Question for Those Whose Tinnitus Was Caused by Noise Exposure

I have it right after shooting. Came together with hearing loss. Hearing and tinnitus improved but not fully resolved. Went on a long life without bothering me until 2 years ago when from low went to severe. And now is disabling i can hardly exist. If you first have it don't worry about it you will not notice it. Take care of ears avoid loud noise ans you will be fine. Do not do like myself when i have it i did not took care now i am crying.

 

I'm really sorry to hear this. Have you tried any treatments?

Also, what caused the increase?

 

My recent increase was about three months ago in the end of February. I entered a Virgin mobile shop there were some work going on outside with hummer drill you can hear the noise inside the shop quite loudly also. I was in the shop for no more than a minute. I left and walking down the street this police siren passed. I was habituated to the T at that time and my T has never spiked for such a short exposures. But not and this time.My T got louder i put it down on anxiety first, because i checked for it when the siren passed. I was thinking "no it sounds louder because i am monitoring it now". The real nightmare started on the next day. This is when i realised that i am in a big trouble. This is where my T odyssey has started. It is so loud unmaskable I think only shower could cut it to some level. But after the shower it is even louder.
In my T history i have 2 visits to ENT it was confirmed a hearing loss(high freq). Yes i can fell it my self very often i can not understand the people talking so i have to ask them to repeat. I have some hope that hearing aids could help a bit. But again i don't dare to try them as my T is noise induced and aids could make it worse.
And I don't really know what to do i am 35 years old with sever T with not much jokers on hand.

 

Nevertheless, it is still more effective the earlier it it administered.

 

This is probably the reason : http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/45/14077.full.pdf+html

There are also a lot of other people who claim that their tinnitus appeared a few days after acoustic incident.

 

Thanks for this link - very interesting.

I thought I might be 'losing it' and just being anxious about perceived hearing loss when the T showed up 3 weeks after the event.

The article was a good in-depth read and at least kept my little brain occupied and off T for a while!

 

The precipitating event for me was trying out a guitar amp 13 years ago. Felt something not good in my right ear, tinnitus ever since. But I think that's the end of the story, not the beginning. My right ear had felt "tender" for lack of a better word, for decades. I'm guessing what really started this was power tool exposure in my 20s. I was a stained glass professional, used a belt sander several times a week to take sharp edges off cut glass pieces. That 's hours hunched over an inverted belt sander sitting on my workbench. I'm right handed, so my right ear was closest. And never once did it occur to me that I should be protected. 5 years in that profession ... I think it put me close to the edge of hearing loss/tinnitus. So it could have been any louder noise to push me over years later.
MD

 

Mine was right away after a concert (if I remember correctly) , but since I was used to ringing ears after concerts it took me a week until I panicked.

Nowadays, when I'm spiking, there seems to be a 24 hour delay. I'm suffering from one right now and can't decide if it's real or just triggered by worry... Hate it.

 

2 weeks after being exposed to an airsoft grenade (I guess that was the cause, it's still unknown).

 

Could you tell me if you T is somatic i.e. if you bote your teeth...does it chane the pitch or volume of T?

 

I had noisy jobs in past. During working in a noisy environment I went to bed fine. When I awoke in the night to go to the bathroom the t just switched on. I had mild t as kid and teensger. so for me the onset was sudden upon waking but not after one particular noisy event. Just whilst I was being daily exposed to machine noise.

 

I thought I had a slight cold and that's why my right ear was a little sore. I did a couple of gigs that week and a studio session which wouldn't have helped. Four days later in a quiet room I noticed the T in my right ear. Saw an ENT following day who said I had a mild Middle ear infection and that the T would disappear once treated. The infection was gone in a week - 4 weeks later the T is still with me and driving me nuts!!

 

Around 2 days after a loud gig.

 

When I woke up the day after visiting an excruciatingly loud nightclub. Went away almost completely in 4 weeks. Went clubbing again (with good earplugs) after I thought my ears were better and the T came right back. Hasn't gone since.

 

I got mild-moderate T in April prior year due to medication.

It became worse somewhere beginning of December after I went to a bar without ear protection (stupid me). In fact it started immediately in bed that night, the T was fluctuating literally every second in tone & pitch, I thought my life was over. Now it's fortunately more stable..

 

Mine came on after a nightclub,I arrived home and went to bed.l and heard nothing.

Woke up the next morning with a tone and a hiss screaming in both ears and that was the beginning for me,after about 3 months it reduced to barely audible and for the best part I completely forgot it was there.

 

How loud was the bar?Like a nightclub?

 

Nope not that loud, we didn't have to shout to understand each other, just speak up. But stayed there for a like 1,5 hours + subway + Christmas market so it was a loud evening in general. Didn't expect that my T would go mental for that.

 

Yes, immediately

 

I noticed the ringing directly after the concert, my hearing was muffled and the ringing was intense. Went to bed thinking it was gonna go away like it always does but obviously didn't. The ringing day after was not as bad as when I left the concert but it has become slightly worse since onset. I believe it can have something to do with the cells dying off after onset.

 

I got T recently on April 3.2017 from going to the gun range . I had ear plugs but I'm guessing my left ear wasn't plugged In right.. I got muffled and distorted hearing. 3 days later I went to ENT and found out I had moderate hearing loss in the high Frequency. So he said my option was to get steroid shot (dexamethasone) to the ear drum . Because I was still in the window to get it and had a 50/50 chance of recovering hearing. So I did it. Which of now. I can hear just like I do in my good ear. But the T is still there.. it's a mild T which I can easily mask. Sometimes I don't notice itunless in a quiet place. My question is will my T still manage to go away??? I'm only 27 going on my 5th or 6th week of my T. I had no damage tothe ear drum or had no drainage. Just the T being there. This the first time I've had T .. I had before which would go away within minutes

 

I left the concert and had very muffled hearing. In fact, I could barely hear. I did not notice the tinnitus in the car or outside or the concert. The second I stepped into my quiet hotel room (around an hour later) I heard the extreme ringing. I didn't think too much of it and just went to bed with the tv on. A few hours later, I woke up and it was still there. I was having a full on panic attack and crying while calling nearby emergency rooms. I ended up crying myself to sleep and slept for a good 5 hours. I woke up and it was MUCH better. I was so grateful. Although, it has been over a month and I still hear it in quiet places and occasionally have spikes. My ent said that it s permanent but that I should learn to ignore it as time goes by. I also have blocked ears due to mild Eustachian tube dysfunction from a previous cold. So basically, I started hearing the tinnitus an hour after the noise exposure. Good luck to all of you! My thoughts and prayers are with you.

 

You may consider doing HBOT treatment (see the link below)
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/

But even without the treatment, some of the studies you will find at the link above seem to indicate that there is a good chance that you will improve or even recover.

Mine began 11 days after my acoustic trauma... But don't lose hope (see the link above). The fact that you are slowly improving is very encouraging. Keep in mind that T will not disappear overnight. Recovery is usually a painfully slow (takes months) and torturous process full of temporary T spikes.

 

The instant the firecracker went off two inches from my lips in a brick corner my ears started hurting and ringing. They hurt for over a day. That was July, 1964. It wasn't until 1979 that I learned the constant ringing wasn't normal, that most people's ears don't ring. I had forgotten a world without ringing.