Is Your Tinnitus Touch Reactive?

Hi everybody,

My tinnitus started out as noise only when I touched the right side of my face and neck.
I ignored it to be honest because it didn't bother me and I had no other issues to link it to.
I googled it and nothing came up, so I assumed it was some weird nerve issue, got on with my life.

Since I got the left-sided tinnitus recently I've been paying A LOT of attention to it, now I have noises 24/7.

So when I touch the right side of my face: eye, cheek, lower neck, right side of scalp I hear a jingling in my ears.
Left side it's just the cheek and SCM muscle area.

It can be a super light touch and it doesn't do it 100% of the time, about 75% of the time.
Water touching my face does the same thing.
The sound is like someone... dropping a music box or wind or like a water pipe noise?
I can play horrible music by touching my face.

It's like my touch sensing nerves have become auditory nerves or the two have crosswired somewhere.

Anybody else got this symptom?

 

Yes that's quite common. Somatic tinnitus is the general term for tinnitus that reacts to bodily movements and can have various triggers.

My tinnitus started as noise induced too, which after a few weeks led to somatic element. My ENT doctor said it was due to my bruxism and TMJ, but completely dismissed the noise traumas which kicked it all off.

Do you have any ideas what factors may be behind your somatic tinnitus?

 

Welcome to the forum, oh dear tinnitus has a life of its own.

In your case it sounds like somatic tinnitus. There’s some research Dr. Susan Shore is conducting on it.
You could get in touch with her as yours seems quite a clear case of it... good case study even.
A few people on here can modulate their tinnitus through touch etc.

Hope you’re finding ways forward.

 

I've found that certain neck movements and staying in certain positions too long has a big influence on my tinnitus - positions to the point of completely cancelling out some of my sounds to waking up in (near) silence. So yes, this is a thing, and it might be a big clue as to your tinnitus causes. Definitely do more research!

 

My tinnitus is very, very somatic, too.
I tried to start a thread here: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/somatic-tinnitus-lets-talk-about-the-symptoms.29626/

 

I've taken lots of ototoxic drugs, I've bad TMJ, I've a history of terrible posture, fallen off several horses, I've worked in kind of noisy environments, listened to headphones regularly, I have regular issues with my sinuses and always been prone to colds etc.

My hearing is normal.

Neck and TMJ Physiotherapy have greatly reduced the 24/7 type.
Interestingly my jaw is much worse on the right.
The side my tinnitus started on and that the touch reactive sort is worst on.
It doesn't extend to my forehead, nose, or chin, just the muscles connected to the TMJ.

This latest wave of tinnitus came on a few weeks after stopping an ototoxic drug
And I've had this sort of cold thing for about 6 months that's messing with my eustachian tubes
And I was very stressed
And I had a fall about a month prior which probably gave me whiplash.

 

Hello, are we the same person?

Aside from the otoxic drugs, this is me 100% Also relate to the poor posture part... but all these things happened to me right before my tinnitus kicked in. I didn't think much of the fall before but now that I've been reading up on it, I'm genuinely sure I suffer(ed) from whiplash as a result, and whiplash CAN cause tinnitus... the good news about this is that it means you can greatly reduce your symptoms, too.

Hopefully that applies to both of us, and many in a similar situation. Take care!

 

If you look up the list of ototoxic drugs...it's like most drugs including over the counter cold medications, antibiotics, antihistamines, nasal sprays...
If you'ven taken medication, you've almost definitely taken something ototoxic at some point.

Have you got the touch reactive tinnitus like me?

 

Yeah, I know I have taken them at some point in my life, though aside from painkillers, not all that often and not recently either

In a sense, though actually moving my neck has more influence than a simple touch. Should add that mine is 99% certain to be due to ETD/fluid buildup and neck issues.