Determining Source of Tinnitus Question

Is there any way to determine if tinnitus is noise induced or not? I have no idea what caused my tinnitus and I am considering hyper baric oxygen therapy. To my knowledge it only helps with noise induced tinnitus. It is expensive and does carry some risks... So my question is, is there any viable method to determine if noise was the cause?

 

Well, in terms of acute acoustic trauma, you'd know it by the blast being the loudest thing you ever heard, and it rattling your body and blasting your face.

If you mean long term noise exposure, an audiogram MIGHT show a dip at some frequencies, but in most cases especially in the young, not, as it can not measure synaptopathy (hidden hearing loss).

I think if yours was noise induced, aren't you a bit beyond the window of opportunity for hyperberic oxygen chamber? especially if there are no specific noise incidents you remember around the time of your onset?

 

It wasn't acoustic trauma, it maybe long term noise exposure. The audiogram showed a dip at certain frequencies, specifically my left ear and in the range of the noise here is a picture of audio test:



Their are many things that could have caused this and I am REALLY doing my best to figure out which one did it. However I am not having much success.

"I think if yours was noise induced, aren't you a bit beyond the window of opportunity for hyperberic oxygen chamber?"

No, according to my research HBO can help with in the first few months, even outside of the 3 month window. Also it in some cases it can help notably even years after, the general consensus is the sooner the better.

My concern is the cost, and potential risks as well as the time to do it, considering it might not even be noise related.... could be a massive waste of precious time.

"especially if there are no specific noise incidents you remember around the time of your onset?"

The only noise I am exposed to is headphones and a car radio, both are kind of loud, but nothing to crazy... I just woke up with it one morning. I was under a tremendous amount of stress, anxiety and depression as well as just getting out of a psych facility having one dose of Zyprexa to treat a massive panic attack... So I really don't know what did it because I have so much going on. That being said I am trying to determine if I should do the HBO, because I know the window is closing!

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

Your left ear does have a pattern of NIHL, but I'm not sure why it would be so asymmetric if it was built up with time.
Still, it's not "that bad" in the sense that most audiologists would tell you your hearing is "within normal range".
Is your Tinnitus on the left ear only? Is it tonal? High frequency?

 

This is an interesting thread, and is certainly one that I think about alot - to determine, if at all possible, what caused the tinnitus to suddenly just appear, especially if only in one ear - which is my case. I am going to consult with a different ENT than the one I've been going to, to possibly gain a 2nd opinion and explore the need (if any) for additional testing. I totally get the technical explanation about the damage to hair cells in the ear, but I've yet to receive a good explanation as to why the tinnitus starts in some people and not others. Obviously, not all those who have hearing loss get tinnitus, and likewise I suspect that not all those who have tinnitus have hearing loss either. It sounds like a complex problem with loads of variables, and subsequently no hard and fast rules or answers.

 

I hope you don't expect the ENT doctor to explain to you "why the tinnitus starts in some people and not others".
If you're interested in diagnosing your own case, you should follow the diagnostic flowchart and see where it leads you. You can work on it with your doctor. That may be productive actually.

 

I agree, the asymmetry had me confused as well. The only theory I could come with in the asymmetry is that if it is noise induced the car radio is louder on the left side because I am in the drivers seat... I also considered that I usually sleep on my left side. Only things I could think of that are asymmetric in my lifestyle. The audiologist said my hearing was better than average even at the low points for my age.

"Is your Tinnitus on the left ear only?"
It is in both ears, however it is worse in the left ear.

"Is it tonal?"
I am not sure how to answer this. I wrote a computer program to determine the frequency through comparison. It is almost 6000hhz pure tone. However it does have a slight fluctuation to it.

High frequency?
Not sure if 6k qualifies as high or not, interestingly it is roughly the same frequency in both ears.

On a side note, I am not sure I have any hearing loss, because the dips in the graph from the audiologist were worst around the area where I hear the ringing... about 6k and in the left ear. I think the ringing actually just makes it more difficult to hear, but I don't actually have hearing loss. Kind of like if you struck the same key on 2 pianos and if one of the pianos was quieter than the other. It would be harder to hear the quieter piano compared to the louder one the closer the keys were in frequency. I really have no way to test this. A crude analogy but hopefully my point made sense.

On another note, is hyper baric oxygen therapy helpful in other forms of tinnitus?

 

Thanks for the flowchart! That is quite interesting. I have not really done much perusing around the research section of the forum - guess I probably should be.

 

I'm wondering the same about myself. I've had tinnitus for 1.5 years or so now, and it seems to have been (probably) caused by long term noise exposure (85 to 105dB or so, at least 5 days a week, for 5 or 6 years, 6 to 14 hours per day).

I'm looking forward to trying one of the new treatments that's currently being researched, either gene therapy or the drug therapy that's supposed to regrow the hair cells. But before I do, I want to know for sure whether the issue is the inner ear, the nerve, or just the brain being an idiot.

I had a hearing test with otoacoustic emission test, and so forth, and while it does show some very minor hearing loss, it is just that, and the emission test also showed some issues. I wonder if I should go back and have another test done as it's been almost a year. Kinda curious about it, I think I might.

 

No, not really. The the sonic toothbrush that caused the acoustic trauma that caused my T sounded slightly too loud. I've had T for close to 4 months...