- Jun 20, 2021
- 371
- Tinnitus Since
- 03/2021
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Idiopathic Cochleopathy or Maybe Loud Music
Hello,
My history with ear issues has been quite long and complicated. For the past four years, I have had mild to moderate, unstable, multi-tonal tinnitus with normal hearing. I am a 31-year-old male. I frequently experience sudden, loud tones that appear and disappear within half a second or so. These may or may not be SBUTTs. They usually happen once a day.
I also get many of the more typical SBUTTs, which last from about 10 seconds to as long as 30 minutes in the most worrying cases, although those are rare. In addition, I experience TTTS, MEM, and more recently, Eustachian tube dysfunction.
There have been many ups and downs, but overall, I have been able to live a fairly good life. However, over the past few weeks, my tinnitus has worsened. Periodically, moderately louder tones appear and disappear throughout the day. What is most concerning, and the reason for this post, is a reactive tone or distortion that now seems to accompany certain external sounds. Specifically, I hear a 2820 Hz tone. It does not occur with all sounds, or at least it is not always noticeable, but it is present in most music, which is especially troubling because music is my life—I am a music producer. I hear the original music as it is, but layered with this distortion.
If I use an equalizer and reduce the 2820 Hz range, the distortion mostly disappears or is significantly reduced. It is as if my brain is emphasizing that frequency and generating the tone itself.
I live very quietly, mostly at home, with minimal noise exposure. All the music I work on is played at very low volumes. I suspect this condition is idiopathic, but I really do not know how to handle this setback. Should I avoid any noise that triggers the distortion, or should I continue with my work and try to ignore it as much as possible and just keep living? I understand that the experience is different for everyone, but any suggestions or advice would be very welcome.
My history with ear issues has been quite long and complicated. For the past four years, I have had mild to moderate, unstable, multi-tonal tinnitus with normal hearing. I am a 31-year-old male. I frequently experience sudden, loud tones that appear and disappear within half a second or so. These may or may not be SBUTTs. They usually happen once a day.
I also get many of the more typical SBUTTs, which last from about 10 seconds to as long as 30 minutes in the most worrying cases, although those are rare. In addition, I experience TTTS, MEM, and more recently, Eustachian tube dysfunction.
There have been many ups and downs, but overall, I have been able to live a fairly good life. However, over the past few weeks, my tinnitus has worsened. Periodically, moderately louder tones appear and disappear throughout the day. What is most concerning, and the reason for this post, is a reactive tone or distortion that now seems to accompany certain external sounds. Specifically, I hear a 2820 Hz tone. It does not occur with all sounds, or at least it is not always noticeable, but it is present in most music, which is especially troubling because music is my life—I am a music producer. I hear the original music as it is, but layered with this distortion.
If I use an equalizer and reduce the 2820 Hz range, the distortion mostly disappears or is significantly reduced. It is as if my brain is emphasizing that frequency and generating the tone itself.
I live very quietly, mostly at home, with minimal noise exposure. All the music I work on is played at very low volumes. I suspect this condition is idiopathic, but I really do not know how to handle this setback. Should I avoid any noise that triggers the distortion, or should I continue with my work and try to ignore it as much as possible and just keep living? I understand that the experience is different for everyone, but any suggestions or advice would be very welcome.
