External Tinnitus Noise — Could It Have Made an Impact?

When I first developed tinnitus 3 years ago it bothered me for about a week and then I quickly forgot about it because it was so mild. In the times where it did bother me, it'd be very easy to get under control. My tinnitus however isn't like this any more and whilst I am able to deal with it through a little more effort, it's definitely louder than it was before. I'm questioning why I had this sudden increase about a month ago. I haven't thought much of this before, but I have a short story to tell which may have possibly been of influence.

A year after I first noticed my T my mother and I were evicted out of our rental house into temporary accommodation as we couldn't find another place before the lease was up. For awhile we lived in a cheap motel but after awhile mum sacrificed her independent attitude and asked her mum if we could stay with her, and of course she said that's fine. We lived at my grandmothers house for a year and a half. Now, onto the point.. at my grandma's house one thing I noticed when I turned the TV on is that it made quite a noticeable high-pitched ringing sound similar to that of my T. It would briefly bother me, but as I mostly used my laptop and had the TV on for background noise the ringing would go unnoticed. In fact, I found it quite therapeutic for those rare times I became apparent of -my- ringing because I was able to trick myself into thinking it was only the TV and I'd get back to whatever I was doing. So anyway, there wasn't much I could do while mum went out looking for a place of our own so I spent nearly all my time at "home." What I'm getting at is I'm now wondering if having listened to that noise all that time, even if I wasn't aware of it, could have had some kind of effect in increasing the noise I hear in my ear?

I have another side-story that may be of relevance too - at one point my laptop fan had issues that seemed to create a humming/high-pitched noise from the computer. I just put up with it at first because it was my only form of entertainment, but one night my right ear, which usually has no noise coming out of it "burst" and I now had ringing coming from both ears. This had happened before, in the right ear, but usually the noised would only last a couple of seconds. This time it lasted about 3 days and hasn't come back since. I'm unsure if it was just coincidental that I had that computer issue and my ear "burst".

I'm not sure what I hope to get out of this other than yes it could've had an effect or no. I was just reading the Tinnitus Retraining Therapy wikipedia page and it mentions neuron activity at the top and I somehow came to the belief that these events could be related in 'programming' my brain to hear this noise at a greater level than before or something. Anyway, I'd appreciate any thoughts/answers.

 

TJPositive, I can just tell you what happened yesterday. I tried to check the level of my high frequency T (I have it at left ear) using the ATA on line device. I kept the volume of pc low, as recommended, but when I came across almost exactly the sound of my T , just three or four seconds after the same sound appeared in my right ear! So I screamed and switched off the app...I would like to draw a conclusion about it.

 

@Carlo

I've got no real answers either, though I guess we can only speculate.

It's probably a good thing you didn't keep listening if what'd happened to you was anything like what 'happened' to me from the computer, which I am still not sure if it comes into it at all. I just thought though I do remember being rather stressed out about the computer noise. I didn't really believe myself at the time but even before my right ear 'burst' I was paranoid about the computer noise having an effect. Perhaps it was stress that initially spiked my tinnitus and thus bringing my attention firmly back to my ears. It was never like this before.

It's funny hearing myself think of stress as a factor. Even though it may be a legitimate reason for X, it always annoys me when someone is so keen on putting down stress as the #1 cause of everything and anything. There's some truth to it of course, stress is the cause of many bodily things, but I tend to interpret that 'diagnosed' as being "I don't have any real answer so I'll just suggest this thing that covers all." How cynical of me.. haha.