Dentist Drill Induced Tinnitus Reactive to Any Noise, Including TV and Cell Phone!

My tinnitus began January 3rd, 2023, after my dentist drilled - next thing I know I have loud ringing in my ear. I react to noise: sound therapy is total yuck for me, television seems to bring on spikes, and does a cell phone have some sort of odd silent noise that my ears pick up?

Basically I’m in a pickle - well not a pickle - I’m in total silence - I’m turning off TV.

I’ve been to three doctors and it’s not hearing loss nor infection - it had to be the drill from the dentist.

I work in catering - ha!

I am reading about the introduction of white noise - well please explain why white noise at a low level makes my ears begin to scream? That can’t be the desired result, correct? Would I then assume white noise therapy is not for my reactive tinnitus?

 

Sounds like the hyperacusis I had for a long time. But I think the better term is "recruitment." Basically what's happening is you've got some damaged sound receptive cells in your cochlea, and they're sending signals incorrectly to your brain. For me, it was speakerphones, small electronic speakers, anything that beeped (microwave, car, oven timer, self-checkout, etc), small children's voices.

There's some debate as to whether or not it can be remedied. I my case, it was.

Mine was highly reactive. It got better by exposing my hearing to low levels of noise for a long period of time, then slowly making it louder. Eventually, the reactivity will end. The tinnitus will remain, but it won't react so much to everyday stuff. You could really use any type of sound. I tried pink and white noise at low levels, it helped. Over time though, I switched to listening to jazz and also ambient sounds (forests, rivers, water, etc)... eventually it improved and settled.

If you're finding sound uncomfortable, but unavoidable, buy some filtered musician's earplugs to get by. They can be bought on Amazon for like $30 - $40. They'll at least keep aggravating sounds out in the world in check until you've gained some tolerance back.

 

@Diesel, that's great you recovered from this.

You say loudspeakers were a problem for you. What type of loudspeaker did you use to expose to low-level sound? I presume this speaker did not aggravate your reactivity/tinnitus?

 

Hey @Diesel, how long did you have your reactivity for before it improved? I am just over 6 months, and I cannot say my reactivity is any better than month 2 when it became noticeable. My tinnitus will spike or change character to the smallest noise changes, but constant sounds like running water in the shower, fans, car, etc. are the worst. From months 2-5 I never protected from ambient and every day low-level home sounds, but I limited my noise exposure like taking leave from work, staying home a lot, and driving only when I needed to. None of that seemed to have had a positive effect on my reactivity to where it was calming down. I almost enrolled in sound therapy with noise generating devices through a local TRT specialist a month or so ago, but many on this forum warned me against that.

I would love to know your exact protocol and what sounds you protected yourself against or stayed away from while doing your sound therapy. Thank you!

 

@ErikaS, I would like to share what has helped me a lot. My tinnitus is super reactive, but does not react to this music:

Super Low Frequency Healing Music || Fall...

I play it on moderate volume as much as possible. I think it has helped to desensitize my ears.