One Scary Second of Feeling Like "Deaf" When Tinnitus Tone Changes?

the most scary thing about my tinnitus is this: lets say i listen to SILENT radio music with headphones-all normal,dont hear ANY tinnitus,cause the silent music masks it-then,suddenly i feel it in my head for just one little second like if the tinnitus would "fall down to the floor" in my head and "stand up again"-both in one second only.in this very short moment,it feels like beeing deaf.its a little shock every time.very hard to explain.afterwards everything normal again.its like the T is changing its pitch or something in that moment and i feel that in my head? its like the tinnitus sits in an elevator that crashes down quickly from 10th floor to first floor and then immediately up again to 10th floor,which means its normal high level again.its not that i hear that,more like a feeling in my head.hm,i guess you only can understand this if you had it yourself?very hard to explain.
is that normal?

 

yep totally normal. that's fleeting T, you might experience that on a daily basis and multiple times a day.

 

hi there,i know exactly what you mean and i have fleeting tinnitus very often-but attention-this is NOT what i am talking about!fleeting tinnitus means a louder tinnitus than usual for about 10 seconds-my problem in this thread is not that it becomes louder for 10 seconds like with fleeting tinnitus ,but the feeling described above,tinnitus "drops"or goes away for one second and returns immediately-just to change its pitch,to "rewire"itsself i guess-in that moment where it does this,i feel like deaf and because if that,very scared every time!its like losing hearing for one second!

 

yeah tinnitus can change over time, one second i got a 700hz in my left ear, ten seconds later the 700hz tone is still there but there's an additional 7000hz ;-)

don't think too much about that, it's not important anyway

 

I get exactly what you describe there michela, it feels as if the ear 'closes' briefly. It's not the constant changes in pitch, hisses over the course of a day, it's a different deafen feeling

 

My tinnitus does that. I don't usually notice my tinnitus until it stops for a second and then starts back up, whether it starts again louder, a slightly different pitch or continues exactly the same.

 

oh yes paulie,THIS is IT exactly, you got it! so glad im not alone and somebody understood what i mean,even if you must admit ,its almost impossible to describe this feeling. glad i was able to make you all understand anyway!last question about this: we only THINK we are deaf for that second,but that is not the case-this is not a loss of hearing which lasts that second right?
its actually interesting if you think about it: this means ,even if we think we dont hear our tinnitus lets say all day long,we still recognize that one second when it stops and starts again. actually we should not notice that then as well, right?which means for me: if we recognize this stop in that second,this means we must have "heard"our tinnitus as well all the time without noticing it -otherwise we would not recognize that it stops for a second. so hard to explain in english as im from germany,i hope you all understand?well ,maybe THATS habituation if you only hear the "stop and go again"-moment haha

 

oh, i've had this happen to me too, seems to only happen when i use headphones or earbuds, which i rarely use.

 

Glad to hear Michela! I think it does mean we have habituated to the tinnitus, as otherwise we would always hear it and be focussed on it. We only realise when it actually disappears for a second.

And to Emil's quote about only getting this with earphones, I have personally found ear buds devastating to my tinnitus/hyperacusis. Over the ear headphones seem far better, no idea what causes the inner ear ones to be so bad.

 

now that you say it,you are right ,99 percent of the time when it happens i wear headphones.i guess you hear it more with headphones because with headphones on its like you are "closer to your own head" lol

 

Hey @Paulie87 are you using those kind of apple-style earbuds that sit in your ears or more ear-plug style earbuds?

I think the latter are actually a little better than the over-ear style (for me, of course to each their own), but those apple-style ones I have been told are not so good - they are close to the ear, but let in a lot of external sound so you're tempted to turn up the volume. If you have a good seal, then you're keeping out the outside noise and keeping the volume of your music low on the inside.

These are similar to what I have (couldn't remember the model no.), but they block out something like 30db of ambient noise, so I don't have to crank up the music to listen over the subway or what-have-you. As a bonus, they're emergency earplugs w/o the music on http://www.amazon.com/Shure-SE215-CL-Sound-Isolating-Earphones/dp/B004PO10E2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1399917507&sr=1-1&keywords=shure sound isolating earphones

Also, @michela, to keep more on topic - I think I've had what you're talking about, too. Crazy feeling yes? It's the sound equivalent of when you're falling in a dream and suddenly wake up. Your ears feel kind of completely empty of sound and then you have more intense tinnitus for a second and then it evens out. I do wonder what's going on there, but no sense in worrying about what we can't control. You're not alone though - crazy ears.

 

Yes, it drops for one second, that's fleeting tinnitus too, someone called it “oscillation secondary to instability in the nonlinear electromechanical properties of the outer hair cells, with a rapid stabilization with a dampening of oscillation” (LePage, 1995). I have no idea what that means.

 

so just to be sure : this FEELS like a "one-second hearing-loss" but it is NOT, right?