Daily Tinnitus Spikes and Reacting with High-Pitch Squeal to Talking, Flushing Toilet, Tap Running

Hi guys,

I have a history of tons of ear issues (patulous Eustachian tubes, sinus issues, 3 different tinnitus tones, pulsatile tinnitus, had a cholesteatoma, slight hearing loss and 3 different types of ear spasms - Tonic Tensor Tympani Syndrome/Middle Ear Myoclonus), but I just wanted some advice regarding regular tinnitus.

I've had tinnitus for a very long time but the past year or so I have been getting daily spikes, sometimes this lasts 10 to 15 seconds like a fleeting tinnitus. Other times it can last hours. So I firstly wondered if anyone else had this, and if you also get that weird feeling along with is, almost feels like you've lost your hearing when it's happening?

My other question is, does anyone know what could be happening with me right now?

I've had a spike, as I do, a loud high pitch one, which is still sticking around, but my ear is now reacting to sounds with a very intense spike sound. So if I talk, flush toilet, have a tap running and other noises, that same ear is reacting with a very, very intense high pitch squeal, and I feel like something has shifted internally.

I have messaged my audiologist of course but I don't think anyone will be able to see me until Monday so just wanted to ask if anyone else has had this happen?

Many thanks and hope you are well

Nadine

 

I don't know about the loss of hearing sensation but some of the other things you mention sounds like reactive tinnitus. Some believe it's reactive because of the hyperacusis.

 

@Marcuso22, thanks so much for your reply, greatly appreciated!

Have you ever experienced this reactive tinnitus yourself?

Also just in general I'm wondering, with you and anyone with tinnitus which I assume is most people on this forum, how often do you get spikes? Like I say, I've had tinnitus for many many years now, various different tones, and tons of other ear issues. But I very rarely used to get spikes, it would just stay at its baseline levels with the different tones, asides from maybe once every month or two. However, the past year I've been getting daily spikes, many many times a day which I never used to so also just wondering how often you and anyone else reading this, get spikes?

All the best and thanks for your help

 

I do suffer multiple spikes everyday. This symptom has gone hand in hand with my decreased sound tolerance, i.e. hyperacusis.

The spikes that you refer to, with the sensation of losing hearing is regular "fleeting tinnitus", which is not considered a "spikes" by the majority. I get this quite frequently as the tinnitus cuts out (most like the feeling of going deaf) and a very loud tone enters and stays from a few seconds to a minute or two.

Does the above spike recede immediately after the noise exposure is over, or does the spike stay for a while afterwards? If it's the former, it could be a kind of "sound distortion", and if it's the latter, it could be decreased sound tolerance, but nobody really knows for sure.

Wish you all the best,
Stacken

 

Hi Swampy, how did your appointment with your audiologist go? Any new diagnosis?

 

Hey there! Thanks very much for the reply I appreciate it

Yeah that's definitely it, fleeting tinnitus, but several times a day. Just find it very odd as I only used to get the fleeting tinnitus maybe a couple times a month but at the moment it's probably 20-50 times a day!

Yeah definitely understand that. I am also getting spikes as in my regular tinnitus sounds that are constant seem to be much louder than they normally are as well on top of the fleeting ones.

The sound stops immediately after the sound stops. Example, flush the toilet, get a horrible intense sound in reaction, but then the sound stops as soon as the noise stops. That's very interesting, thank you very much for that information! Do you have any idea what could cause the sound distortion? Weirdly, my partner had this happen to her ages ago, after a concert once when she was too close to the speakers without sound protection, which explains why she had this issue (luckily for her it went away the next day), but I was just sat on my bed, no loud sound (no loud sound previously either) and got a fleeting tinnitus sensation, but then on top of that, this sound distortion too, just seemed so random, and then the muffled hearing which lasted quite some time too.

I know ears are very complicated sadly, had ear issues my whole life, but I think for the majority of my issues I can at least understand what's causing them, but this sound distortion thing has really confused me because it seemingly has come on so randomly. Although saying that, a lot of my ear issues just seemed to come on randomly over the years too with no real cause to pin point them to, but I mean at least I can understand what is happening inside my body with most of them, if that makes sense. Just confusing why this distortion thing can suddenly happen if there hasn't been anything to trigger it as such. Hmmm.

One other thing I will note, I have 3 different types of ear spasms, all sound and feel different and all have different triggers, but one of them does react to sounds, so people's voices, bags rustling, cutlery clanging and plates, even light switch being pressed sometimes, and my ear has a flutter spasm like a metal sheet being bent, or jam jar lid popping in and out, in response. I know so many ear issues can be connected and I do have Eustachian tube and ear muscle issues so I'm wondering if this distortion to sounds thing could be linked with any other things I have going on. Hmmmm. Definitely need to investigate and ask about all this.

So sorry for everything you have going on as well. Have you had hyperacusis a long time? I know how hard that can be to deal with so I'm very sorry you have this, I hope you can make big strides with it and recover

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate that All the best to you too and to everyone with any ear issues.

 

Heya!

I haven't seen my audiologist yet, it's in a couple of days, but she did get me an emergency appointment to have my hearing checked out to make sure nothing serious was happening. Thankfully my hearing was the same as normal mostly (slight hearing loss) but my sound sensitivity test they did, did show my left ear is more sensitive to sounds than last time. Everything does sound way more muffled on my left side than usual too, but I will discuss that with her when I see her in a couple days.

Thanks so much for checking in, appreciate it and hope you are well

 

Hi @Swampy!

I think the amount of fleeting tinnitus can vary through time. I'll just say that I can experience it 10-20 times per day, while other days may just have a handful.

Of course, this is just my humble speculation. I had real sound distortions right after my acoustic trauma, i.e. some sounds was interpreted by my auditory system as weird pure tones. I also got a tone which behaved exactly like yours, i.e. it drops immediately after noise exposure. During my worsening over the previous months, I can't seem to hear that tone anymore, so I don't know where it went. With time you may find these sound resolving, or otherwise you may get used to it in time, although it's hard. As for sound distortions in general, we don't really know what they are, but it's pretty clear that it's a sign of some type of damage. Maybe nerve damage in the cochlea? Who knows...

I suffer from ear spasms pretty badly. Both spontaneous spasms which can fire of in a rapid succession, but also purely reactive spasms which goes of to most noise with a quick rise or high pitched ones. I also had bad spasms towards my own voice, but that did get better at one point as I used my voice more to talk. In my case, I firmly believe these spasms are a symptom of decreased sound tolerance, i.e. hyperacusis.

I developed mild hyperacusis right after my acoustic trauma in October last year, but it resolved after a month or two. In February I started to protect my hearing literally 24/7 due to anxiety, this put my ears in a vulnerable state, and after a semi-loud noise, I was set back pretty badly. Having not seen any improvements at all while protecting from almost all sound, I'm going to try to gradually increase my sound exposure and see if my hyperacusis improves. Wish me luck in that regard.

All the best to you, @Swampy.
Stacken

 

I used to suffer badly from these types of symptoms. They've reduced in severity over the past two years. Hoping things keep going in the right direction for all of us. Just protect your ears from the worst noises through the day especially when you first wake up, avoid loud music etc.

 

Ah thanks so much for your reply, glad it has reduced in severity for you

Don't worry, I definitely do, I never have my volume loud on anything and avoid loud places as much as I can. Thanks so much and all the best to you

 

Having said that, I've been sitting here listening to Rush and Nightwish whilst I work. With an earplug in my bad ear. Sigh. All things in moderation!

 

Got to still try to enjoy things, as long as we don't have volumes too loud and be careful mate. Wish you all the best!

 

I 110% relate to this. I believe it's called "reactive tinnitus". Mine has been going on like this for a couple of months now. High pitch sound would react to almost any kind of sound, example, TV, fridge or turning on the kettle or microwave. Even walking around the house or driving the car would trigger the high pitch but as soon as stop in silence, the high pitch reduces.

It's strange and frustrating at times and I hope that some day my tinnitus would go back to the way it was. Hopefully.

 

Essentially any sounds above background noise makes my tinnitus increase for 15 minutes to multiple hours. Driving, laundry, dishes, phone calls, etc. Louder sounds that I try to avoid causes ear pain that lasts for a few hours to a day. This process gets better and worse from day to day. My tinnitus is extremely loud some days but while I am amazed as to how loud it is, the sensitivity to normal sound levels and the ear pain is by far the bigger challenge. Tinnitus alone would probably be pretty tolerable.

George

 

Hi Swampy,

A little more than two weeks ago my left ear started acting just like you described it (and for no special reason). A high pitch spike in my left ear that reacts with an even higher pitch to certain ambient sounds. How has this progressed for you? Are you still experiencing this or has it fades away?

I have an appointment with my audiologist, but before that I have to get rid of some ear wax that I apparently had according to the doctor who examined me. He put me on eardrops but that didn’t help so now I have to seek medical help but I’m very unsure which method is best for removing wax (flushing/suction/manual). Everyone seems to have a different opinion and I really don’t want to make my tinnitus worse…

 

Sorry for the mega late reply. I must have missed the notification for this!

It ended up going back to normal for a while (just all my regular sounds and other ear issues and many daily fleeting episodes remaining) but I have had this same intense reactive spike / distortion on top of a regular long lasting spike several times since then. It seems to randomly happen and I’m not sure why. My ear has also decided to have a smaller level of reaction spike just in general now all the time to certain noises such as the kettle boiling, my rain sound machine etc. Honestly no idea why. My TTTS/MEM is also worsening at the moment and my pulsatile tinnitus as well. Hoping to get some answers.

Did you manage to get any answers or help? I hope you are well