My Uncle Had Tinnitus for 65 Years

I just had occasion to talk to my aunt about this.

I knew that my uncle had tinnitus; I spoke to him about it briefly in the past.

He developed it as a teenager, but because he lived on a farm, he literally didn't realize that he wasn't just hearing ambient birds/crickets/etc for more than ten years.

He had tinnitus his entire life. It was not progressive. It did get more or less intense at different parts of his life, but overall, it did not get worse.

He spent most of his life living in fairly quiet, scenic areas. He did not have much noise exposure from his 30s on (I believe he had some military service when he was younger). He didn't use any drugs, and drank very little.

He did have some amount of high-frequency hearing loss from his 50s on, but that also did not progress very much, and apparently it did not really impact his tinnitus.

He died last year at the age of 82, of heart failure while chopping wood. He was an amazing and unique person, and I will always miss him.

I am posting this as a direct counterpoint to the "it always gets worse!" nonsense I see on here. That may be true in some cases. It is not a tautology.

Protect your ears.

 

Nobody ever said "it always gets worse" on here. Nice story though and sorry for your loss.

 

Sorry for your loss. I don't know why people are personally getting worked up about it getting worse 30-40 years from now, when there will be treatments before then.

 

Anxiety is seldom rational. If it were, it wouldn't be anxiety!

 

I think anyone with moderate tinnitus has anxiety....

 

It's easy for us to feel that way when it's our personal experience, however, I don't think that's the case. Consider my story here of my friend:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/interesting-anecdote-re-volume-vs-reaction.9728/

I think we'd have to describe this at least as "moderate" tinnitus, since he can hear it clearly over a ~75-80 DB HVAC unit. However, he literally didn't know what tinnitus was until I brought it up...

 

my grandpa recently told me the same hes had a cricket noise in his head for 40 years and it never badly progressed on him either. this is why most people with t feel it isnt as bad but some of us just get the bad t with all the rest evil symptoms h and reactive.. he lived in mexico away from the city but he always shot guns without ear protection and never worsened on him and hes a smoker.

 

i never suffered from anxiety and only got a little sum of it when my H and T starting worsening badly to this point.. but never when it was mild or moderate

 

Sorry for your loss, linearb. My father is 91 and has had progressive hearing loss for decades. I haven't asked him about tinnitus but I wouldn't be surprised if he had it. He's a world war 2 vet and used to love blasting opera records when he was younger. Even if he doesn't have it, he's put up with chronic pain for decades, as well, not that you'd ever know. He's full of life and good humor. I use him as an inspiration on how to carry myself as a husband and father, even when I feel I can't quite measure up.

 

Nobody ever said "it always gets worse" on here. Nice story though and sorry for your loss.

Actually, people HAVE said this on here. Which is why I appreciated @linearb's story. It isn't true.
Thank you, linearb, and I also am sorry for your loss.