Hey All!

My name is Scott and I have had tinnitus(ringing, eeeeeeee sound) off and on for many years. Usually it wouldn't last very long, not even a day. Recently, since about 6 days ago, it now has been a persistent noise, just in my right ear, but no noise sensitivity like others have. I don't listen to music very loud and 90% of the time I'm listening to talk radio or podcasts, again not very loud, but maybe it was louder than I thought? It's the only thing I can think that has caused my T to stick around now. I don't go clubbing and I haven't been to a concert in probably 10 years at least. Also, I can still hear perfectly fine as far as I can tell, it's just I now have this additional noise. Even now I can pick up on sounds my wife(who doesn't have T) can't. I have been using these nice Audio-technica headphones for about a year now so I'm not sure why all the sudden it may have done this. They're the type of headphones that cover the ears and dampen everything outside the ear to where conversations are muffled.

As funny as it may sound my concern isn't even for the tinnitus as I've been learning to deal with it and try to habituate. My concern is whether or not I will ever be able to use headphones again for fear it making it worse. Before you answer I've already seen the multitude of comments from Michael and others who are vehemently against headphones, as well as all those who say it hasn't hurt them, so I GUESS I'll just have to see how I do on my own. I can't just listen to my podcasts and such through open speakers that everyone else can hear, as there will undoubtedly be complaints. Plus the people around me are constantly talking or breaking into song, which is super freakin' annoying, and I really need to listen to other stuff to tune them out.

Is listening to talk radio/shows really that bad for tinnitus? I'm wanting to try some audio files that are supposed to help with habituation which of course I would listen to through my headphones. Is that what everyone else does or do they just listen to those kinda things via open speakers? Anyways, this forum has become a daily stop for me these days and reading all the success stories really does help. I just have to give it time.