On & Off Loud Humming

I'm really wondering how on earth this form of tinnitus is constructed to have it completely stop when being spoken to (in between the words the buzzing continues) or upon shaking the head quickly from left to right (like when you 'say' "no"). It stops for a second and then it picks up again.

What mechanisms are causing this? Regular tinnitus does not do this, at all.

 

I can also stop my hum temporarily by shaking the head in a "no" pattern. I got my hum (and elevated "broken up tone" tinnitus that hasn't bothered me since my since teenage years – will turn 43 this year) in conjunction with drinking six beers one night in December last year. Never never heard of drinking a bunch of beers being able to trigger tinnitus. I can go many months where I drink very little or nothing at all, so it's not like I'm drinking often or very much.

I can mask out my hum with most low frequency fans like @OnceUponaTime mentions. I also found this white noise posted in another thread that more or less totally "takes it "out" of my head.

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Unfortunately it seems I've now developed a hiss in my left ear from trying to mask my hum and "irratic tone" tinnitus.

I've stayed mostly away from headphones and just used my phone (in airplane mode) as a speaker, but I did have them on at a low volume when sleeping some nights (mostly to not disturb my partner), but maybe that was enough to trigger the hiss.

What's the next mistake I will make?

Like many have said – stay away from headphones for long sessions even at low volumes!

 

It now seems my hum gets more or less totally masked by the super high frequency hiss I now have in the left ear. Interestingly I thought it was only low frequencies that did. But maybe it's just my ear that's changing.

I used to be able to stop the the hum temporarily (10 seconds or so) by pressing the "lid" of cartilage outside the ear canal a few time quickly with my finger. Doing this seem to have a somewhat similar effect to the hiss.

But I will try to leave my ear alone now and see how it develops. If I can without going crazy...

In my case I much rather have the hum witch was only heard in certain rooms/places and could easily be masked out with low frequency white noise. This hiss is so sharp (albeit low in volume) and I have a hard time trying to bury it with other sounds.

 

Hello, this is my first post. I came across this thread via Google when I was looking up my symptoms. I have the low hum/buzz/aeroplane/engine/vibrating type noise - both ears but the left is worse.

It was intermittent but for the last 2 weeks constantly there. Have tried using the balloon that you blow up with your nose in case it was the tubes blocking, have been monitoring my blood pressure, using a mouth guard at night for teeth grinding and saw an audiologist for a hearing test and to check for wax. There is no explanation. Have also had an eye test and all was fine.

I don't listen to loud music or use headphones, the only thing I can think of is all of the Zoom meetings over the last year in the tiny space of the home office.

If I shake my head from side to side the noise stops, but once still it is like a switch being turned on again. When people talk, when I talk and when the TV is on, fridge makes a noise etc it goes away, but as soon as other sounds stop, it starts again. Why when we shake our heads does it go away? I can't live like this, it is driving me mad. Sometimes it actually feels like my ears are vibrating. My legs vibrate too but I'm not sure if it's linked.

 

I'm very surprised nobody has been able to work this one out as it changes with neck movements and the like. Most low hum sufferers have those symptoms you mentioned and yes, for me it literally feels like something tiny is vibrating, you can feel it like a mini spasm somewhere in the neck. I can increase the frequency by holding my neck in a certain way. Do both ears come on at the same time for you?

Try playing around with your minerals such as Magnesium and Potassium. That usually stops the spasms for me. I can’t figure out what it is related to otherwise but it clearly operates differently to any other tinnitus.

 

I have permanent low tinnitus (amongst other sounds), 250 Hz.

Moving my head or any kind of movement does not influence it.

Any idea what I could try?

It's actually way worse to bear than the already unmaskable high hiss and pitch tones.

 

I'm glad that I found this thread because I suffer from similar symptoms. My ENT seems to think it's from ETD but further test needs to be performed (I've had this for 4 months now).

Does yours go away temporarily with a hot shower?

 

The hum/tone that you all hear is from the noise/tone that machinery, like your outside air conditioner unit, called the compressor, or condenser, makes when running. Or also from a mini electric toaster oven, like a Breville or similar, in your kitchen.

It also comes from exposure to vacuums and especially SHOP VAC vacuums.

With climate change, and a wetter world, air conditioner units have become much more toney.

It going away depends on many things, including how "pre-fatigued" your ears were, from years of exposure.

And winters are even worse for these "Tones". When it's extremely cold, like in January or February, the world gets much more full of tones, unless you don't live in the city.