Unsure About My Tinnitus

[Flowers]

Hello everyone.

About 10 days ago I noticed a loud buzzing noise inside my left ear. This wasn't unusual for me as I often listened to music with headphones on, so I was familiar with ringing in the ears, but this ringing never left. On the 7th day I went to emergency room as it was a weekend and I wasn't sure what else to do. I wanted relief as it was hard to sleep and I was worried. They pumped water into my ear after discovering a large amount of ear wax which they thought might have been the problem, but the tinnitus persisted. I scoured the internet was sure my tinnitus was due to my constant listening of music with headphones.

However on the 10th day, which is today, I saw an ENT. The ENT told me that my hearing is perfect and there is no hearing loss and that my ears are physically in great shape and told me that my tinnitus may be caused by grinding my jaw in my sleep or stress. I am relieved to know that I have no hearing loss but I am a bit confused. In a sense, I left with more questions. Has anyone else experienced prolonged tinnitus without hearing loss? It seems odd to me that my ears are fine yet I've had such ringing for 10 whole days. Would it be safe to continue using my headphones at a quite volume? When do you think it may go away? Thank you for reading.

-Rose

 

[Bill Bauer]

Has anyone else experienced prolonged tinnitus without hearing loss?

Yes, many people here (including me) don't have any observable hearing loss. There is such a thing as "hidden hearing loss". It doesn't show up on audiologists' tests. It manifests itself as you being unable to hear people talking to you when there is a lot of background noise.

This figure includes individuals who suffer from the condition of "hidden hearing loss," which is generally defined to be damage to the inner ear that leads to difficulty hearing soft voices in the presence of background noise, but an audiogram within the range of normal hearing sensitivity.
http://hearinghealthmatters.org/hea...op-method-repair-damage-cochlea-hearing-loss/
USC is University of Southern California?

Typically, they don't test above 8 kHz

The hearing loss can be above the tested frquencies.
Most likely there is hearing loss but it is at frequencies above 8khz.

 

[Flowers]

So there is a possibility my tinnitus is permanent but they couldn't tell when testing?

 

[Bill Bauer]

Would it be safe to continue using my headphones at a quite volume? When do you think it may go away?

To make a long story short, there is a good chance (at least 25%) that you will get to hear silence again. There is a high chance that it will fade and get quieter. Don't assume that you will be stuck with with the sound that you are hearing now.

It is probably a good idea to stay away from headphones, from now on.

For detailed answers, see
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

[Bill Bauer]

So there is a possibility my tinnitus is permanent but they couldn't tell when testing?

Having hearing loss does not necessarily mean that your tinnitus won't fade and/or disappear.

 

[Flowers]

Well my ENT said he had noise induced tinnitus himself. I figured if he thought I had noise induced tinnitus that he would have told me, but he seemed to think it was due to my jaw. I am very confused in what in wrong with me, but I hold out hope that no matter what that my T will get better

 

[CrystalB]

Hello everyone.

About 10 days ago I noticed a loud buzzing noise inside my left ear. This wasn't unusual for me as I often listened to music with headphones on, so I was familiar with ringing in the ears, but this ringing never left. On the 7th day I went to emergency room as it was a weekend and I wasn't sure what else to do. I wanted relief as it was hard to sleep and I was worried. They pumped water into my ear after discovering a large amount of ear wax which they thought might have been the problem, but the tinnitus persisted. I scoured the internet was sure my tinnitus was due to my constant listening of music with headphones.

However on the 10th day, which is today, I saw an ENT. The ENT told me that my hearing is perfect and there is no hearing loss and that my ears are physically in great shape and told me that my tinnitus may be caused by grinding my jaw in my sleep or stress. I am relieved to know that I have no hearing loss but I am a bit confused. In a sense, I left with more questions. Has anyone else experienced prolonged tinnitus without hearing loss? It seems odd to me that my ears are fine yet I've had such ringing for 10 whole days. Would it be safe to continue using my headphones at a quite volume? When do you think it may go away? Thank you for reading.

-Rose

Yes! I have had tinnitus for 7 months and my hearing is good. Mine just happened one day and it's never left. There is a chance yours could go away, I've always heard it can, I'm still hoping mine will. I have heard stress can trigger tinnitus, have you been stressed out lately? There are just so many things that can trigger tinnitus, it's just knowing what did, and like with mine, I don't know if I'll ever find out what caused it, I do know I have ETD but my ENT doesn't know if it is what's causing my tinnitus.

 

[Apolonia]

In my opinion, ENTs don't know how to properly examine the ears (I mean the outer and the inner ear) .... So, my ENT also told me my ears are physically great... He said I had some mild ETD, but it was nothing... Now, in my opinion they should expose me for a second to a loud sound and then see how my ears react... According to that they should be able to see a complete dysfunction of the middle ear... Because my ears get abnormally full after a loud noise... And then comes the pain... ENTs should be examine ears while we are exposed to something loud in order too see how our ears react..... That is my opinion... At least