Isaiah Young Here: Tinnitus Likely from Loud Music Through Headphones (Hearing Test Begs to Differ)

Hey guys, I recently developed tinnitus from what I think was noise induced damage from loud music through headphones (although my hearing test begs to differ) and am currently in the midst of struggling through the early days of tinnitus.

I would just really like some assurance that this does in fact get better, my tinnitus is relatively low to moderate, and I'd like to keep it that way, this level of tinnitus already causes me an incredible amount of distress, I can't imagine what I would feel if it was louder.

Anyways feel free to leave tips and tricks, words of advice, and just some support.

Oh and I'd also like to know if Fluoxetine (Prozac) is safe to take for tinnitus? I've seen it can worsen ringing and I don't feel comfortable taking it anymore (been on 20 mg for 1 month, and 40mg 2 days, went back to 20 mg because I'd rather not take the risk at all).

Anyways I welcome myself to the tinnitus family and hope to God I don't become completely miserable!

 

Hello Isaiah!

I trust you are avoiding loud sounds as far as possible, and using earplugs wherever you feel this is difficult. Be careful not to over-use them however. Half an hour at a time maximum, otherwise your hearing may become more sensitive and you may develop hyperacusis.

I'm not sure what you mean about your hearing test. Have you been told by a doctor or audiologist that your condition may be caused by something else, based on the test results?

I was told by an ENT consultant that noise-induced tinnitus could only be caused if you were standing near to an exploding bomb. He clearly had no idea how loud headphones or rock concerts can be. And then he charged me £250 for his mis-diagnosis!

 

My hearing test came back as perfect and he couldn't see any noticeable problems with my ears.

 

Can I have a source on that? Not trying to start conflict, actually curious.

 

So, he probably only ran a standard audiogram. Cause if you're not on the human speech frequencies, why does it matter? I mean, it's not like nature gave you 20herz to 20khz hearing for a reason, right? Anyways, you probably have hearing damage above that 20hz to 8khz range. If you have it, I'd also look to see if you have a decrease at 4khz, as that's an indicator of loud noise exposure.

Advice I'd give?
Get a volume limiter for your phone, and never go above like 33%. Get a white noise generator, or a box fan if that works for you.

 

Have you noticed Any improvement compared to how it was a month ago? If you have had some improvement, it ought to continue to fade.

You will want to make sure that you don't hurt your ears during this period of vulnerability as your body is healing. You will want to avoid taking ototoxic drugs, avoid microsuction or syringing (performed when you need to clean wax out of your ears; a manual tool should be used), and not let your dental hygienist use an ultrasonic scaling tool on you (a manual tool should be used). For more details, see

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

There was a study referenced in another post here, for which I can't find the link, where some of the people in the study had their ears plugged for several hours, and another group did not. It was found the people with their ears plugged were more sensitive to sound after just a few hours. I found this quite shocking as it adds weight to the theory that overprotecting can cause or worsen hyperacusis, even after just a few hours on a temporary basis, with subjects who did not have any existing hearing conditions.

Due to this and the anecdotal evidence from other members here, I've developed a rough rule-of-thumb for myself that I won't use earplugs for more than 30 minutes at a time. Most of the time this is feasible, but there are exceptions, for example if I am travelling I may lightly plug one or both ears; whilst for flying I will have an array of earplugs, noise-cancelling headphones and ear muffs in my bag.

I should probably have said that this is my personal recommendation. Better to err on the safe side. I can't pinpoint the exact moment when I developed hyperacusis, but there may have been a connection with earplug usage.

 

I got it from a multi gun salute at a funeral at the burial ceremony! Never saw it coming. I also play jazz piano and have to use specially molded earplugs. They are not at the highest sound blockage. I play often for more than an hour total. Am I doomed by wearing good ear plugs when I play? Can you allow more and more sound, and have hyperacus reduced in time?