Tinnitus Suddenly Gone After a Year

Hello,

I've been lurking these forums for the past year, which really helped me come to terms with tinnitus.

Mine was caused by being in a way-too-loud nightclub, but I think it also had something to do with a friend screaming something in my ear over the music. I remember the pain and sudden change in hearing, but was dumb enough to stay in there. I first heard the tinnitus the moment I left the club, and it didn't go away the next morning.

The first months were very confused, with the sound varying between crickets and static. Later things settled to what I'd best describe it as a mosquito stuck in my right ear, a buzzing between 8000 and 10000hz.

I did notice that certain sounds, which could be anything from a street cleaner to high pitched feedback, would silence the tinnitus for a few seconds. There was this strange tickling sensation when it happened, but unfortunately it was impossible to reproduce. I might find a certain part of song that triggered the sensation, but if I listened to the part again nothing would happen.

My strategy was to be as paranoid as possible with my ears, earplugs for bars, movies, airplanes, everything. I also have a pair of Bose QC35 which I sometimes wear over the earplugs, but only for the noise cancelling. I stopped using headphones, quit SCUBA and haven't been to a nightclub since then. I'm a private pilot, and flying is the one thing I deemed unacceptable to have taken away. I did stop flying for six months, but once the sound had stabilized I decided to double up on hearing protection and go for another fly.

There were one or two times I wound up in a "quiet" bar without my earplugs, and the tinnitus spiked for a week afterwards.

So basically I quickly rationalized and accepted the tinnitus as the new status quo. I'm a programmer, and before long I could distract myself with either background music or by working in a cafe with plenty of background sounds. But the tinnitus was definitely there if I let myself tune in.

It probably cost me at least an hour of sleep every night; I would hear it and simply couldn't ignore it. I used to fall asleep by listening to my breathing, but the tinnitus drowned that out. Leaves rustling, light rain, footsteps, fridge sounds, were all things I noted as falling below my new hearing threshold defined by the tinnitus.

About two weeks ago, I had the tickling sensation but the silence lasted for about 15 minutes. The mixed euphoria and suspense was almost unbearable. I started listening for the things I hadn't heard for the last year, and hoped beyond hoped this was for real, but the tinnitus eventually came back.

Then, last week I went to a performance by a friends orchestra. I remember being bitter because of the tinnitus ruining things as usual, but eventually forgot about it. From that point on, the worst of my tinnitus disappeared. I've been reluctant to celebrate, but one week later it's still gone.

I still have a quiet static sound around 10000hz, a bit like an old CRT. I know I definitely have hearing loss at around that frequency, so guess it's related. But importantly, it's not a ringing sound and it's now an internal. The mosquito in one ear kept me constantly be on edge. It literally felt like it was in the ear, and would sometimes cause a numb pain.

I wanted to write this up because I felt I owed it to the forum. This is a throw away account, and I wont become an active member of this fantastic forum.

I remember giving up hope at 6 months, when the tinnitus technically became "acute". I can't offer any magic, other than be good to your ears and don't give up hope. Things can change even a year on.

Thank you Tinnitus Talk

 

So it is still there and it is not really gone...