Ringing Tinnitus Spike and Going Insane — Could Earbuds Have Caused This?

Hi guys,

I’m new here and I read a lot of threads and I think Tinnitus Talk is a fantastic place for tinnitus sufferers.

I’ve had tinnitus for what seems like forever. I’m 33 and I can remember having it for at least 10 years. Usually my tinnitus is only perceivable in a quiet room. I don’t hear it during the day in normal situations and TV at a normal volume masks it.

I have never been tested but I know I have hearing loss in my left ear, the tinnitus one. When I block the right ear I can barely hear anything unless I crank up the volume significantly and even then it sounds muffled. If I do a Valsalva my hearing will improve for 10 seconds or until I swallow. Sometimes getting up from the couch or other changes in pressure affect my hearing slightly too like the ear gets clogged.

When I was about 8 to 10 I had ear infections like every two months for years. I finally got tubes and they stopped but I just figured the hearing loss and tinnitus where from that and learned to live with it. BOTH my parents have tinnitus and bad hearing so I was pretty much doomed.

So, a week ago my tinnitus started spiking considerably. I didn’t have any trauma of any kind, I was at home all the time and didn’t listen to loud music or go to a concert. It just spiked. A loud ringing with two or three layered tones.

It happened to me in the past and usually subsided in 2-3 days and even these spikes weren’t loud enough to distract me during the day. But this spike doesn’t subside and seems to get worse.

A constant eeeeeee that I can hear even over the TV. I have been masking it with neuromodulation or pink noise for days with no improvement. I usually use masking only in the evening.

Now I admit I sometimes fall asleep with the masking on. I use earbuds at 60 dB max. My girlfriend thinks I might be making things worse doing this.

The only trigger I can think of is I fell asleep listening to a podcast the other day and my gf said my earbud was pushed in my ear and that probably made the sound louder...

I am honestly going mental thinking this might be permanent. Should I stop masking? Do I stand a chance of returning to baseline? It’s been a terrible year for me I was screened for some neurological diseases that thankfully I don’t have but stress has been crazy and now this tinnitus thing is pushing me to the edge.

Thanks a lot for your time and patience.

I should also mention I’ve been taking Zoloft for around three months but it never caused any tinnitus problems. So if Zoloft is the culprit it’s a delayed effect.

 

From what you’ve said I would imagine it spiked due to your earbud usage unfortunately especially since you’ve already had tinnitus/hearing loss. Sometimes what can happen is the damage creeps up on you, you hit some threshold after awhile and the tinnitus will spike. I’d personally recommend stopping using earbuds for awhile and generally take really good care of your ears, wear plugs in louder places, take supplements like magnesium or NAC. Spikes can last a crazy amount of time unfortunately.

 

Sorry for your spike. I'm convinced earbuds gave me tinnitus so I typically advocate against using them. For me better safe than sorry.

 

Sorry for the triple post I just have one last question:

Is it bad to use pink noise when sleeping? I use it through an earbud.

 

go start taking huge doses of curcumin. let yout tinnitus stabilize. then do the @R. David Case sound therapy.

 

It is hard to make a blanket statement for everyone. From what you describe, I would not use the earbuds anymore, and stop the white/pink noise at night. Try this for a few months, and see if it improves.

In my experience, white noise made the tinnitus worse at night, and earplugs for silence made it better.

 

Yeah that's what I thought too, thanks!

Do you have any idea what could cause my tinnitus and if I have a chance of seeing it go back to baseline? Should I mask during the day?

 

@Seymour
From the history you posted, looks like your T started from infections, with some noise induced on top of it.

I don't use masking at all. I do listen to music, not with earbuds, when I want to distract, at low volume. When I tried using masking at night, while it helped to fall asleep, I would wake up worse, with louder T, and sometimes much louder. It led me to try earplugs at night, that worked much better for me.

Nobody knows if you will go back to baseline, but it should improve without further noise damage.

 

My mom has tinnitus and she says she has spikes lasting weeks. She has zero anxiety so she habituates pretty fast and stays on top of it.

I am the opposite. Already panicking after one week.

I was dumb using ear buds. Seems like I’m paying the price but trying to remain hopeful.

My T. sounds like those neuromodulator sounds for masking. It’s pretty bad.

 

Also might be super far fetched but my girlfriend is pregnant and has been snoring BADLY. I measured her snoring and it goes up to 87dB... Could this cause my tinnitus spike?

 

Yes.

 

Really?!

 

Never thought snoring could do this.

I ordered ear plugs.

 

Absolutely. Yes, earplugs at night for sure will help you. Avoid other noise exposure also.

 

Thanks man. I didn’t realize she was snoring that loudly. When I measured it I was surprised how high it went. She averages around 75dB but it’s all night non stop and it’s been that way for months.

 

Just use speakers

 

Does having a fan on count as noise exposure? It clocks in at roughly 50dB.

 

Do you guys think getting a hearing aid could improve my tinnitus? I’m almost deaf in the ear that rings.

 

If your girlfriend's snoring is loud enough to keep you awake and not get a good night's sleep, that could very well be the problem.

 

I would definitely recommend seeing a specialist and trying a hearing aid. I have read that it has helped people and reduced their tinnitus... unfortunately no guarantee but worth a try...

I wanted to try out myself but, although I have intrusive tinnitus, my hearing loss is not sufficient to have them...

 

I wouldn’t say it keeps me awake but I have slept about 5 hours a night these past two weeks and listening to YouTube with earbuds and she drowns even that lol

 

My best friend is a hearing therapist I think I will give him a call. Hopefully getting some hearing back in that ear will help drown the tinnitus.

 

Haven't heard anyone congratulate you on your girlfriend's pregnancy. If not let me be the first

 

On paper, 50 db should not cause a problem, but in my case the white noise was in the low 60's and did for me. I have learned that my ears are particularly sensitive to noise while I sleep over the last year.

 

I honestly don't know what to do lol. I think I'll try ear plugs.

 

@Seymour You seem to be exposing yourself to a lot of unnecessary noise. In addition to the curcumin and magnesium I would cut out ALL noise (even if it means sleeping on the couch!) and give your ears a break.

And congrats to you and your girlfriend!!

Cheers

 

excuse me, but with what have you measured your girlfriend's snoring loudness? a mobile app? if so, i got 3 different results from 3 different phones. one said 57, the other 80something. better get the physical decibel meter for the correct measuring.

 

All noise like no fan? It helps me sleep lol

Also can I watch TV at a reasonable volume?

 

Hey,

1. Stop using earbuds at high volume, it is definitely not good for you ears. Headphones are recommended, and at low volume.
2. Try to sleep without sound, or even with earplugs. I actually find that sleeping with earplugs in total silence helps my tinnitus.
3. Take at least magnesium and b6 vitamin supplements. They work well for tinnitus AND stress AND sleep.
You can also try other supplements such as curcumin, omega 3 (fish oil), and spirulina. These are known to be generally good for health, and anti-inflammatory.

4. This might be the most important, a lot of people with hearing loss have reported a great great improvement with hearing aids, so I believe it could be a solution for you and might work like a charm.
Actually, there is even ads on national TV for tinnitus in my country (France), at 20h which is audience pike, and which are promoting hearing aids (which means that there is business behind, but also that it's working, they wouldn't pay the highest ad price if it wasn't).

Best of luck

 

I would stay away from anything over 75 to 80 dB