I Lost Hearing for a Moment and My Tinnitus in One Ear Suddenly Stopped for Hours

While quietly watching TV with my wife last night, my tinnitus in my right ear suddenly stopped and for a brief moment I had zero hearing in that right ear; the hearing returned shortly thereafter, but it seemed slightly more attenuated than before. The right side tinnitus was gone and I was completely surprised.

What was most surprising was I found out that most of my high pitch horrific tinnitus screeching, multiple tones, warbling and discordant sounds were being generated in my right ear; the high pitch (12 kHz) static sounds remained present in my left ear and were unaffected.

These changes brought immediate relief to me and it felt like a massive weight was lifted from my shoulders after more than 5 years of catastrophic tinnitus and 20 years total tinnitus experience. I was amazed how much my right ear had generated the most grief. It was wonderful.

I told my wife about what just happened and mentioned that I would gladly pay someone $100,000 if this could be permanent. She seemed surprised that I would pay that amount, but then she realized the significance this change had after I explained how it impacted me.

Unfortunately, I'm back to 'normal' this morning as it woke me up at 3am per my usual routine; the slight hearing loss is also gone. This loss of right side tinnitus had happened to me once before about a month ago when I woke up to use the bathroom and noticed zero tinnitus in my right ear. It was so dramatic that I couldn't go back to sleep. It gradually came back to full volume within the next several hours.

I don't know what to think about this temporary change; the relief was great but having the tinnitus return to what it was before was depressing. I'd almost rather it didn't happen.

I've seen that others in the success stories have had their chronic tinnitus completely go away, but I've not seen anyone else mention that their long term, chronic tinnitus temporarily stop on one side. Has this ever happened to you? I'm not sure what to make of it. It would be great if it these changes were permanent, but being an expert tinnitus sufferer, it would be devastating if it returned after a long absence.

 

It seems to me that it was an episode of fleeting tinnitus or "SBUTT", where the fleeting tinnitus tone didn't start ringing at all, or it was so low in volume (essentially unnoticeable), or it got muffled quickly by whatever mechanism makes it start/finishes it. The clues that makes me think of that, are the onesidedness and the hearing drop you mention.

I myself have those very frequently (a lot more frequently since my tinnitus onset), although almost always they are accompanied by a loud tone. But they have done all kinds of weirdness, and a few few times there was no loud tone. It just dropped the hearing of the ear, removed my permanent tinnitus and of course brought a weird feeling of blocked'ness.

This is just my explanation, as one can never be sure about the paranoia and havoc ears can bring you, unfortunately.

 

Tinnitus behaves so differently from a person to another that it makes no sense. Last summer COVID-19 had me lying in bed with flu for a few days. When my body temperature reached over 38.5 degree celsius, all my tinnitus tones would fade away completely. I was in awe. It felt so good to be in silence that I was refusing to take meds to bring the temperature down. Unfortunately it only lasted a couple of days. As soon as I got better, the tinnitus came back. Who knows what happened in that silly brain of mine. All I know is I can’t wait to be sick again.

 

Now that you mention it, I remember a louder, high pitch tone preceding the loss of tinnitus and hearing. So this does sound like what you're describing as fleeting tinnitus. I didn't know it could happen to only one ear.

I had assumed that fleeting tinnitus was a random, short term occurrence of tinnitus as opposed to a complete, short term stoppage of constant tinnitus.

Thanks for the reply. Now waiting for the next odd tinnitus symptom to appear, as you never know what will happen next.

 

Yeah well, by definition fleeting tinnitus happens to only one ear at a time. However, people like us (at least I) often experience all kinds of in between crap. Loud tone dropping the hearing, loud tone appearing for half a second not dropping the hearing, no loud tone but hearing dropping, blocked feeling without tone or hearing drop etc etc.

Even though my normal tinnitus is mild (although worsening gradually), I experience all the above a few times per month or a few times per week, sometimes once per day. Thankfully, they all return/have returned to normal. But I like to think it's all "fleeting tinnitus". Or something way worse I can't know about.

I've read a study where it said that people with permanent tinnitus have way more episodes of fleeting tinnitus than normal people, so I guess we are more prone to that shit.

 

I've had that exact same experience several times. It feels really weird, and it does feel great when the tinnitus mysteriously leaves when the hearing in one ear goes away. Fleeting, but an interesting experience. It's as if something travels from below my ear and into it, and then the hearing just leaves for a while. What caused mine is a mystery.