Headphones Responsible?

Hello, i recently just got Tinnitus, its constant high pitch whine in my head super annoying and im only just managing to grin and bear it, but i need to know if its Permanent or Temporary since my ENT just pulled the o'l " just have to live with it " card.... as im sure many of you know all too well..

I dont know where it truly came from but apparntly a Sinus infection but theres something else too.

Im a big gamer and ive probably worn a headset for many years.

Ive always been extremely careful with my head set, i listen to it on low/mid-low never ever close to max.

In recent years my headset had a mind of its own and it used to jump from whatever i was listening to volume up to max randomly, a driver glitch in the software, i wud throw the headset off in and instant like one of those videos on youtube where the volume is all messed up for headphone users. I dont think i ever let it reach max volume but these headphones are V loud, like i would listen to them on a 2-6 /100, so 100/100 is like u can hear music from across the room, i want to say i threw them off before they ever managed to reach max, so the noise exposure wud be somewhere between 0-1.5 seconds.

I didn't think of it much as i wud just pop them back on afterwards and carry on as usual, get tired, go to sleep. all was well.

T

I cant say how loud they were but.. well pretty fucking loud, enough to make my body instantly react and throw them off, like one of those jump scare videos.

i want to say ive always had some form of Tinnitus, but never ringing, and it was always a kind of static sound and mild enough to not even know what it was, i just thought thats what my ears do after a long days gaming session. like a 0.2 /10 compared to what im experiencing now. which is about a 8/10.

here were times where after a LONG session of gaming like 8 hours, id get a temporary ring after i took off my headset. but it wud settle within minuites.

I then got a sinus infection and thats where it started, it transitioned from roaring to mild rining, Dr gave me steroids which didnt do anything.

Visited the ENT a few months later after a long wait, he looked at my ears and said they looked fine, and the hearing test results came back normal.

So according to the ENT my hearing is normal, but does that mean my ears are not damaged?

If its just the Sinus infection they got a chance to heal but if its the Headphone damage i think its pretty permanent...

I want to believe it was the Sinus infection that got me, but is the headphone thing possible, i mean my hearing is fine, and the Tympometry ear pressure thingy whatever its called came back normal too.

To reiterate hearing = fine, but could i still of caused enough damage to them to cause Tinnitus?

I've read that sudden loud bursts of noise can ruin your hearing, even if its for a second, even though it came after the Sinus infection im really scared that it was a big contributor.

I just want to wake up one day and go back to how my life was instead of obsessing over this dumb shit every day.

I dont know how to cope at the moment all i can think of is how i will never be able to enjoy anything ever again, im a fairly lazy guy so chilling out on my bed or gaming was a huge part of what i am, not being able to do these things anymore is incredibly demoralising, and whats more im not depressing im just so angry and on edge constantly.

And mostly how these stupid fucking headphones probably just ruined my life.


I haven't done alot of research at the moment but is there any kind of Real Cure in the works like stem cells or brain surgery or anything. the only thing i can found was some finger tapping technique that makes it go away for about 5 seconds before returning and some retaining therapy which sounds like BS, about the same as trying to help someone whos on fire by telling them to picture a cold place.

Could this be temprary? or am i screwed for life without silence

Anyway i just needed to vent before i go kill myself or something.

Peace.

 

Hi John,
It could have been sinus problems and take ages for ears to settle down and allergy tablets can help.
If it's due to a loud head set then only time will tell if it goes but it's a good sign your tests were ok.
Also stress can cause tinnitus and some games can stress you out wanting to throw the controls if anything like my 21 year old son as he does get his hair off with them.
Maybe give your games a break and head set just for a while and see how you go.
Try reduce salty food and sugar too...lots of love glynis

 

Hi Jon

As you are a new case it may go away completely or lower in volume. I would avoid headsets for now though. You can still game though, why do you say you can't do that anymore?

 

I got my T from headphones...

 

You got your T from loud music through headphones.
It's not the headphones that gave you T, it's the loud music. You would have gotten the same T if the same amount of decibels had reached your ears from a speaker 20 feet away from you.

It's not the sound delivery mechanism that matters, it's how much sound you end up getting into your ear.