LOUD Tinnitus versus MILD Tinnitus

i can't mask my tinnitus with anything, it's too high pitched!

not even niagara falls or drag racing mask it

i think people with MILD tinnitus should be happier cos they don't have LOUD tinnitus

 

and why do some of us have LOUD tinnitus? and someone else MILD tinnitus?

is it god's choice?

 

It is true, unless a person experiences loud tinnitus, they will never understand. In fact millions of people have mild t and will look at you with dismay at why you just cant get on with it and ignore it.

 

I don't know where I am on the tinnitus-loudness-scale, but I see no reason to compare myself to anyone else.

It sure is frustrating not to be understood by others, but that's more a lack of empathy on their part than a failure to distinguish loud t from mild t.

 

that must be hard you have my respect,I can relate to both as mine had gone from a 10/10 to 2/10 most of the time and 5/10 on bad days.
God's will not sure although t has brought me to my knees a lot of times,but I come out the other end a stronger Person.
Faith has helped me emensly in this experience the God has equipped the God in me much strength in dealing with t.don't want to get to deep this Is just my opinion.I hope things improve for you.

 

I was reading a clinical study done in America into tinnitus loudness. They tested people who claimed to have different levels of tinnitus loudness, from jet turbines to quiet humming. They did matching tests to try and get an idea of what sort of scale the noise was. What they discovered was that everyone had the same loudness, just some weren't able to cope with it and others were.

Now, I don't know that is true...but I know that there are times I can hear my tinnitus over the refrigerator and times I can't. Times I can hear it over driving my car and times I can't. Both a completely different levels of loudness...so yeah...

One thing worth mentioning is frequency is probably more troublesome than intensity. Higher frequency sounds are more challenging to mask in a natural environment, so probably give the perception of being louder.

The sound is also in your brain (not your ear), once you pass into the chronic phase of tinnitus...and in theory you can't mask that sound...

Just my thoughts!

 

Everyone had the same loudness in that study? How can that be possible? Do you have a link?

 

No sorry Telis. It was on paper and I can't seem to find it. If I do I will see if I can find it on google.

 

Thanks Mark, this sounds a bit bizzare. I have had T where i have to plug my ears to hear it in a dead quiet room to totally unmaskable after taking antibiotics, I can't imagine all T is the same and that I'm just dreaming this up. In fact that would mean everyone here that has had a worsening over the years would just be out to lunch. I highly doubt that.

 

For me, loudness is a function of attention and maskability; maskability is a function of attention and loudness. It's a vicious circle. When my attention is really on it, nothing can mask it... When my mood/attention has shifted, it can be harder to find the T over normal background.

I'm trying to understand what the variables are so that I don't get stuck in all attention on tinnitus all the time.

 

I had WAY WAY more attention at onset when my T was super low. I was a total wreck and couldn't sleep. Now, I have very little attention on it, I sleep just fine and it is 100x plus louder after taking antibiotics so I don't know. My reaction is so much better but it is incredibly loud now. My T never ever varies, maybe slightly lower at the beginning of the day, that's it. I wonder if some peoples T is more of a emotional issue than the actual T? There is absolutely nothing that changes mine ever.

 

I'm amazed it hasn't changed telis,no let up that's just not fair.I think about your situation all the time you have suffered long enough and deserve your life back.hopefully it will lower in the future and you can enjoy your life again.Take care mate

 

Thanks Shaun, I keep thinking every night before bed that tomorrow will be the day, I don't know, just doesnt seem to happen. It swung like crazy at the beginning when it wasn't as bad and now it's just stuck in this forever loop. I try and sleep 10 hours a night thinking something will heal or change, I wake up every morning with the same pain in my ears and the same noise.

 

They say time heals all wounds but I think it has been a long time for you.
has to be a light at at the end of tunnel t has taught me lot,but I find it to find the lesson for your on going suffering.
then again I suppose it brought us altogether,every cloud.Take it easy.

 

I used to talk a lot about the intensity, frequency, and volume of my T. Nothing productive ever came from it. Not after 40 years. But in less than one year I reduced my T by almost 100%. You probably read my posts. Please try that method.

 

At the very least, it seems like some people have t that has a much deeper connection to their emotional well being than others.

The sort of constant, obsessive rumination that I do over t, is a deeply established set of thought patterns that predates my t by years.

I wonder if "simpler" cases have to do with more gross structural damage. I do have a small amount of left sided high frequency hearing loss, but nothing unusual.

My t seems deafening in a silent room, but if I'm out in the woods it gets swallowed up pretty well by rain and wind. I can still find it if I look for it, but becomes 5% of my sound scape instead of 95.

 

I think on the whole, comparison is pointless as it simply boils down to a person's reaction to their T, whether it's loud or mild. A person with quiet or mild T may be so distressed that they don't realise that it isn't as bad as it could be. Conversely, a person with loud T may feel very relaxed about it and don't care so it doesn't bother them. It's all relative

 

I think a lot of people with mild t have at some point experienced louder t (spikes, t at onset etc) and thank the lucky stars a lot for the reduction in volume. After the t has reduced I do think you can become complacent and forget how bad louder t really is though. I can still hear my t whining away during the day at times but its not that high pitched eeeeeeee grating on my all the time like it was for the first 12 weeks or so, horrible. I have spikes, I don't want to get complacent and drop my guard and boom, bad t again. Then again, I have never experienced what I would call above average t or anywhere close to some suffers here and I don't think I could really get it unless I have been through it really, so hang tough and hope that luck changes

 

T is not T.
On my "normal" days, I have only a buzzing head with a 16-18 kHz sound.
On "bad" days, I have 2-4 16-18 kHz loud tones oscillating in my head. Mild T compared to this is a walk in the park. Of course one can also suffer a lot with mild T. But loud, high-pitched, unmaskable T is simply another category. It is like "fleeting T" non-stop.
I remember I had the one or other milder day in the past. This was like a cure.
So T is simply not T.
The challenge for me (still) is not reacting to my T, however catastrophic it is.

 

That's definitely strange. I have a constant never changing tone like eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it only varies in loudness, and then I have sound effects (or rather noise), that come and go like screeching tires, dentist's drill, fork scratching on a plate, tones, ringing, crackling, moving sand/snow, electricity, static noise. However, sometimes I have just the eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee on full blast, and that's really killing it.

Have you had a lobotomy?

 

Oh I am very emotional!

What do you mean with constant, obsessive rumination predates your T by years?

I have lost plenty of high frequencies ~2400hz up to 22000hz all offline! And my T is louder than trains!

@AlecP I think you have mild T. Do you hear your T when being outdoor in the city?

 

Only a small percentage of people who experience tinnitus actually have loud tinnitus. The problem however is that suffering isn't necessarily related to loudness and somebody with very mild tinnitus can be as traumatised as somebody with very loud tinnitus. I also believe that somebody with very mild tinnitus can perceive their tinnitus as being loud and proof of this can be found reading this board and other tinnitus boards including Facebook.

My T is about 14k and I can't mask it unless I use headphones and listen to loud music which is pretty dumb. My T interferes with me watching TV or listening to the radio and driving the car can be unbearable at times. I rate mine up there with the worst of the worst. I know that tinnitus is only a few db's above hearing threshold but I can also hear mine above my 80 db lawn mower.

As I see it the only thing that works for loud chronic 24/7 tinnitus is whether you are going to give it life by reacting to it. Habituation in one form or another may or may not happen for those with loud tinnitus but over time you just find that you stop the pity party and move on with your life regardless.

If I'm perfectly honest I feel for those with horrible loud tinnitus because I know it is devastating and I know that the only remedy is how you think about your tinnitus.

As time passes you will find that you think less and less of your tinnitus even though it may never change in intensity.

 

I guess there are people who will stub their toe and will forever suffer from that terrible incident but personality aside, the severity of whatever the condition matters A LOT in how much a person will suffer.

 

Back when I had mild tinnitus for years I was wondering why people would try to kill themselves because of T and I was quite content with waiting for a cure, but if not I could handle it. Now for the past two or three years that it's gotten louder I can very much understand, it's nothing like before. It's like before it was in the background and not on my mind 90% of the time, now it's all I think about, every day is a battle and I am losing it.

 

Hi Lequack. Sorry to hear things have gotten worse, question, as your tinnitus progressed, do you feel more ear pain and hypercusis? I found that when my T was mild I suffered very little H, now that my T is pretty much unbearable my H is out of control. Just wondering if there is a conection to extreem tinnitus and hyperacussis.

 

Yeah, a lot more H, more reactive tinnitus, more fear of noise, more noises, different types of noises, louder overall T. It's really making my life a living hell. Can't imagine ever having a family or a normal life.

 

Yeah same here, tough to function normally like this. I would rather have someone burn cigarette holes in me or kick the crap out of me daily rather than deal with these ear issues.

Hope things improve for us somehow.

 

Telis and Lequack, what was it that made yours so much worse?

 

-Damage from vasalva method, bleeding/red in ears.
-Ciprodex ear drops for suspected ear infection
-effexor, ziplocone, adivan, aspirin, tylonal etc etc
-cold turkey withdrawal from all drugs
-noise exposure shortly after this all.

I lost half of my hearing that all starting with just a blocked ear. Every one of these events started with a sore blocked ear and happened in a time frame of about 4 months. Everytime I went to the doctor about T they gave me something different.

If anyone wants to know how to induce tinnitus and very quick hearing loss, this is the way!! Go see a doctor!

 

I didn't realise that causes damage. Sorry to hear about your problems. My ears feel really blocked at the moment which has led to my H. I'm really worried about making it worse so just hoping they unblock by themselves. I have had a sore throat so hoping its that, but my sinus' are fine so I don't get why my ears are blocked.