My Unilateral Tinnitus Seems to Go Away When I Spray Olive Oil in Ear

Since about a week ago I have a fairly persistent but quiet buzz at a high pitch in my left ear. I was using headphones quite a bit around the time it started, but not at a particularly high volume. I did put in a Q-Tip and poked (without any pain) at one point, which I have done from time to time in the past. Not sure if this might have caused it. The tinnitus seemed to start around then.

Anyway, my tinnitus is concerning, but only about a 1/10 in terms of discomfort. I can mask it pretty well with a fan in the room. It is worrying me though and I really don't want it getting worse.

I was going to go get the ear microsuctioned next Saturday but am thinking to cancel as I have heard so many horror stories about this causing tinnitus, making it worse and causing all manners of problems.

So what I have been doing is putting Earol spray (olive oil) in my left ear. About four sprays a day. The weird thing is that when I do this and stay lying down, the tinnitus disappears more or less completely. It stays gone pretty much until the oil drips out, at which point it resumes again. Sometimes when the oil is in, the tinnitus will disappear if I tilt my head in a certain direction but reappear in another direction.

So it seems that putting olive oil in my ear stops my tinnitus. Any idea what this might mean? I'm hoping it might indicate that this is a wax impaction problem, but I really don't want to do anything dangerous to my ear like microsuction. I'm thinking to wait and see if this goes away but I'm worried I might be stuck with it.

EDIT:

I've just self-tested my hearing online and I seem to have mild hearing loss in my left ear around the 8 kHz band. I tried it again with oil in my ear and I cannot hear the tinnitus, but the hearing loss is still there on the test. The tinnitus frequency is probably around 8 kHz.

 

Do you remember how you acquired the hearing loss apart from the headphones?

Does hearing loss run in the family at all?

Instead of microsuction, next time you could opt for removal by a specialist who uses medical instruments to remove the wax. I would also recommend going to a specialist audiologist and getting an audiogram.

 

It is certainly a good sign though. I had ear wax compaction and olive oil did not stop the hiss at any time.

When I flushed my own ears with an oral irrigator - I noticed the tinnitus could go near silent for hours and then come back.

Keep going with the spray and see if the wax comes out.

 

Last year I had occasionally the most minimal tinnitus lasting about a day or two only when I had a cold. Only since last week has it been more or less throughout the day, although the last day or two I'd say it has been present about 30% of the time. I did poke with a Q-Tip around the time this started, which may be the cause of it. I'm not sure about the headphones as I've been using them for years without a problem. Possibly I've just shoved wax up there with the Q-Tip.

I've just sprayed Earol in my ear again as the tone was getting annoying. As per usual the tone has completely disappeared for the time being. How very odd.

No unusual hearing loss in the family. My parents are a bit deaf but they are in their 80s now. I actually retested my hearing in a more silent room using the same online test, and it doesn't seem there is any real difference between my left and right ear. This might be because the first time I tested, the tinnitus was having a bit of a party in my left ear, possibly obscuring the test sound for one frequency. Seemed to be okay the second time.

I suspect I probably have shoved wax up there. I cancelled my microsuction appointment this morning as I don't want something catastrophic to happen. I'll probably go see my GP about this and possibly get a manual removal if needed. In the meantime I'll keep using this ear spray.

 

In case this is of help to anyone, here is an update.

After about a year, my tinnitus is basically the same. I'd rate it about 0.5 / 10 on the annoying scale. I've largely gotten used to the little Morse code beep in my left ear and only really notice it when I'm in a dead-quiet room.

At night, I put on a couple of small computer USB portable fans, and the sound is quite soothing. It doesn't block out the sound, but I can imagine that the fans are beeping, making it a lot more tolerable.

I went to Japan for three months before Xmas, and strangely, my tinnitus was absent while there. The hot weather possibly did something to my ear, or maybe it was the airplane. Anyway, I got an awful cold when I came back, and the tinnitus came back, too.

I saw an audiologist who said my hearing is normal and there is no wax compaction. I'm guessing the beep is permanent. I avoid using headphones (mostly) now. So long as this gets no worse, I'm fine with it. It's no longer impacting on my life.