Seven Months with Sound-Induced Tinnitus: Is Anyone Seeing Improvements or Finding Hope?

I think today may be the best day I have had yet. I really believe the fading is real. I will probably change my mind about that a million times today, but right now I feel pretty positive. I slept like a log last night. The temperatures are cooling off here, and I was so cozy in bed with the heat off, four blankets, and a nice fluffy pillow. I thought my "better" ear was acting up right after I woke up, but when I shifted six inches on the pillow, I could not hear it anymore, so it must have been a hum from an appliance.

Now that I am up, the volume of my tinnitus is maybe a 1 or 2. I am walking around the house, doing things, and not really noticing it. I notice it a bit when I sit down, but not much. I do have sound playing—a fountain sound from my Amazon Alexa layered with birds and river sounds from my phone—but the volume is low, so I only hear it when I am sitting. Looking back to where I was two months ago, this is a world of difference. The fading is slow, but I think I am on a positive trajectory.

I did have one of those half-awake, half-asleep dreams where your environment works its way into the dream right before you wake up. I dreamed I had gone to a tinnitus therapist, and the evaluation I got at the end said simply: Complaint: Tinnitus. Habituated? Not fully.

Hopefully, this will just fade into oblivion.
 
Now that I am up, the volume of my tinnitus is maybe a 1 or 2. I am walking around the house, doing things, and not really noticing it. I notice it a bit when I sit down, but not much.
Great news! Fading through habituation is real. If you are at a level of 1–2 out of 10 by now, that is very mild tinnitus, and it should become non-bothersome soon as it fades into the background. The way you described it earlier seemed quite a bit more intrusive.

Mild tinnitus usually makes the habituation process faster for most people.
 
Has it improved at all over the years? What did your doctor say? Do you have any hearing loss?
No improvement. It is quite consistent as well as constant. The doctors say there is no remedy for tinnitus. My hearing is still pretty good, though, even with some age-related high-frequency loss.
 
Great news! Fading through habituation is real. If you are at a level of 1–2 out of 10 by now, that is very mild tinnitus, and it should become non-bothersome soon as it fades into the background. The way you described it earlier seemed quite a bit more intrusive.

Mild tinnitus usually makes the habituation process faster for most people.
It is kind of up and down at this point, but the trajectory seems to be a slow fade. Right now, I would say it is probably around a 3. It is enough to be noticeable, but a long way from where I was two months ago.

I keep reminding myself of the progress I have made in the last month and a half, and that people who make progress often continue to improve. My ears are not done. I could be in a completely different place in another month or two, hopefully a much better one.

I dream about the day I no longer have to think about my ears every day. Sometimes it feels so close, and other times it feels unreachable.
 
It is kind of up and down at this point, but the trajectory seems to be a slow fade. Right now, I would say it is probably around a 3. It is enough to be noticeable, but a long way from where I was two months ago.

I keep reminding myself of the progress I have made in the last month and a half, and that people who make progress often continue to improve. My ears are not done. I could be in a completely different place in another month or two, hopefully a much better one.

I dream about the day I no longer have to think about my ears every day. Sometimes it feels so close, and other times it feels unreachable.
Who said your ears were done?

If the tinnitus is only just noticeable, you really shouldn't be worrying about it in my opinion. That shows how differently we are set up as individuals. To me, this sounds like a level of tinnitus that shouldn't be bothersome where you are now, but for you it feels different. Perception plays a big role here, especially in how the brain interprets and processes it.

When you have gone through what we refer to as the chronic stage, it doesn't mean you need to be hypervigilant and think about your ears all the time. I do believe, though, that you have to be careful around loud soundscapes. The auditory system is more fragile and somewhat compromised after a sound incident. Think of it as a broken ankle that healed, it will never be exactly the same.

A new sound incident can certainly make things much worse. Keep that in mind, but don't let it stop you from living your life.
 
I have had 28 years of nonstop high-pitched ringing. There is no hope. All I can do is ignore it as best I can. I hope you have better luck than I did.
I am sorry for your condition, but it makes no sense to come to the Support section and tell sufferers, "THERE IS NO HOPE." That is exactly the kind of doom-and-gloom post we should all avoid, especially in the Support section.
 
Who said your ears were done?

If the tinnitus is only just noticeable, you really shouldn't be worrying about it in my opinion. That shows how differently we are set up as individuals. To me, this sounds like a level of tinnitus that shouldn't be bothersome where you are now, but for you it feels different. Perception plays a big role here, especially in how the brain interprets and processes it.

When you have gone through what we refer to as the chronic stage, it doesn't mean you need to be hypervigilant and think about your ears all the time. I do believe, though, that you have to be careful around loud soundscapes. The auditory system is more fragile and somewhat compromised after a sound incident. Think of it as a broken ankle that healed, it will never be exactly the same.

A new sound incident can certainly make things much worse. Keep that in mind, but don't let it stop you from living your life.
No one has said my ears are finished. It is just a self-affirmation that I still have room for more healing and relief.

If I had not gone through six months of severe tinnitus before it started loosening its grip a bit, my anxiety levels would probably be lower. They will likely come down as the tinnitus continues to fade and I can see the trend more clearly. It has only been about a month and a half since it began improving, and I am not yet where I want to be. It is no surprise that I still feel a lot of fear, anxiety, and regret.

I still think about my ears constantly because they demand my attention. My right ear is doing well now. There are no physical sensations, and it is completely silent about 90 percent of the time, which was not the case two months ago. If my left ear were the same as my right, I would probably consider myself nearly recovered. The tone in my left ear is definitely dropping, but I still have a lot of nerve sensitivity around it, with occasional feelings of fullness or numbness, and a tone that remains noticeable even outdoors.

I am angry at myself for letting this happen in the first place. It feels like I gave away my own peace. I certainly ruined my year. Time will tell whether I can make a full recovery. My feelings about whether or not I have ruined the rest of my life change by the minute.

The thing about tinnitus is that it is so subjective and hard to measure. I wish there were a way to record the actual volume of the sound I heard at the beginning and compare how it changes over time. The fact that I can now sit in a quiet room, something I could not do two months ago, tells me healing is happening, but I would like objective proof too.

I know many people suffer from hyperacusis, dysacusis, muffling, and multiple tones. I have had the high-pitched spikes that remind me how much worse this could be. I try to keep that perspective when I evaluate my own condition, which right now is mainly one tone in one ear that does not react to additional noise. I know many sufferers would gladly trade places with me, but I still wish I could go back to my old pre-"dumbest thing I have ever done" status.
 
I am angry at myself for letting this happen in the first place. It feels like I gave away my own peace. I certainly ruined my year. Time will tell whether I can make a full recovery. My feelings about whether or not I have ruined the rest of my life change by the minute.

The thing about tinnitus is that it is so subjective and hard to measure. I wish there were a way to record the actual volume of the sound I heard at the beginning and compare how it changes over time. The fact that I can now sit in a quiet room, something I could not do two months ago, tells me healing is happening, but I would like objective proof too.
I understand you, but I believe you might be doing yourself a big favor that could actually interfere with healing in the long run.

Acceptance is the first step in recovery. Something like this was bound to happen at some point anyway. These things are part of living a normal life in the Western world. It is not your fault that it happened, and some kind of sound incident, at some level, is likely to happen again. Spikes and temporary setbacks are common, and healing is usually not linear.

Holding on to anger about this is something you should try to let go of, as it will only make your way back harder. Letting go is necessary for acceptance, in my opinion.

The hypervigilance around the sound and the constant measuring are things I would not recommend. Why would you need proof of anything? Use your own well-being as the measure. That is more than good enough.
 

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