My Tinnitus Story

Hi Björn!

Thanks for sharing your story and welcome to the forum!

This is not uncommon. This is how it was for me as well. It kind of developed gradually over some time. This makes some of us question whether or not people can have this condition without them knowing about it.

But you did have some high noise exposure in the past? I am pretty sure that my tinnitus was caused by noise. However, I did not develop tinnitus until 12 to 24 months after the event. I was exposed to intense noise through headphones. Add to that my life-long love for music and headphone use, and it starts to crystallize what the cause for my tinnitus is.

How bad is your hearing loss on the left ear? Is the right ear better? The only hearing exam I ever did was when I started having ear muscle spasms in the left ear. This I think was the result of the acoustic trauma I had. This was followed by hyperacusis. After that, I started hearing this ringing noise and I started searching for it to see where it was coming from. Then I just realized... I have that thing they call tinnitus! So it most definitely developed gradually for me, up to the point where I could perceive it clearly. My hyperacusis had mostly subsided at that point, but I am still bothered sometimes when someone speaks loudly for example.

This is a common pattern I see people report about, including myself. Hyperacusis usually subsides, and what remains is the tinnitus. Since you don't have problems falling asleep, I am positive that you have a mild form of tinnitus. Mild in the sense that it is not very loud and intrusive.

It's needless to say, as I am from Sweden and I have mentioned a number of times here on the forum how insanely long waiting time is here. I waited 10 months to see the ENT doctor.

I think you should pay them a visit. Don't suffer in silence, have them know that you have this problem. If we all just keep silent about it, they will never understand how debilitating this condition can be, nor will they set aside some money for research and developing new treatment options for us. Besides, you may have a treatable condition underlying your tinnitus. Tinnitus is considered as a symptom of a condition, not the condition itself.

Feel free to contact me on PM if you want to talk in private.

 

Welcome to the forum @Lester!

What symptoms would that be?

As I explained above, mine also developed gradually and I also have some hearing loss on my left ear. I was also under a lot of stress right before tinnitus dawned on me. But even before that, I had experience sensations when moving my jaw that remind me of my tinnitus noise that I now have non-stop.

Yes, I believe this is the so called central gain theory. How is your hearing on the right ear?

That's the right thing to do. It's something we all do. I like to think that the more you know about your condition the better. One thing that some doctors have said openly is that those of us who experience tinnitus are the foremost experts on the subject.

With that said, there are doctors and researchers who also experience tinnitus. It's in their best interest too to understand this condition so that we one day may find a way to effectively counteract it. Almost everyone experiences tinnitus in a different way, and everyone has a different physical and psychological makeup which makes us withstand this more or less easily. This variability and the lack of objective measures is what hampers progress. It's something that scientists are looking to change.

 

Was this test done before your tinnitus started? Compare this audiogram with the previous one, and with the next one if you will go there again to do the test.

One thing I noticed on my audiograms is that I had a 30 dB drop at 6 kHz without tinnitus, which improved to 15 dB at the same frequency in the next 2 months, and by that time I had developed tonal tinnitus. I don't think it's a coincidence.

However, I had started experiencing a static noise before it became tonal like this. The tonal sensation I now have is also something I have had previously when yawning for example, and I did not think anything of it. But now I have that same sensation, more or less, except now it's constantly present even when not opening my jaw.

There is definitely a physical link there! And many people with tinnitus can for example modulate their tinnitus by moving their head or jaw. For some people it's more noticeable than for others, because tinnitus can be experienced in many different ways and have different levels of intensity.

Do you experience a change in your tinnitus when rotating your head or opening your jaw when yawning for example?

It can take time for tinnitus to develop, if it is the result of hearing loss. It took me about 1 to 2 years. As I mentioned, I had been experiencing strange noises when yawning and I did nothing about it and took no warning from it. I also developed static noise and still did not take it as a warning, and then it became tonal ringing sensation.

As long as you used proper ear protection when working the sawmill you should have been safe. Assuming it's not one of those that block out external sounds but pump in radio music instead. That's a really bad design for a device that's supposed to protect our hearing.

When tinnitus is noise induced, it's most commonly caused by short, sudden, impact sounds at high volumes. Examples include explosions, like explosive devices, dishes that fall to the floor, or the impact sound from a car collision. Add this to the regular wear and tear of sensory hair cells of the inner ear. More often than not, we are now loosing our hearing at home, not while doing noisy industrial work. But many of us work in offices now, and we use headphones to listen to music while working at a computer, and we listen to music on the commute, and at home.

Don't be, because we don't really know how hearing works at a cellular level. There are still many questions to be answered. We only recently discovered the effects of the so called hidden hearing loss.

Do you take any medication that may cause tinnitus? You may want to look that up, as tinnitus is sometimes listed as an adverse effect of some medication. There are a number of other things, besides noise, that can cause tinnitus.