Tinnitus Starting to React to Masking Noise?

Hi all,

I've had tinnitus for a long time and was mostly habituated except at night, though it has bothered me more during quarantine (not sure if it got any louder though). I have been falling asleep to A/C, fan noises, and/or fake rain noises (with a sleep timer) to help mask my tinnitus for years. It's not at a volume where it's completely masked, but it helps a lot. My tinnitus is generally a hissing sound.

One weird thing that I've noticed in the past few months is that some masking sounds, like beach waves, sometimes make me hear phantom noises like a siren, so I've stuck with rain. Sometimes rain noises made me hear something a little weird too but only when I was sitting at a certain angle so I didn't think too much of it, thinking it was weird room acoustics. Over the past few days, I've started to hear a new weird tinnitus tone standing under my bathroom fan sometimes and it's happened more often with the rain sounds. This coincided with when I started using a fan as additional masking noise to sleep.

All of a sudden this started bothering me today (funny how that works). I even heard that tone once while running water, though the last few times I tried, I'm not even sure if I hear it or not with that or the rain sounds. Now I'm overthinking every high pitched sound.

Strangely, when I was examining this possible new tone today, my old hissing tone was very quiet and sometimes imperceptible so it's almost an improvement overall, but it's anxiety-inducing all the same because it's different and not all better. Or maybe it's just because I'm focused on any new tone.

In fact, I've had a few stretches of hours lately where my old tinnitus is almost imperceptible (once I had to go into a closet to check that it was still there), but I still heard something (perhaps this new tone I'm hearing) but very quietly.

The only other time I experienced something very strange with my tinnitus was when I had a different but very loud tone of tinnitus one morning for a few hours when I was incredibly anxious to the point that I was shaking. And even some pulsatile tinnitus then but it went away. I have had really bad anxiety lately over a dentist appointment I had today (ended up completely fine) so perhaps this is related? Ugh now I have this to be anxious about.

Besides the above, I've never had a perceptible spike.

Anyway, does anyone have thoughts on this?

One thing I'm wondering is that this study said that white noise can be bad for tinnitus:

Unintended Consequences of White Noise Therapy for Tinnitus—Otolaryngology's Cobra Effect

I still want background noise to sleep (it's also on a sleep timer so I don't actually listen to it all night long unless I have insomnia like last night), but perhaps I should try relaxing music or something that's not one constant sound over and over? Even rain tracks on Spotify might be better because they're at least different.

I really hope things like A/C and fan noises don't start triggering this though because I'm moving soon and if I don't have central air, I'll likely be falling asleep to one of those things...

 

I think it's called sound distortions. I got a lot of it during onset but it's pretty much gone now, i only hear it faintly right now.

 

Thanks, it's strange that this is happening like 15 years into tinnitus. A few observations because this has really been bothering me. I would really appreciate any advice or reassurance because I think this is mostly anxiety but I also can't find much info about this online.

Under the bathroom fan is the only place I am sure I hear another tone. It is not "in my head" like tinnitus because when I plug my ears I can't hear it, so I guess it's a distortion, not T specifically right?

Random other background noise has been really bothering me lately, mostly because I'm worried now whether certain tones are real or not, especially since I've only fully realized now that certain appliances (PC, fridge, HVAC) make multiple sounds not just one tone. I've been recording some sounds on my phone and playing them back to see if I can hear them. This seems like a bad compulsion to develop and I'm also not sure if it proves anything one way or the other, though it's provided some reassurance that the various tones are really there. The bathroom fan tone does not show up on the recording though.

It's also really hard to fall asleep when you think the white noise you're listening for sleep might be the cause. My tinnitus is too loud to sleep without any masking noise at this time, and while I'm sure I could learn, I have enough of a hard time with sleep as it is. Calming music doesn't work nearly as well because it doesn't hit the same frequencies as my tinnitus as well. It might help my anxiety to find some other stuff to fall asleep to though as a placebo at least.

When I listen to fake rain noise, if I really concentrate I feel like I can hear some faint sirens or construction noise in the distance. But even in relative silence, if I really listen for it, I can almost hear it too. Maybe it's just because I've heard these sounds thousands of times from this apartment? Or maybe it's just a weird thing that happens when you combine some white noise with some random HVAC and city sounds?

I think this could just be anxiety (besides the bathroom fan) because my regular tinnitus has not spiked and is quieter if anything, possibly simply because I'm focusing so much on external sounds. Most posts about spikes from white noise here have said that it makes their regular tinnitus louder.

I think the course of action here is to just try to not care about this. It's not even clear if I really have distortion or am just imagining it, especially in response to white noise. As far as the random sounds I hear that are bothering me, for all I know they're real sounds or just strange phenomena. Plus people probably just hear things slightly differently. If anything I should enjoy those sounds for masking my tinnitus somewhat (my fridge is great at this, it's like it was designed for my tinnitus!). And of course focusing on this just seems unhealthy.

 

The only course of action I would recommend is to ignore and move on, it is not a sign of worsening, it's just what it is. I am sure it will be gone in time.

 

It could be anything. Some fast ideas I get from reading you if you want to research around forum (I am no medical expert, just anotherforumuser)

- You mentioned dental issues. That could alter TMJ on its own and thus tinnitus.
- Anxiety as you mention.
- Body postures (forward neck being the usual suspect, could be even linked to anxiety). I'd check on YouTube for "tinnitus trigger points" to self evaluate.
- Recent loud external event, use of poor quality speakers or headphones.
- It could be just triggered by body changing with the years for no other internal or external event.
- Food, vitamins, medicine input?
- Changes in exercise and sleep patterns.
- Others...

 

Thanks! I did have a fire truck go by me about a few weeks ago which may have preceded hearing the high pitched sound under my fan, though I'm not sure because I didn't pay much attention to the fan until a few days ago.

So I can hear the sound in a recording I made of my fan. Here is the frequency graph of the sound:



Is it possible at all that I am reacting to the tiny bump around 7000 Hz? I tried isolating that frequency and turning up the volume and it MIGHT be the sound I'm hearing, but then my eardrum started fluttering and I started worrying that this could somehow damage my hearing. Damaging my hearing does seem unlikely because clearly these frequencies are objectively quite soft and it didn't sound loud at all to me, right?

Also I realize maybe I should just let this all go but I would much prefer if this is just me being ultra sensitive to certain frequencies + stress than reactive tinnitus or sound distortions. I got my hearing checked a month ago and I apparently have almost no hearing loss in the high frequencies but some in the lower-mid so perhaps I just hear those frequencies more than most people.