New Victim at Age 19 — Can Having Headphones on Most of the Time Cause Tinnitus?

Simple advice is to toss the headphones in the garbage, and not use them again, nor earbuds or anything of the sort.

Need to avoid further exposure to loud sounds, so no rock concerts or loud bars, etc. Get some good earplugs that work well for you, and use them for any loud activities, such as vacuuming if you need to do it, or better yet have someone else do it. Also keep them with you, and put them in if you are in a loud place unexpectedly, such as the supermarket I was in once that had a false fire alarm go off.

Feel better soon. Without further noise exposure, healing often takes months, and be aware there may be setbacks along the way.

 

What's so funny about the above, @GregCA ?

 

@Digital Doc what do you mean by “there maybe setback along the way”

 

No matter how hard you try to protect your ears, you will still get exposed to loud noises (e.g., a fire alarm). This might interfere with your healing, but most of the people who got better also have had that happen to them, so don't worry Too much about those possible setbacks. Just do what you can, and you ought to be ok.

 

@Digital Doc I’m on my 5th day with tinnitus and I’m literally in tears right now because it’s around 3 am(UK) and I feel really hard to sleep due to anxiety and tinnitus. I will do anything to hear quiet nose even if it means to throw my headphones away and never use it again ever in my life. what makes me upset is that as I said before it’s my final year therefore I’m working my ass of during collage hour and few hours evening before going to bed. Music is what kept me going to complete heavy gun fire of assignments and I’m not a person to go clubbing at night. I’m just curious how come people in club isn’t affected by the loud noise that can be heard from outside miles away whereas me with the headphone. I’m guessing I’m just unlucky.

 

@Bill Bauer do you think having a build up ear wax for period of time may cause tinnitus?

 

That's one of the causes that can lead to Tinnitus, yes.

 

MRI's are very noisy, and may be harmful to hearing which could worsen tinnitus and noise pain.
If you must do one where the best hearing protection.

source: http://hyperacusisfocus.org/innerear/



Raw science paper.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378595516302507
Hidden hearing loss in the mammalian cochlea, Liberman & Kujawa

Unraveling Hidden Hearing Loss

 

That's how I got my tinnitus. Years and years of excessive headphone use. I've had tinnitus now for 2 years and it hasn't got better, only worse. And I no longer use headphones anymore either. I did initially, even when I first got my tinnitus, so maybe that's why mine is sticking around.

 

@GSC is it far worst then damaging it with loud noises and once the wax is removed, do you think it will eventually fade away or help somway?

 

Some people experience fading and ringing going completely away with a wax removal. My cousin had Tinnitus for a month because of wax build up, and as soon as it was removed, it went to zero. Some other people don't experience the same thing though. Who knows why. I'm not sure. But as long as it isn't a wax impaction, I can't see how wax would be more damaging than loud noise.

 

we don't know if it will fade.

 

I feel like my right ear the one that is killing me mostly and I’ve been told that I have few wax build up in my right ear and my left is clean... my left isn’t that bad with the ringing sound.. @GSC

 

If that is the case, look into it. If you plan to get a clean up, do not touch your ears with Q-TIPS and also do not let them handle your ears with microsuction or syringing. Try to go for a manual clean up. But whoever you go to will determine if the issue is actually wax and be able to see if there is a wax build up.

 

This might sound stupid but are they able to tell what caused tinnitus to person? I’m kind of aware there is multiple way of causing tinnitus but will they find out what way may have lead to tinnitus.@gsc

 

It’s 4:30 am here in UK and I cannot fall asleep after waking up middle of night at 23:00pm...@gsc

 

There are many causes of Tinnitus. Whether or not they can find the reason why it happened, I think it depends on how good the ENT is. There also needs to be some info provided on your part, too. Like what were you doing when you first noticed the ringing and such. Any noise exposures, stress, meds, wax, long duration of audio use, or jaw clicking. It comes down to you and a GOOD ent working together, I would say. At least IN MY OPINION.

 

Waht do you mean by “jaw clicking”!!!

Do u think protein shake, preworkout and vitamin supplement may cause this?

 

I have no idea. I'm not a doctor, please don't see me as a person with all the answers. But by jaw clicking, I mean TMJ. Where you jaw pops out of place and clicks. Or you have the habit of grinding your teeth.

 

My jaw kinda clicks when I open my mouth wide and when I do teeth grinding motion( I don’t have habit of grinding teeth)

 

Most people on this forum share two things in common, noise induced hearing loss and TMJ.

See a doctor about these issues, we can't help any further other then support.

 

Thx

 

I have no way on how to advise you, because I do not want to steer you in the wrong direction...

 

I’m will try to see doctor later asap

 

That's good. If you see an ENT, just be sure to tell them what you think the cause is. Don't let them do unnecessary tests on you. If you look on my profile, in my bookmarks, you can see what tests to avoid with an educated mind! For now, drink lots of water and try to get as much sleep as possible. Try taking magnesium just in case. Zinc too. If you have problems with sleep, I would recommend Melatonin. <-- Which can be purchased on amazon.

 

Wait can u plz stay with me for few mins plzzz

 

Of course. How are you today? What are you doing?

 

My doctor was saying something about seeing ent but I don’t know much about it and you know as you said “be sure to tell them what you think the cause is” you means cause of the clicking jaw ?cause I don’t even remember what caused it or about tinnitus? And “unnecessary test “? Meaning ? I might be going to see doctor today with my parent so I need everything I know from before I go please please I beg you

 

@GSC , I dont know how to reply back there...

 

Okay. Don't take my words as the most informative. I'm just as new as you are, okay? But deep breaths and I will try to help you in when it comes to asking questions. Your doctor probably wants you to see an ENT, because the ENT's specialty is dealing with the ear, where you are experiencing the ringing from. Once at the ENT, the ENT will try to eliminate the cause of the Tinnitus - which from their method of work could be either - noise damage, hearing loss, hidden hearing loss, fluid build up behind the ear drum, ETD, ear inflammation or wax build up. They'll be able to assess this and potentially rule any of these out, and if they find one of these reasons to be the cause, hopefully be able to resolve this since you're still early into onset: fading of the ringing being a good outcome.

What I meant about the cause is - is by what you believe sprouted up your ringing ears. Think, did it come after a long duration of listening to music or sound? Did it come from a noise exposure? Did it come out of nowhere and you barely took note of it when you were sleeping or in a non-noisy place to take note of it. Did it come after medication. Did it come after a time of stress? If you are able to answer this question, then supply that to your doctor and your ent.

Hopefully they'll be able to help you tackle it down and be able to prescribe you what's necessary or what they deem fit. By what I mean on unnecessary tests, there are some UNnecessary tests I've read about on here in MY OPINION that I plan on avoiding. Like I said before, you can go into my bookmarks on my profile page and click, reviewing them. If you find out from your ENT that the cause of your Tinnitus isn't hearing loss or noise damage, etd, or anything else they specialize in, then you can inform your physician about your jaw popping and clicking when you yawn <-- that way you can get it resolved and see if it alleviates or fades some of the ringing. Some people on here determine their somatic tinnitus by realizing they're able to modulate the tone and pitch and intensity by moving their neck and jaw at certain angles. If you're able to do this and take notice, then maybe there is some minor somatic T at play for you, though it might not be the full cause, but it can certainly help to fix anyway.

Anyway, if possible and you have a GOOD ENT then try and get an hearing test over 8khz. If possible, tell them you want to see if your hearing is good in the higher frequencies as well!