Low Pitch Ringing/Hum Went Away After Using a Mouth Guard and Regular Jaw Massage

The bent/misfiring thing is actually how any audiologist explains hearing damage. The audiologists I spoke to all seem to think tinnitus was actually the vibration of damaged hairs not the brain like other sources say. I tend to agree that there are 5+ Reasons for tinnitus and that vibrating hair is a common one for anyone that intermittent tinnitus that can be interacted with, ie by playing the tone.

Also would say that vibrating hairs are almost definitely due to damage and trauma. That’s why given some time those heal. For example someone could be under water and with tinnitus for several weeks after someone claps loudly next to their head. But that repairs with time. The explanation for this is that the hair gets bent due to the air pressure. I think it’s a pretty legit idea.

Also another random fact, in regards to our hums stopping from sound, it definitely stops not masked, because it takes half a second to start again afterwards. Sounds like it’s turning on and off like a switch.

If it were to be muscle related then I think it would something in the auditory system, like a muscle that attaches to the ear drum. the theory is that can be affect by jaw and neck muscles due to where they meet. And that would also explains why sound cuts it out. It definitely sounds like a vibration like you’re saying. Almost like a trembling muscle.

So there are arguments for both, but it’s definitely augmented by sound for all the above people. Would love to get to the bottom of it.

 

I originally had tinnitus due to sound exposure. Loud AC/DC concert. No hearing loss. Tinnitus lasted for 2 years. Then resolved for about 3 years. Now I have a different issue. I have some hearing loss in my left ear. Got tinnitus and it resolved after about a year.

Per my ENT, hair cells can be bent but not broken due damage and can heal over time.

I also have the rumbling when I am congested. Particularly when I have a cold.

 

Question is - since for most of us, driving a car makes the low rumbling very loud for a couple minutes after we shut off the engine, should we stop driving? Should we do everything we can to let the bent hair cells heal?

How I can live without driving a car, is another thing, practically.

 

Obviously I'm no expert but my take on this is to live as normal as possible with this condition. The body tends to be able to adapt and/or heal. I'm not saying I've stopped exploring ways of improving my quality of life but I feel like if we constraint how we live to try and let them heal but see no improvements whatsoever, I'd personally be back to a darker place than I am at now and I really do not want to go back there. It took me a lot of energy to feel a little better every day.

 

Hi GDK, I've exact same symptoms. Even my doctor suggested to start wearing the night guard. How much time did it take for you see the improvement after you started using the night guard?
My symptoms
- low humming/vibration sound.
- If I close the ear using finger, the vibration stops.
- When I speak, it also disappear.
- It disappears for few seconds after moving the head and also post exercise.
- While stretching the body, the vibration increases. I am not sure why.

 

With heat, massage, and most importantly the mouth guard, I’d say within a week to ten days it was completely gone.

Have not heard it since. And I had it bad. I am so grateful this fixed it.

 

Nice. Do you have any jaw pain or any TMJ issue? I had an MRI of TMJ that didn't show anything but my doctor is suspecting the grinding is the main cause of the issue. I hadn't exposed myself to loud noise so this most probably looks like muscle related issue. Also, do you think the neck problem can also cause same symptoms?

Also one thing I've noticed that if I spend my whole days sitting in-front of fan or may be AC, that actually disappear the humming sound for couple of hours even in silent room. The vibration will start again after couple of hours like hm...hm...hm and then it will be like hmmmmmmmmmm I am not sure why. Does it also happen with you?

 

I suspect there are many causes, as my original post states. I ruled out about 7 other things until I finally went to the dentist.

Check out the original post of this thread.

You’ll see all the things I thought it could be.

 

Many people (with low hum tinnitus) have this effect of LONG residual inhibition.

I even emailed about this effect to one of the people that researched residual inhibition with tinnitus sufferers but he said he found it very peculiar that my inhibition could last for a couple hours (after being next to an AC or driving a car or being close to anything else that produces a humming sound).

 

I have 270 Hz tinnitus, which is a low tone.

No residual inhibition affect whatsoever mine.

 

Do you actually feel the vibration physically? I can literally feel that this is happening in middle ear.

 

Yes I've possibly checked all the causes. Even I did the MRI of neck, TMJ and brain. Neck MRI showed early spondylosis due to bad posture. Not sure if that is the cause.

Before this low humming started, I had muffled hearing for couple of weeks. Based on the symptoms doctor suspected the ETD but my eardrum and all the reports were normal so I don't think so that was ETD.

I had on and off muffled hearing for couple of months last year but now everything is gone, just left with humming.

 

This seems like an easy question but it is a tough one.

Since I also have actual physical fluttering (my tensor tempani fluttering) I can clearly state that my regular hum is not physical, although (here is the important part) because it is so low in frequency (around 80 Hz for me) I think our brain perceives it as actual vibrations. Because it is so deep/low.

Try to play 80 Hz on a MacBook through MacBook speakers ... it won't even produce any sound (barely audible) because it's so low.

Hard to explain ... but no, I don't think my hum is actual vibrations inside my ear, it's just that I perceive it to be.

 

@GDK, can you tell me the type of mouth guard you wear?

Two dentists have wanted me to have a hard plastic mouth guard, but I'd rather have a soft plastic one like used for athletics.

 

It’s a custom fit. Made of a fairly hard plastic, but not too hard.

They took a mould of my top teeth, and then it was custom made.

The mould fits tightly on my top teeth.