Severe Tinnitus from Years of Loud Music, Including Earbuds at Max Volume

My tinnitus started on February 9th of 2022. I’m a 21 year old guy. I’ve been living an average life until the age of 15 when I started listening to music aggressively. I would spend hours listening to music on my earbuds and majority of the time it was at max volume. Sometime I would spend 10 hours listening to music within a span of 3 days and then goes a week without listening to it. I often get physical ear pain from excessive loud music and would only stop when the pain becomes unbearable, then I would give my ears a rest before repeating. I’ve been doing that for 6 years until I turned 21, I never got tinnitus during those times. I knew that loud noise damage your hearing but I didn’t know it would also lead to tinnitus, otherwise I would’ve never abused my ears.

My nightmare started on February 2022 when I started hearing quiet whistle on my right ear that would go away within 30 seconds. I still kept listening to music at loud volumes. That whistling sound came back again on February 9th and this time it refused to go away. At that point I completely stopped listening to music and avoided all loud noise. I was hoping it would go away within a day or two but it didn’t, it only got progressively louder with more sound added as the days goes by. After 1 week, It reaches an insane volume. It was 10/10 loud, it was unbearable, I’ve become anxious, depressed, and suicidal. It would fluctuate between quiet and extremely loud, it tend to be at moderate and loud majority of the time. When it’s loud, I couldn’t fall asleep and when I do I would only get 2 hours of sleep. It’s been over 1 month with tinnitus and I haven’t noticed any improvement. I can tolerate it when it’s mild or moderate but become handicapped when it’s beyond that. I didn’t visit doctor or ENT because they seem to be useless (not always) from other member experiences.

What scares me even more is that it might get worse over time. It’s already really bad now at age 21, I still have a long life ahead of me and I just can’t imagine having to endure this for the rest of my life.

 

My first encounter with tinnitus started at age 24. Similar to you, I would listen music non-stop through earbuds. You are still young so your body can heal faster. My first time it disappeared after 6 months completely. Give it time. And stop doing anything unhealthy like smoking or eating bad.

I was stupid and started listening to loud music again after 1.5 years and now it's back with new tones. So don't be like me haha. Wear earplugs in every loud occasion like cinema or club, maybe even outside sometimes when it's very loud. That's what I did and slowly it disappeared / I habituated.

Good luck. Oh and maybe get a hearing test done.

 

Welcome to the forum. You are not alone here as many of us have been where you are. The initial few months of tinnitus can be quite a struggle. So try to accept that and not get overly anxious which can aggravate it more. Generally it will take 6 months to 18 months for the ears to settle down and tinnitus will become less intrusive. Try to read up many success stories to give you hope and to learn some helpful strategies.

I was in a mess initially and I never thought I could recover. But people do get better after some time and after getting support and applying some helpful strategies. Today I live a happy and enjoyable life even with SSHL a year ago. Life goes on for many members. So don't lose heart. If you need it, masking is a good way to help cut down the fear or discomfort of the ringing. Take care. God bless.

 

Komabu, try to get to see a psychologist who understands tinnitus. He or she will help you to use white noise, tuned to just below the tinnitus sound. This will lead to your brain focussing on the white noise and eventually you will be habituated to the tinnitus and will no longer hear it. There are some books on Kindle or paper back which will help you in this procedure.

All the best,
Elworthy

 

It can still go away. Get lots of sleep and possibly try out NAC. Use a lot of antioxidants consistently to protect your ears from noise trauma.

It does get better and yes quieter.

Stop molesting your ears. Lay off headphones for I'd say 6 months.

If it suddenly gets way worse and you can't hear as well like the world seems dull, get a hearing test to confirm and if there's a drop get some steroids. Steroids might help but it is absolutely gambling so only use them if required aka hearing drop.

Benzos might put the brakes on the tinnitus too, but same problem with overuse. That's like if it's suicidally bad.

You will probably be totally fine in a couple years.