New Tinnitus Tone(s) Appearing at the Same Time as New Fridge and Freezer

In early December (the 8th) we got a Samsung freezer and a Samsung fridge here in the house.

A week later (the 15th) I distinctly start hearing a low-pitched humming noise reverberating throughout the entire house.

I try to walk it off, it gets worse the following week, and I tell my father about it.

We start working on soundproofing the enclosure the fridge and freezer are in.

It makes no difference for the noises.

About a week after New Year's we move the fridge and freezer out from the back wall (which they were previously leaning against), 5 centimeters, hoping that they will be less noisy due to having an easier time venting hot air through the back.

Thinking that things might be solved, I go to bed, almost forgetting about the new noise, and when I wake up, there are now 3 different noises, all sounding like electrical humming, but at 3 very different frequencies.

Currently these 3 noises are a lot more bothersome than my regular tinnitus (which is more like running water + a CRT-TV).
I can hear the noises everywhere in the house, even with earplugs on.
I am worried it is not coming from the fridge and freezer at all, or that I have been permanently damaged by the noise from them somehow.

The noises sometimes try to compete with other noises around me, such as the fans of my computer.

Other than that, the noises are fairly low, but loud enough to interrupt my sleep.

Do any of you have experience with fridges and freezers?

 

Turns out the fridge and freezer were not involved, and rather fluid behind my eardrum seems to have been the cause somehow.

The electric whinings started to disappear nightly on the days that I used an Otovent-balloon to equalize pressure in my middle ear (valsalva maneuver but with baloon instead).

Now there is only one whining left, and it appears and disappears seemingly at random, possibly together with a stuffy nose or similar.

 

@Phendran, it sounds as if your tinnitus might be somatic-sensory. How is it these days? By the way, I lived in Stockholm for a year. It's a beautiful city.

 

Yeah huh.

Tonight was terrible. Excuse me for venting a bit.

I went to bed with slightly elevated tinnitus and woke up in the middle of the night with a piercing variant.>

Fought the panic all night but could not stop my heart from pounding madly.

The electric whining tone is back as well, although at a much lower volume than when it initially appeared.

 

To me Stockholm is too big and has too many people in it...

I have a hard time in general thinking of cities as pretty, but I'm happy you liked Stockholm regardless.

How come you lived there so long? Was it for studies or something else?

 

@Phendran, how is your tinnitus during the day? Does it vary much during the day and between different days?

 

My two primary tones usually have not varied much at all. This current spike doesn't vary either. It just sits.

The electric whining tone goes up and down more, usually low, but gets louder sometimes, and I can't really tell what makes it do that. I've guessed on temperature and inner ear-pressure.

 

Are you able to sleep at night?

 

Barely when my Eustachian tubes clog up, otherwise sporadically.

A minor cold can set me back big-time, and I probably wouldn't be able to have a regular job.

How is it on your end?

 

@Phendran, my tinnitus follows a pattern. It is noisy for two days and quiet on the third day. This is a regular pattern.

 

Quite the unusual variant.

Do you feel like that sort of pattern works in your favour or not?

 

I would say it does work in my favour. It's nice to return to a normal state every third day. Something to look forward to. It makes the other two days easier to cope with.

 

Alright. Glad to hear it. If I was a doctor or researcher, I would monitor the fuck out of you every day to try and find out why it is like it is in your case.

My tinnitus is generally constant. Right now when I'm having this nasty congestion it is so loud that I sometimes start awake just before I can fall asleep. Luckily I have antidepressants that help when initially going to bed.

The antidepressants only last for a few hours, but they have been a true boon these past weeks.

Without them I might not have been getting any sleep at all, except with sleeping meds.

I have sleeping meds, but they are strongly habit-forming and I'm only allowed to eat two of them per week.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your discomfort. Do you feel that stress plays a part in your tinnitus distress? I find that worry, anxiety etc can create a vicious circle of heightened emotional reaction and upset. Cognitive therapy is in essence developing a detached and disciplined attitude to one's tinnitus. It gives you a sense that you can control your reaction and be less disturbed. The more overwhelmed we feel by our tinnitus, the more powerless we are.

 

Thank you for your thoughts.

Generally, yes. I've gone through CBT, and it seems like it's treated as a "cure-all" for anything that doesn't actually have a real treatment, whether effective or not.

However, as my tinnitus the past days/nights on and off have woken me up, I can't do much to relieve that distress.

Even if I don't worry about the tinnitus, it still keeps me from sleeping. That is the worst part.

As you can imagine, the lack of sleep makes it even harder to keep the stress at bay.

 

@Phendran, when and how did your tinnitus start?

 

My tinnitus started 2011. Very mild and fairly easy to deal with.

I went through the usual checkups, ENT found nothing wrong with my hearing, and at the time I was young enough to think that it meant my tinnitus could never get worse. The ENT I visited at the time was an old man, oblivious to research, how tinnitus can kill people, and the Internet, and I let myself be fooled by his nonchalant demeanor and "expertise".


In 2016 it got to the louder level, and my life spiraled out of control. I am not sure what caused it, but my guess would be a combination of stress + lack of sleep + loud music in headphones.

Since then more tones/sounds have appeared, and tinnitus has been a major part of my life.

 

Since 2016, when your tinnitus became louder, have those factors you mentioned; stress + lack of sleep + loud music in headphones, stayed the same or have they increased or diminished? What remedies have you tried? For example, meditation, exercise, medication etc. Would you say that you have a tendency towards hypochondria and self-obsession?

Sometimes the best approach is taking one's mind off the tinnitus, not focusing on it. Whatever we give our attention to grows in importance and significance. We can become tunnel visioned. Eventually we make a a mountain out of a molehill, or to reverse the metaphor we dig ourselves deeper into a hole.

 

Stress has increased significantly. Lack of sleep as well.

I never use headphones whatsoever now.

I lost my career and my education because of tinnitus. Been living as a poor man on donations from friends and family since 2016.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Meditation, Exercise, Eustachian tube surgery, nasal sprays, Curcumin, hearing aids, and talking about it.

Not hypochondria per se, although I was looking for easy solutions to get rid of my tinnitus in the past.

If I was self-obsessed before, I would say that tinnitus and the ripples and quakes it has caused has made me more compassionate and less self-obsessed, I would like to think so at least. Am I self-obsessed in that? Perhaps, but I should like to see everyone free of this kind of suffering.

I am a part of the research initiatives when I can, in my hopes that we will all be cured one day.

There are mental dispositions in some people that make "taking one's mind of the tinnitus" impossible (source).

You are half-right, but tinnitus and its myriad variants must be cured for real and for true soon. Too many people have died from it already, and thus we should not pretend that "learning to live with it" is a reasonable way to deal with it in our age.

 

@Phendran, I understand what you are saying. Everything around tinnitus is complex and nuanced. What I would say is that to some extent we can try to control our mental-emotional disposition. What I mean is that the more we are able to cultivate a positive and 'happy' outlook the better chance we have of coping with the condition. One's state of mind is a big factor in many medical conditions. Even the act of choosing a more positive and optimistic attitude is a good first step along the road. As the French philosopher wrote: “Liberty, taking the word in its concrete sense, consists in the ability to choose.”