Sudden Hearing Loss Tinnitus Etc.

My Story

I have had this auditory disorder for over two decades now. What I wrote below was for an auditory disorder forum. Sometimes I tend to think people can't believe anyone could have something as unusual as this. There has been this sort of distant look as I have tried to explain. And I was hesitant to share it here, but life is short and it could help someone in their own yet different and prevailing struggle.

It was late 1993. I woke. It was about 7:30am on the first Saturday in October. Surely it was a civil defense siren down the street. It was sounding but not oscillating. But wait. This was inside my ear. I called my wife. She came into the bedroom. I told her this was something different. I told her to talk in my ear. She kept saying I love you. The voice changed. It was in a tin can. It trailed out. I love you as inaudible now as talking on a piece of metal foil. The I love you was the last I heard there from my wife. It is like my ear had died and yet it seemed to live on in another world. A sheet of tinnitus. Hyperacusis, perhaps. Feedback in its split-second delays from a thousand sounds that enter my good ear nimbly but the brain doesn't get it. It's like it is trying to sync with a lost left ear gone to another planet. The ear plug in the good ear helps reduce the feedback effects as sleep is hoped for, but the other settled drone of sounds remains in their normal fashion. It is ethereal. It is distant yet close. It is like the outer edge of what mythology or poetry may depict as some realm of shades; the sound of a cave emitting its transient yet constant yet almost mechanical echoes. The best of Johns Hopkins doesn’t know. Over twenty years and many tears.

I am a radio commentator. I am a pastor. I am a grateful husband, father, and now grandfather. By the grace of God I live to love and serve and teach. There is much to be thankful for.

 

Hey your story us just so... Intense I couldn't imagine that. I've never heared anything like it. But congratulations your a father and a grandfather. You have a respectful job that can give you faith and help others. Be a voice for people who have been through unexplainable things. you should be proud. Having something like that isn't the hardest part. Its living with it. And you sound like you've lived a magnificent life.

keep teaching and keep serving and keep loving

 

Thank you, Georgia. I will pray for you, too. I may go for a cochlear implant someday and see what happens. This is a great place where so many of us with very similar burdens can connect and talk about ways to cope. Thanks again for your encouraging words.

 

Thank you so much for sharing your story here. Mine is similar to yours, and it truly helped me to read that I'm not alone. The tinny voice, then nothing - it's terrifying. The "normal" ear trying to make up for it with phantom sounds - all of it is almost overwhelming. I really appreciate you taking the time to share and reminding me to be thankful!

 

Mrs. P.

Thanks for responding. Yes, your situation certainly does sound a lot like mine. I do take medication to help me sleep, plus I also take medication for other things, so that seems to make me feel tired much of the day. But I am able to get done what I have to get done. I can also keep on learning which helps keep my mind off the whole situation. Thanks again for responding. You will be in my prayers, too. May God bless you with his strength and wisdom in the days to come.

Steve

 

Have you tried CI yet? I am on verge of getting one, but not quite ready to say yes because i see stories of people's T gets worse with it. My T started from using a buzzer to shave my beard then used a loud laptop. Then it started with high Eeeee sound. 4 months now it started to change tone and alternates from buzzing to naaaa dingdingding naaaa and it get loud at night.

 

I have considered CI. I may just get a newer ear insert with my digital hearing device/aide that goes all the way in the canal and does not have all that excess plastic looking stuff over the outside, so long as they keep feedback out. Thanks for responding. God bless.

 

Steve do you also have tinnitus ?
Tganks

 

He does as described in the original post