Woke Up This Morning with Tinnitus and Temporary Hearing Loss in Left Ear

Yesterday we had a fire drill at the high school, and this time I didn't have my earbuds in like I normally do (I have misophonia and thus am very dependent on them).

The hearing loss and ringing sound didn't start till I woke up this morning (the day after), though, and it was only in my left ear. The hearing loss seems to have reversed itself completely over the course of today, but the ringing still persists.

It's nearly non-existent until I am in the presence of relative silence, but it's getting annoying nonetheless. There is still hope that it isn't permanent, I know, but I tend to overreact when stuff like this happens suddenly and end up making a big deal out of it anyway.

Most of the forum stuff I've read says to stay away from loud music but alas, my misophonic ass can't handle daily life without it. Still, I have the nerve to hope it goes away, or at least doesn't get any worse.

 

You have to make a choice - handle daily life without loud music for 3-6 months, or risk getting louder permanent tinnitus. If you are misophonic, you are unlikely to have a good time once T becomes loud enough for you to hear it everywhere, 24/7. Having said this, it is a risk and not a certainty. It is possible that you will keep listening to loud music and your T will go away. My guess (based on what I learned by reading people's posts here) is that the chance that your T goes away will be lower if you keep listening to loud music.

 

Stuck between a rock and a hard place with this. Either choice I make will have an effect on my health in the long run.

I'm not really sure if I can make it 3-6 months without music at all, but I can definitely compromise the volume at which I listen. My mp3player goes up to 30, and my normal listening volume ranges 15-19 depending on the song. When in class (which makes up the majority of my listening time) I default to 16 and I never turn it up louder than 17, but I can't manage lower than 14 without being able to hear the exact noises I'm trying to block out. While I completely failed to do so today, I will see if I can manage leaving it at 15 tomorrow.

As an update of sorts, my T seems to have started affecting both ears but has also leveled out considerably. It's quieter and also seems to have lowered in pitch (it was and still is a pure tone sound), making it even easier to tune out than it was yesterday. The hearing in my left ear has not fluctuated at all today either and seems to be fine now.

 

You are at the beginning levels of tinnitus, I was there myself and I too was saying what you are saying....In your posts. Take this from a guy that has had tinnitus almost for 30 years, If you keep listening to music and further damage your ears....Your tinnitus can go up in volume. Higher volume can be brutal, it changes everything.....so try to avoid this!

Louder tinnitus can make life harder, protect your ears and avoid loud places/noises....

 

I understand that T can and will get worse if I don't avoid noise and such. Unfortunately, avoiding music altogether is not feasible. Without a means to block out certain noises, my grades, emotional health, and mental health will all drop significantly. I know this because I used to go to a school that had completely banned headphones and earbuds, and my grades and mental health were both much worse than they are today.

I've gotten used to it the way it already is and it isn't really bothering me anymore. In fact, it's so quiet that I'm actually questioning whether it really is still there or if I just think I hear it. Nonetheless, I'm going to heed the advice you and Bill up there have given me as much as my situation will allow for and limit listening time as much as I can.