Can Anxiety on Its Own Cause Tinnitus or Hearing Loss?

Hi everyone. I have had tinnitus for a year and I handled it for the most part but two months ago in January the frequency became a little sharper and it has really thrown my life in disarray.

Before that in November 2020 I had increased anxiety with occasional dizziness and a little trouble breathing. I'm generally an anxious person but tinnitus has increased that.

My question is, can high anxiety over a 2.5 month period cause further hearing loss on its own? The audiogram I did in January didn't show hearing loss up to 8 kHz but I haven't had higher frequencies checker.

Do you think it's a temporary spike or could my anxiety have damaged my ears further in those 2.5 months?

 

From readings and experience I believe it can... Maybe through bloodflow impairment... Quite stressful right?

 

@Jim Vasilakis,

Anxiety can definitely cause tinnitus and along with tinnitus you can get hearing fluctuations.

love Glynis.

 

From my anxiety chronic anxiety has a chance of causing hearing damage. My anxiety bout lasted about 2.5 months. Is it possible that further hearing loss bad been caused in such a short amount of time?

I would imagine it would take years for an anxiety disorder to damage the ear, right?

 

Difficult to tell it also probably depends of the level of anxiety and individual profile... You will never know anyway but stress especially long term is generally toxic for your health...

 

I have found conflicting reports online. Some sources believe that anxiety on its own can't cause tinnitus but it can make you more susceptible to having tinnitus with other factors.

I just wish I had a clear answer on why my tinnitus slightly changed after a year of being stable and I want to remove anxiety from the equation.

 

Basically, anxiety causes brain alterations, over activity, over thinking and tinnitus comes from the brain and thrives on it.

Medication, ear problems, neck problems, and noise exposure are other causes.

love Glynis

 

No, I don't think so.

 

But can it cause permanent hearing loss over a period of two months? I'm just trying to figure out why my tinnitus changed after a year of being stable.

 

Hearing loss should always be checked out by first ruling out ear wax, glue ear etc, and then having a hearing test.

I would say tinnitus won't cause permanent hearing loss without an underlying problem.

Like for me I have Bilateral Meniere's Disease.

love Glynis

 

I experienced a lot of changes without identifiable cause... But stress can only make things worse...

 

How do you cope in general? Have you habituated?

 

I have had stress before. This time is something different.

I listen to YouTube neuromodulation tracks daily in very low volume, 10-15%. Is there a chance the change in my tinnitus came from those?

 

@Jim Vasilakis, tinnitus can change in sound and strength and for a reason and no reason at all.

As your tinnitus journey goes on, you will find out what helps you cope the most and what can spike your tinnitus.

If you use headphones or earphones and find they help and give you a break when desperate, then use them on a really low volume but for short times until you know if they are causing problems.

Use external sound if you need to have sound around you, and a pillow speaker at night.

love Glynis

 

My journey with hearing loss and bilateral tinnitus and Meniere's has so far lasted over 25 years.

I've been through running a tinnitus support group with another lady, phone support contact for the BTA, moderator on here and now back as moderator of Tinnitus Hub Facebook group after a break.

Life can be tough with severe bilateral tinnitus and Meniere's with hearing loss but I have great hearing aids with a sea sound masker setting.

A lovely family and a fantastic job taking care of some amazing people.

I went through a divorce 2 years ago and I'm happier now than I've ever been and now back on here. My life is sorted for the better.

My tinnitus and hearing loss will never go away and the hearing can get worse.

I tell my ears do what you want as I don't care anymore and I push to be positive.

Life is worth living, even a noisy one.

love Glynis

 

That's great to hear. I feel for you. When did you habituate for the most part? 3rd year? 4th year?

 

That's comforting. Can neuromodulation videos at low frequency and with speakers make it worse? My ENT says most likely no. They are the only videos that stop my tinnitus for a couple of minutes with residual inhibition.

 

Ears remain haughty monkeys and challenging but my hearing aids help.

love Glynis

 

I don't think sound through speakers at low volume, and for limited periods of time, can make tinnitus or hyperacusis worse.

 

Well not in the sense of acoustic trauma but neuromodulation is supposed to modulate neuronal activity right?

 

It was very low volume, on speakers, apart from 4 times that I used headphones for an hour at a time. The thing is that those YouTube tracks covered my tinnitus completely at 15% volume so I used them a lot while studying 3-4 hours per day, maybe even more. Is there a chance they did damage and changed my tinnitus? I was careful the entire time.

 

If it was very low volume, I don't think it can make any damage.

 

Extremely low. 15% at most. I used them for many hours due to studying for my degrees.

 

Another thing regarding anxiety, does anyone know if an anxiety disorder can cause permanent ear damage over time?

The change in my tinnitus has really affected my psychology so I'm thinking of trying CBT. Maybe it helps with anxiety.

 

I don't think that anxiety can cause physical damage to our hearing mechanism, which would result in tinnitus.

 

Anxiety can definitely cause many different physical problems.

 

Yes but long term ones? I might have anxiety disorder or high anxiety but it appeared 3 months ago.

 

Yes, anxiety alone can cause tinnitus and/or hyperacusis; anxiety and tinnitus & hyperacusis are strongly correlated with one another. In fact, chronic anxiety, as seen in anxiety disorders, can make alterations to the way our nervous system functions. These alterations "overexcite" the nervous system and tinnitus & hyperacusis have often been linked to overexcited nerve cells in various parts of the brain. These alterations are reversible, however.

To give you a specific example: I had a close friend of mine that only experienced tinnitus when doing exams in school (due to the stress). Once her exams were over, her tinnitus disappeared.

To answer your question: anxiety alone can cause long term alterations in our nervous system and induce tinnitus. Fortunately, it's often reversible. It's crucial that you get your anxiety under control. Needless to say, that's easier said than done (I have a panic disorder myself).

 

I would find that unlikely.

 

You are correct that tinnitus and hyperacusis are strongly correlated with one another. However, anxiety can cause tinnitus when stress levels become too intense but hyperacusis is often caused by exposure to loud noise, as a result of a person developing noise induced tinnitus. The hyperacusis can be affected by stress and anxiety but they don't normally cause the condition in the first instance.