If You've Had Tinnitus in the Past, and It Disappeared...

I have read some stories of tinnitus going away after months or years after tinnitus onset.

I would like to ask members if you've previously had tinnitus in the past and it reduced/or went away completely, where did it come from (noise) and how long did it take?

Myself, had a few rounds of temporary tinnitus lasting no longer for a week before it became "permanent".

 

I had T before for two weeks....and it went away supposedly from an ear infection.
This time is from sudden hearing loss and it's very mild compared to the onset from may 1st. It's not gone away but I am thankful it's quieter.

 

First time I had T it was very severe, and it completely faded away in just over 18 months. (noise from power equipment)
I am in my second bout with T and it has faded over 75% in 10 months. (noise from concert)
Noise induced T can easily take 1-2 years to fade.

 

I have heard similar stories, you are extremely lucky @jjflyman

Please everybody get involved

 

Mine is still living in my head, like that annoying family member that eats all your food and leaves the kitchen all dirty...

 

@jjflyman Well that does give me some hope, I'm currently in my 9th month, noise induced as well. Thanks for sharing. Have you experienced any form of H along with the first and second bouts of T, or aural fullness / mild pain that lasts for many months?

 

Yes, I did/do have H and a fullness in my ears. They had a dull pain for many months too. In the first 6 months my ears would literally hurt when I was exposed to to much everyday noise. The H has improved a lot (75-80%) in 10 months, as has the dull pain and fullness. I have hopes for a full recovery, but I know it's slow. 10 months seems like a long time, but with T & H it just takes a long time. My recovery is only measurable in months, not weeks.
What noise caused your T? Have you seen improvement in 9 months?

 

My guess is it has a lot to do with a combination of how loud (decibels) the noise is and for how long without breaks. Maybe there is a threshold where it causes damage to the ears that is permanent. Below that threshold the exposures may only "injure" the inner ears, and they can recover after time. I may have been lucky, but believe me, the Tinnitus was quite severe, so there is hope for others that are seeing improvement.

 

2-3 weeks of tinnitus that went away completely after a night in a club.

I guess I didn't learn my lesson.

 

Yes it does take a long time. I am currently 14 months from acoustic trauma that caused tinnitus and hyperacusis for me (exposure to a powerful external alarm sounder for maybe 10 minutes) It has faded 90-95% from what it was, hyperacusis completely gone.
If I concentrate on it I can hear a buzzing electrical sound mostly in the left ear but compaired to where I was this time last year it's almost gone and continues to improve.
I don't have issues with loud noise any longer although I will forever be careful with loud noise after this experience.
After the acoustic trauma everything sounded distorted, music sounded terrible, I couldn't hear bass, everything sounded broken and full of treble. Even my balance has been affected.

Now, 14 months later, things are back to normal, no distortion and music sounds full and rich again. Balance appears to be back to normal.

The improvement was very slow, a good year before things felt normal. It really was a terrible experience but thankfully much better now.
Dont believe the 3 months, 6 months time frames quoted by doctors or websites, nerves can take years to repair, I honestly didn't think my hearing would ever sort itself out and the more I read on the internet about it the more fear was installed in me. I thought my life was over as I knew it and was very very depressed in an extremely dark place.

It takes time and lots of it, look after yourself, focus on the positive things in your life, keep active and give it time.

 

My personal conviction is that T (and H) which comes from a very short period of loud noise has a much better chance of improving then T who comes from several years of very loud noise exposure (my case unfortunately)

I want to believe my T (and H) will get better, i have hope.......but if i have to be realistic........i dont think it will

 

You are doing just fine at the moment @TheDanishGirl and I advise you to let things take their course and try not to think negatively : but if I have to be realistic <<< not the best way to think as this belief has a way of making it become a reality.

Take each day as it comes and try to think positivity by embracing all the things that you're able to do instead of the things you cant.
Just a suggestion.
Michael

 

I think that after 1/2 weeks the majority of the tinnitus that has gone would go, but any time after that spontaneous recovery after months or a year or two would be unlikely. I say this because the info I have access to on the net states this.

My noise induced T after a club when from a ring that was heard over a lot of things to only being heard in a quiet environment. That's as good as it got for me.

 

My first round with T lasted 3 days then was gone. It came back 2 weeks later with a vengeance, bringing along it's friends: Hyperacusis, Ear fullness/pressure, and sharp headaches. These all went away within a couple months and the intensity of the T dropped slightly. It has stayed consistent since then. I think the brain can require a long, long time to figure out how to rewire itself and in some cases it never does.

 

I have had very intrusive T in the past where I could here it over everything and I mean everything. When I first got T, I would get constant ear pains, my ears felt full I didn't know what to do. I didn't take any supplements or steroids when T emerged, until I spoke with an Audiologist who after about 1 to 2 months of noise exposure she recommended me to take some steroids (even though I was way out of the recovery time frame). Since then my T did go down, way down until the only place I could hear it was in a quiet room (don't know if the steroids helped or not) but once I educated myself, I started taking supplements and did that for some time (off and on). About almost a year of my onset of my intrusive T, it was quiet an in the background. I had it good, I barely heard it and I was living my life normal again even though I could still hear it in quiet places.

I agree nerves takes time to heal and when I first heard my intrusive T it was loud. It took me a long time to get this point

Now I am going through another bout with intrusive T because of a stupid mistake I made (alcohol/otoxic/loud bar), it's been almost 6 weeks and almost no change in my increase. This time I took steroids (a week later incident) for one week (low dose) then stopped then took it again (higher dose for a few days). Steroids gave the worst symptoms and I was developing major ear pain/fullness (which still hasn't cleared) still feeling numbing pains/fullness/and constant fleeting T.

Now I feel I have to deal with this increase and live my life as if this is my new baseline. I am hoping that within a years time, this increase would go down to what it was before.

 

I'm going to try acoustic cr neuromodulation, this is about getting the brain to "unlearn" the tinnitus and thus reducing the volume.

Has anybody outside the UK saw this advertised in their countries? I see a number of US clinics offering it now. According to my audiologist, the evidence for this treatment is certainly growing and a new study will be completed in the US in two years to further demonstrate its efficacy.

 

My tinnitus reduced significantly to the point I hardly heard it. In 2008 I had a 2nd noise trauma and it took 4 years to habituate. The tinnitus now ranges from: silence, mild, moderate and severe. It no longer reaches extreme severe levels that would last for days.

I have mentioned the above as you have asked the question. My advice to you is to try and forget what happened in the passed. Whether your tinnitus reduced or went away it doesn't matter. It is important to deal with the present and look towards the future by getting the best treatment if you feel that is what you need to help you habituate and I believe it is possible for most people. Once you habituate the past will be insignificant as far as tinnitus is concerned. I try not to think back to the days when my tinnitus was hardly noticeable because it could make me miserable and longing for something that may not be achievable. I am content and happy with my life now even when my tinnitus is severe, because there was a time that it was a lot worse.

Michael

 

Links?

The links given on
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/
seem to contradict your belief.

 

I can't remember where I saw this however on a NHS link it said 11% of chronic cases will spontaneously go away and another link had explained "spontaneous recovery after chronic tinnitus is unlikely"

I do however hope your sources of information are more accurate and don't want to be a downer to people. I guess many studies have not been done on the subject.

 

I'm not going to argue with you about it. The fact is the vast majority of short term noise induced T fades within 6-18 months. This is a fact that has been proven in studies. I'm sure it all has to do with the loudness in decibels and length of exposure.
I'm sorry yours hasn't faded. But to imply after 1-2 weeks it is permanent is incorrect. I'm living proof 2 times.

 

I guess it all depends on how one defines the word "chronic". Hopefully that source assumed T was chronic after 2 years.

 

I hope you are right. Are you not sure though these studies of 6-18 months are not referring to habituation rather than the actual volume of it going down?

 

Jason
I'm so glad your T is fading and I'm happy you posted here.
You should post your story in the successes stories. It would give a lot of people hope and perspective. There are a lot of posters who give incorrect information about time lines for T to fade, and new members could use some real life stories of people who's T has faded significantly.
BTW I have seen studies where short term noise induced Tinnitus can continue to fade for 2 years.
I am 75-80% faded after 10 months (concert). and I plan on posting a success story when I feel 90% improved.

 

They are actual cases of Tinnitus fading, not habituation. My first T (12 years ago noise induced) was screeching loud with pain, fullness and Humming. I would have never thought it would heal,but it faded to absolute zero just over 18 months. But, both my T was caused by short term noise not long term like headphone use or factory work.

 

What was the short term noise exposure? How long did it go on for?

 

@jjflyman My trauma was from an insanely loud wedding reception, that I didn't think would be that loud, so I left my plugs in the car. I always plug up for loud events, and don't know what I was thinking that night. Your symptoms sound very similar to mine, and I'm really glad that you're improving man. Your posts have given me some hope to hold onto, that in time, this too can heal, so thank you. I think I have some slow improvement as well, but it's really hard to tell with this kind of thing. I agree with you, this is one of those things that can only be measured in months. I've had some symptoms completely vanish, such as hearing my heartbeat in my right ear, so that also validates the fact that this can heal. I think my T is less intense than it's been before, I was noticing that today. My sound sensitivity is probably a little better as well, or maybe it's my reaction that's better, which in turn makes it not so bad. It all ties together, the psychological and physical components. Although my H really gets to me, I'm realizing that it's mild compared to other stories I've read about searing burning pain. That sounds absolutely awful, and my heart goes out to those people. I have an irrational fear that mine will get worse, because of those horror stories of this being a progressively worsening condition, but I've stopped reading those, and am implanting your success into my mind! I still have this fullness in both ears, that likes to shift around when I power walk, and that really gets to me. If the fullness / sensitivity / dull pain go, and I'm left with some mild T (which I've often read is the last to go, if it does), I'd be a happy dude, who learned his harsh lesson to wear plugs to ALL potentially loud events, no exceptions.

 

Had T , H and sound distortion from a very loud club in Asia 6 years ago.

Completley went away after 2-3 weeks one morning I woke up and it was gone

This made me too optimistic I was convinced my second T - from shooting rifles - would vanish after a few weeks also but no !

20 months later it's still here but better than at first of course

 

I agree about the fullness/sensitivity/pain. Mine has improved quite a lot, but it is still there. It's like I can "feel" my inner ears. It's a weird sensation. It is getting better, and Tylenol helps. It makes it harder to ignore the T when the dull pain keeps you attention on your ears. It's crazy that a loud concert or reception causes some people a problem and not others. I often wonder how many other people were affected by the concert I went to (or any concert), because I tried to be careful but a lot of others were much closer to the speakers than me. I'm preparing myself mentally that at 10 months in, I have another year to wait before I see my full improvement. I'm really ready to be done with this.
I'm thankful for the improvement so far (about 75%) but it still bothers me in quiet places.
This board can be a place to get support and encouragement, but it can also cause a lot of stress and depression if you listen to some posters. Sometimes reading too many negative posts almost convinces me that I wont get better, when in fact I am getting better.
Thankfully you are seeing improvement too. It is a long journey.

 

Bump, I'm curious if everyone on right is current dealing with their very first onset of T.

 

Encouraging to read noise induced tinnitus can take 6 to 18 months to fade.

On month 6 following one fucking hour on an acoustic piano and my tinnitus is still going ballistic.

No pain; no fullness; no hyperacusis... just tinnitus that wont make its mind up what sound it wants to be.