I Don't Know What Silence Sounds Like

Hi everyone. My name is Cory....and I'm 17 years old. It may seem difficult to believe, but I have been dealing with this ringing sound since I was 13 or 14. It's been so long I cannot remember. I work as a live sound engineer regularly, and have been exposed to loud music (95 dB+) every week since I was 12. I cannot remember what silence sounds like.

I always thought it would go away. That I would be fine the next morning. But that never happened. My parents think it's nothing serious and my siblings don't seem to care. My girlfriend is there for me but she doesn't physically understand it. My tinnitus is a high pitched ringing in both ears, and it doesn't ever seem to be getting better. At the very best it's the same.

Recently (the last couple of days), I've lost sleep. With summer break, I've been avoiding having to go to bed because I can't stand to hear the "silence" of my bedroom, and ambient noise is the only thing that seems to help, if it even does that.

I am a young, unsure, scared person and I was hoping to get some help...an encouraging word, anything. Nobody cares that I can't remember what silence sounds like.

 

Hi Cory and Welcome

I'm am sad to read your story as you are so young. You will find many wonderful people on this forum who understand. I am new and struggling and have been touched by other people who have reached out to give me a welcome and words of encouragement. You have found a great forum. I'm sure more experienced people will be able to give you suggestions regarding helpful treatment. Reading the Success Stories is a great place to start.
Tamika

 

If it makes you feel any better, everybody hears tinnitus in complete silence. I would also add a question that does it matter that you can't remember it? Looking backwards doesn't help in the habituation process. You seem to have continued your life for years with T and to me that is a very positive thing!

In 1953 Heller and Bergman performed an simple and classic experiment. They placed 80 tinnitus free individuals (university members) in a sound proofed room for 5 minutes each, asking them to report on any sounds that might be heard. The subjects thought they might be undergoing a hearing test, but actually experienced 5 minutes of total silence. 93% reported hearing buzzing, pulsing, whistling sounds in the head or ears identical to those reported by tinnitus sufferers. This simple experiment shows almost anyone can detect background electrical activity present in every living nerve cell in the hearing pathways as a sound.

 

Welcome Cory,

At your age, you'll probably experience silence again, because a cure will come and the best years of your life are still ahead.

Btw, go out and buy a nature sound machine and place it on your bed. Hometics makes one for $20. Without it, I couldn't sleep at all.

God bless,

Sailboardman

 

Welcome and don't panic. Being young with T doesn't mean it will be suffering for life time. Young people sometimes can recover faster or better than older members. It also depends on your philosophy or approach towards life. If you can learn to accept T, it is a lot easier to move on with life.

There is a young pretty lady Zoe Cartwright who was completely deaf at young 15, and so her loud T was unmaskable. That seems a horrible fate. But she was smart to make a decision early to accept the reality of T in her life. She said either acceptance or risking a life time of misery. Amazingly, even after 10 years of loud unmaskable T, she made a tinnitus film as a university project and she tells people she loves her life despite T. So her attitude of not reacting to her T negatively has helped her sail though her life without all the negatives. You can read a more detail story of her and also watch her film on page 14 & 15 of the Positivity Thread (at the top of the Support Forum), as in here:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-positivity-thread.3142/page-14

She is not alone for being young and doing well even after T. There is a 12 year old and a 17 year old on TT who wrote their success stories and perhaps others too. So don't worry that you are young with T. Here are a few links of success stories from young people:

success story of 17 years old Zach:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/fake-it-until-you-make-it.7590/

success story of Jari with T since 12 years old:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new.7670/