New Here, Just Saying Hello. I Have Sudden Onset Tinnitus, Hyperacusis and Hearing Loss :(

Hello everybody,

I would just like to introduce myself. I have been suffering with this awful condition for about three months now. I was surprised with a loud and unexpected impact noise at work which has left me with relentless tinnitus, electrical burning like ear pain that shoots through my brain and down the back of my head as well as the roof of my mouth and upper gums, and possibly worst of all, a profound sensitivity to sound that has left me marooned at home.

The tinnitus sounds like a high pitched squealing scraping my brain above a constant bed of crickets and an almost squeezing like buzzing sound. It is better in the morning and worse in the evening. Any sound makes it worse, in fact, just talking to someone can be quite irritating as I hear the screeching become modulated by the sound of people's voices and sibilant sounds like "s" seem amplified and sear through my head.

I felt brushed off by an ENT after an MRI came back normal and not taken seriously by my GP. That MRI was brutal! I tell the doctor that I'm extremely sensitive to sound and I don't get any warning about how loud those things are! I feel like that scan actually made things worse. I'm in the process of seeking more opinions on the matter.

I've been given conflicting advise by a couple audiologists regarding hearing protection, and have been tested to have mild high frequency loss. It sure seems like a lot more than mild to me though... things sound distorted, distant, lifeless and "mooshey", if that makes any sense.

This is hitting me very hard as I've always been very in touch with my ears. They have been very strong and clear before the tinnitus. I'm the type of person who will fuss over different cartridges, tonearms, preamps, etc. in my stereo to get the best sound out of my records. Listening to a few albums has always been my go to way of escaping and dealing with stress and hard times, but I have lost that as I deal with one of my biggest challenges yet!

Anyways, that all said, I'm looking forward to chatting with you all here, and hopefully figure out some leads to pursue for treatment. And if I find anything that works, I'll certainly offer details on here as well!


All the best,

-Turnitdown

 

Welcome. What was the loud impact noise at work that set off your tinnitus?

Mine was also caused by a loud impulse noise at work. Of course it's treated as a non issue, not even an injury, but has turned my life upside down.

 

Same here, loud impulse noise + pressure wave = not good on the ears.
Sounds like textbook hyperacusis. Be careful about what audiologists say about 'overprotection'. I had a very mild case of H for a couple of months which is slowly on its way out because i started protecting my ears in outside situations such as traffic, supermarket, etc. At least the ears get a chance to heal up when not exposed to cars honking and blaring supermarket speakers.
The distortion is likely to dissipate over time in a lot of cases, in my case it got better by listening to low level music at home or white noise. Things kind of 'fell into place' again and sound back to normal now.
You may consider joining the am101 trial, which myself, @Alue and many others have done recently. There is a thread under research news which i suggest to check out, but be very quick (like today) because they are closing applications in many places as we speak.

 

@Alue , it was from a hockey puck that hit the glass along the rink right next to my head as I was setting up microphones for the TV truck. It was long before the game started and there was nobody in the arena at the time with the exception of a few players skating around the rink warming up I guess. To think of all the times I used ear plugs during concerts and shows only to have this sneak up on me! Needless to say, this has impacted my ability to work and I hear you about it being treated as a non issue... I get the feeling people judge thinking I'm making it up!

@Sebastians thanks for the heads up, looks like there are some trials but in other Provinces... and in random smallish towns relative to my own! I'm looking into it regardless though.

 

Hi

Did they not offer ear protection for the MRI scan??? Wow

 

O' I know that, people think I'm making it up too even though it was negligence of a co-worker that caused mine. I have to work around loud equipment some times and wear as much protection as possible, there is small portion of my job where I have told them I cannot do because I can't wear adequate protection. They think I'm making it up and it's all in my head.

 

@Aussie Lea The referring doctor didn't mention it to me (the one whom I explained my sensitivity to). It wasn't until I got to the MRI place that I learned about it as the technician gave me a pair of those cheap foam plugs which I can never seem to fit in my ears all the way. The MRI was still VERY loud through those. They could not give me muffs as they were scanning my head and had to keep my head immobilized in this bracket type thing.

@Alue That's brutal... has your work caused any spikes since then? I can't even imagine being around anything louder than a quiet conversation at this point.

 

I think it has once or twice. There are a lot of sounds that are annoying to me but probably not damaging, the hissing of steam pipes etc. I do my best to protect my ears with large foam earplugs and in certain places both ear plugs and earmuffs. There is one place that's about 93 db low tone machinery where I will wear both and try to minimize my time there, maybe once or twice a week. It sucks, and unless there is hearing loss in the 250-8k range it's not considered a real injury or disability.
People just think "O' hearing damage, that just means you hear less right?". No, god no! But I was almost as ignorant before. Even if I were to get disability with this job I'd be screwed, I had just moved and took it as a job to hold me over but it was a very large pay cut. Needless to say, I feel stuck, and not in a good state to be looking for a new job either.

 

It's worse than that for me: I specifically asked for hearing protection, and they told me "you can't wear hearing protection as it will show on the MRI".

 

I feel for you as I'm in a similar situation.
I'm a drummer and ironically I got my hearing loss from otosclerosis. My drum kit is an electronic kit so I can adjust the volume to reasonable levels. But now I'm even worried to play again, in spite of being a way to focus attention away from T and regain some "pleasurable feelings", so I haven't touched it since T started.

My left ear is perfect ("a teenager's hearing" says my doctor), but the right one got hit by this "funny" disease.
It's hard to cope and adapt, that's for sure.

Good luck.

 

@Alue That's a tough situation to be in for sure. I have been looking into ways to change my career and use my skills for a quieter job... no easy task.

@GregCA that's crazy! Especially given your hearing situation. I am just shocked at how indifferent people in the medical field can be to hearing problems.