Tinnitus Spike After Ultra High Frequency Audiogram

Hello,

Today I went to a tinnitus clinic in a faraway city. Six hours of driving round-trip. There, they did a ultra high frequency extended audiogram that went all the way to 20 kHz. At some point around 18 kHz - 20 kHz (not sure which frequency exactly), the one or two second tone the audiologist played caused an extreme pain in my right ear. Like maximum pain and the right ear went instantly full and started screaming and making cricket chirping noises. A few hours have passed since then. Not sure what to do, since I don't have prednisone anymore. I'm just taking NAC and Magnesium and vitamins.

After the test I checked the audiogram and it seems the volume the audiologist played the ~18 kHz tone was about 40 dB. Could this cause hearing loss or a permanent tinnitus spike? I'm concerned since it's a very very high frequency sound outside the normal range of everyday sounds.

Thanks.

 

If that’s the cause, then jingling your keys should cause your ears to explode.

 

Could be a protective overreaction of middle ear muscles. If your ears are inflamed and/or sensitive to those frequencies due to previous damage it would make sense.

You are taking supplements which is good. Just try to rest your ears and distract yourself if you can to try to calm down some.

 

No it’s not possible. It’s anxiety. You were looking/expecting it to do something and so you brought it about. Tinnitus is so fickle and evil that you can literally make it worse just by thinking it COULD get worse, even the tiniest part of you thinking it could.

Even the pain could be from anxiety. You were tense so a sudden unexpected sound set your body off. Anxiety is powerful.

 

Hello, can I ask where you have done this ultra high frequency test? Is it in USA?

Thank you.

 

I had mine done at a Ohio State University Medical Center. I’d try to reach out to a large University hospital system as I believe they are normally equipped for the ultra high frequency tests.

 

Hi, thanks for replying. Did the doctor there recommend ultra high frequency hearing test? Did they say maybe a steroid treatment can help with acute tinnitus from sound trauma if they find a dB drop above 8 kHz?

 

No I didn’t go over any of that when I had my test. My basic audiogram showed no hearing loss so I wanted to see what the ultra high frequencies looked like. The doctor just said my hearing was good for my age even though I had some dips up there. It didn’t lead to any treatment options. Besides it was outside the window for steroids I believe.