Tinnitus Since About 1999 — This Is My Story

Hello Everybody

Just wanted to say hi and maybe share with others out there who suffer from tinnitus.

I'm a 43 year old musician. In retrospect I realise now I had hyperacusis, had super sensitive ears, and as a kid it was torment when an ambulance went by, for example. Cinemas were horrible places for me, anything big and noisy was horrific. I couldn't believe how loud different places were, in these 'normal' environments. I get it now, why certain tribes in the Amazon, suffer little hearing loss even in old age - because they all talk quietly, everything is very quiet, and they need their ears to be good in the forest...

But I tried to harden up, be 'normal' - yep, that was dumb, since now I have tinnitus. But I never really spoke to anyone how sick I felt at loud noise etc. Seemed pathetic somehow! Or how odd it was that I could hear the tiniest of noise coming through the wall or from the room next door... Always had to sleep with earplugs. Seemed to me, it was a question of hardening up to it...

As a musician, I've really put ears through the ringer (pun not intended!!), and now I have hearing loss too it would seem.

Tinnitus really started for me in 1999. I've adjusted my thoughts on the matter several times through these years. but I've reached a new slump.

Having adjusted my thinking to the fact that silence doesn't exist for me anymore - and that I'll never hear bats ever again, with their sonic pulses (that ability went long ago...), - I'm now realising that I just don't hear my music very well. E.g. a well mixed pop track sounds all boomy to me, as if the engineer hasn't bothered with the high end... If I increase the volume, it sounds too loud, and the lower notes hurt my ears, without helping me really get a super fine sense of the higher frequencies. That depresses me. I just can't get a proper handle on the high end. It all sounds like a mess.

What's strange, is that even now 'normal' volumes of things I find difficult to cope with sometimes, even though I've lost ability on the high end. I thought some deafness would have helped with that!!!

That's about it, in a nutshell.

Does anyone feel that their tinnitus actually makes their ears more sensitive to sound, as if the ear is desperate for a rest? (perhaps that's a question for the forum proper, not this 'hello' bit).

 

Hi sonic 123, welcome to the TT. When reading you're intro I did not see any mention of a Dr. I am assuming you have seen one for this. What did he say. It sure sounds like you have Tinnitus along with Hyperacusis. There is a forum devoted to Hyperacusis, you may want to read through it.

Yes, it can be very very depressing, especially when it prevents you from going something you really enjoy. I only have T so I can't really relate to the sensitivity of the ears, I have read how horrible it is. Have a look around the forums and read others posts, and don't forget to checkout the Hyperacusis forum....

Gary

 

@sonic123
Hi, it's my turn to respond this time

On both cases of my T onset, I've developed H as well. I still have it as the second onset only recently occured, but soon after the first onset of T, H subsided. I'm hoping the H would subside again real soon. Have you had an episode of really loud noise recently?

 

I must admit, I've never seen a doc over this. I suppose, I've always thought to myself, unless the doc has magic powers and can grow back the scilia, there's no much he/she can do... perhaps I'm wrong

Thank you for mentioning the Hyperacusis forum. Growing up it never even occurred to me that this was a kind of condition, or that other people too had weirdly sensitive ears. Actually, I tend to think that our ears are perfectly designed, but unsuited to modern noises...

 

Been doing a lot more music again recently, more headphone work too

 

@sonic123
Due to my desperation to get rid of my T, I've been doing a lot of DIY sound therapies (notched sound, ACRN and etc) using my earphones recently, and I find my ears hurting a lot more and being more sensitive. Maybe try resting your ears a bit. H seems to subside with time (for me at least). All the best sonic123.

 

Good point sonic123. No matter I would get my butt over to an ENT and have you're hearing tested along with a few other tests he/she may want to do. Get a little notebook and write down question you have before you go, once you get to a Dr.s office we tend to forget everything we wanted ask. You are right there is no real cure, but there are treatments...

 

Thanks bmguitar

I really have no idea why I haven't taken resting my ears more seriously through the years. It is weird how perceptions change, I used to be deeply anxious/depressed about my ears ringing all the time, but it doesn't get me like it used to. I can still hear well enough to do music, though my ears get tired quicker. Losing hearing worries me more than the ringing, though I suppose they're associated.


If Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys could do a whole career with one ear, due to injury of the other.... or many other musicians past and present who've suffered ear damage of some kind, and yet been highly productive, my lot isn't so bad in that regard. Beethoven wrote his best symphony pretty much deaf with ringing in his ears.

I used to be horrified by what I've done to myself, but that attitude hasn't really helped me. Easy to kick oneself.

Headphones.... they're probably one of the main causes of my T, amongst other things like that bleedin' violin. No wonder trombone players become deaf in one ear.... Thanks for the thought about that, i need to take the cans off.

 

thanks gary, for the first time in 16 years, I think I'll go and see what can be done...