Anyone Have Their Tinnitus Disappear for a Second?

Does anyone else have moments where your tinnitus just goes completely silent for a second and then resumes? I'm not talking about it being masked or ignored, just GONE for half a second or so.

Lately this has been happening to me once or twice every couple of days. I almost feel like I've lost my hearing for a second when it goes silent because I'm so used to the ringing sound being there, but I know that's not the case, it's just the tinnitus that goes away.

Not sure what it is and can't figure out anything that triggers it.

 

I had my tinnitus gone for 1~2 days sometimes in the last 3 months during the period I had tinnitus.

 

Yes! It does not last longer than a second, but I always think that I've lost my hearing too. I'm not sure what is happening. It did that often after I received intratympanic steroid injections, then I went a couple months where it did not happen.

 

Yes i get that too and i know that i do lose hearing in the ear when it happens because if i'm wearing a masker when it happens i can't hear the masker.
Usualy when it happens it is a sharp pulse sensation followed by momentary loss of T and hearing followed by even louder T for 10 to 30 seconds before going back to what it was.

 

I was on prednizone for 4 days and after the first day I had complete silence and then it slowly came back to its usual irritating level.

 

I have variable tinnitus that can be: completely silent for up to two days. It can then change to mild, moderate or severe, but there is no definite pattern. It no longer reaches extreme severe levels that would last for many days with little variation.

Michael

 

Yep...fairly new ( just over a year ) to T and its evil friend H.
Mine can be so quiet I think its gone for 2/3 days and the it comes back all guns blazing.
It can come back for an hour, a day or Six days. Its random and not related to anything I can pinpoint.
I also find it can vary throughout the day...for example yesterday it was silent until about mid afternoon when it came storming into my consciousness...by Six o'clock every sound (when I was cooking diner ) was intensely irritating and loud and H and T were just loving it.
I think you have to enjoy the quiet moments and take it as a blessing or a sign...of what I have no idea.
The fact that i can be quiet makes me think this is more related to the brain than we will ever know. If it was simple just damage alone to the mechanical parts of the hearing mechanism alone it surely would be constant ?
When its bad try and keep busy, with some quiet background noise that does not irritate it.

 

Where is your other Avatar @Kelvin I got quite used to that? It had a rather dark and mysterious look about it.....

 

This has started happening to me over the last couple years, but very infrequently, and usually late at night.

Pretty weird though, since I didn't have any of these moments of silence for the first ~15 years.

 

I'm back, dark and mysterious...No headphones

 

Much better @Kelvin. It has a dark don't mess with me look because I'm bad...lol

 

Nope. It's been stuck in high gear every since it started. No break.

 

No, but I keep hoping.

 

Thanks for the replies! It’s interesting to hear a couple people have had similar experiences and others totally different ones. T is such a strange animal!

I had I’ve had T for 14 years, but it was hardly noticeable until 4 years ago when it became insanely loud. Now it fluctuates from being sort of loud to very loud, but this is the first time I’ve had these brief moments of silence. Maybe they will show up for others at some point

 

I experienced completely silence for few seconds
but didn't happen for my T only
because Usually I don't listen to my T and try to get distracted by any activity

 

Would you say that you had protected your ears from loud noises during the first 10 years after the onset of your T? Do you know what might have possibly caused your T getting louder after 10 years?

 

I was very careful. But 4 years ago I got an ear infection and that resulted in some hearing loss and the T got way louder. I’ve had noticble ear problems off and on (fullness, vertigo, diplacusis, itching, pain, popping, fluid) ever since

 

Thank you for the information. I don't know anything about ear infections, but I guess if I want to lower the probability of my T getting louder, I ought to start learning about them. Is there anything one could do to reduce one's chance of getting an ear infection?

 

There's people in these forums that would be much more knowledgeable than me. But I believe treating it as soon as possible is best. Prednisone is supposed to be very helpful and a first line of defense in treating sudden deafness.

The doctors didn't seem to know much and said it should resolve. When it didn't and I got vertigo, I went to an ENT who helped with the vertigo, but basically told me to live with the T. I asked questions and she kind of shot them down. I have had jaw issues since getting my wisdom teeth out a couple months prior and wanted to know if that could have contributed and her answer was "It's possible, but I doubt it." She acted like since I had slight T before I should just be used to it and it was no big deal. I even asked about hearing aids, but she said they wouldn't help and that my hearing loss was only slight in the high frequencies, but I could hear before all this and now I suddenly couldn't . A little sympathy would have been nice, but it seemed like there's such an unknown with this kind of thing that they didn't want to say anything. That's when I found these forums thankfully!

 

My ear pressure will shift and suddenly for a short window (some seconds) silence. I don't lose hearing as someone was talking when it happened. It's happened on and off. At night my ear literarily pops and for a second silence.

Gives me hope that if my TMJ stays happy and the muscles loosen my ears will figure out how to equalize and I'll either get silence back or the quieter T I once had.

 

This has been happening to me lately. I keep feeling the “normal” T (which has been 24/7 for about 3 years, non-stop) drop out suddenly, and I expect a “Fleeting T” to come on, but it doesn’t. It is VERY odd. Oftentimes when it happens I don’t realize just how loud my T is until it’s gone for that second.

 

What you are describing is known colloquially as "Fleeting T", and I have had that as well, but this is not that.

 

Despite what my avatar might imply, I got T from an ear-infection as well. I may (did) have done some damage in my youth with loud music, but the straw that broke the camels back was an infection for me, not an acoustic trauma.

Bill, if you're still looking for advice on how to avoid ear infections, I can give you some.

1. If use any reusable ear plugs, was them thoroughly with soap and water and let them dry completely before inserting them.

2. Don't stick your fingers in your ears (SUPER difficult for us T sufferers).

3. When you get a cold, immediately start taking something like Allegra-D to help keep your sinuses clear. A lot of ear infections occur because your nasal passages get backed up and the fluid makes its way back up to your eustachian tubes.

4. When sick, steam inhalation, even if it's just in a hot shower, does wonders.

5. Chew gum to help keep tubes open as well.

In my experience, ear infections in adults is relatively rare and even when it DOES happen, it usually doesn't result in someone being left with permanent T. But it DOES happen, and those people are overrepresented on this board compared to the general population of course.

 

Thank you!

I copied your advice, so now it will be easy for me to find it in the future. I am especially thankful for the information in items #3-5, and especially #3.

 

I actually stopped chewing gum cause it seemed to make my ears feel full, maybe from making my jaw feel a bit tight? I dunno, but I don't do it anymore.

 

Mine goes away for a day at a time, sometimes a day and a half, and it happens on a regular basis now. It was incredibly severe for the first 6 to 8 months, an almost constant 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. Then it began to cycle, and I started having mostly 7 of 10 and 8 of 10 days, with milder days here and there, and even occasional episodes of an hour or so of quiet.

What helped me was the Acoustic Coordinated Reset Modulation therapy discussed on this forum, plus intermittent fasting like the 5:2 diet. The T definitely improved when I slashed carbs from my diet, but I can't resist carbs and so gave up on reducing carbs after a couple weeks.

I also do my best to follow the Back to Silence method, but it's really hard not to describe the tinnitus to myself or compare it from one day to the next. Hopefully someday I'll be able to do that, but I've got a little bit of OCD, and it's easy to get obsessive about tinnitus.

 

Mine dissapears when i pee. And for a short time after a shower.

 

Yes...and it was WONDERFUL. Lasted about a few minutes. Knew it was too good to be true.

 

So glad to hear you’re doing better, Cheza!

 

Yes mine do it if I driving down a hill or move my head. Also went away 2 time almost all day . But when I go to bed it come right back. Strange z I