Ear Reacts in Like a Broken Speaker to Certain Loud Noises / Pitches / Frequencies

Hi,

Thanks for reading my post.

I've had tinnitus in my left ear for about 10 months now and I'm still learning how to habituate with it. I have good days and bad days and good months and bad months.

I got a cold about 10 days ago and the cold is just now subsiding, but as a result it blocked my ears as colds usually do and its made my tinnitus turn from 10 months of finding peace with it to unbearable and annoying again.

There is one thing that I just cannot put my finger on and cant seem to find the answer anywhere, so I will try and explain here and maybe someone can relate or help explain what is happening.

Basically when there is a loud noise, or a noise of a certain pitch or frequency my ear reacts in like a sort of broken speaker. For instance, if someone raises their voice, my ear will distort that sound and it becomes like white noise. This also happens with things like hand dryers, or if you were to clap your hands... there are many things that trigger it. It also sounds a bit like a whooshing sound which I figure can be related to pulsatile tinnitus, but this whooshing sound is not from hearing my heartbeat... it's so very difficult to explain as I'm sure many of you can relate.

Does anyone else get this?
Does your tinnitus spike when you have a cold and settle back when the cold has passed?

I'm still learning about how to deal with all these things, and I have mastoid surgery coming up in about a month's time, this is because of a problem in my middle ear caused by infection, and in turn caused my tinnitus.

Any help/suggestions/light you can throw my way would be appreciated.

Thanks
Ben

 

My ear crackles too with certain loud sounds. For example, a hair trimmer too close to my ear sets it off, and I need to wear earplugs for haircut, and using the electric shaver which prevents it.

 

I had that broken speaker effect prior to my onset of tinnitus. Never figured it out.

 

I got this even before tinnitus and think it come from your Eustachian tubes being clogged, should clear eventually after your cold goes away, although if your like me you can suffer this for months.
Ent consultant thinks mine is caused by acid reflux and in turn caused my tinnitus so hopefully when things settle down I’ll get back to normal, t is slowly reducing and ears not blocking as much now although it’s been a long 3 months

 

Benjamin, My right ear responds to higher pitched noises with a type of ring/distortion. I can hear well, though. The rings are tough to deal with. I have had it for 2 months. I don't know exactly what caused it. I literally woke up one day with this condition. Stress or too many loud noises growing up may be responsible.

 

did it improve?

 

Some days are better than others. If I keep busy it helps. It seems like a type of hypersensitivity to certain frequencies. I hope some day it will lessen or go away completely.

 

This is audio pareidolia https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/

 

A week ago I had that exact problem. My left hearing would respond to different type of sounds, would I whistle than my left would translate it to a high pitched tone + static noise. Also loud noises, like cars would translate it to a weird static noise. It was only in my left. This happened when I woke up with some noticeable hearing loss, it felt like earwax blockage (it was not). The weird thing is I first woke up at 6 AM and went to the toilet, there was no hearing loss. Then I went back to sleep and woke up at 9 AM and there it was. My guess is a bad sleeping posture, laying at my side would spike my tinnitus. I took some prednison in the morning and 13 hours later my hearing came back, plus the distortion is gone. But my hearing came back when I layed down in my bed in a neutral position (laying on my back). So I don't know if it's the prednison or laying for at least 3+ hours in the best position for my neck.

 

Have you ever tried this Eustachi Eustachian Tube Exerciser for this? If so, did it help?
https://www.target.com/p/eustachi-eustachian-tube-exerciser-unclog-your-ears-naturally/-/A-50413887

 

I am glad you ear is doing better.

 

It's back to the old electric orchestra

 

I had this for many years before my onset as well. Only in one ear.

 

Yeah, only one ear. Turns out it's the bad ear.

 

Turns out it's my good ear lol.

 

I woke up one morning with an odd full sensation in my right ear and then noticed that high pitched voices and some sounds from phone or TV were all distorted and sounded robotic. Three days later the robotic sounds went away but the ear irritation/fullness never went away and it’s been 8 months.

would you describe the distortion as robotic?

 

Yes!! I have exactly this!! How are you doing now Ben?

 

That can be perceived also when listening to running water, which may sound tinny or metallic.

Some people also describe voices as robotic, metallic, or distorted. I think this is a result of cochlear damage.

 

Yes! I have exactly this. I can’t even listen to music without it sounding tinny/metallic. Is there any chance this will improve?

 

It can change or improve, it is quite individual, so for every person this is different, it evolves in a different way.

 

I have just posted something about this. I know many people here seem to react the way you described it, but for me it is the OPPOSITE. Loud, ongoing, 'irritating' to some, sounds make my T fade in the background and when exposed for long enough, it fades for the rest of the day at least.

 

Do you guys think the distortions could be because parts of our basilar membrane are damaged, so the parts that would normally respond to those frequencies don't and instead produce a cruder ringing noise?

 

Absolutely not. Never been found in autopsy studies to be a cause and it's one continuous membrane so if it was broken "in parts" your hearing would be pretty universally f'd.

 

What do you suspect it is? When I listen to say a grand piano, the "outer-edge" of the notes are amplified beyond the original sound and so it sounds very whistley and bad. I'm super distraught over this as well because music was my passion and now I don't listen to music.

 

Sounds like loudness hyperacusis. Music has been destroyed for me too but for different reasons. It's been almost two years and i grieve every day for it. I know how you feel .

 

Yes I've said it many times but I wanted to be a musician before I got pain hyperacusis and now am aimless in life. I really hope FX-322 and synaptopathy treatments can fix us.

 

I've had this twice now, once after each acoustic shock. It went away both times and now I'm stuck with setbacks that also seem to be getting less severe each time. My guess is the severity of inflammation in the early stage after an acoustic shock is what's leading to that distortion effect.

Have a look at the models on page 4 of this thread and see if you can relate to any of them:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...o-acoustic-shock-synapse-disconnection.41484/

 

Ok interesting, I had a look at the models and I can identify with many of the symptoms.

I can tell I've experienced a setback if my tinnitus becomes electrical sounding and starts fluctuating in volume/pitch. Generally the worse the setback, the more fluctuations and sound distortions I get. I get delayed ear pain as well, for example, I went to an outdoor restaurant that was playing rock music from an amp and experienced intensely painful stabbing several hours later that radiated down my neck.

After a certain volume my ears "cap out" and it feels like pressure is being put on them, maybe this is my body instinctively tightening up in anticipation of a loud noise. My ears give me a warning for what I'm doing when I experience a tingle or small stab of pain, and then I'll stop (playing the bass on a near 0-volume amplifier, for example.)

Interesting that your trend seems to be upwards overall. How long did the distortions last for you? They cause lots of anxiety, feels permanent at least right now. And does hyperacusis turn into hearing loss in the long-run? Seems like the inflammation dies down overtime unless you have another acoustic shock, which even "cured" hyperacusis sufferers are incredibly prone to it seems.

I should add that I've also developed visual snow syndrome since the onset of noxacusis one month ago and I'm guessing it's because of neuronal overexcitability.

 

I agree with you and that inflammation lasts months to years in some cases.

 

Yes it's that tingle or stab that I think indicates a setback and I'd love to know what that is. I still have my doubts but given it seems to be frequency specific and generally non-noxious (I can't get near noxious noise any more) I go with the ATP/Type II sensitization theory more that anything at the moment. I sort of know what you mean that it can be an indicator to stop right now if it's very mild, but generally for me I get a kind of pressure in my ear that tells me to stop but once I get that stab it's too late and the pain will follow. It happened just last week with someone coughing next to me. Straight away I knew it was too much and I went into a small setback for about a week. What I've learned to do now though is just head straight for a silent environment. There seems to be a definite healing pattern to a setback, at first it's too painful for any noise and more worryingly a risk of more damage very easily that quickly turns healing time from weeks to months. Then it turns into a not too painful but still very vulnerable state, and then finally to the point where it gradually starts to build tolerance again. Until next time.

I've noticed the upward trend twice now, unfortunately the first 10 to 12 months were brutal both times, I'd say the distortions and fluctuating tinnitus lasted around 3 - 4 months. The only reason I had the second acoustic shock was because I thought I'd recovered and went back to music and loud stuff (when I say loud, I mean loud in a way that wouldn't affect the vast majority of people). This time I will be very cautious though until I can ever get healed in a measurable way.

I read about your visual snow, I don't know anything about it though because I don't have that symptom. I can't imagine how this can be worse but I hope that if these drugs can fix noxacusis that your visual snow is linked to it as well.

I don't think noxacusis turns into hearing loss in the long run. I think it causes a degree of it at the outset of the acoustic shock or could even be the cause of the acoustic shock but I'd say you were now very unlikely to get near the sort of noise levels needed for further NIHL as setbacks seem to happen at non-noxious levels. Although if setbacks are cochlea ATP release, what damage ATP does to healthy OHCs in the cochlea who knows. I've read that it stimulates nociceptors and also possibly damages OHCs.