New Onset of Reactive Tinnitus After Using Headphones to Listen to Music

Hey guys, I've become a new member on this site. I already have a form of (mild) tinnitus that started in 2016.

However, two weeks ago, after having used a headphone to listen to some music, I have a new friend called reactive tinnitus (I guess)?).

It is present when I am in a quiet room, but it sometimes reacts on external stimuli and when I sleep, it increases in sound, making it very hard to fall to sleep and makes life unbearable. I also seem to have a hearing distortion of certain sounds.

Now the question: how can I deal with this kind of tinnitus?

 

I am so sorry. I have this too. IMO reactive is one of the worst forms of tinnitus. Unfortunately, I've not found anything to manage / fix it. Hopefully yours can improve with time. You can search the forums there are several people with it. You can find out how they're coping with it. Be Well.

 

HI @Christiaan

Some people believe there is a condition called Reactive tinnitus and if you want to go along with this that is fine. Reactive tinnitus is a term that was made-up in tinnitus forums around 14 years ago and has become commonly used but there is no such thing. Your tinnitus is reacting to sound due to oversensitivity, but your symptoms are known as hyperacusis, which often accompanies tinnitus when caused by exposure to loud sound or headphone use. People experience it differently and like tinnitus, comes is various levels of severity. Your mild tinnitus which started in 2016 was likely caused by sound, better known as Noise induced tinnitus. I often advise that people with NIT shouldn't use headphones even at low volume, as there's a risk of making the tinnitus worse. Some people with noise induced tinnitus, use headphones and have no problems but many do.

If you are fortunate your ears will settle down with time and the tinnitus return to its previous baseline level, without you experiencing hyperacusis: oversensitivity to sound. Please see this as a warning. If you continue to use headphones even at low volume, the tinnitus is likely to increase and with it the hyperacusis. It can become severe and very debilitating and the tinnitus might increase to a new permanent level, even after you have stopped using headphones. I am telling you this not to frighten you but to make you aware, that people with Noise induced tinnitus, are risking their health when using headphones even at low volumes, or expose their ears and auditory system to overly louds sounds, such as clubbing or concerts. Even wearing earplugs a person needs to be careful.

Please click on the links below and read my posts on tinnitus especially: Hyperacusis, As I see it, which gives information on self-help to treat your oversensitivity to sound. Try to avoid quiet rooms and surroundings especially at night, by using sound enrichment. More about this is explained in my posts below.

All the best
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-to-tinnitus-what-to-do.12558/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/acquiring-a-positive-mindset.23969/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-and-the-negative-mindset.23705/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-habituation-process.20767/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/is-positivity-important.23150/

 

Hi there @Michael. But what should I do to treat the reactive T? I have read that some people use pink noise to desensitise the T. Is that a good idea and should I do that at home? I could wait for professional help, but here (in The Netherlands), it is impossible to make an appointment for the next following weeks or months due to the corona virus

 

Hi @James, it is sad to hear that you are struggling with this type of tinnitus. I really hope that there would be a treatment to help people like you and me to get through this

 

Thank you for your kindness. I tried pink noise and it made mine worse. My reactive tinnitus is now aggravated by colored noise. I would suggest treading lightly on self help. I really hope there will be treatment for cochlear damage that will resolve noise induced hyperacusis/reactiveness. You may want to follow the research forum. It seems there could be medical therapeutics in the future to help us.

 

HI @Christiaan

I have advised you to read my post: Hyperacusis, As I see it. It is in the link above. There it explains how to treat hyperacusis, oversensitivity to sound yourself. I advise you NOT to play white or pink noise through headphones. Sometimes professional help is needed to treat hyperacusis, but I don't think you need that. Please read my post and try my suggestions.

Best of luck
Michael

 

Thank you Michael. This is certainly helpful

 

Be extra-extra-careful as it could get worse still in these crucial weeks. Mowing the grass, going to restaurants - ah yes at least we're safe from that risk now...

Learn about earplugs and always have some around, but don't get too dependent on them.

You will have a new baseline that is worse than what you had before, but things will almost certainly will get better than what they are now over the coming months if you follow the advise from @Michael Leigh and others here. Best of luck!

 

Thank you for warning me. It is always better to seek further advice before diving into a certain project. But are there new therapeutics in development concerning hyperacusis / reactive tinnitus?

 

Not specifically for hyperacusis/reactive tinnitus. The hope is if you fix the hearing, the rest will be fixed or lessened. It's hopeful thinking. No one really knows. Thank you for taking the warning. Less is more with hearing after trauma.

 

Sorry you had to join this forum. However there is a lot of good information that will help you here. For me... distraction, being outdoors, thinking positive, relaxation and white noise...

 

Hi everyone,

I had a second set of tinnitus a few weeks ago. So there is a new tinnitus tone which is pretty up high in frequency (around 14 kHz) and which is also reactive to certain sounds. In the first few weeks, I 've noticed that my tinnitus makes these ''beep''/ ''microphone feedback-ish'' sounds when certain instruments on high frequency are played on the radio. However, after a while, it seems that this is less noticeable. But still, it freaks me out.

Does anybody notice the same thing? And is this normal when one has high frequency loss? And is this also a matter of damage to Outer hair cells / Inner hair Cells or something else?

 

Note: this is just my personal theory/observation:

Tinnitus (of cochlear origin) to me seems like it follows this formula: T = x + y + z (or maybe T = x + xy + xz) where x = structural damage/deficiency, y = inflammation and z = intrinsic factors like neurotransmitter function).

I think "y" contributes a lot to these fluctuations as you describe along with central interpretation of these signals (loudness hyperacisis) and both tend to get better with time.

As to what structure in "x" you may have damaged, diagnostics are not good at differentiating anything other than OHCs with an extended high frequency audiogram for very high frequency regions.

Extended audiograms won't tell you if you have IHC damage, synapse damage or even an OHC "notch" in a specific untested location, unfortunately. It is even possible you don't have permanent structural damage and inflammation is temporarily interfering with your OHC (etc) function.

I think what you are describing is pretty common with some HF damage, though.