Hello, I've Had Mild Tinnitus Since 1981 but It Just Got Worse

I got an ear infection in my 20s, and have had mild tinnitus ever since. GPs over the years have: prescribed multivitamins; sent me to audiology; looked bored / baffled. I have coped OK with it. However, after four long haul flights last two months, and an incident with a smoke alarm, the tinnitus has worsened noticeably. I was directly underneath a smoke alarm in a Melbourne high-rise, and it went off like the clappers in my right ear, which is where I appear now to have a constant hiss.

It's getting to me a bit.

I wonder if any of you can suggest what I should do?

 

Welcome to the forum.
When tinnitus is new or at a new irritating level,it is advisable to get masking going so you won’t be so anxious and fearful and can sleep better. Stress and anxiety are toxic to T. So try masking if you haven’t done so. When my T was new, I used to mask all day just to prevent panic attacks from hearing my ultra high pitch loud dog whistle T. Try these if you haven't yet. Best of luck. Take good care. God bless.

1) Mask at bed time if having trouble sleeping, by using a sound pillow or sound machine with pillow speakers. There are good sound machine & pillow therapy systems like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Oasis-...d-Oasis-Therapy-System-Speakers/dp/B00MH5HKTA

2) If you need masking on the go, try load an ipod with nature sounds or music using itune. If you have a smart phone, you can download free APPs for soothing or T-masking sounds. Use wisdom in the use of headphones or earbuds as extended use or excessive volume may hurt your ears. Try set the volume slightly below that of your tinnitus.

3) With PC & speakers, you can try these excellent masking sounds to see which one masks best:

TT's excellent audio player: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

or this online sound library, particularly the self-mix nature sounds: https://mynoise.net

or download free sound generator ‘aire freshener’: http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

or click play to mix these sounds with this simple sound generator: http://asoftmurmur.com/

or search youtube with words like 'tinnitus masking sounds', 'white noise', 'rain sound' etc.