A Story About Some of My Students Relating to Tinnitus

About two weeks ago, a young student of mine - who is about 10 years old - randomly looked up at me during the lesson and said, "do you ever hear ringing noises in your head." I was flabbergasted and thought, where the hell did that come from, and also, you're talking to the right person!

To cut a long story short, I explained to him what it was and told him about the risks of using headphones that are too loud and stuff. It had obviously been on his mind from the way he was behaving and the fact he asked me. What I found even more crazy is that he told me that he had asked his friends at school if they heard a ringing noise and he said about six of them said yea.

Another student of mine, who is a bit older than me, recently broke his finger meaning he couldn't play. I also teach his daughter so the lessons continued. Anyway, I got talking to his wife and she told me that he has a lot of hearing loss (which I didn't know). She said he has to lip read to help him understand people during conversations, which surprised me, as I'd have never known. With this, I told her about my problems with tinnitus, and then she couldn't stop talking; almost like it was a relief to find someone else with the same problem. She went on to tell me that he's got it really bad and that it affects him a lot. Again, I had no idea. It sounded like he'd had a considerably difficult time with it. I haven't seen him yet because his finger is still healing, but when I do, I'll have a chat with him about it.

These are the voices you don't get to hear from, so I figured I'd make a post about it. If they hadn't have said something I wouldn't have had a clue, but then the same is true for all of us here.

 

It’s really concerning that young kids are experiencing tinnitus. What instrument do you teach?

 

Although I don't wish tinnitus on anybody, posts like these really help with the isolation I feel with this condition. So, thank you.

 

That's exactly what I thought. There seems to be a lot of young people developing tinnitus.

I teach guitar.

 

Did they get the COVID-19 vaccine?

 

I think in this case kids are blasting their ears with headphones.

 

With more people being affected, then in 300 years they may be closer to a cure

 

The kid is too young for it; the other person is double vaccinated, but his hearing issues predate it.

 

Just thought I'd add an update.

I was speaking to his wife again yesterday and she said his finger is still swollen and is taking a long time to heal. She then added to this by saying that he went for his hearing check-up and they confirmed that his hearing has become worse. He can no longer hear the ends of certain words that end in high pitched sounds; he can only hear the first part of those words. Because of this, they are giving him a top-of-the-range hearing aid with all the bells and whistles she said. She also said that his tinnitus is worse as well.

It's extraordinary to me because I've been teaching him for a while and I'd never have known about any of this. I guess this proves the hidden nature of this problem. It can be so well camouflaged that even a person like me can't spot the signs.

I can't comment on his personal feelings, but what I can say is that he gives no outward signs of having any problems. He is always genuinely happy (I know this means nothing, however). He plays football on the weekends and he still works for himself every day in a construction-type job. I won't say specifically what he does because there's no need, but it's based around carpentry.

They go on regular holidays abroad and to sporting events and I've never heard him complain about anything (again, I know it doesn't tell the whole story/truth). The only reason I've added this update is that it doesn't seem to affect his life to the same extent as many members here, even though it's very clear he has quite extreme hearing issues. He's very keen to learn guitar and is always upbeat.

I think there's an element of neuroticism in those that have deeper issues (in some cases, not all), and I don't say this with any disrespect to anyone because I include myself in this group. I obsess about stuff that is utterly irrelevant at the best of times, and I am prone to making things (that other people wouldn't notice or care about) into such a big deal that I cause myself extreme mental anguish. I'm talking real frivolous stuff as well, like if I buy an expensive product, I'll go over it looking for problems - almost to the point that I'll find something that's wrong no matter what. From here, I'll obsess to an insane level until I'm convinced that I need to solve the problem otherwise it takes over my thoughts. It can get out of hand.

 

When I see him properly I'm going to talk to him about it. I'll see how he is coping and stuff. I'll update this thread whenever that happens as it gives you an idea of how others may be dealing with these kinds of issues who aren't posting online about it.

 

Hello Ed. Did you recover fully from COVID-19? I know a couple people that refuse to get vaccinated for some reason. I hope you are doing well!

I still wake up with wicked noise in my left ear. I just had my left jaw flushed out Monday. I forgot the technical term for it. I have bone on bone on that side. Maybe it’s barotrauma caused and can’t be fixed?

 

I have always been on a neurotic, GAD and OCD spectrum, obsessing over small things. Very recognisable. Especially the part when we look for imperfections. I have always been a massive hypochondriac and would go visit doctors for imaginary, OCD related problems. That's pre-tinnitus, when I was looking up to the medical profession as if they were Gods. It's funny how, after the usual tinnitus ENT/shrink experience, I have changed my opinion 180 degrees. In an interesting way, it made me less hypochondriac. I kind of care much less...

 

You just described me. I know every inch of my car, if a new scratch or blemish appears, I notice it immediately , same with the walls in my house. If a mark appears, it has to be taken care of immediately. Nobody else cares though.

 

Yea, I'm pretty much recovered from that, but it was a long and hard process. I've got other ongoing health issues at the moment that I'm under consultation for.

I hope you're doing good as well, Columbo, it's been a long time since I've seen you about this neck of the woods.

 

Yeah, I was very busy cleaning up our building site to be sold along with our farmland. I guess I needed a break anyway.

I hope your ongoing health issues can get corrected, tinnitus alone is bad enough. I’m seeing the same ENT in November as I had seen back in 2011. In other words I have not made any progress with my tinnitus in a decade.

Also looking at my left jaw inflammation possibly causing my noise, although my hopes are not very high. It doesn’t really hurt, but imaging shows some inflammation.

 

I think it is easy to recognise hearing loss if you work in a place where speech recognition is important. People who miss words, or misunderstand, and also the way people with hearing loss speak is a bit different.

 

This should be compulsory in primary school. Some sessions on hearing protection, hearing damage etc... after all it cannot be fixed. It is not like blurry vision and then you wear glasses and you're all set. Hearing is more tricky.

 

This is not always the case, Juan. I've taught three people with hearing issues, and I didn't realise until they told me. There's a thread about the other two on here somewhere (it was a father and son).

The person I'm talking about in this thread has profound upper frequency hearing loss and likely a good degree of loss in some lower frequencies (I didn't quiz her on his exact audiogram). He talks fine, no sign of effected speech like you see in people who develop profound hearing loss early in life, or those who are born deaf.

I was told that he's fluent at lip reading, and this what I was also told by the other two people I taught. Some people's compensation techniques are phenomenal.

 

They have adapted well to the condition then.

 

I saw the student I’ve been talking about today, and we had a chat about hearing issues. First of all, he was raving about the hearing aids he’s got. He said they’re fantastic. He has profound hearing loss in his upper frequencies and a moderate loss in the middle. He told me that his tinnitus is incredibly loud and that he can hear it at all times above everything. He said it took him a long time to come to terms with it, but said that it no longer has any impact on him. His exact words were that “he just doesn’t register it anymore and it has zero impact on his mental health.”

He lives his life the same way as he always has and he was laughing and smiling saying “you’ve just gotta deal with this shit. Life moves on.”

And then, we got down to learning some music.