Do you have Tinnitis? (Ringing sound in your ears)

[dougi]

I wonder how many people can trace the origin of their tinnitus...

I can trace mine to the first 3 notes of a Nucleus concert in the Cayuga High School gym, back in the late 1960s.
It was so unbearably loud that I and half a dozen others went flying out the doors.

Following that ... months of high pitched squeal in both ears. It faded over time but it still comes back occasionally.

Yep, mine the first concert at a reopened theatre in Sydney in the late 2000s, Urge Overkill, who I didn't even like that much. Loud and i forgot my earplugs that night. Present ever since.

 

[dougi]

Dj Craze at the Metro Theatre in Sydney Australia, circa early 2000s. He used to do a turntablism set for the first half of the show, and then would pivot into drum and bass. When the DnB dropped it was waaaaay tooo loud! My ears popped and I went to the bathrooms to get toilet paper to stuff in them but it was too late.

When I am extra tired or have been lying down not moving enough the ring is quite audible, but otherwise during the day I don’t notice it at all.

My story was from the Metro too!

 

[mmi]

My story was from the Metro too!

Sadly it’s not a surprise!

 

[pseudoid]

My story was from the Metro too!

So many seem to have gotten it from live music.
Do I smell a ClassAction lawsuit coming against RIAA/Hooligan B*st*rds?

 

[MattJ]

I didn't realize I had it until fairly recently, when I noticed that the high frequencies from my stereo seemed very muted. My system was fairly old (20+ years), and I first assumed that the equipment was finally starting to give out. I have played drums for 20+ years, and never noticed any loss of HF detail while playing - presumably because of the 100dB+ levels - so I didn't think my ears could be the culprit. LOL.

So I replaced everything - speakers, electronics, cables, interconnects.....everything. To my (semi)horror, I discovered that the sound was still muted, although the new system does indeed have better detail than the old one. So, apparently I have some high-frequency hearing loss.......and then I noticed the low level but insistent high pitched squealing in both ears. Ah, good fortune. Hearing loss and Tinnitus.
#blessed

 

[the_hamster 2]

Tinnitus began coterminously with start of hearing issues…when I first began to “hear” the ringing, I thought it was bird calls, then realized what was going on. Now, I’m fitted binaurally with hearing aids, but still experience tinnitus at varying intensity in a totally random fashion, more like hissing or “singing”, the sound pressurized gas makes exiting an orifice. As I write now, undetectable…a day ago, totally audible. Live with it, full stop.

 

[groovybassist]

Constant high-pitched tinnitus in both ears, although louder in left. Also have hearing loss in left ear - drops off quickly above 8K. Origin is easy to trace - played in a rock band when younger and went to a lot of loud clubs/concerts. Never even thought about hearing protection (or sunblock for that matter).

 

[pseudoid]

A high school g/f had once told me her tinnitus started during early-teens, when her dad would smack her around her ears with cupped hands.
She had to explain to me what 'tinnitus' was... because she could see in my eyes that I was imagining a rhyming word ending in "....lingus".

 

[norcalscott]

Like many of you, I believe my tinnitus was caused by loud concerts - I went to 30-40 concerts in the 80's and 90's and I was a drummer who played metal with some friends quite a bit in my younger years. This resulted in what I would call "mild" tinnitus, or something that I really didn't notice most of the time. However, about 8 years ago (around 50 years in age) I went to a Phantogram concert in a small venue and was standing right in front of the left main speakers, close to the stage, kind of with the speaker aiming into my left year - that did me in and now I have a much more noticeable buzzing in that ear than I had before. I could kick myself for not wearing ear plugs, I knew better.

I do notice that if I take pain relievers like Ibuprofen and especially Tylenol that my tinnitus gets worse. I have largely learned to live with it but sometimes it is extremely annoying.

 

[pseudoid]

Maybe someone (of us) should start a ASR fund to donate the collected contributions for the ATA (American Tinnitus Association) 50th Golden Anniversary Research Grant.
I'd chip in....

 

[JaccoW]

Thanks for that .... I bumped it up to 10.2khz and I could hear it beating against mine ... which mysteriously started when this conversation showed up... go figure...

Tinnitus - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Interesting. I closed my eyes while going up in frequency range and around 10,165 the volume suddenly dims for me.

After one particular long night in Berlin and being almost deaf for an hour or so I decided to start wearing earplugs. Now I always carry them.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

Mine is at 15250Hz…the sweep frequency of the old, small black and white NTSC TV monitors I was surrounded by at work in TV stations for 35 years. It’s loudest in my right ear. I’m 65, but I can still “virtually,” at least, “hear“ 15250.

My husband is a physician, and he tells me the sensation of tinnitus is created by the brain, possibly to artificially “recreat” an old constant stimulus that you now miss experiencing. (NTSC has been replaced with HDTV and UHDTV monitors with much higher scan rates outside the region of human hearing, and I’ve been retired for 5 years, anyway, so no more 15,250Hz stimulus.)

 

[MattJ]

Tinnitus began coterminously with start of hearing issues…when I first began to “hear” the ringing, I thought it was bird calls, then realized what was going on. Now, I’m fitted binaurally with hearing aids, but still experience tinnitus at varying intensity in a totally random fashion, more like hissing or “singing”, the sound pressurized gas makes exiting an orifice. As I write now, undetectable…a day ago, totally audible. Live with it, full stop.

Dude WTF. I almost broke a hip trying to Google "coterminously". There should be a $50 deposit before using words like that. Think of the children.

 

[Deleted member 46664]

Interesting. I closed my eyes while going up in frequency range and around 10,165 the volume suddenly dims for me.

Is it just that one frequency or is it everything above that frequency?

Most people do not hear from 20 to 20k ... in fact my audiologist tells me the "average" is something like 30 to 13,000

At 71 mine runs from about 33hz to 12,000 and, last time I was tested, I was told I have the hearing of a teenager.

What you are hearing

Exploring the audio frequency spectrum

dbpages.ca

 

[dougi]

Dude WTF. I almost broke a hip trying to Google "coterminously". There should be a $50 deposit before using words like that. Think of the children.

That's funny, but I do a lot of technical writing for public release in the Australian Public Service. We are asked to aim for the level of a 12 year old's understanding, for web content at least. Keep it as simple as practicable, otherwise.

 

[pseudoid]

Now I always carry them.

As a long time motorcyclist, I know for a fact that there are huge differences in earplugs and some are truly worthless.
I think currently there is a humongous ClassAction going on about those earplugs which were provided to active duty military personnel that apparently caused more harm than the intended good.
Like saying all DACs sound the same...

 

[Deleted member 47224]

Tinnitus can be a result of jaw displacement, but this kind can be easily treated. At least mine was. Had it for a short week but hopefully it was gone after some daily rehab. So I had a taste of it, and my heart goes to those still suffering.

 

[norcalscott]

My husband is a physician, and he tells me the sensation of tinnitus is created by the brain, possibly to artificially “recreat” an old constant stimulus that you now miss experiencing. (NTSC has been replaced with HDTV and UHDTV monitors with much higher scan rates outside the region of human hearing, and I’ve been retired for 5 years, anyway, so no more 15,250Hz stimulus.)

That's interesting. I've heard that the brain is trying to "compensate" for hearing loss at that frequency but have never heard that it could also be trying to "recreate" that frequency of tone as in your case. That makes sense and there is probably so much we don't understand about things the brain does like this.

 

[RHG55]

Thanks for that .... I bumped it up to 10.2khz and I could hear it beating against mine ... which mysteriously started when this conversation showed up... go figure...

Tinnitus - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Same with me. My tinnitus is more like 10.3 kHz and unfortunately quite loud.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

That's interesting. I've heard that the brain is trying to "compensate" for hearing loss at that frequency but have never heard that it could also be trying to "recreate" that frequency of tone as in your case. That makes sense and there is probably so much we don't understand about things the brain does like this.

It might also explain why our brains seem to ignore it when we are distracted by other things. It’s a demonstration of our natural inclination to focus on environmental stimuli. When things are quiet or when we become bored, BOOM: there’s the damn tinnitus again. If I’m listening intently to something, tinnitus is pushed to the background of my consciousness and it temporarily becomes a non issue.