Do You Have Tinnitus in One Ear Only?

Hi - new here - looking for feedback from the group

About six years ago I started having constant ringing in my left ear. My right ear is fine - no ringing.
I went to my primary care physician and he referred me to an audiologist who tested my hearing and confirmed hearing loss in the affected ear. He said I had Tinnitus and recommended some supplements to help control the noise. Basically, a pointless meeting. Now fast forward six years later and I still have the ringing and I've noticed that I have trouble at times understanding what people are saying, especially in a crowded space, like a busy restaurant, I have trouble discerning certain words. I've been reading online about Tinnitus and hearing loss in one ear, vs. both, and the results are pretty scary (e.g. brain tumor). Does anybody else on here have Tinnitus and hearing loss in one ear only? Did you have an MRI? What were your results?

 

Hi Thegeen,

I am new also, but put a couple of posts under Habituation tonight if you want an intro. I have experienced the same thing, but told I have only mild hearing loss in one ear, I have slight T in one ear and bad in the other. Realistically a tumor is like a 1% chance, but you should push for an CT SCAN and MRI, the later seems to be harder to get and longer wait time here, just to rule it out. You should probably see an audiologist again to get another audiogram done.

Blair

 

Thanks Blair - I'm making an appt with an ENT tomorrow and will push for the MRI. Glad to have a forum like this one to share information and get support. Best of luck to you...

 

Hi Thegeen,

Hope you get your diagnostic testing soon and a green light result. Yes I just found this forum and there is apparently a Facebook T forum as well I am told.

 

Hi.. I have hearing loss in my left ear since an infant after several week long bouts in the hospital with high fevers,
about 20 years ago the T started, annoying but not something I couldn't deal with.
Lately it drowns out speech, spent over 2 grand on a programmable hearing aid several years ago, didn't help the hearing or T.
It is hard to believe that with all of the advancements in science and health we still can not figure this T out.
Peace..Jay

 

Did you end up getting the mri and what did you find out?

 

No I do not have tinnitus in one ear only, but it's a lot worse in one ear, one ear has loud unmaskable tones. the h is worse in the bad ear too. hearing distortions is worst of all and i have that in both ears as well as a high constant tone shared in both ears pretty much equally.

I am very sad.

 

It would seem so at the moment, but I'm not certain what the deal is...

I remember I had very mild tinnitus as far back as 6 or possibly more years ago. It was so mild I only heard it in complete silence and I remember when I noticed it and sort of thought "has silence always been like that?", but it didn't really bother me at all and I made nothing of it. I completely forgot I even had it and can't even remember noticing it any time up until it fired up much louder a couple months ago.

It's been loud since. When it first fired up, I noticed it in both in ears but it eventually seemed much louder in my right ear. I also have two sounds in my right ear—a high-pitched ringing and a seemingly lower-pitched ring-whirring sound which I can't seem to match the pitch of when I try to for TNT/notch therapy, but in my left ear, I could only hear the higher ringing sound. According to my hearing test from 2015 and from a month ago, I have more hearing loss in that vital midrange in my right ear, which could explain it. Strangely, though, my recent results showed my hearing is no worse than it was in 2015 (I fared a bit better actually...).

Thing is I had had a subtotal perforation in my right ear drum since about mid or late 2015 due to an ear infection, which is why I had the first hearing test done. I put off the tympanoplasty surgery until just last week because the tinnitus flare up really made me heavily consider the health of my hearing. I have the suspicion that if I had not had a gaping hole in my right ear, that maybe whatever damaged that ear more than my left may not have had such an impact on the nerves in my middle and inner ear and my tinnitus wouldn't be so dang loud in this ear. Also keeping my fingers crossed that if my hearing in that ear improves, maybe it'll make my perception of the T even a tad bit lower.

So I'm one week post-op and my tinnitus has been like a dang rollercoaster! But it's as if it's only in my right ear now. At this moment, if I plug my left ear, I simply cannot hear any ringing there, even though it was clearly there (though less than my right ear) before the surgery. I know tinnitus is a common side effect during tympanoplasty recovery even for people who didn't have tinnitus beforehand and for those who do, it can get louder, which is certainly the case for me.

Since the surgery requires the ear to be plugged up with packing to keep the graft in place while it heals, I can barely hear anything out of that ear, so all I hear is ringing in it. So maybe since I perceive it so loudly in one ear from hearing nothing else in it, that is why I can't hear it in my other ear. Idunno. The brain sure is weird. I'm very curious to see how the perception is once I get the packing fully removed next week, and if/how it changes over the next few months as the eardrum fully heals and my nerves around the area repair themselves, and as the packing behind the eardrum dissolves.

 

I had it in both, but it almost completely went in one. Comes back from time to time though.