Just Learned the Hard Way That My Phone Beeps When the Battery Is Low

Hope are you feeling Bill? Is the spike still there or has it gone? Is it a minor change to your usual T or a more obvious increase?

 

It is still there the next day (today). The change is that it became more high pitched. The change had clearly/obviously taken place - I am confident that it is not just my imagination. I will give it a couple of weeks/months before allowing myself to panic. Sad.

 

Things seem to get better with time, I'm sure you've learned that here. I'm surprised your ears are so sensitive to loud, brief noises, this far in. I'll make a note of that for the future but I don't see how I, or you, can avoid them.

Perhaps we all have a different 'Achilles heal' when it comes to t. I think these setbacks are a part of having t, there's no way to avoid something kicking up the t. A plate drops in the kitchen or some idiots car alarm being engaged next to us.

Take your own advice and give it some time. A nights sleep often helps things settle a bit.

I carry a dumb phone because I can't find a use for a smart phone besides wasting time. I had an iphone for a week 3 years ago and I took it back and asked for a dumb phone because it was too much of a hassle to learn how to use the thing. If you take away pointless texting, Facebook and watching YouTube how much time spent on a smart phone is productive and how much is cutting into productivity? I know the answer varies but for me a smart phone is too much of a distraction.

 

Also, how is anything you can do with it different from what you can do using a desktop computer (ignoring the fact that you will be more comfortable, have a real keyboard and have a large monitor when you are using a desktop computer).

Once I bought an iPod. I wanted to use it as an mp3 player and as an external hard drive to store music. I was shocked to find out how many hoops one has to go through in order to upload a music file into an iPad. If I remember correctly, once a file is stored on an iPad, it is impossible to make another copy of the file (to move it to a different mp3 player). It is insane that crappy products like that ended up being so successful...

 

It seems tech is making many things more complex. I know they make the company who makes it a ton of money but I'm not sure how much money, or time, it saves the end user with updates, things not working, etc. I think the benefits become negligible.

The frustrating part of the iphone was that it was such a common thing I thought anyone could do it. I couldn't. I didn't want to take a 10 hr course on lynda.com to learn how to use it when I can do everything I need with a dumb phone. By the way, a dumb phone is smaller than a pager used to be and the battery only needs charging every 3-4 days if you don't use it a lot. Try that with a smart phone.

 

@Bill Bauer Don't you usually keep some pred on you?

 

Wow, what phone company makes a phone like that?
Honestly, that's grounds for suing.

This might help if you're serious.

http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/personal-injury/claims-hearing-loss.html

 

VTech.

It was the second cheapest phone at Walmart. I spend very little time using the phone, but I guess I should have gotten a more expensive model...

I have only one 50 mg pill left. Yesterday, I decided to save it, just in case something worse happens.

 

Why not get some more? Honestly, some of the things you've worried about in the past I've been dismissive of (slamming door, dropping a plate) but this case I'd be worried just because of how close it is to the ear. We can objectively say that a fire alarm is louder than a human voice coming through headphones, and yet I've recovered from one and not the other...

Not to mention the many people who have worsened from irrigation/microsuction.

Lol. Battery operated landlane phones have beeped at low battery level ever since I was a kid. It's pretty normal, actually.

 

I made it a point of never buying a phone that wasn't a corded phone. But the last time I needed to buy a phone, there were no reasonable corded phone models for me to buy... So when it beeped (and the beep would have felt loud even if I wasn't holding it close to my ear), it took me completely by surprise... At first I thought it was PayPal that was making those beeps (as I was receiving a call from them to reset my password).

 

Damn, it is still bad. I am kicking myself for not taking my pill of Prednisone... I can't believe I fell for the "it is only a beep" nonsense. What threw me off is that I didn't have any full ear sensation (that and the fact that T naturally fluctuates)... I took NAC, but it is probably useless. Come to think of it, even taking Prednisone (and especially only 1-5 pills, instead of a full course of Prednisone) probably wouldn't have made any difference. I worked hard at protecting my ears, and for many months I was successful. I can't believe that all of that hard work might be undone so easily...

 

On second thought, it is hard to imagine getting Hearing Loss as a result of that beep close to my ear (of course a beep could still have an impact on T). And since Prednisone protects against hearing loss, could it work in my case?!

 

It is for this very reason @New Guy that keeping away from normal everyday sounds even loud ones, is not a good idea, and the overuse of hearing protection should be avoided (although they can be used with caution ) otherwise they can cause more harm than good. Not just a lowering of the loudness threshold of the auditory system will result which makes it more sensitive to sound. In addition is the fear, anxiety and stress it creates. Over time this can lead to additional problems if one isn't careful; such as phonophobia and misophonia.

Over sensitivity of the auditory system which often indicates hyperacusis, if not treated in the manner I have suggested in my post: Hyperacusis, As I see it, then hyperacusis (oversensitivity to sound) will always be a problem. If self help doesn't work then professional help needs to be sought.

Michael

 

The above are the possible costs. The benefit is that one's T won't get louder. Also, there is no fear and anxiety when you are able to stay away from the noise. I would have pulled it off if not for those meddling kids/my lack of knowledge about how uncorded phones work.

Overtime, I noticed that I was MORE tolerant to noises. This contradicts Michael's hypothesis.

 

I am through with you on this particular topic Bill and will not be discussing it further. You thrive on arguing and that's not the reason I am here. Other people in this forum that have successfully habituated to tinnitus and their hyperacusis reduced or cured know I am right. My comments are for @New Guy because I know he wants to learn and get better.

As I said, on this particular issue I will not be discussing it with you further.
All the best

Michael

 

All I am doing is defending my ideas. I can see where you are coming from. The advice to not worry about noise might make sense for someone who has had T for many years. I believe that people who are new to T could seriously harm themselves if they follow this particular advice.

Maybe they wouldn't have to habituate (or would have to habituate to T that hasn't gotten louder) if they were to be more serious about protecting their ears.

Same here - my target audience are the new sufferers.

 

Indeed. A newbie teaching newbies how to be a Newbie.

Michael

 

There is a difference between 20 months and 2 months...

 

Not only can I draw on my experiences over the past 20 months, but I have also been reading (and learning from) this forum almost every day during those months.

 

No matter how far you go to protect yourself, the truth of the matter is is that anything that can happen will happen...one careless move, someone running by with a balloon, some car that happens to backfire. Can't live life in a constant state of fear, just enjoy your existence while responsibly protecting your ears when you can.

 

You have a positive mindset @coffee_girl If you haven't fully habituated to your tinnitus yet then you soon will. Regarding hyperacusis, if you still have remnants of it that will also improve and most likely be cured in time. Please carry on using sound enrichment whenever possible. Providing you do not use headphones and don't subject yourself to overly loud music at clubs or concerts. Normal everyday sounds the ones that you have described, I believe will not bother you in the slightest.

Tinnitus is 90% mental attitude and what I mean by this is, to succeed with it it's crucial for one to adopt a positive mindset. I have written about this in many of my posts. Reading your posts it is clear to see you of this persuasion too.

Michael

 

No problem if you wear protection when you are in places where there might be noise. Also, before this latest incident, I got exposed to more slamming doors and other noises like that, and was fine. So one does get more resilient over time (as in the past I wasn't fine after similar shocks). It looks like the noises where the source of the noise is very close to one's ear are the most dangerous.

I enjoy my existence when I am safe. Like I mentioned in a very old post - I used to want to interact with a chimp. Once I found out that they can bite your face off, this stopped being appealing to me. If I were to find myself in the same room as a chimp, I would not enjoy it at all. Likewise, if I WERE to do what you have in mind when you say "enjoy your existence" - THEN I would be in a state of fear. As it is - I am not in fear - I am enjoying being safe.

 

I'm happy to hear you are becoming more "resilient over time"...it is good news. I wrote that you should enjoy your tinnitus with T responsibly and safely...however it applies to your situation, you don't know what i have in mind so you can't say for sure what i meant when i wrote that.

 

When I get an opportunity to enjoy something fun, my first concern is its possible impact on my T. I think that in your life you are choosing to enjoy the fun activity, while trying to not think about T.

 

Actually T is always the deciding factor whether or not I am going to do something, I usually calculate the risk factor then the value of such experience then the trade off with or without plugs. Then other factors such as percentage of death vs getting mauled or raped. I have many times made assessments where the percentages of getting assaulted were very high...but i did it anyway because I wanna see what would happen. Usually such experiences are temporary but T is very permanent so i do take its value more seriously...but some things are more important to me...like travel...so i'll risk a slightly louder T, but reduce its chances of happening greatly by being way more careful with noise exposure. So T is still a significant responsibility but executed with great care, while still having fun =D

 

Perhaps our approaches are not so different, after all. Of course I am not talking about risking being assaulted.

 

I feel a cell phone is ideal for someone with sensitive tinnitus since you don't need them to ring and instead you can put them on vibrate. Also communicating thru text messaging helps avoid unnecessary digital noise.

 

One add tip I do with my cell phone is I insert a fake headphone jack and trick my phone in thinking headphones are always connected, that why I don't get any unexpected sounds, I do the same with my laptop.

 

I think you'll be alright Bill, I had a door fire alarm go off about 4 inches from my head when we evacuated my building. This was about a year ago and it had no negative impact except for

Except by a chimp

 

Was there any short term impact? I am worried about the change that I have been experiencing over the past 24 hours...