.

 

Man I love these summer nights filled with chirping crickets and cicadas. Only thing that masks my tinnitus other than the shower.

Never thought I’d be so fond of those little suckers...

 

I'm with you. These crickets and the high pitch bird chirps (they get pretty lively at midnight too!) are a godsend some days. Though for some reason the crickets play their instruments every other day or so around my area.

 

They bother me almost as much as my tinnitus. I really have the worst personality to get "blessed" with tinnitus. I have always had sensitivity and annoyance to sound that I could not control. Mainly that's why I listened to music with earphones and got rewarded by tinnitus. Universe has a cruel humor.

 

I know exactly what you are going through. The cicadas are the worst. This one of the worst things that happened in my life. I'm just so thankful I found this forum. And , to know that someone else can relate to the nightmare that I'm going through.

 

I'm very similar, I needed complete silence to sleep. Even now if there's any noise besides my tinnitus I get annoyed at that. I was careful with headphones though.

 

I wasn't, because I didn't know and I needed music for studying in order to not hear my awfully noisy neighbours and I did study for 9-10 hours a day. What a waste.

And that's why I'm angry at ENTs. It is mainly my fault, I should've known better, but maybe if I had been told, when I was seeking medical advice for my recurring bouts of tinnitus back in 2016, what music could do to our ears besides hearing loss, I wouldn't be in this personal hell right know. But I didn't get anything other than the usual "don't worry about it, it will go away, and if it doesn't, you'll get used to it, it's just ringing, nothing serious. "

 

So sorry. As a huge music lover it was just something I was very aware of. Musicians I love talked about it and my mum warned me too, so I was always careful.

It's still ridiculous they refuse to accept tinnitus isn't just a ringing. Enough studies have proven that by now.

One thing though, even knowing doesn't mean you can't end up here. Look at me

 

Yes, I realize how old your post is but I found it by specifically looking for someone who had the same. You described my most annoying sound perfectly, which is there 90% of the time. It seems to react to sound and become more pulsatile when it does. When mild, just like you said, it's less pulsatile and more of a hiss. The hiss turns into a swish, swish swish, swish sound that is not like the whooshing pulsatile people have, but just the normal hissing turned pulsatile that sometimes I think sounds like cricket when mild or like cicadas when intense. It's unbearable most of the time.