My visit to the ENT

Hello
So this is how my appointment with the ENT went:
i did a hearing test then i sat down with my ENT, he checked my ear.
He said i'm one of the lucky few who have not done any damage to my ear! my hearing is really good. He also said it's highly likely to go away within a month time!

He also said 70% of people hear a T sound when in a quiet room, even without having it. i'll keep on trying my best to take my mind of the (really low tho) T i have.

i'm so happy!

 

I tested in the normal frequency as well. My tinnitus did not go away however. Enrich your world in sound mask but do not cover up the T. It'll help your brain to not recognize T as a threat and it will improve your odds of the sound alleviating.

 

I went to a doctor today, we did the test and my hearing is very good as well. I was advised to monitor the T for next two months and if it won't go away to come back. My doctor suspects that stress is a factor in my case. Will see

 

Many people don't have damages visible on standard audiogram (125hz -8khz), only very few unlucky ones have the classic ski slope at 4-6 khz.

Only an audioscan is able to dectect true hearing loss by testing every frequency, by ENT's standard i have excellent hearing.

A good exemple in my case is the typical CRT noise (15625hz) that i hear a lot stronger in my right ear.

 

One ENT would say "don't monitor your T", another says "monitor your T". Point is it's become almost comical to see how this profession respond to T. Why did your ENT want you to come back if it doesn't go away? Did he suggest any revolutionary treatment methods? And how did he/she reason the stress hypothesis? I hope you were asked extensively about factors in your life or else the stress thing is just a brush off. I'm not saying stress isn't the main cause here, I'm saying ENT's can be very lazy - and as with any medical profession greedy. Make sure you ask your doc the how, why and if. It's a great way of finding out if the person really knows anything about your condition missZZ. I hope things works out good for you.

 

Have you taken a high frequency test to reveal any hidden hearing loss? If so then please share. Is an Audioscan a mainstream word for the tests that covers the 8000-22.000hz range in your country? The highest test range I've been able to track down where I live is max 16.000hz. At the same time I've been a little skeptical to how this actually works, cause if its any truth to the theory that says humans are not able to detect signals at those frequencies, then how can a test like that give a genuine result? I'm beginning to believe that we on the contrary are able to hear at those high frequencies and that the audiologists I've been talking to lacks knowledge. I've always been brushed off by the typical answer: "no point in testing at those frequencies cause you wouldn't even be able to detect signals there." But as you write there are tests that does cover higher ranges, and whats the point in that if it didn't make sense. My audiologist must be wrong - no surprise there.

How did you measure your T frequency Valentin? Would love to read anyones take on this!

 

the frequency i mentionned is the noise a cathode ray tube from old television does produce, my tinnitus is hopefully not that type of frequency.

I can hear this frequency a lot louder in my right ear than my left ear so i have a loss at this frequency in my left ear, ENT and audiologist for some reasons seems to think higher frequencies are unnecessary but the truth is usually their equipement is from the 60s, certainly acquired from a retired ENT.

they don"t want to invest in new equipement and anyway hearing aids don't go that high either so for them there's no point.

We are of course able to hear up to 20khz up to teenage i think, i do remember the teenage sms ringtone at 17khz that teachers can't hear so it was possible to be notified in real time of an sms and read it in the class room under the radar of the teacher

In an extended audiogram, they test up to 16khz starting from 9khz by steps of 1khz, pretty useless as my hearing at 15khz and 16khz is exactly the same as far as i can see when running a home test.

 

@Per : I actually had a hearing test today, so I may be able to shed some light on this. A more typical hearing test where they ask if you can hear the beeps isn't what they're talking about. I was given a test for the responsiveness of the hairs that detect sound. These hairs can detect sounds even if we do not receive them. That is how they can test above our normal hearing range.

That's how it was explained to me anyhow, but I hope to do some research on this soon.

 

the otoacoustic emissions test you had didn't go higher than 8-10khz isn't?

 

@Liesel,

Can you please elaborate on that high frequency test and how it all went down? Did you not press any buttons to respond to audio input at all? How did they test for the responsiveness of the inner ear micro hair cells? Is this whats referred to as an Audioscan? What type of device based test is it and did you do it at an audiologist or was it a specialized department at a larger hospital? Or private clinic with new equipment?

I have decided to get one of those tests above 8000hz cause I really don't accept my audiogram as is, theres gotta be more to this than what I'm told from my audiologist. I have traced down an audiologist in my country that have the equipment to test to a max level of 16000hz, but do you think I should pursuit for 22000hz?

 

@Valentin : I didn't get to keep a copy of the results, but I believe it went up to 16khz.

@Per : No buttons to press for the test I'm speaking of. They literally just put a small device in my ear and let it beep at various frequencies. It was over in a minute. It was called an otoacoustic emission test, so look that up if you want more on how it works. The test was run by an audiologist practicing at a large-ish hospital.

 

Thanks for the information Liesel, I greatly appreciate it. I obviously need an otoacoustic emission test!

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22436407

According to this, they test 21 frequencies up to 20 khz, that's indeed interesting.

my general feeling about ENT is that the "E" part of the job is not really studied deeply until recently and actual doctors rely on studies from the 60's...

i'm almost sure that's why they are ENT, cause the 'E' only would make them jobless LOL

 

I very much agree with what you wrote about brushing off the whole thing with stress. On other hand stress can be very tricky.
In regards to the 2 month waiting period I believe that it may have something to do with the suspicion of "temporary" tinnitus which could last between 3-6 months. After those two months, assuming I will still hear the T, they will
most likely suggest a CT or MRI ( I heard however that such scans are suggested to folks with pulsatile T rather than those with the subjective one. I may be wrong though)

Let's hope that in two months I will either stop hearing the T or will at least habituate to it . I wonder also whether T can be caused by elevated cholesterol? I should probably ask for some lab test next time I visit my regular doc.

thanks for the quote post and all the best to you too

I hope that one day T won't be such a mystery anymore and it will be easily fixed.

 

@missZZ,

If a person has T for 12 years it's also temporary, it's impossible to really pinpoint a specific time span to define "temporary T." For the very same reasons it's impossible to use the term "permanent T" as well cause nobody knows how long it's going to last. Some have periodically T, probably many of them heard from their doctors that they have permanent T or "permanent periodically" - in other words these time phrases are not doing us any good. We have T NOW - that's it.

In terms of T causes (you mention elevated cholesterol) you will find it rather frustrating walking down that cause road, although I fully understand the motivation for it, I'm dead set on finding my own T cause too. The list of potential T creators and aggressors is huge, this proves how little knowledge there is on T. When the medical industry is pointing frenetically in all directions it typically proves lack of knowledge. Basically every medication under the sun is reported to possibly create T as side effect and theres a plethora of physical conditions and illnesses on that list too. I bet 90% of them are all wrong, but it's impossible to prove, so the list of T causes keeps getting larger by the minute.

 

You're right labeling as permanent or temporary is not going to do much. It really makes me wonder however that T can be switched on one day just like that and that's it!

May I ask what triggered yours? I started experiencing mine after a concert. Pretty foolish I know, but I had no idea that there is something like T, not even a clue lol. I don't regret anything bec this is not the way, what I am not understanding about it is how this thing just gets in, settles in and doesn't wanna go away.

Is it really a micro damage that cannot be found by standardized testing or is it strictly neural, like aggravating a nerve in our fine circuitry? Or perhaps we haven't really lost anything but gained something and it doesn't sound pretty, jk.

 

@missZZ,

I just woke up one morning with very loud T, two days later I got H as well. As with many I don't know the cause of my condition and to be honest I think very few people know exactly what caused their T. I was exposed to a fire alarm repeatedly in the days prior to T but my hearing tests are all fine, I had been taking several medications that's on the ridiculously long list of potential T instigators, I've been listening to music with headset for over 20 years daily (but rarely very loud), I had been trough severe stress and mental pressure with different physical conditions whilst trying to juggle numerous things in my life at the same time. So I guess all of these separately could be the cause. It's a lot of loose assumptions and fluffy theories in this businesses and nobody seems to really KNOW too much. Look at those with severe hearing loss, if that is a singular cause then why does it suddenly go away in some cases while the hearing loss stays intact? I think theres a lot of questions to be answered in terms of T, the massive list of potential T causes is a sign of that. I guess it's a complex picture and I personally think the causes can be more than one at the same time, perhaps a multitude of physical and/or mental conditions that collide, creating havoc in the auditory system. It's a fine mess.

When it comes to micro damage there's no way of retrieving visual references from the inner ear, no MRI-scan, ultrasound or any other X-ray technology can provide images to prove any physical damage to the vital anatomic parts of the hearing organ. On top of that the ear is just half the story cause we really hear with our brain, so the auditory cortex seems to be a key player in this constant phantom noise concert we hear. I believe that brain part is hyperactive and if someone could find a way of slowing down the neurons firing at a mad rate then the phantom noises would fade. So basically I believe that T&H is a brain disorder, just like epilepsy or any other seizure disorder. We are in constant seizure and the brain is confused. I believe T is trauma caused by shock, this could be acoustic shock, mental trauma, physical trauma (as in impact) or anything else that affects the brain. Well, anyways that's my take on this. I hope we'll be able to know the truth(s) in my lifetime.