Some Questions Regarding Symptoms

Hello. I got tinnitus after noise trauma in march 2016. I have a classic 6k dip of 35-40 dB and some loss beyond 10k as well. My tinnitus is broadband hiss between 8-9k and up to around 17-18k. The reason I can pinpoint it that exactly is because I have designed loudspeakers and recognize the frequencies quite well. Women's voices can appear very sharp in the sibilant «s» and the stereo sound totally different than before. I am definitely having recruitment because of my harsh hearing in the treble region around 10-12 kHz. I have a very good stereo system that now only sounds average. I have some questions regarding other symptoms that I am getting.

Pain in ears
Stiff neck
Headaches- similar to migraine
Anxiousness
More stressed

Can someone enlighten me on their symptoms and perhaps give me some advice on how it is treated best if you have similar symptoms? Thank you very much in advance!

Greetings from Rick, Oslo Norway

 

Hi @Lotus72
You have had your noise trauma for quite a while. Have you had tests at ENT? If you have then a referral to a Hearing therapist could be helpful as various treatments are usually available that could be of help. Please click on the links below and read my articles on tinnitus and hyperacusis that you might find helpful. I am also a HI-FI enthusiast and enjoy my music a lot and you will be able to in time. I advise that you don't use headphones even at low volume.

All the best
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-to-tinnitus-what-to-do.12558/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/

 

Thank you so much for your reply Michael. Your other posts are very thorough and helpful. In my case I am not very hurt by H. It was a lot worse in the beginning emptying the dishwasher for example. Now it works withoutany problem.

My main issue today is that I feel like my hearing gain is adjusted to maximum. This increases the sound floor- eg tinnitus level. When I am riding my car the sound level from the engine and especially the road noise is super high compared to what it used to be. This is tiring and exhausting to the point that I avoid driving my car. It feels like literally my hear gain is set at the maximum level, and of course the hugh pitch hiss follows up. My t has doubled from the level it used to be in the mornings. Usually after a long day of work my t was louder as I got more tired. These days it stays the same throughout the day. I have downloaded a mask app called tinnitus and sounds which I use from time to time. My question is whether I am stressed to the point that it makes my hearing go wildly high.

I have had a struggling personal relationship for some times and I am without a fulltime job at the moment which surely amplifies my stress levels.

 

Hi @Lotus72 If you reply to my post in future please put my name as: @Michael Leigh that way I will get an "alert" prompt

I understand what you are going through regarding your increased hearing gain. It can happen with acoustic trauma and it also happened to me 21 years ago. Although you are not troubled with hyperacusis the gateways or receptors in your auditory system that are located in the brain, haven't fully closed back down. You may need specialist treatment such as "desensitization" of the auditory system involving the wearing of white noise generators. I had TRT. In my article: Tinnitus, A Personal View, I explain what TRT is and how it is used to treat tinnitus and hypercusis. I feel you need something like this. In any case try and get a referral to a Hearing Therapist or Audiologist that is trained in this field and can also give you counselling.

I think you should get your hearing checked at ENT and if possible get a referral to the health professionals that I've mentioned. Providing there is no underlying medical problem causing what you're experiencing, these are the people to see as I believe desensitization is required and if tinnitus counselling is available that would be better.

Best of luck
Michael

 

Thanks again for your reply @Michael Leigh. Actually, I have taken two hearing test since the trauma in March 2016. They produced exactly similar results. At 6Khz I have a 50 db dip on the right ear and 35db on the left, with additional 25 and 20 db loss on 8 khz. At 4khz i have only minor loss ( 10-15db). In other words, typical NIHL results. My soundscape is more spikey with a pronounced peak in the lower treble region. I suspect this to be recruitment because of my loss of hearing at 6 khz and around 9-11 khz where my other peak is.

I have also gotten resound Link hearing aids with sound generators activated. But I don't use them because I don't like changing batteries all the time. Instead I go with the app on my phone which works the same way. I will try to use it more from now on. About TRT I am a bit reluctant because there is no real courses available in Oslo, Norway now. The ones that do them has not convinced me so far. I will look into it though.

 

@Lotus72

I never liked wearing white noise generators out on the street as I felt self concious. I bought 2 micro white noise generators that rest just inside the canal of the ear. Very discrete and hardly seen. Since you have hearing loss and were issued with hearing aids with white noise generators built in, your phone app will not be as good. I suspect you won't get much benefit from it unfortunately. The hearing aid will supply additonal sounds that your brain is unable to pickup and over time the brain will turn down its internal gain and reduce the tinnitus. The white noise generators in your hearing aid will also treat the tinnitus and hyperacusis or any sensitivity within your auditory system. Your phone app just can't match this in my opinion.

Best of luck
Michael