Hey Guys, New Member Here!

First off I just want to say hello to everyone--it's comforting seeing a place like this full of people who (presumably) share the same pains as yourself.

My name is Zach, I'm a young adult who has been suffering with what I assume to be Tinnitus for the past 2 years (I really have no clue of an exact time, but 2 years is my best guess. It's been at the very least a year and half.). I describe it as a low, continuous whistling noise in my right ear (more specifically the back-head area behind my right ear?) that is constant and never stops or changes at all in any way.

How did it start? Well, again, I really have a bad concept of time when it comes to the origins of the noise. I honestly have no clue of what started it, or if anything started it for that matter, but I do have a few guesses. I know for a fact around the time before it started 2-3 years ago I frequently played online video games with my friends and wore a bluetooth headset to talk to them. The headset coincidentally(?) went in my right ear and I spent a very large amount of my life for a good year or so using it. I still play with my friends on occasion but nowhere near as much as I did at one point.

Also around this time period, maybe a tad bit before or after, and possibly relating to the bluetooth headset, I went through a series of several ear infections. My parents tell me that I've always had ear trouble (both left and right). During this time period my ears had a hard time draining properly, resulting in wax buildup. The thing is, I haven't really had a bad ear infection since I really started to suffer from the whistling in my ear!

I also used to (and still do)frequently listen to music through ear-buds. I still listen to them during long car rides or occasionally at my home, but due to the earbuds eliminating all noise except the Tinnitus and the music (thus seemingly amplifying my Tinnitus, in a sense) as often as I can, I opt to listen to music through speakers instead. Listening to music through earbuds can sometimes be very annoying due to the noise cancellation.

I do not know if these things attributed to the ringing in my ear as it is today.

Things that help my Tinnitus? As I said before I don't think anything really helps it. I notice people on this website mention different intensities of Tinnitus depending on what they're doing or their environment however my Tinnitus is mostly unaffected by everything. It's the same throughout the entire day and never changes intensity. The only thing I can think of that gives me the impression of relief is that when I go outside I feel as though the noises of nature drown out my Tinnitus. This is the same for other things, such as listening to music or watching Television at moderate volumes, as it prevents me from hearing only the ringing.

I just wanted to post on this website to talk to others who suffer from Tinnitus because it's hard to describe it and discuss it with my family or friends who just don't understand what I'm feeling. If anyone could help me in anyway whether it be pointing me in the right direction or giving me solid information on my specific type of Tinnitus that I don't know already, or anything leading to any sort of relief whatsoever then I would very much so appreciate it! I look forward to talking with you guys. Thanks!

 

You might of got your Tinnitus from those ear infections or maybe it could of been caused by the music on your headphones if the volume was real high. I doubt your Xbox or Playstation headset could give you any hearing damage. Sometimes Tinnitus can actually start just randomly for no reason