Acoustic Trauma from MRI

Hi,

10 days ago I was undergoing a MRI test (unrelated to tinnitus) when my earplug fell out and I got blasted with a high pitch noise from a 3 tesla MRI machine. Lost high frequency above 13k and developed tinnitus with roughly the same frequency. I cannot drown it out no matter what I do. And at night it is a nightmare. During daytime too. And it has only been 10 days. On steroids and doing HBOT now, but no effect. Sleeping 2h a night at best.

So, any help greatly appreciated. Is there anyone on the forum who had a high screech from a similar high Hz trauma whose tinnitus at least lowered in pitch and volume overtime? What did you do to mask such a high pitch? How do you cope with it? Any help much welcome.

 

@TomZ28,
My hearing loss was probably caused by a virus and my tinnitus is not high pitched, so I don't think I can answer your specific questions. Nonetheless, I would like to welcome you!
I think there are some members here who have experienced tinnitus spikes due to MRI procedures but I don't know of any other cases where hearing loss was caused because of earplugs falling out during the MRI. That is very unfortunate and I am so sorry this happened to you.

 

Thank you for your kind words Lorac. I hope that with time I will get adjusted to this. For the time being the sudden loss of upper tones and the constant tinnitus are nerve wrecking.

 

Tom,
I don't bilieve.
It happened when I was submitted to MRI.
The same history
It's is very dangerous an d peolple don't know.

 

TomZ28
Are yoy better?

 

Welcome to the forum. I have a very high pitched T too. It is like a dentist drill with 10 times the pitch. Initially I suffered from it badly especially when my severe hyperacusis also hit me about the same time. It was a mortal struggle for me initially as both T & H triggered relentless anxiety and panic attacks daily, the minute I woke up from the loud T scream. I thought I would never recover from nor survive these two alien monsters of my life. But never say never. Today I live a normal, productive and absolutely enjoyable life. If you like to read how I did the turnaround, you can check out my success story as well as many great stories on TT.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

As for the high pitch T shrill, I think the high frequency nature sounds can help. Even partial masking is helpful from the dentist drill 7/24. Try sounds of heavy rain, shower, waterfall, crashing waves etc. Sometimes I have to use squeaky faucet sound back then. Here are some masking suggestions. Take good care. God bless.

1) Mask at bed time if having trouble sleeping, by using a sound pillow or sound machine with pillow speakers. There are good sound machine & pillow therapy systems like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Oasis-...d-Oasis-Therapy-System-Speakers/dp/B00MH5HKTA

2) If you need masking on the go, try load an ipod with nature sounds or music using itune. If you have a smart phone, you can download free APPs for soothing or T-masking sounds. Use wisdom in the use of headphones or earbuds as extended use or excessive volume may hurt your ears. Try set the volume slightly below that of your tinnitus.

3) With PC & speakers, you can try these excellent masking sounds to see which one masks best:

TT's excellent audio player: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

or this online sound library, particularly the self-mix nature sounds: https://mynoise.net

or download free sound generator ‘aire freshener’: http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

or click play to mix these sounds with this simple sound generator: http://asoftmurmur.com/

or search youtube with words like 'tinnitus masking sounds', 'white noise', 'rain sound' etc.

 

Tamara - unfortunately not, but thank you for asking. Currently undergoing HBO treatment. We will see.

Ollie - thank you for a kind and and very informative post. It seems that afterall, I might be able to habituate to this new situation. That is the light in tunnel. Trying to get my sleeping under control with some medication help. Managed to go from 2h a night to 4h a night. Hopefully will soon get to at least 6.

One word of advise to newbies - I tried to see where my hearing ends in terms of frequency, as I noticed it has gotten worse after the accident. Being curious and anxious, yesterday I found some youtube video with a frequency sweep which I played at the very low volume, but still managed to make the tinnitus worse! So my advice is: do not play with stuff like that, you might regret it.

 

Hi @TomZ28 ,
I have just read your story and hope the steroids help.
For sleep Melatonin can help,
Sleeping tablets short term
A low AD to help sleep is a better option if it's for long term sleeping problems and not adictive.

My tinnitus is really high pitch and lost 50% of my high frequency.
I also have low frequency loss.
I have maskers and hearing aids with built in makers to help.
Sleeping well is so important to help our Mental Wellbeing dealing with the sound.
Love glynis

 

Thank you Glynis for your support. I am trying to get my sleep under control now. I suppose it will get easier with time once I habituate. If you do not mind me asking questions: from your experience, does it take long to get used to T enough to get some good night sleep?

 

Sorry folks, one more question: for the high frequency T (one tone at around 13.5khz and another one in the 10khz neighborhood) what types of sounds are best to mask? High frequency like crickets, full spectrum white sound, running water? I am trying to find some type of sound that would help, but I am having hard time finding anything that works - possibly because my ultra high frequency hearing is basically gone.

Bille48 - sorry, in one of the previous posts I named you Ollie - my sincere apologies. Once again, thank you for all the great information you have shared.

 

try to use this site and the many choices of sounds. You can also mix it to your preference. Generally sounds like cicadas, cricket, shower, heavy torrential rain, continuous crashing waves, waterfall, even faucet sounds will be able to mask high pitch T.

https://mynoise.net

 

@TomZ28 How is the rest of your hearing did it affect other frequencies ? is it just the ear where the plug fell out?

I am going through a bad spike myself after an MRI last Monday even though I double protected and it was a 1.5T machine.

 

Thank you Billie - I am trying out different sounds - we will see how it goes.

Eric - one ear got blasted, but interestingly enough both ears got damaged. On the audiogram I have a dip between 4k and 8k and then it gets better till 10k where it drops off steeply (right after the incident the steep decline was about 13k, now it is at 10K).

 

Am considering an MRI. What would be the best kind of earplugs to buy?

 

@TomZ28 I hope you get better. Whether your Tinnitus goes away, diminishes or stays the same, I assure you in time you will feel better. I used to hear mine all the time. It seems incredible but your brain learns to tune it out. For now, try not to loose too much sleep and stay healthy.

I know it seems too much to ask, but try not to focus much on the sounds. You can have some running water near by, or download a white noise app on your phone for when it's bugging you.

Best,
Zug

 

Acoustic Shock Disorder - In just about every professional article on ASD it mentions that almost every person that has tinnitus from a noise exposure should not have HEARING TESTS as this can made the condition worse. Those that have tinnitus from noise exposure should avoid loud noise exposure and headphones that produce noise. This is one reason why so many from countries that have a lot of calls centers like Australia have tinnitus.

 

I had no hearing detectable hearing loss from the MRI compared to my previous test but still got a massive spike. Are you doing any better?

 

Its sooo important to use protection while having this procedure.
i had mine done 3 weeks ago.
no spike thank god! i used both.. earplugs and headphones.