Is it possible to measure the SINAD of my tinnitus?

[VientoB]

I've has tinnitus since I was 19. It's not too bad usually. I tend to notice it most when I'm somewhere quiet. I suspect many of us have tinnitus to some degree.

I wonder if it's possible to measure the level? And compare it to the SINAD measurement of DACs and amplifiers

 

[Digital_Thor]

I've noticed that my tinnitus/ hearing sensitivity, changes with sound quality and loudness, indicating a correlation - maybe. So you could keep a diary and see if your tinnitus gets worse when exposed to lesser sound quality and loudness.

Then over time you could possibly have a trend pointing in a direction satisfying your question

A more stringent and thorough test could be tricky, since your ears constantly get exposed to sounds from various sources, making absolute levels and references questionable.
Just the sound of many people clapping and whistling loudly, often makes me think, 'damn that's loud'. So it can come from quite unplanned and surprising places, leaving much to speculation.

But sit down and brainstorm, look at plans and ideas... maybe you could set up a good enough structure in your test method, leaving you with plausible results.

 

[DSJR]

My hearing such as it now is, was tested for sensitivity a few years back and the results horrified me. I've had continuous Tinnitus return since my mid forties and the hearing test kind-of fits the threshold at which I lose hf. With iems, I can have a healthier volume level and no apparent loss of top, but turn 'em down and it's gone!

So honestly not sure how Tinnitus can be compared to sinad to be honest. At best, I gather our healthy hearing only has a 50dB dynamic range but on a sliding scale. Tinnitus obviously reduces that as the noise we perceive in the background is higher.

 

[amirm]

You may be able to measure its loudness relative to an actual tone played. The problem is, tinnitus level changes with excitation so may not be conclusive.

Darn it, you just triggered mine!

 

[Madlop26]

Most tinnitus are a phantom noise that your brain creates, because your ear have lost the ability hear a particular frequency, as Amir said you can subjectively measure frequency and loudness, but to obtain objectives data you need the ability to measure brainstem circuity, we are still far from that.

 

[Silverprout]

A real tinnitus is easy to detect with an audiogram.

 

[Salt]

You won't be able to distinguish if tinnitus is playing the strings of hearing loss or overwhelms normal hearing.

 

[respice finem]

If I had it, I probably wouldn't want to know. I sometimes have temporary hyperacusis (when I get migraine), that's bad enough...

 

[EERecordist]

I don't have noticeable tinnitus but I am sympathetic. Have you read some scientific literature on it? Then using that you could engage an audiologist you discuss before booking to measure it? I have not researched, but some Apple AirPods may have decent audiologist-like measurement capability.

 

[tineared]

My tinnitus used to fluctuate substantially between mild and very annoying. I used to visit construction sites on a regular basis and that was a serious aggravation.
Fortunately, I no longer visit construction sites and my tinnitus has settled down to being unnoticeable most of the time.
Thankfully, listening to music at high volume does not seem to aggravate it much. I suppose it must be related to the frequencies involved.

 

[Multicore]

Here's what I did to measure mine

Measure my tinnitus, or yours?

I searched (casually) and it seems audiologists are Measuring Tinnitus (American Tinnitus Assoc.) as I would imagine: Tinnitus sound matching: The presentation of common tinnitus sounds back to patients, to help them identify their specific perception of tinnitus. The health professional may...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Alan O]

Darn it, you just triggered mine!

Ha, you beat me to it! I was just going to say one of the things that triggers my tinnitus is people talking about tinnitus.

 

[olds1959special]

I've learned to like my tinnitus. It's better than hearing nothing.

 

[Silverprout]

The Essilor Audioscan have been used to measure and detect a real tinnitus.

 

[Apesbrain]

My T is quite loud right now; easily at the level of the background music which is 50-55 dB. It's limited to a very narrow band around 6kHz. It's not always this bad, but it's always there. I've learned to listen "through" it. It only really becomes distracting when I think about it.

I ate an edible about a half-hour ago and I think that makes the T worse.