Head Noise Graduated to Tinnitus After Bar Visit?

I went to a restaurant/bar Friday and it was pretty loud, averaging about 85 dB, which is pretty normal for most places.

Ever since I was a kid, returning home from a noisy environment, I would be more aware of this high-pitched broad spectrum noise I'd always hear when it's very quiet. It's difficult to describe and normally barely audible or noticeable. It doesn't have a specific frequency like the fleeting tinnitus I sometimes get. If anything, it seems just outside of the normal hearing spectrum or at the very top of it. Hearing tests don't pick it up. It's also not the kind of ear ringing I'd get after a very loud noise, like when I had microsuction (yikes).

The problem is, this time the awareness has remained. I was fine the next day until I dropped a metal spoon in the sink. Now, the third day, it seems louder than ever and it's driving me crazy. I'm aware of it even when it's not quiet. Does anyone else get this type of tinnitus? Is it even tinnitus?

 

Does your tinnitus increase / change when you push your lower jaw forward?

That's my type of tinnitus.

 

Yes, it does pulse a bit if I move my jaw. You might be on to something as I do have a TMJ disorder.

 

Perhaps consider getting musician's earplugs made to wear on outings like this?

You don't want this to keep happening.

 

Oh for sure - I actually have them and was wearing them for part of the night BUT I have trouble talking with earplugs in - my own voice just feels like it reverberates inside my ears. I definitely can't eat with earplugs - the clicks my TMJ makes become unbearable with earplugs in.

 

It sounds like you’re hearing head/ear tinnitus that is very high frequency. It’s more of a power source/broad spectrum sound because it’s so high pitched, rather than a “normal” tonal sound. This is my most debilitating sound, it can present anywhere from 12 kHz to 16 kHz. It could mean you did some damage to these ranges, although they are the first to naturally go. But in any case, I would lay low off of loud sounds for at least a month and see how it goes.

Did you have any microsuction lately?

Also good to note that you can manipulate it with jaw movement. Many with noise-induced tinnitus, or tinnitus caused by inflammation and/or damage in the cochlea to the tiny hair cells, present this way because decreased auditory signals can cause other surrounding sensory neurons and signals to increase. Dr. Susan Shore’s device is aimed to treat this type of tinnitus.

 

The microsuction was over a year ago. Never doing that again! I had regular tinnitus in the ear they treated, but it faded within an hour. That was a pure tone around 4,000 Hz. The fullness lasted about a week thereafter.

To be honest, I think the high-pitched tinnitus has always been there, I've just become overly aware of it after the outing and my kitchen mishap. It's so high pitched, I can't tell how loud it is, though the more I focus on it the louder it gets. It has to be in the 16-20 kHz range. It feels like 20 kHz static with a 16 kHz irregular pulse. I just need it to calm down.

Oddly, my hearing is above average, so the ENT hasn't been helpful.

 

I can change the intensity of my tnnitus by clenching on my jaw. But these jaw movements should not give you hope of finding an answer. when you move your jaw - the ear drum flexes - which probably is why the tinnitus changes in some way. There is nothing much significant and unexpected in that.