Can Prolonged Use of White Noise at Night Cause Tinnitus?

I have been experiencing left ear tinnitus for about 18 months and now my right ear is beginning to ring. I have been to an ENT and he believes the cause is just age (I'm 65). However I wonder if the use of my white noise machine at night might have caused this.

Can anyone else link the use of white noise at night to tinnitus?

 

At long as it is under 70 dB you technically shouldn’t have an issue.

 

White noise shouldn't normally cause any problems. However, it depends on what type of device you are using to deliver it, as this could cause some irritation to your auditory system. Try using an Oasis sound machine and use "nature sounds" for sound enrichment at night. If you have significant amount of hearing loss, this can cause tinnitus to increase. It might be a good idea to have your hearing checked to see whether you would benefit from a Hearing Aid. Hearing loss can cause tinnitus to develop. Once a person is fitted with a hearing aid/s the tinnitus will usually decrease over time.

Michael

 

Your age is most likely the culprit.

 

Is tinnitus a prelude to hearing loss? I have had ringing in my left ear for 18 months but no noticeable loss of hearing.

 

It's not a prelude to hearing loss, but you definitely have some hearing loss already, people start losing their hearing when they are born.

It's called hidden hearing loss, not measurable on an audiogram.

 

Hearing loss (or another hearing pathology) is the prelude to Tinnitus (not always though).

 

I've noticed that if I sleep with a fan on too loud I always get a bad spike the next day.

 

Because of noisy neighbors in my apartment complex, I used the LectroFan sound/noise machine every night for about 2 and half years. It would run, on bed-stand less than a meter from my head, at medium intensity throughout for the 8 hours or so that I slept. I am in the mid-40's. The maximum sound level of the LectroFan machine seems to be about 85 dB.

During the past 3-4 months I developed dizziness and aural fullness. I started getting tinnitus for the past time 2-3 days ago. These symptoms indicate that I have endolymphatic hydrops/Meniere's, and my ENT doctor agrees.

I cannot help thinking that the machine played some role.

 

Sounds like the machine is the culprit. I think the ear can be particularly sensitive to sound at night. I found an electric heater with a fan overnight near the bed could cause me to wake up with ear fullness, and a spike the next day. I solved the issue by wearing earplugs at night that has helped quite a bit for me.