Turning On the Old Tube TV — Tinnitus Since at Least as Early as Middle School

I don't recall exactly when it was that I first noticed I had a constant high-pitched hissing tone in my brain. It is centered 70% intensity on the right side of my inner ear and 30% on the left. Occasionally I will have brief bouts of rapid "clicking" coming from the left side. But I know it's been with me since at least as early as middle school. It was always like a 2 or 3/10 back then. It never started bothering me until adulthood.

So... having been born in the early 80's, growing up in our suburban bedroom community in the midwestern USA we had several boxy television sets in our house. I always remember right when turning on these TVs the cathode-ray tube made a surge of high pitched noise for a few seconds until the TV got warmed up and the image got bright. It was definitely more noticeable on certain TV sets than others. On certain televisions, the high pitched noise was always on and just got a little more subsided after it warmed up.

Some people my age or older know what I'm talking about. Some people have no idea that the old TVs emitted this noise or have long forgotten. But I definitely remember when the TV first turned on, before it warmed up, you would hear this very high pitch tone coming from the tube. Turning on the TV always seemed to "resonate" with the ringing sensation that was in my head. 13,800 Hz is my tinnitus, and I think that is also about the high frequency that I heard coming from the TV sets.

The tinnitus never seemed to bother me growing up as a child. I would notice it was there but I somehow didn't let it bother me. I started researching and learned that this condition was formally called tinnitus around 2018 or so. Now that I am in my 40s I am growing increasingly frustrated with this 24/7 high pitched tone. Maybe 1 day a week the hissing is a 4 out of 10. Most days it runs a 6/10. Sometimes the tinnitus is a screaming 8 out of 10 but I don't think I've ever had a 9 or 10/10 episode. None of my doctors have been able to help. Most days I am conditioned to ignore it, but lately I have been getting more and more annoyed.

I suspect I have a permanent short circuit in my brain.

...Or, is my brain like a TV set, receiving and perceiving the electromagnetic senses of sight and sound from the matrix, through a virtual 1980's television my brain?

Doug

 

Welcome to the forum. If you have most days when you are able to ignore the tinnitus, that is a very good sign and a positive that you can achieve better habituation in the future. Stress or high anxiety level can cause us to get bothered by tinnitus. Many members have said when they go on vacation they hardly notice their tinnitus. If you get an ENT to check out the ears being ok, then try to see if anything in your life has become too stressful lately.

My humble 2 cents. Take good care. God bless your recovery.