Did Sudden Static Sound from My Earbud Really Cause My Tinnitus?

Hi,

I am new here, I need help. My tinnitus started 2 weeks ago and my life is in a downward spiral. I cannot sleep (it is 4 am as I am currently typing). This thing has caused me so much stress that I became sick. I have seen many doctors. One told me that I had earwax buildup in both ears. I went to see an ENT doctor who removed the earwax in both ears and told me that the tinnitus was eventually going to stop.

However, it has been a week and I am going crazy. My ears are fine, another doctor checked, and my eardrums are not damaged. An incident happened and my left earbud stopped working. However, when I put the earbud in my ear, I heard static. Since then the static has not left my left ear. However, I am unsure if it truly is the cause anymore.

The doctor I went to see a few days ago told me that I am prone to stress. I often panic a lot and I know it isn't good for my tinnitus. However, I cannot find ways to manage my stress. It has become harder to calm myself down. I know I shouldn't lose hope. On Tinnitus Talk, I have seen many success stories. But for me, it's been a cycle of trying to get better only to go back to stressing a lot.

I must say I am a University student. University started a week ago. It is hard to focus due to the noise and lack of sleep. This thing is driving me mad. I was unsure of sharing my story but I am growing more desperate each day and need help.

 

No replies? Please someone answer me, I really need some advice to manage this.

 

Do you hear your tinnitus always or only when things get quiet? I recently got it too from headphone usage and I only hear it when I go to sleep. If you don't always hear it I suggest some masking noise during the night as it helps a lot. I know how you feel since I'm also a university student but I hope things get better in the long run since I take better care of my ears now.

 

I only hear it when it's really quiet. Whenever I am alone in my room, I hear it quite clearly. I listen to relaxing sounds that mask the noise during the night, but falling asleep is always a chore.

Does it suddenly spike a lot during the night for you too? That is what happened last night and it felt worse than the past few nights.

I really hope it gets better for us.

 

Sometimes I can feel it much more louder but I think that's because I'm focusing way too much on it. Sleeping is indeed somewhat hard but at least I don't feel tired in the mornings and I can get on with my day. Some people said that over-time symptoms get less and less noticeable.

 

Hey Mary. You are 100% experiencing suffering from anxiety. You should attend to this first. The horror you’re feeling is the feeling it feels to be in constant fear. It is not the tinnitus sound itself.

Just remember you don’t hear the sound for most of the time. So you should be able to find some normalcy in that time. Do some fun things with friends and you’ll realise you haven’t thought about it for a bit. The more this happens, the more you’ll realise you’re totally fine. You’ll also notice that you can clearly define when the anxiety comes on. Because if it was that bad, how come you were able to feel good for an hour or so. It’s all due to where your attention is focused.

We’ve all been through this but unless tinnitus is a piercing constant and loud sound we can easily easily live with it. I think about mine and listen for it all the time because I have a brain that does that. I barely hear it and I most definitely do not have any more anxiety about it unless it spikes.

Remember, have fun, relax and enjoy life. It’s the fear and reading bad stories that is making you feel terrible.

Find some nice relaxing nature sounds for 8 hours on YouTube or Spotify to help distract you when you want to sleep. I thought I’d need that forever yet haven’t needed it for 6 months. Once I cured my anxiety everything was soooo fine.

X

 

If you are having trouble sleeping, then perhaps using some sleeping pills in the short term might help. Sleep deprivation makes everything appear worse.

I understand that starting University is also a stress in itself. It is very likely that your tinnitus will go away, particularly if it has presented at such a low level. Anxiety appears to be making things appear worse than they are. For now avoid using any earbuds or headphones and try to do activities you find relaxing.

 

Yes, I will try to go back to my hobbies, I haven't read in a while because I keep focusing on the sound. I will try my hardest to ignore it and focus on something else during the night. I've had the bad habit of panicking for anything small all my life, it is something that I need to work on. I will relax as much as I can try to forget about the sound and my fears. Thank you so much for this kind comment. I really have to work on this and will do my best to stop panicking because of my tinnitus and not let it have such an effect on me. I need to go back to a normal life.

 

I focus too much on it too, but unfortunately I feel tired all day.

For how long have you had tinnitus and how do you manage it?

 

I'll echo what other people are saying about sleep. Find any means necessary to get proper, full nights of sleep. I had two hours on Thursday night, and spent all of Friday in absolute bits. But I started playing soft rain sounds in the background at night, and I'm feeling a lot more human now. I barely notice it when I'm working, or doing something that needs attention.

I hope you get to the bottom of it though, no sound would definitely be preferable to sound you can ignore.

 

Thank you everyone for the advice.

I will definitely keep my sleep schedule and anxiety in check and try to relax more. And if I have a hard time with sleep, I'll try sleeping pills. I hope all of us get through this and that with time, the tinnitus will be gone for all of us. I will do my best to go back to a normal life, and hopefully go back to silence.

 

About 2 weeks. I avoid using headphones and I try to get as much sleep as possible covering the tinnitus with some background white noise at the lowest level. I also listen to music below 50% volume now. But for me at least I can't hear my tinnitus unless it's really really quiet so even having a window open during the day is enough distraction from it.

I'm keeping a positive attitude through this. My advice is to also go meet some friends for a coffee or something. It's going to take your mind off of it I'm sure. It only somewhat gets to me during the night but I don't think that will be the case if I keep resting my ears and avoid loud noises.

 

Having been in the game for a year, I'd just like to say that the above is very wisely written. Keep doing the things that makes one happy, while protecting the ears from loud noise(maybe even moderate noise). After some time, life will get back on track again and the brain will most likely get used to the noise. It'll become a non-issue and you'll find happiness again, how hard it may seem now.

Stacken

 

Oh we've been having it for the same amount of time. It is the same for me. It is fine during the day but its at night/when it's quiet that it drives me crazy. But if I can ignore it during the day, I can do it during the night. I just have to practice habituation. But I will follow everyone's advice and rest more. I have to keep thinking that it will get better.

 

My tinnitus is still here, although a bit more quiet, but it bothers me when I sleep.

I have seen many threads which seem to link their tinnitus with TMJ or jaw problems. For two weeks, I have been clenching my jaw unconsciously. I'm doing it less, but my teeth hurt.

I wonder if my sudden jaw problems could be the reason it's still here.

 

Hello, I come back to this thread. I have been asking myself a lot of questions about the cause of my tinnitus. I thought it was my left earbud but my brother who tried the earbuds didn't hear any static. He thinks it amplified the sound of the earwax buildup.

The ENT doctor that I saw removed the earwax and didn't tell me if anything was wrong with my ears. I have contacted him again and will see what he will say. On this forum I have seen a lot of threads where people found the reason of their tinnitus to be TMJ or jaw problems.

2 weeks ago, I started clenching my teeth because of the stress that the tinnitus gave me. Although I have slowly been sleeping better, I have been clenching my teeth. I do it less but teeth hurt. I wonder if that could be the reason why it's still there. It seems as though the sound changes from time to time? I sometimes feel like it's louder or quieter at certain times or when I move my mouth?

Either way I have been wondering if my recent teeth problems could be linked to my tinnitus.

 

Update: I got a call from the ENT doctor who told me that everything is fine when it comes to my ears. Now I didn't get tested or anything but I think he would've had there been any problems. I truly think that stress/clenching my teeth is the issue. I will see the dentist on the 19th of October and hopes that they will provide a solution.

 

@Mary39, how are you? How is your tinnitus going? Do you feel better?

 

@Freerunner, hi! I'm doing a little better, my tinnitus is lower and I can sleep a little better too. I am dealing with other problems but they don't concern my ears. But thankfully, the tinnitus has reduced. Thanks for asking!

 

@Mary39, I am so glad you have progress!

Did cleaning your earwax cause you problems afterwards? How was it cleaned?

How did you acquire your tinnitus and do you also have sensitivity to sounds?

 

@Freerunner, thank you!

The doctor used a little vacuum to remove the impacted earwax. It didn't cause any problems, it was fine after.

I am actually quite unsure of how I got my tinnitus. I thought it was the earbud but, I am not so sure. I saw the ENT doctor who didn't find anything wrong. I don't know when I will see him again. As I am dealing with other issues and I will soon see a GP for them.

I do have sound sensitivity (I have misophonia). But lately I feel like some noises are amplified (such as noises from traffic, trains, outside sounds in general...).

 

Update: Yesterday, I went to a longtime friend's birthday party. I was a bit worried about the loud music and other loud noises. I didn't have any protection either. I didn't hear my tinnitus for the whole night. When I came back home, my tinnitus wasn't worse. It hadn't spiked or flared. So now, I don't think my tinnitus is noise induced.