Studying with Tinnitus — Am I Ready for a PhD Degree? Can Tinnitus Distract from Studying?

Hello everyone,

I am a year 4 college student and got sudden hearing loss with tinnitus this March. I went to ENT and got treatment for my hearing loss. My hearing improved a lot but my tinnitus still exists now.

Actually I plan to earn PhD degree in CS this Sept. but I am really confused about my study because of the tinnitus. I haven't got used to my tinnitus now, sometimes it still distracts me from studying.

I don't know whether my tinnitus will become milder or I can get used to it when studying. I don't know if PhD is a good choice for me, maybe I should take a Master's first because it seems easier?

I wonder does anyone with tinnitus still study well in university?

 

Hey, I’m in graduate school for my Masters degree in a very demanding healthcare field program. My T started halfway though the program (around the same time yours did) and what I did is I let the professors know what is going on and they have been really understanding. I am managing well in school and using it is a positive distraction. Try find places to study where your T isn’t as noticeable. For example, I study under one of the vents in the library that helps mask my T. Sometimes I read my lessons out loud when I’m at home and I’m having trouble concentrating. You can do it!

 

@zhiyuan, from my experience, I tend to forget about my tinnitus when I focus on my studies, as long as I'm not in a quiet room. I still find it very very difficult to concentrate but I make sure I have something running in the background to keep my tinnitus calm. It sucks soo much to lose the ability to work in a quiet room but oh well. Avoid studying in a quiet place!! And just don't think about it. I know you can do it!! If your main goal is PhD then go for it, don't let tinnitus decide your future.

I'm applying for a university this September and still not decided what subject I want to do... Scared!!!!!

 

@M.K. I now work as a short intern in a IT company(I want do something to distract from the T before my study), but I find the voice of vents cannot totally mask my T. I can still sense it but the volume of T is much lower. It's because I got high pitched T. I kinda struggle with it when focusing on my work. I am afraid of it that I may not be able to costumed to my T during my following study. Is the vents totally mask your T?

 

@Yugal Rai Thx for your encouraging. I wish you can have a really nice univ. life!

 

Just be strong and go for it. Push through the pain and don't fear failure.

 

It all depends on what you wanna do in life, and in job terms, but a PhD is usually a huge loss of time unless is extremely technical and from a top university, or unless you want to be a professor.

For getting a good job a PhD is seldom of any help, and it takes so long to complete.

 

My PhD lab is dealing with AI and statistics. The rank of the Univ. is 32 according to QS. But actually I am not interested in Professor. The main goal for me to purse PhD is to get a high salary job in industry cause competition is fierce in China. Actually I am considering to talk with my mentor about finishing MS first. The tinnitus is rather annoying during studying and working. I really hope to habituate it quickly.

 

I signed up for a new education totally out of the blue just 1 month ago. It's in IT, something I'm not sure if I'm actually interested in (but I might be). I've been living on a disability pension for a long time and I just couldn't take one more day of not doing anything with my life. The shame of being a useless member of society was getting to me and I need something to do to keep my mind of the T. I've been super worried that I've bought the cat in the bag here, but have since calmed down. What still worries me, though, is how the HELL am I going to get through these studies with T still bothering me this much? I'm thinking primarily about sleep, having to get up early and so on. The actual studying should be fine as long as I'm able to function. This is a very practical kind of study, so there won't be a lot to read, especially not at first. It's learning by doing and right now I just want to be as busy as possible. Anything to keep my mind off the T, because that actually works.

 

Then move somewhere else, to Canada or the US. In those countries they pay big bucks, even without a PhD. You just need to find the right job. It pays off to train and study in a cheap country in the EU and then move, already qualified, to a high paying country where salaries are very good and education is expensive.

 

It's quite hard to get a job in such countries, especially for people from China.

 

You should look at the positions that cannot be filled with nationals and focus on that. Then when you have the residence permit you can move on to another job or study if you want. That's a better plan than pursuing a PhD, unless you live in a municipality in China, like Shanghai or Beijing and can get a very good job right away.

 

Hi everyone, if you are new to this forum or tinnitus, please don't read this, I don't want you to think what happened to me will happen to you.

I have been coming off benzodiazepines and I messed up my withdrawal several times and now as a result have very intrusive tinnitus and it doesn't seem to want to get better. It kinda pulsates in my left ear and I hear it everywhere. I am not scared of it thankfully, like shit it's annoying, but I don't freak out when I focus on it.

However, I am really struggling with university study at the moment, the new noise is making focusing incredibly hard.

I was wondering if others with extreme tinnitus were able to focus through this kind of stuff? I am more than happy to cohabitate with this noise I just want to know that I don't have to give up my studies and give up on my dreams because that would legitimately kill me I think.

Thanks,
Liam

 

The struggle is real but you've been here for awhile and know there are many successful posters who have done well. Especially studying will keep your brain busy. If you need a break, get up and go for a walk or short drive. I keep myself busy most of the day. Luckily, I was a busy person.

 

Hey @Liam_Cairns, how are you doing these days? Ears take forever to heal. Have you done an MRI scan to rule out inner ear cochlear hydrops etc? Try to only focus on the positive stories here. This is so hard. I'm going thru what you did now, but we will get there.

 

@Liam_Cairns, curious to hear as well!