Since Yesterday... :-(

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just wanted to get that out.
It's ringing like crazy.

For years I've used headphones instead on my desktop computer, so I could leave the window open without disturbing the people outside.
I fell asleep for the Xth time with the headphones on two days ago.
The same day I bought normal speakers fearing tinnitus could happen if I kept on doing this....
Too late :-(

It's Sunday, so general practice is closed.

I bought ear spray after discovering that using q-tips I've been using for years are not a safe option.
(Why do supermarkets still sell them then?)
It didn't help .
I fear that my only consolation is that the frequency is higher than 10kHz, so I won't be stuck with it forever?

My ears.... ;_;

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's quite an introduction and I know just how you feel. You need to stop using headphones and I advise never to use them again even at low volume. Please click on the links below and read my two articles: Tinnitus, A Personal View and Hyperacusis as I see it. Try to read them in full and not skim through them. If you haven't been seen at ENT yet then I suggest you do so tests can be carried out and you'll get some help.

All the best
Michael
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/

 

I can't. I need to use headphones at work to listen to tutorials.
I'm not allowed to work at home.

 

Try to set the volume to the lowest setting. Unfortunately, there is the possibility that your tinnitus will not get better with headphone use. Sorry to sound so sobering.
Best of luck
Michael

 

Welcome @Roger_S . I am not going to contradict Michael, headphone use is probably not helpful. That being said, like you , have no choice sometimes. For me, my ringing is so loud that I have to use them to be able to understand what is being said.

I am not an expert, nor a doctor, but here is hope. From what I have read here it seems that some cases caused similarly to yours turn out to be temporary. I also would recommend you see a medical professional. S/he may be able to help.

Please keep us updated in your progress.

 

Quit your job.

The good news is that it might stop after about a week. If it doesn't, it might stop after a year or two:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/

 

I can't quit my job.

What about buying active noise cancelling headphones/ear muffs/whatever for when I'm at home?

 

I agree, if possible a change of job would be good.

 

If you notice that your T is getting worse after you use headphones at your job, then there is a chance that by not quitting you are risking life-long T.

You need those only for noisy environments. If your home is quiet, I am not sure why you would need to use those.

 

How often do you listen to tutorials at work? I'd speak with an ENT or audiologist for their advice before quitting your job. I mean, audiologists actually sell wireless headphones to help people with hearing loss better hear their TV. Fairly certain that's not further damaging their patients' hearing. Technology has changed a lot in even the last five years, they might have some good recommendations.

Or if this is an option, maybe your employer has a spare conference room where you could listen to tutorials without headphones when necessary.

 

@Roger_S

The advice @Bill Bauer has given you is good. Hopefully wearing headphones and keeping the volume low will not cause you any problems. If it does then you risk making the tinnitus worse and it could become permanent. Most ENT doctors are good physicians. They know about the anatomy of the ear. They are able to treat it medically or surgically.

However, the majority of them know very little or next to nothing about tinnitus because most have never experienced it. The true tinnitus professionals are the Audiologists and Hearing Therapists. It is not usual to find some have tinnitus and work with tinnitus patients. They were either born with it or acquired it a some time in their life. Even then, some do not know that headphone use can adversely affect someone that has tinnitus which was caused by "noise exposure".

Tinnitus caused by exposure to "loud noise" is slightly different from tinnitus caused by hearing loss or some other problem within the auditory system. Therefore, these kind of people are not usually affected by headphone use.

Michael

 

Perhaps I can do the tutorials without sound. I'm mostly reading off their code anyway.

I just bought some Peltors. I don't care if it's somewhat quiet in my house. I want total silence for the night.

 

See what works for you @Roger_S Some people that work in call centres and wear headsets for long durations develop tinnitus because of it. Just be careful.
All the best
Michael

 

Hi michael leigh, sorry for "robbing" the topic, but i wish to desperatly ask if u have any knowledge if earplug use from iphone on a computer, by using it almost daily, can give u chronic T? Ive had T for almost three months, and it has lowered down to a mild T. Any chance of it to fade away over the next months? I got T by using earplugs on a computer one night with sound of 70 to 85 db on 40 minutes.

 

HI @Freeatlast
Please forgive me for saying, I don't quite understand your question but will do my best to answer. It is often surprising when people find out how loud they have been listening to music through earbuds or headphones until they develop tinnitus.

Listening to music through earbuds or headphones attached to an iphone or computer doesn't make any difference. If the volume is too loud then you risk developing tinnitus. Another factor is the lenght of time one wears earbuds or headphones. It's not good to wear them 2 to 3 hrs without a break even if the volume is moderate. So it would be a good idea to give your ears a rest.

Since your tinnitus has reduced this is a good sign. If Iwere you I would wait until the tinnitus goes completely or reduces to a very low level. If you must use earbuds/headphones then keep the volume low and don't wear them for longer than 1hr without taking a break for 30mins or so. To be honest, if I were you and I noticed I had tinnitus then I would never wear earbuds or headphones again, as I don't think it's worth the risk. Please read some of the posts in this forum from people, who have developed tinnitus due to headphone use. When you read the distress that they are in and what these dangerous devices have caused. Ask yourself the question, do you really want to take such a risk as wearing earbuds or headphones? I certainly wouldn't.

Hope this helps.
Michael

 

It's gotten less severe already. Masking it is almost working and I can feel like I can do stuff again. I'm going to call in sick today and visit the doctor.

 

Half of the doctors are with vacations. I managed to get an appointment though.
I hope they'll be of more help than a mom's advice.
But they'll probably just do some ear tests and send me home right?

I get the feeling next to being less loud the frequency also increased today.

 

I fell asleep, woke up again. I think it's gotten less bad again.

The hell is going to be over for me.
I'm gonna sell my headphones of my computer.
I'm not sure about my phone though. I just ordered new ones to jog with.
Bone conducting ones, because I wanted to hear what's going on outside.

I guess I'll wait a few weeks before using those.

 

I finally got my ear plugs and ear muffs. It allows me to hear my glare and whistle better, so I'll know when I'm cured, I think.
Also, I feel safe walking around the house and using the computer again.

 

I need to listen to a lot of material on videos at work
What I do is use very high quality earbuds that can reproduce high frequncy sound well and cover those with my large Peltor earmuffs and set the volume to the lowest possible - this will not do any damage in fact hair cells need some stimulation to get better , not total silence

 

Yeah I've noticed that. After using ear plugs and ear muffs it got worse. So I took them off, concentrated on the ringing (glare) and started to get used to sounds in the house again without getting scared.
I called up my uncle who is a doctor and he told me that tinnitus can not be noise induced and only via infection and that this is called something else (or perhaps should be called something else).
I would have to sit this out for three to sicks weeks according to him.

I think I've either already been cured to one ear or just noticed it's not my left ear that is whistling, but only my right ear.
That's because if I concentrate well enough I can only hear whistling on the left brain and ringing on the right ear.

 

the whistling has stopped!

hallelujah!

All I hear now is normal ringing.
[correction] It's still there, but barely noticeable. The ringing is louder. [/correction]

I want to scream, but then again, I don't. Not now.

 

It's back again. I still feel better though. Perhaps it's softer.

Looking back at my first post I failed to mention that I di think I listen to music responsibly with headphones... when I'm awake. So it wasn't loud when I fell asleep. I wasn't even listening to music, but youtube programming tutorials by soft spoken amateurs. It's just that the volume buttons are at the bottom of the muff. I woke up hearing myself hitting the - volume button a couple of times, so there's no way of telling hiw loud and long it took.

 

I am happy for you. Any reduction in the symptoms is great news.

Please keep us updated. I hope that your's will soon be one for the "success stories" section of this forum.

 

My uncle (retired surgeon) told me that my nerves are only bruised and that it will disappear logarithmatically in three to six weeks. I hope he's right and so far it's how I experience it. I still feel it got a little less when I woke up, but it's hard to tell.
All I know for sure is that it's definitely less than Sunday for certain.

Although I also get the feeling that my right ear has stopped ringing.
And by ringing I mean it sounded to me that my inner ear (not my eardrum) had been vibrating like a gong for five/six days and now it stopped.
And now what's left is my left brain short circuiting.

Meanwhile I bought computer speakers as I didn't even have them. I only had wireless headphones for years.

I started listening to youtube noise, to see what effect it has.
I listened to pink noise, white noise, white noise + shower sounds, brown noise, green noise, nature sounds.
I just turned on the fan to see what effect that has.

It's almost as if almost everything has either no effect or slightly worsens it.

definitely enhances it (but temporarily?):
high pitched noises in mere seconds.
wearing ear plugs/ear muffs, in tens of minutes.

Might be enhancing it, might be lowering it, might stay the same, I can't tell:
Fan.
all noises from speakers, white/pink/white + shower/nature/whatever.
My own voice

No effect:
Regular videos from speakers

definitely masks it (but has no effect immediately afterwards? would it have long term effects?):
shower
outside cars and other background noises
outside water
outside wind

 

Be careful when experimenting with YouTube sounds. In the past, I got spikes as a result of hearing relatively loud high pitched sounds in those YouTube clips.

It looks like you are making rapid progress. This seems to imply that, provided you don't experience a secondary acoustic trauma, you are well on your way to being healed.

If it would be possible, may I ask you to ask your uncle whether a person like me (who has had T for over 6 months) could be experiencing these symptoms as a result of bruised nerves that take a long time to heal. This information will help not only me, but others in the same boat as me... Thank you in advance (and if you can't easily ask about it, it's ok too)!

 

Another day, another tinnitus. I think it's gone down yet again, but it's so hard to tell.
Because it never seems to go down to the whisper you want it to be.
The only way I can tell that is has gone down from later than Sunday is that someday after I described it as a vaccuum cleaner at the end of a large room. I think it was Wednesday? But that was only at it's loudest.
At the same time I've described it as "almost gone" many times before now.

I'll describe it today as a pocket radio finder from 5 centimeters distance.
Like it's almost no longer in my head anymore.

I just used ear spray and voila, the "inner ear ringing" on the right ear is back again. I guess ear wax blocked the sound?
I hope it's not causing it. I get the feeling it doesn't because it feels less loud and doesn't seem to effect the whistle. But I'll keep clear from it anyway.
It seems like almost everything I do is wrong, including doing nothing.

 

I'll add that I've also described it as an argy musquito buzzing around in the room and a radio station trying to find the channel at some point, but today it sounds just a bit too muffled for that, but still annoying at all times.

I'll ask him what he knows if I see him again.
He's a retired plastic and eye surgeon, so I don't think he has a lot of knowledge on this subject.
He is more of a face fixer.
I think I should ask my aunt from the other side of the family instead.
She's a retired neurologist.

 

Thank you!

Up until my secondary acoustic trauma, my T's volume had been gradually diminishing. The key word being "gradually". It took 4 months to cut the volume in half. Many others are experiencing something similar. I doubt this is happening as a result of neuroplasticity, somehow it seems to be too slow for that.

 

How did you get your second trauma?

Looks like I can't watch any youtube videos with sound on.
I think I got a spike from just watching a tinnitus hub youtube video (oh the irony).
Perhaps that's understandable because of what I fell asleep with was on the same wavelength (tutorials).