Hearing Test with Tinnitus — Can It Make Tinnitus Worse? Advice?

Hi I’m new suffering tinnitus and hyperacusis in left ear. It started 3 weeks ago after a band rehearsal.

My day job is producing music for TV. After leaving work alone for over 2 weeks following the injury I did 3 hours evening mixing work at very low volume level over speakers a few nights ago.
My tinnitus was louder immediately after the 3 hour session and remained so the following day. It’s a little quieter today thankfully.

My question is I have an appointment with a hearing specialist hospital tomorrow. I’m concerned the tones played into my ear during any hearing test could exacerbate my tinnitus further?

What do people think it’s all very new - already thinking about possibly having to give up my present work.

Many thanks.

 

According to my experience you should not worry about tones played into your ear. Audiologist will play tones at different frequencies, but only until you will start to hear them. In other words, as soon as you will barely start to hear specific frequency he will stop, and move to next frequency. For example he will start play certain frequency at very low volume like 5 dB and maybe you will not able to hear it, then he will increase volume to 10 dB and then 15 dB until you will be able to hear it. As soon as you hear sound you will have to notify him and he will move to next frequency.

So no need to be worry about that you will damage your hearing or increase tinnitus because of audio test.

 

Hello and welcome to this board. It's the best resource on the web for tinnitus, bar none. If you're only 3 weeks in, you are probably in a very panicked stage of dealing with tinnitus. Yours could get a lot better, hell, it could still fade away completely.

The tones played during my audiograms were very low, much lower than what I assume you were working with during mixing. The whole test is also quite quick, so you will hopefully not be exposed to anything long enough to spike your T. If you are uncomfortable, let the audiologist know immediately.

Try to avoid this as much as is possible. If you do want/need to move to another quieter line of work, try to line up a new job before leaving your current. Just quitting your job will only exacerbate the feelings of anxiety and uncertainty that tinnitus has brought.

 

Thanks so much for your quick replies it’s been very reassuring.

I’ll see how I go tomorrow at the hospital.

Thanks again

 

Going to ENT this week. I see a lot of people say they do a hearing test. Would those high-pitched sounds in the test possibly worsen the tinnitus? Just want to make sure I'm being super safe and don't do something I regret