Is This True? Tinnitus Becomes Chronic After 3 Months?

It would be very difficult to sue in the U.S. as well. Do you have hearing loss measurable under 8k? Did you have a normal hearing test prior to the incident? Have you never been to a concert, loud event, used headphones or engaged in other activities that can also cause hearing loss and tinnitus? Did the person act with malicious intent knowing his actions could cause long-term harm? Is your tinnitus objective or subjective? If subjective, how can you prove the volume and impact of a sound only you perceive? In other words, what evidence do you have that your tinnitus exists versus that you are suggesting its existence in order to sue?

Obviously, I'm not saying you are making it up. Nor do I need the answers to the above questions. I simply want to point out the very likely line of questioning you would receive and why it would be incredibly difficult to successfully sue.

 

It is also probably difficult to prove that you hear T.

 

Absolutely. Probably nearly impossible in cases of subjective tinnitus.

I think that's what mentally frustrates me with this condition. It's not like a broken bone where the doctor can look and say, "yes, you are in pain." Then again, I've had ENT and audiologists assume I have tinnitus just based off my audiogram.

 

@JurgenG Thanks for the acknowledgement. I don't understand how people can devastate people's lives and walk away like nothing. Also thanks for the understanding and positive vibrations.

I feel my Tinnitus ringing nonstop, it is very acute and intermittent in nature. I hear it over anything else in my surroundings, that's the thing it's louder than anything emitting sound around me.
The audiometry exam shows the damage in the acute frequencies, hence the type of sound. It doesn't fluctuate at all, it's always the same, that's the thing wit it, it never stops nor tones down.

I would like to have a tool to help rate it, is there such a tool out there?

After the yell, which wasn't at all like being yelled out by someone being just rude, this guy had his mouth touching my left ear, there was no space in between. Add the cupping of his hands, that scream went straight to my brain. Immediately I felt dizzy, my head felt pounded like it was going to explode, my ear had a aqueous like small secretion, like if it had cried. I was stunned and lost my balance, even though I was still sitting. Even my jaw felt swollen. My ear felt numb and muffled.
For the next two weeks it was painful to even bite on food.

 

From the entire story that @ChristopherD has told, no it does not show in the slightest that it was malicious intent.

Your ears were weak to begin with. So its not his fault that that was the last straw that got you tinnitus. You could have just as likely gone to a club that night that would have had the same result. We know nothing of your ear health or health in general prior to this. We know nothing about your past exposure to noise. I get that you're distressed, but grow up. You just pulled the short stick in the game of life. Guess what its not fair. But the guy did nothing wrong besides being playful.

 

@Starlord What do you exactly mean by grow up? That's more like what the person whom yelled directly in my ear should have been told. I mean what kind of an adult has to resort to yelling into people's ear? Definitely not a mature person if you ask me, that's not what I expect out of a grown up. We might not share the same definition of what "grow up" means.
You can sound tough and all here in the forum, but the day come where you or one of your loved ones has to put up with a situation like this, maybe not today, not tomorrow, but someday, do me a favor, tell them these wise words of yours, "Grow up." I bet you will remember this forum talk, you can count on that.

I'm American, and this would be the first time in my life I've felt the need to sue someone, and I'm 34 years old. So you stating that Americans are so "sue happy", well I guess is a matter of perspective. I personally would see it as them having the privilege to be able to contest wrong doings against them, a right they have, or even against other external things going against their beliefs, or something tangible being able to defend their land and their property, especially when they feel they have a valid argument and the need to do so. I guess what you must not like is the fact that people have a right to defend themselves, perhaps when that goes against your own particular beliefs.

@Starlord You are free to share your own thoughts, but how you dare invalidate the situation I'm going through only because you think differently?
As a matter of fact, I'm both a dual citizen, and I can attest that how I wish Mexicans could take just half the responsibility that Americans take in regards of efforts to help eradicate world problems. Here in Mexico indigenous people, what I consider the true Mexicans (if there's even such a thing to begin with), are always robbed from their land. I bet they wish they had been granted reserves like they do in US. Here the government can pillage whatever they want from whomever they wish any given Sunday.

@Starlord Making this guy pay his crime, for sure won't resolve my Tinnitus issue. I give you that. But at the very least he will think twice about what he does. Well who knows, years ago, this same guy got knocked unconscious and his nose destroyed with one single punch, after bullying another acquaintance of mine. That contrary to me, he didn't put up with his shit for as much as I tried to not let it get confrontational with me. Which was the reason I didn't want to get him even more rowdy. This guy has already demonstrated multiple times his unwillingness to behave as an adult. So it figures.

@Starlord "Very mature to post a picture of this person?"
Like I own him any sort of respect after for what he did. I mean what kind of disrespect am I generating, when I'm the one in the photo who is also being bullied around?

@Starlord "Your tinnitus would have probably come about anyway if you really had that weak of ears. Maybe they weren't in the best health to begin with."
I've never had weak ears, common on man, I mean Starlord, what a hoot you are to say the stuff you say. I guess everybody who has Tinnitus, then had weaks ears according to your judging. By the way, all the doctors told me I have excellent ears. My audiometry tests show I have above average hearing in my right ear, and my ear defense movements still work like they should, unlike many people who have this symptom or hearing loss, no longer work as they should. With your way of reasoning, we can conclude that every blind person had weak eyes. I've never heard such weak arguments like yours. I'm starting to feel pity for you, for real. I hope you come up with better arguments in life.

@Starlord" If it wasn't him, it could have been a future fire alarm that would be set off, or ambulance that is rushing past you, or even a kid (maybe even your own kid) screaming or crying next to you, or an action movie you see at the theater. Then you would have just as equally blamed them"
Well now you're coming out with all these sound exposure assumptions of things that haven't even occurred, and can't be traced to my actual situation. Plus, I don't have a kid by the way, but I bet you I will teach him better to not yell directly in people's ears, because of the damage it can cause. So I your hypothesis doesn't aid your argument much.

@Starlord "There are lots of unexpected noises in our world. Today I was at a baseball game and a 3 year old was screaming at the top of his lungs. Screaming....not cheering."
He's obviously not as loud as an adult, and didn't yell directly in your ear did he? If you feel such sound from a child was agonizing, I wonder how you would have felt with the scream of an adult directly in your ear, with his hands cupped around to further direct the sound wave.

@Starlord "Besides, how could he have known that you'd get tinnitus from the yelling? He probably doesn't even know about tinnitus....and you probably didn't either till you got it."
Well to answer what you question, well very simple, that's when the ringing started. I had never heard a ringing before in my ear. My ear had never cried before that.
Well, I don't need to poke your eye with my finger, to know I can ruin your vision for the rest of your life now do I?
I'm sure he probably didn't know I would take legal action afterwords either huh?
And one of the few things I agree with you, is that I had no previous knowledge of what Tinnitus was, until this life changing situation. I had never had ear issues before.

 

@Starlord Well if bullying people around is considered a common act of courtesy, then for sure there was no malicious intent, especially after telling this person multiple times to stop his rude and aggressive behavior, which he had already been made aware to him multiple times, and was being told every five minutes that if he could please stop it.

 

I've never heard something more biased than this in my life. But I guess that's what people who hurt others want others to belief.
It's always the typical "How can you prove you didn't have it before?" Well, if it was due to speakers in a night club, well it would only make sense to have both ears damaged, not just the one who absorbed the direct scream. Besides, why would I have ear health exams prior to this if I hadn't ever had any issue with them?
@Starlord While you don't know anything about my past exposure to noise, you do know about this specific exposure I mention. I bet I could scream the same way this guy yelled into my ear, and your conclusion would change, I guarantee you that.

@Starlord "Guess what its not fair. But the guy did nothing wrong besides being playful."
With your obscure ways of reasoning, then bullying is equivalent to being playful, and thus all bullies who damaged people's life were just being "playful". Grow up Starlord. You can fool yourself with all your arguments, but you can't fool the facts.

 

I honestly don't read minds to know what others think, but I'm aware that actions have always had consequences.

 

@Starlord I've been to plenty soccer matches, and I haven't seen anybody creep from behind to yell directly into someone else's ear with their hands cupped around their ear just for the spirit of the match. You're really something Starlord.
Plus your body is different than mine, what a bad comparison.

 

@Starlord All your arguments are weak. For example, how can you prove my ear was weak? You also have nothing to prove your claim.

 

I know what you mean Bill Bauer, that @Starlord guy wants to prove how strong and valid his arguments are, but how can he even prove to us people in this forum that he as well has Tinnitus?
I have the subjective Tinnitus kind myself, and although the audiometry exams show hearing loss, how can a doctor prove it, quantify it or even disprove it? I mean, then all of us in this forum must be out of our minds to be willing to spend all this time, reading all of these experiences for the fun of it, since with this kind reasoning it must then only be a product of our minds. Considering that if you can't prove something, then it fails to exist or had happened.

 

I think Tinnitus research has a long way to go, honestly, I don't think we fully understand it.

 

Why do I have to even prove their was malicious intent? It doesn't take the damage caused nor should it relieve the wrongdoer from the responsibility of his actions. I wasn't given the choice for him to not yell directly in my ear.

 

@Applejuice I've lost the willingness to go out with my friends and events. I find myself wanting to not really socialize that much any more, other than what is required in normal life.
I don't even own a pair of headphones. I will start meditating again, I once took a course and I really enjoyed it. I forgot about meditation.
Right now you made me more self conscious about even picking up the phone and asnwering normal phone calls. Would it be better to answer with my good ear? Is using a telephone for more than ten minutes unhealthy?

 

@JurgenG Can you help me find this information that you mention you found, that claims that bieng yelled out directly in the ear isn't a enough of a cause for Tinnitus damage. I would like to read it, to comprehend better by situation. I would like to question the author.

 

I know what you mean. In feel in a tight situation. Yes, I do have hearing loss measurable under 8k from the audiometry exams, and I could answer more of these questions you present, and I recognize how hard the legal justice system is. Similar to have being raped and having no witness.

 

I share your frustration, and we are obviously not alone. There definitely needs to be more awareness of this symptom.

 

My T was caused by a sonic toothbrush touching the opening of my ear canal for a fraction of a second. It didn't even sound that loud to me. It felt slightly uncomfortable.

Then my T was made worse (switched from a hiss to a high pitch tone that is harder to ignore) after I pressed a loud phone to my ear 5 weeks ago.

So sounds going Directly into your ear can do a lot of damage, and can certainly cause or worsen T.

 

I truly feel bad for your lost shot, I'm really sorry. I would feel torn knowing I screwed my chances...

And I myself felt my now bad more muffled when talking on the phone the other day, it's just that by tradition I've have always used that one and didn't think much of it. I'm going to start answering hands free from now on. I'm glad I'm not too much of a cellphone guy.

 

@ChristopherD If you were as much of an adult you could have just left. No one forced you to be in an uncomfortable environment. Take some responsibility for yourself too then. Maybe he was a jerk especially if you told him to stop, but in no way was he expecting you to have delicate ears, nor is he a criminal as you make him out to be. If you were so mature why did you put that picture of him up. That is very childish. The same way you wrote in your "Cause of tinnitus" section that it was an "Acoustic Trauma - (idiot yelled in straight into my ear)". You could have just written "Acoustic Trauma- Person yelled straight into my ear".

How can I prove that your ears were weak? I can't. I dont know what you exposed them to over the years or your bodies nutrition in keeping everything healthy. But how can you prove that your ears were in good health either? You can't. Just because something doesn't show damage on the surface doesn't mean that its not broken or rotting away on the inside. Audiograms are also useless with tinnitus. Theres so many of us that have tested our hearing and the ears reflexes in protection and what not, but it ends up being flawless. It tells you information on the ear as a whole, but it cannot represent the health of every single hair cell in the cochlea. Just because you never had ear problems, doesn't mean that they were in tip top shape.

As for a child scream and yelling versus and adult yelling, you obviously have never been around children. Children have such shrill voices when they get loud, compared to a deep yell from a man. Not only do I live by a kindergarten/daycare place I also spend a lot of time with my neighbors grandchildren (ages 2 and 4). Children yelling and screaming is inevitable. Even with my damaged and currently frail ears from noise exposure, their screams have never made it worse. For the majority, a person yelling into someones ear won't do damage. Imagine all the parents that have to hold their crying baby for minutes on end almost every day for a year. Yet they never have any problems. So there was some underlying weakness in your ears when a few second shout was enough to do damage.

 

Well it's all a guess ofcourse. But yelling is normally around 90 dB from a metre distance, so if he yelled in your ear from lets say 10 cm you would have gotten only about 105 dB. Let's say it was 110 if he was a bit closer, normally that shouldn't be a problem. But it's more complicated, and here you are with the condition nontheless..

 

@Bill Bauer I just read this post of yours. "So sounds going Direclty into your ear can do a lot of damage, and can certainly cause or worsen T." I didn't understand how you got Tinnitus until now, I would never have known those toothbrushes could do that. They should label those things to watch out for.
Was this at home or over at a dentist? Sounds like it happened at home. We humans are so fragile, I'm surprised how not everybody has Tinnitus, I guess they have other issues. Wow what a bummer... I feel we both really didn't do anything that would be considered as negligence. In my case I should have just walked away when this guy started acting up, I could have cared less about the soccer match, for real, I wasn't even cheering for anybody.

I got a couple of questions for you Bill. Did your eardrum membrane become perforated or not? I want to figure out if the eardrum membrane needs to be perforated in order for one to get the Tinnitus symptom. I understand that some people get it out of stress. I know that mine was due to that direct shout and it did get perforated. But one of the ear doctors I went to, who said she also has Tinnitus, says she got it due to stress. So I'm confused, does the ear membrane need to be perforated to get tinnitus when it is due to acoustic trauma or does it not?

See I'm also in a situation, where the first otorhinolaryngologist I went to after this incident, prior to the first audiometry exam results I took, is telling me not to sue the guy. He definitely made it clear he didn't want to get involved or have to be called upon to jury, which he is required to by law if needed to be. It's not a matter of his personal choice. But since I clearly expressed my intentions, he has avoided providing evidence of what we both saw the first time he inspected my ear with his camera, which was the eardrum perforation.
His posture is that it's just a waste of time, but he says that to me because he really doesn't want to be called, since he doesn't want to be bothered, because he doesn't get paid for it. It was my error telling him all the details of the story, since he then became biased about the situation. But I already caught him lying about this issue. Since he showed me the left eardrum's super small perforation with his camera, a tiny black hole, and we both saw how the membrane was not perfectly stretched like drum, but rather showed damage. He removed the probing camera almost instantly from the bad ear, and weird enough we spent over 2 minutes on the good ear drum. It's been super sketchy. He acknowledge there was damage, but he didn't want to jump into conclusions until the exams. Once I brought them back to him, the perforation had already healed, which occurred prior to the test, which took me over ten days to obtain, because he sent me over to a specific doctor to get them done, and that doctor was out on vacation, so days went on and my ear wasn't exactly like it was when I first when to the specialist. There's still more inconsistencies to the story, but I already refuted his argument of why he didn't provide proof of the first eardrum probing. He said that even if we had, there would have not been a way to prove whose eardrum it was, and that I also refuted, since I proved him how to capture a video with his own instruments, and it clearly could show how it was my ear. All we had to do what start recording with the camera prior to entering the ear, and we could show the progression of the probe filming my face, outer ear, and all the way to the inner ear. After that, he no longer said shit.
Plus, he at first had said eardrum perforations take more than a month to heal, which I have found it is somewhat of a preposterous claim, being that every body is different and heals at a different rate, due to all the variables of different lifestyles and genetic makeup. Therefore, it's absurd to say it takes small perforations to heal more than a month, when they can heal in a week, ten to fifteen days, a month, and can even take longer. I'm sure an alcoholic takes longer to heal than someone who takes care of himself.

What I'm completely sure, is that he wanted it to be heal prior to me taking the test, because I was even able to schedule an appointment with the same doctor sooner on the phone giving another name.
In the recent probing of my eardrum, the perforation was already scared and thus the test results didn't show the perforation.

I really lost a ton of faith in doctors, especially ones that lie in order for their own convenience.

 

It did. One wrong move had thus far completely ruined five months of my life.

My eardrum was fine. T begins when the tiny hairs in the inner ear are damaged... This leads to hearing loss (that often doesn't show up on hearing tests that are very imperfect). The theory is that the neurons in the brain that had a connection to those hairs that no longer provide any signals, get into this bizarre feedback loop...

Too bad that your doctor was not supportive. He might have been fearing for his physical safety (was afraid of the person who did this to you).

 

@Starlord I really don't care what you have to say. I already know what you and you're arguments are made of.

I don't have to leave a place I was invited just because a guy can't control himself. The more you comment the dumber your arguments become, seriously. Expressing myself is not childish, I can say whatever I feel like saying and guess what? I don't need you to approve of what I chose to say.

Hahahhaah..."Maybe he was a jerk...", just maybe? Gotcha, you must really be confident to say such absurd things without thinking others would refute and question your comments. Besides, posting pictures doesn't have to do anything with one's level of matureness. You just don't like that I have evidence to back my claims, unlike you who can't back what you say. I can't remember ever entering a maturity contest here in this forum, did you enter me in it by chance? I'm not trying to be politically correct nor do I owe you an apology for how you react to what I write in this forum. The Internet is free as far as I know, and I'm also free to express myself.

Well I take back what you say, just because I never had ear problems, definitely entitles me say they were in tip top shape, why wouldn't they? Why fix something that works? Leave well enough alone man. You keep digging yourself deeper and deeper in a hole. You say that, "you obviously have never been around children", good luck finding a human being in this world who hasn't been around children. You really make a fool of yourself with your self-righteous speech, it's so absurd that replying to it for a moment helped me forget about my Tinnitus, thanks for that.
I think your thick skull hasn't let you understood yet, that this was not a typical scream being yelled at some sort of distance apart, he was in my left ear cupping his hands. Do you understand the difference? It's hard to get people to understand not so subtle differences, you make that clear to me. By the way, if you still haven't caught on, I only have the tinnitus symptom in my left ear, in other words, "So there was some underlying weakness in your ears when a few second shout was enough to do damage." No there wasn't, my right ear is in perfect condition, like I said the specialist ear, nose and throat doctor said I have a broader range or listening than the average person. She said the exams show that I perceive more sound than other people, that if I had chosen to be a musician it would be very advantageous for me, in terms of picking up different tones. She even went ahead to say that I still can listen better than she does. But that's not my problem, my problem is the subjective Tinnitus.

@Starlord "For the majority, a person yelling into someones ear won't do damage."
I've never heard such stupidity, being blared, one comment after the other. Your comments are really brilliant.

"Imagine all the parents that have to hold their crying baby for minutes on end almost every day for a year. Yet they never have any problems. So there was some underlying weakness in your ears when a few second shout was enough to do damage."
You can say all you want, as long as you don't yell directly in my ears. At the end, I'm really nobody to tell you what to say or think. But what I can say, is that you just don't make sense at all. You just can't compare a baby with full grown man, that just is borderline retarded.

@Starlord Cheers mate!

 

@Bill Bauer Thanks for this feedback Bill. This is a very important detail I needed to know. Because it only proves that regardless of whether I could reproduce the evidence that the actual tympanic membrane got damaged/perforated or not, which had already healed prior to the audiometric tests, makes no difference in terms of the Tinnitus symptom. Tinnitus thus has no direct correlation with it, as in it is not dependent on it. Either way, it did get perforated, the little black whole became scared over, and now shows up as a little white patch.

Since I don't know of any other person who is suffering from Tinnitus in real life, (not that this forum isn't real life), that I could ask questions to them regarding their experience. Finding out about this from a real human, was crucial to me. Thanks again man.

 

@JurgenG His yell was say bone to bone, his mouth touched my ear and he cupped his hands around my ear. In other words he directed the sound and avoided the wave going in all directions as when people normally shout and it goes all over the place.

The more I think of it, it just makes it clear what his intentions were. How could he think that his scream from the top of his lungs would not damage someone's hearing? It makes me shriek just to place myself back in that situation.
My brother is a DJ in Germany, and he tells me his hearing is fucked up for life, both his ears, due to people shouting in his ears all the time when partying and trying to get close to him, since you know how loud it gets in clubs and different venues. I don't recall him stating that he has Tinnitus, he describes it more like some sort of hearing loss. I will ask him again on WhatsApp what he feels and if he hears any kind of ringing in his ears. Although, he has never complained about a particular sound.

Actually, his wife, she's German and she was the first person whom I ever heard say the word Tinnitus, and she said she hears three different kinds of ringings at the same time. I really didn't understand what she said, since I didn't know what it was. But now I truly feel her discomfort. I just didn't comprehend what it was at the time being.

Never did I ever think I would be crippled by that same word she said. Honestly, I admit I was thinking she was very exaggerated and somewhat uptight about how she would complain about noises all the time.
Now I know better, and even though you might never read this Myriam, I'm sorry for have misjudged you in such way. I don't know if this was my punishment, my lack of understanding of what she was saying.

 

Ok well cupping his hands over your ears is just something else. Ear perforation normally only occurs with 140 db or more.

Since you only have a single noise trauma you can still get some improvement if you protect your ears, don't over protect them though. Using the phone is like a headphone so try not to listen to it with your bad ear.

Look up magnesium and Ginko for some supplements.

But you have to understand that people won't understand. Only those close to you. I told my GP that my T is bad and he reacted "must be annoying at night", so I responded that I hear it all the time unless I'm showering and he said "oh but you are busy during the day so that is fine". It's a battle you can't win. It's better to try to focus on yourself right now.

 

It is possible if you get an fMRI scan. It shows the disorganized neuronal activity in your brain with an orange coloring, namely the active areas where there is no external stimuli. It looks pretty cool actually, I can post mine if there is anyone curious about it :B

But this is just the case if you have any neuronal abnormality. If it is only due to an inner ear pathologhy, I'm not sure you can prove that.

 

I wonder, what is the effect of the cupping? You leave other sound of it and you direct it more to the ears, but it doesn't get amplified of course.