Ruling Out Other Causes: I Suspect My Tinnitus Is SNHL Related — It's Getting Worse Every Month

Hi everyone!

I have what I believe to be SNHL. I listened to headphones loud for years - stupid I know! I’m assuming that this has caused the hearing loss only at high frequencies.

Once I had the onset of tinnitus last year I uprooted my life and stopped exposing myself to loud noises. The problem is that my tinnitus has added a new sound and volume with every passing month!

I assume that my tinnitus is related to SNHL. I have no air bone gap on my audiogram. Just loss at high frequencies.

So why is my tinnitus getting worse when I’m protecting my hearing so heavily?

Could it be because I extensively grind my teeth in my sleep? Could it be something like diabetes (even though I’m a healthy weight and I have no diagnosis-just some symptoms)? Is there something I may have missed?

I have been to my doctor and ENT. Both didn’t know much and just told me to get a noise generator and deal with it!

 

You believe that you have sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Has your ENT doctor diagnosed you with this condition? If yes then it is usually treated with hearing aids so you should see an Audiologist. If hearing aids are recommended and you don't wear them your tinnitus is likely to increase, as your brain is trying to compensate for the loss in hearing by increasing its background activity and in the process the tinnitus will increase too. When hearing is improved with hearing aids the tinnitus usually reduces with time.

You have mentioned heavily protecting your hearing. If you are using earplugs or other forms of hearing protection, this is not a good idea, as there's a risk of lowering the loudness threshold of your auditory system which will increase the tinnitus and can also introduce new sounds. Silence and quiet environments are not good for anyone that has tinnitus. It is much better to use low level sound enrichment and keep it below the level of the tinnitus and not masking it.

The grinding of teeth and clenching of the jaw can cause tinnitus known by a condition called TMJ (Temporomandibular joint). It is related to the jaw joint so you need this checked by a dentist or orthodontist. It is usually treated by wearing a mouth guard at night. Listening to audio through headphones, earbuds, headsets at too high a volume are common causes of tinnitus, and being exposed to other forms of loud noise. Please click on the links below and read my posts.

All the best
Michael

New to Tinnitus, What to Do? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum
Tinnitus, A Personal View | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

Welcome to the forum. It is not always easy to pin down to the exact cause of tinnitus. Yours may have started by acoustic trauma but there are many other possible causes. I list some below and see if you have any of that recently.

As far as the reason for the tinnitus increase, there are many causes, single or combined, which can trigger or aggravate tinnitus including by not limited to drug reaction or side effects from ototoxic drugs, ear wax build-up, ear or Eustachian tube infection or ETD, ear drum injury, fluid build-up in ears feeling pressured or fullness, sinus infection & congestion, TMJ, TTTS, high blood pressure or blood circulation problem, loud noise exposure or acoustic trauma/shock, head trauma & injury, neck injury or muscle problems, hearing loss, Meniere's Disease, barotrauma from sudden change of air pressure such as during landing & taking off on flights especially with blocked nose causing failure to balance the pressure changes, slapping of the ears, deep grief for the loss of loved ones, untreated sleep apnea, extreme, extended stress, anxiety & panic disorder, etc., etc. Tinnitus can also be caused or made worse by unhealthy diet such as too much salt, sugar, caffeine, MSG, alcohol etc. or by lacking some mineral or vitamin supplements, such as Magnesium, Zinc, B12, D3 etc.

 

Thanks @Michael Leigh and @billie48.

I’m still getting used to using this forum so forgive me for not being able to use the quote tool right yet.

The ENT seemed to think that it is SNHL because there was no difference when tested from middle ear to inner ear. Also my loss is at the high frequency level which seems to be more representative of SNHL from acoustic trauma.

Your ideas about possible causes are interesting. Are there any that would still be worth exploring that relate to my type of loss? For instance I wouldn’t suspect ETD given my loss is from the inner ear?

The main reasons I’m not settled on the SNHL primary cause of tinnitus is because of the increase in tinnitus since removing noise. (And in response to your question Michael- I wear plugs only around louder noise environments and not all day). The other reason is that I have a number of other symptoms that may be related to tinnitus. These include:

- teeth grinding (I wear a guard but chew through it)
- high side blood pressure (hypertension)
- anxiety (which the two above may be related to)
- dry mouth upon waking/mouth breathing at night
- exhaustion upon waking
- sensitivity to cold/poor circulation in extremities (I’m very skinny)

I did have a Sulfamethoxazole for years but ceased this before getting hearing loss and tinnitus.

I would be content with just acknowledging that I have SNHL and my tinnitus is related to it but my greatest fear is that there is something else I’ve missed which is allowing my tinnitus to get progressively worse.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

 

Konnichiwa, Goku, sorry to hear about your increasing tinnitus.
I don't have any qualifications to offer medical advice, and I don't mean to frighten you, but have any of the medical professionals you've seen suggested you get an MRI?

 

No, only of my nasal passages as I mouth breathe during sleep.

I suppose I haven’t had enough to warrant an MRI. To them I have SNHL therefore they derive that the tinnitus is from that.

Initially they considered all causes such as those that may warrant an MRI but because my hearing loss is inner ear and not conductive they didn’t feel the need to go down that track.