Poll of Everyone's Tinnitus Levels

My Tinnitus is load. I wear an mp3 player earphones that rest on the ear and play cricket sounds through them while in the quiet office during the day. I also wear this setup in my house and around the outside of my house. I have had Tinnitus since when the Mortar shell blew 8 ft from my head during the 4th of Jully, 2011. It was a mortar firework and it was at an ex-friends house who i am in the process of suing over it.

This Tinnitus comes with hypercusis. I am a man of 49 at the moment. As of late the sound has been louder and reactive. When overhead ceiling vents at work or my bedroom come on....the noise level goes crazy. So, it is reactive to ventilation sounds, in the office, in the car at home.

In the mornings when i sit down in front of the computer i can hear the tinnitus in the office environment where there are employees talking, ventilation in the ceiling running, copiers going off, etc. . But i am somehow able to exclude it and work on.....although it stops me several times during the hour to remind me it is still there. I put on my mp3 player and then listen to the sound of crickets just enough to where i can just hear the Tinnitus. This continues while i am at my computer working. When i leave my computer i take the mp3 and earphone off as i don't want to look like i am jamming at work. But as of late, by the end of the day the tinnitus spikes and is much loader than the masking sounds of the crickets and i begin to fatigue both mentally and physically.

Today was one of those day. Yesterday was. I sat in my car in traffic listening to NPR and just was in mental pain, anguish, i had tears falling from my eyes as not being able to believe that i had to live like this. That i was so unlucky to have gone to that ex-friends house on that 4th of July and that now i have to suffer until my death.

But i will not give up. Knowing that we are all in this together gives me the power of many. I will, we will, will persevere.

God help them find a cure today.

 

Mine wasn't that loud up until this summer when I was experienced to some gun fire. It seems that since then it has even gotten a bit louder since that exposure (Maybe due to my hyperacusis)

When I last had it matched, it came through as 58 db in my left ear and 32 db in my right ear. My T is more of a loud HISS - while I have a fluctuating ring in my right ear.

I am also dealing with some hyperacusis as well. Sadly I had to have some ear wax vacuumed out of my left ear due to it causing me some pain and had to be removed. Since that time I'm not sure if that spiked my T as well...but I also have fluctuating TMJ and issues with stiffness in my shoulders which seems to cause issues with my T as well.
Thats the problem that I find with T....you just never really know what can be agitating it.

Currently, I'm waiting until I'm able to start sound therapy next month. I spend most of my time inside except for the occasional outing for a run or a doctors apt. I know that I have to expose myself to sound and I try to in a safe environment...but until I'm able to get tested I just feel that its best to hang closer to the careful side.

I have some days that are good and I don't really hear my T. But somedays the hissing just seems to hang around with no relief!

I do know one thing though. If I'm able to get over this hyperacusis and get back to where I was before - then I'll be able to handle anything!

I heard someone else say this. I'm trying to reach habituation once again and am doing not to bad of a job at doing so. I haven't used sleep meds in a month, I haven't used masking to sleep in about two....so not bad.

I would say that I hear my tinnitus about 90-95% of the time, but it only bothers me about 5-10% of the time. When I'm frustrated I try and do something else. But I've just been stir crazy as I've been living this for about 5 months now.

I turn 26 in two weeks...and I only have one wish and goal...and thats to habituate to my T once again!

 

I can hear mine loud and clear over my lawnmower which is rated at 80db's.

I can hear mine loud and clear while driving on the highway at 110kph with the side window all the way down.

It doesn't matter how loud it is what matters is how it affects you emotionally.

 

God I feel terrible worrying about my elevated T volume (measured at between 19 to 25db) after reading how loud some of your guy's volume is.
I guess I won't be happy till it's completely eliminated!

 

@Magpie How does it affect you emotionally? Would you say you have habituated? If you have dealt with it at 80db's there's hope for everyone.

 

20dB isn't mild tinnitus.

 

Perhaps your tinnitus is low in quiet surroundings but reacts when loud noises are present ?

 

Mine was measured at about 25dB and the audiologist referred to it as mild?

 

True, but compared to allot on here it's not terribly loud though.

 

@Telis, Painfull to read your story, i did the opposite and overprotected during the first months. used plugs under the helmet when plaing floorball (goalkeeping). Felt like a freak but the H subsided slowly and left me with a high pitch tone in both ears that is hard to mask but not very loud every day. Have you considered any pink noise treatment for the H?

 

@dan ... Yeah I follow you regarding the traffic noise and all 'other' environmental noise, etc. The only thing that covers my T ringing is a pretty decent sized waterfall, or me sitting in the bath-tub with water blasting in from the spout. There must be something about the 'zillion little multi-tones' in there that covers it IF I do not pay attention to the T, otherwise I can still find it right there. No idea what dB levels are involved though I can't stand too near a loud waterfall either...need a little distance.
Anyway, "subjective" T levels are all over the map and more what I would appreciate clarification on is those questions I asked. So if I may, back to your statement.

When you first got T a good dose of traffic noise would mask it. Am I presuming correctly this was without earplugs in? I ask because as I mentioned previously, if I reduce 'outside sound' the 'inside sound' presents more loudly. This I guess is the case for 'anyone' with T as I don't see how 'sounds in the head' could not be clearer/louder if anyone stuck their fingers fully in their ears, etc.
OK, so back to traffic noise...Now your T is louder than even that, and over any environmental noise. I'm not sure if a waterfall or bathtub would do it for you, but that is irrelevant to my question. What I am asking is, you have a clear recollection of a "condition" = traffic noise (and I am presuming you are smart enough to know the difference between one vehicle tooling by and a constant stream/roar) and your T was masked. Now it is not. In my book that means "it got louder"...Ummmmmmm, this obvious, and you and I know this reality though there are some 'experts' who question the relevance of this.
Well the relevance is that there is no way on earth I would not prefer my level 2. tinnitus to my level 4. tinnitus! It is just insane to not want softer tinnitus that may only be audible in a quiet situation like my level 1 tinnitus was. I mean please, it's a no brainer...so to me, it is highly desirable to avoid things that increase volume levels.

So, what increased your T levels from that initial level???
- Did you ignore and "not care" about sound exposure so there was more "damage" and thus the volume increased?
- If that were the case is there no difference in your mind and way of life between less and more volume?
- Would you mind or care if your T got even louder and louder permanently than it is now?
- If you do mind, would you and do you "avoid" situations and substances which may increase T volume?

I guess that covers it more or less, though I am sticking here with just T volumes/levels. I don't want to bring in "reactivity" as I seem to not have a good way of describing that yet. It is so wildly different to the stable tinnitus I had before. Let's leave that beast out of this for now, as I am hoping Anne-Marie will clarify more on that.

Thanks Dan...Sorry a bit long winded. I'm trying to keep it short but it's "complicated".

Zimichael [P.S. Edit...will cover hearing conversations later Dan].

 

@Zimichael
Subsequent loud noise accidents have made it even worse. The only way that I could avoid these situations was if I was to wear earplugs all waking hours.
Of course I care about the volume increases! I am closer to death each increase- sorry for putting in bluntly.

 

@dan ...was just on here for a sec doing a Conv., so thanks for the update on this above.

Shit!!! Well, you answered my question. And indeed that is why I wear earplugs in any 'susceptible situation' (and isolate when not wearing them) as this idea that volume increases don't happen, or don't matter, is just absolute garbage. Plus yeah, life can be stressful enough as we get older and the body 'creaks', without more bloody T to add the equation!

I'm so sorry... Michael

 

Greg Clarke wrote
@@Magpie How does it affect you emotionally? Would you say you have habituated? If you have dealt with it at 80db's there's hope for everyone.

I'm habituated Greg but habituation is a different experience for everybody. I've read these boards for a long time and I've read comments such as "I can hear mine under Niagra Falls". Then I have read "I don't hear it unless I purposefully listen for it even in a quiet room" That is not my experience and I concluded that anybody who doesn't hear it in a quiet room must have mild tinnitus. Habituation is when you are no longer bothered by it even when it is loud and buzzing away like a chainsaw.

 

Agreed.

 

Thanks @Magpie .

Great explaination and youve done well to not let that bother you!

 

Then ask what he/she considers severe tinnitus...and let me know.