How Do You Describe the Degrees of Tinnitus Severity, on a Scale of 0 to 10?

Hi, all. Anyone have similar levels into which you put the degrees of tinnitus severity? I'd be interested to hear anyone having similar experience. I'm sure there are many threads on this sort of thing in this forum.

Here's the way it seems to me, using scale of 0 to 10. In ten years I've only ever gotten as high as 6. I surmise others have gotten to levels 7 to 10. I go up and down between 0 and 6. Days when I'm down to 0 or 1 (usually requiring lots of meditation beforehand or usage of days of low-dose Diphenhydramine) are pure bliss. I say, "Is this how people without tinnitus live all the time?! They have no idea how lucky they are!" When I'm up to 4, 5, or 6, it's very hard to remember what that bliss was like or that it was real. It's like being in a hypnotic state. When the tinnitus drops down to 2, only then do I remember that this relief was possible. Perhaps you know what I mean.

number: sound description---mood caused by sound
7 - 10: extremely loud whistle---horrible, as bad as a mood can be
6: louder whistle---very bad mood, life still worth living but not by a large margin
5: loud whistle ---bad mood
4: crickets have merged into a whistle---annoyed
3: many crickets---slightly annoyed
2: a few crickets---hardly bothered
1: one cricket---feeling fine
0: no sound---bliss

I wasn't really aware that the tinnitus was causing the bad mood until last fall. Before that, I thought something was wrong with my brain that was causing bad mood and tinnitus. This is because the sound didn't seem bothersome to me. I though I was ignoring it. Then, one of my docs told me, "No. The tinnitus is the cause of the bad mood. It's like an annoying air conditioner that's been on for a long time. When someone turns it off, everyone in the room feels relieved and realizes it had been bothering them." That's when I realized he was right and that although I was ignoring the sound, doing so was taking a great toll on me. I'm sure you know exactly what I mean.

 

When you say it was not bothersome to you, so before your doctor’s remark, what thoughts did you have when you would perceive it? Your general mindset in regards to it?

 

It was just like a noisy air conditioner or industrial machine that you "tune out" and ignore. I didn't seem to mind it at all. "I don't mind that stupid sound," I told the docs.

But I noticed that my mood would go up and down with the volume of the tinnitus. So, if I would get up in the morning and perceive a low tinnitus volume for the first few hours of the day, I knew I was going to have a good day. If I perceived my tinnitus loud, I was prepared to have a bad mood that day.

 

I don’t feel my tinnitus changes much in volume. Just maybe perception of it if I concentrate on it more or let it bother me. It’s constant but a pulsing chirping/cricket sort of sound.

Actually, I guess it does change in volume slightly, but only because when louder noises happen, it seems to creep just over the top to be heard. But it doesn’t actually seem “louder”.

Sounds a bit conflicting I know. I’m only just under 3 months in though.

 

I have more of a hissing tinnitus. Five days a week it's a 7; two days out of the week it's a 1. I have been trying to figure out how to get more good days for years. It's crazy, I can have two days of no hissing and then all hell breaks loose.

 

I do know what you mean @JimmyR. My tinnitus is also intermittent. I don't know exactly what my loud days get up to, but I would say a 6. My quiet days are 0 though. I've noticed my tinnitus is cyclical. Is yours cyclical too?