How It All Began

Hello everyone.

I am 16 years old, and I have some interesting things going on with my tinnitus. It all started 5 weeks ago, after I went to a concert. I was in the 5th row or so, and it was at least 110 decibels. I was going to wear earplugs, but people said you’ll be fine. Big mistake. After the concert, I had muddled hearing, which went away after an hour or so. That night, I noticed ringing in both of my ears, and was very worried about it. I saw these horror stories about it never going away.

The next morning, the original tone was gone, and a high pitched tone was in both ears. Generally, I could only hear it if it was quiet. I continued to worry about it until I got some prednisone from my ENT. My ENT is better than most other ones, and told me that it would go down if I don’t worry about it, although it could take a long time. I was relieved from this, but I flew recently and started to worry about if my music helped to start it. I listened to earbuds and noise cancelling headphones at somewhat high, but not absurd levels throughout the day, from January 2017 in although I would give my ears a break every hour or two. The most I have gone up with my earbuds is 70-75 percent, and 55-60 percent with my Beats Solo 3. I continued it listen to earbuds at 40 percent volume tops, but now,I frequently go down to 25-30 percent or less. Now, I am listening through speakers more frequently. I continued to worry about it through my vacation, and got a few minor spikes which made it hard to sleep. Stress in particular makes it louder. This is when I also noticed my hyperacusis kicking in. Some people had a distorted sound to their voice, and I would wince at a sudden loud sound. It probably didn’t help that I was exposed to 85-90 decibel sounds for 2-3 hours at a time on a couple days.

I went to summer camp, which kept my mind of it for a week or so, although hyperacusis was bothering me. One of my camp mates spoke and laughed really loud, on the order of 95-100 decibels, and this became painful after repeated exposure. I then went into a downward spiral of stress, thinking that this could be permanent. Shortly after I got home, my ENT gave me some more medicine which reduced the volume of the tinnitus.

Today, I am doing better, although I am still stressed about tinnitus and hyperacusis. The tinnitus is probably at a 2 right now, and is generally only audible if the ambient sound is above 50 decibels. H is a problem, and manifests itself when my dogs bark. I measured my bigger dog bark at 107 decibels. I’d say 85-90 dB is my wince threshold for now. As far as hearing goes, even though I haven’t gone to an audiologist just yet, I have “tested” my hearing with a couple apps. One tested my ability to hear 250, 1000, 2000, 4000, and 8000 hertz. I could hear all these frequencies below 0 decibels, even the noise notch 4000 hertz. The other app tested my hearing age. These tones were about 50 decibels. From 6000-10000 hertz, there is no problem. There is a slight dip (5-10 decibels) between 10000-14000. Another drop occurs at 15000. 16000 is quite soft. At 17000, I can’t hear out of my right ear. At 17500, I can barely hear out of my left ear, and at 18000, I can’t hear anything. As for my tinnitus itself, it’s almost just like a head noise now. It spiked up a little bit earlier from stress, but these tend to go down in a few hours or the next morning.

There are still some things I am wondering. How can one concert do this to me? I have never experienced tinnitus before, even after going to sporting events and listening to music for a few hours at a time, and I almost never had muffler hearing. As for hyperacusis, I’ve always had it to some extent. But the concert made it much worse, although I am doing a little better now. How can my friends that are in marching band with 250 members that plays for 10 hours a day during summer, and all those practices during school, and doing this for 3 years not get tinnitus and/or hyperacusis without earplugs? Same applies to kids who blast music at full volume. One of my friends is his mid 30s, has been to hundreds of concerts and played in Heavy Metal bands since he was 16, all without earbuds, and he can hear up to 16000 hertz, hear 4000 hertz up to 15 decibels, and does not have tinnitus? How can that be? I do have pretty bad anxiety disorder, and I am very stressed out during school, trying to make the grade. Did this make more susceptible to damage, and will it last forever if I worry about it constantly? In the short term, I’m very worried my constant anxiety and stress will make bigger spikes in school because of the constant stress. I can control the T with my jaw, which makes it louder in the left ear. When I yawn, the original tone comes back for a few seconds until I relax my mouth, and accompanied by a thump when it stops. When I swallow or sometimes yawn, my ear crackles, sometimes they pop. The main tinnitus ear will switch from time to time, sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes just pure “head noise”. Is this normal? I use pink noise and a fan to help me sleep and heal. I sleep on my side. Does sleeping on my side give the ear in the pillow no time to recover or “reset” it’s progress? Finally, Is there any chance of tinnitus and hyperacusis going away completely? Any advice would be appreciated @Bill Bauer, @fishbone, and @Contrast.

 

First of all welcome to the forum. We are all created differently and just because your ears got affected due to the concert, it doesn't mean that others' ears will. Our ears are very sensitive and one dramatic trauma can possibly damage them. Tinnitus comes due to many reasons, but NOISE INDUCED events are among the top reasons, why it happens.

You are at the classical/beginner stages of tinnitus. I highly suggest that you protect your ears and look after yourself or it can get WAY worst. It can become very LOUD & intrusive and you do not want that. Lay off the ear buds, headphones. They can possibly further damage your ears.

Will the ringing go away? Maybe, possibly. No one knows and DO NOT listen to anyone that gives you an answer on this. Your ringing could possibly go away, BUT the stress can bring it back and make it worst. You need to protect your ears from now on. DO NOT take this for granted or you can end up like me with HELL ringing in your ears 24-7...

You have a long life ahead of you, start planning it out. yes, you are only 16 but a lot is at stake when it comes to your future....

PS- I have damaged my ears from my teens and at the age of 20 I had the hearing of a 45 year old. My ears were always very poor and it affected my schooling and social activities. So don't take my advice for granted...

 

This shows that within 24 hours you were at a stage that many here take a year to get to. You probably haven't hurt your ears too badly, so as long as you avoid new acoustic traumas, you ought to be ok.

What drug did your ENT give to you?

It is just how it is. I am pretty sure that many of those people will begin experiencing T when they get older. Your experience might motivate you to not be reckless as far as your ears are concerned, so it is possible that you will get the last laugh when you are T free when you are older.

By all means try to take your mind off of it. My guess is that stress might interfere with healing, but if you were going to heal, you are eventually going to heal anyway.

This is common (even among the people with healthy ears).

It is not unusual.

Yes. T tends to fade for most people, and some report hearing silence again. This is especially true since your symptoms 24 hours after your acoustic trauma were so minor. You are young, so your ears are more resilient - your outlook ought to reflect that.

To get a sense of how likely your T might go away, check out the studies listed in the thread below
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-many-recover-3-studies.21441/

Don't worry about H - it ought to go away sometime in the next 6-12 months.

It is possible that now that you have T, your ears have been compromised. You might want to listen to the signals given to you by your body (your H), and avoid all of the noises that feel too loud to you. This is like saying that after you break your arm, it is a good idea to avoid the activities that make your arm hurt.

Consider avoiding even the moderate noises (e.g., a vacuum cleaner, a blender, a lawn mower), whenever you can help it. Earplugs can provide a false sense of security, if I were you, I would not be attending any concerts any time soon (at least in the next 12-24 months), even while wearing earplugs. You also don't want to get Too paranoid about noise. Do what you can, but if you still get exposed to noise, don't worry too much about it. Just try to learn from your mistakes.

You might consider getting one of those anti-barking dog collars for your dogs.

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

and

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/learn-from-others-mistakes.29437/

 

Fishbone,


Thank you for the advice. I have made precautions to protect my ears, and I bring earplugs if I suspect something will be loud. Concerning headphones, even if my T and H dissapear completely, is it still not safe to use earbuds/headphones at a low volume? I’m a music lover, so I’m kind of bummed out about no headphones. I’m also considering notched music or white noise therapy if T persists. Any suggestions about what that means for me, because those require headphones.

 

Bill,

I found your advice really helpful. However, I do have a concern. I am in the school concert band, and I am exposed to 90-95 decibels for about 30 minutes total. I am worried that I might be unsafe in this environment, even with custom molded earplugs. I don’t want to end up quiting band though, as I am a big music lover.

P.S. I used prendisone at first, but I don’t know the name of the second drug.

 

I would not use them at all. I listened to loud music, using headphones back when I was a teen and into my 20s. For sure it affected my hearing and my tinnitus. T & H might be gone today, but they can be back. Once the ears are affected, they could possibly get T & H again. Play it safe, trust me on this.

I got tinnitus as a teen too and I had no one to advise me back then or educate me. Now it's beyond intrusive and just a mess that you DO NOT want to ever have....

 

I can answer this one too. Exposure to that kind of music, even with ear plugs can bother your ears. Even if the ear plugs were able to protect the ears, the stress that environment puts on you mentally and on your ears can down the line possibly lead to tinnitus and it getting louder. When I go to concerts and I have ear plugs, my ears after the shows seem to spike for a bit. It's not fully due to the show itself, it's also having ear plugs that cram up my ears for 2-4 hours. it also could be the environment and the arena.

Tinnitus happens possibly due to:

Stress
Loud noise
Meds
physical issues (neck/jaw/spine)
Illnesses

There are many reason why it happens.

I'd give up music and playing in the band. That's what I would do. it's up to you what YOU do, it's your call and choice.

 

This is going to be tough. I attend a large school with 3500-4000 kids. The lunchroom and hallways can easily get to 80-85 decibels. Similar problem with car and bus rides. Can’t wait for a true cure that will enable our ears to become more durable (will always protect them though).

 

In all honesty, the illnesses,Meds, concerts and constant LOUD parties,dancing by speakers ,pubs and loud social scenes gave me my LOUD intrusive tinnitus I have today. All of those factors also damaged my hearing as well. 80-85 decibels will not do the damage compared, to what I have listed. If you have bad hyperacusis, it might rattle you a little, but your hearing should not take a deep hit from 80dbs. I want you to live your life and enjoy it , just use ear plugs in VERY loud spots. I use a db meter, if i am in a spot that I feel is loud and just see how loud it is.

You still can live a good life, just protect your ears

 

It is entirely possible that quitting the band won't make any difference to your T. There is also a chance that staying in the band would cause your T to become louder (possibly permanently). It is a gamble - choose wisely...

I feel the exact same way.

 

Why the hell aren't we educating people on this?

 

Kids/teens need this education badly....

 

Everyone does. Its crazy!!

 

True. It's horrible and lives do change once this menace hits...

 

Tell me about it.

 

Well there’s no turning back now, I’m still in band. The good news is that I am always at the front of the band instead of the middle or back where there is more sound. I’m getting custom earplugs with a 30 dB reduction. Shouldn’t be too bad I guess? Never had a spike from a 60 dB sound, except from my tinnitus pitch.

 

No one knows if tinnitus will go away completely or why it does fade.
but it seems painful hyperacusis can be reduced through sound therapy, whitenoise, enviormental noise.

tinnitus caused by acoustic trauma + painful hyperacusis guarantees you have some hearing loss guaranteed.

Avoid headphones, and loud noises.

Smart move getting the predisone steroid.

What medicine did your ENT give you that caused your tinnitus to go down?

One concert could be all it takes to damage synaptic connections in the inner ear.

Sorry about your situation, my only advice is how to treat painful hyperacusis with sound therapy
and wait until a hearing loss trial or Susan Shore's device succeeds clinicial trials

 

well, maybe it's coming soon with FX322 I just wish that they would hurry up and come off with more info.

 

I am currently trying notched white noise to combat these. Both T and H have gone down somewhat, mostly H though. Left ear is better than the right. According to Audiogram app, I have “perfect” hearing, even in my bad ear, although I do agree on synapse damage above 10,500 hz (approximate tinnitus pitch). I recently went cold turkey on headphones, and do everything I can to avoid loud places. I don’t know what the name of the drug my ENT gave me. I’ll try to find out if I can. Yes, that was all it took. Not even very faint, temporary T before that. Trust me, I would notice even the slightest amount of ringing pretty quickly. Yes, I am waiting for the device. Hopefully, I can get my hands on it before I start college. If a true cure comes out within 10 years, I will gladly take it, even if my T does go away. No more living with paper ears.

 

If you end up getting spikes, I hope you will consider doing the sensible thing.

 

Have you done DPOAE? My audiogram was perfect back in Occtober 2017, but the DPOAE revealed that I had damaged my cochlea cells outer.

 

I go to the audiologist on the 28th.

 

Nice
I am going in next month to see if my hearing has improved or worsened. I did an audiogram October 2017 (normal-very good), January 2018 (Normal), February (25db hearing loss)...time for another one for the 1 year anniversary