Tinnitus

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

I suspect I've had some tinnitus since the 80s just from damage caused by listening to music too loudly and going to concerts...like many of us. But the real damage arose from a specific incident. One of the things my job involves is installing grab bars usually in people's bath and shower enclosures and I had a job about a decade ago putting bars in a shower in a basement bathroom. I didn't realize it at first but the entire friggin place was basically a tile and concrete shower inside a concrete bunker. I started drilling the first hole and was instantly assaulted by the most singularly piercing high frequency sonic icepick I've ever encountered. It was physically painful. I knew right away I was in a bit of trouble...and I had no ear plugs. I balled up toilet paper and filled my ears with it and that got me through the job but the damage had been done. Ever since then I've had some pretty significant ringing. It waxes and wanes but it's always there to a degree and it definitely seems to be triggered by certain things. I doubt there's any real solution but making an effort to relax and spending some time doing some stretching and some deep breathing and some massaging of the neck and the area around the ears does seem to help tame it a bit.

 

[marcello252]

I have tinnitus both ears since early 2000s, and it's getting worse with the age, I'm not able for example to hear the tick tock of my watch on my right ear, the freqs are colliding with some of my whistles .
That said, I'm ok listening to hi fi gear, my ear training is good enough to go beyond my 'limitations', I still have a good ear for good stuff.

 

[valerianf]

I have tinnitus since I got Covid vaccinated (J&J). I feel it mainly during the evening.
This morning I got an hearing test and my right ear has no sensitivity above 13khz!
I guess that is is the result of loud music and may be some illness when I was young.
I will have to boost the tweeter of my speakers.

 

[marcello252]

the tinnitus with vaccine is very strange, have you got a history of allergies or autoimmune disorders, if I can ask?

 

[valerianf]

I have seen on Reddit forum other testimony about breathing/sinus issue after J&J vaccin. In my case it may be not connected, it is only the timing that is odd. Coincidence?

 

[rdenney]

I have tinnitus since I got Covid vaccinated (J&J). I feel it mainly during the evening.
This morning I got an hearing test and my right ear has no sensitivity above 13khz!
I guess that is is the result of loud music and may be some illness when I was young.
I will have to boost the tweeter of my speakers.

Boosting the top octave will only make it worse, and it will annoy the neighborhood dogs. My advice—born of subjective experience alone —set your top octave using a measurement microphone, and allow yourself to interpret the music with the hearing you have, just as you would have to do with live music.

Your tweeters will thank you

Rick “whose tinnitus gets worse after listening to elevated high frequencies” Denney

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Boosting the top octave will only make it worse, and it will annoy the neighborhood dogs. My advice—born of subjective experience alone —set your top octave using a measurement microphone, and allow yourself to interpret the music with the hearing you have, just as you would have to do with live music.

Your tweeters will thank you

Rick “whose tinnitus gets worse after listening to elevated high frequencies” Denney

I would completely agree.

 

[Soniclife]

Boosting the top octave will only make it worse, and it will annoy the neighborhood dogs. My advice—born of subjective experience alone —set your top octave using a measurement microphone, and allow yourself to interpret the music with the hearing you have, just as you would have to do with live music.

Your tweeters will thank you

Rick “whose tinnitus gets worse after listening to elevated high frequencies” Denney

I agree, but in my case when the treble is too low, or has dips in it then I notice my tinnitus more, it's as if the wrong amount of treble causes me to listen harder because the sound is muffled, and then I tune into the noise.

 

[rdenney]

I agree, but in my case when the treble is too low, or has dips in it then I notice my tinnitus more, it's as if the wrong amount of treble causes me to listen harder because the sound is muffled, and then I tune into the noise.

That's where a discussion with your doc might help. Do they make hearing-aid-type devices that can provide a stream of appropriately filtered noise to minimize tinnitus? I suspect they do--I think it might have been discussed upthread. I think I'd rather do that than fry my tweeters or give my wife a headache.

Rick "note that real music depends less on the top octave than we imagine" Denney

 

[Soniclife]

That's where a discussion with your doc might help. Do they make hearing-aid-type devices that can provide a stream of appropriately filtered noise to minimize tinnitus? I suspect they do--I think it might have been discussed upthread. I think I'd rather do that than fry my tweeters or give my wife a headache.

Rick "note that real music depends less on the top octave than we imagine" Denney

I was reinforcing your point that the objectively neutral amount of treble is best, when it's too low things can sounds muffled, and that seems to cause me to notice my tinnitus, it does not change my tinnitus, only my awareness of it.

 

[stalepie2]

This technique is probably aiming to inmprove blood circulation in and around the hearing area. Insufficient blood circulation can be a cause/trigger for tinnitis. This is also the rationale behind prescribing diazepam/valium.

I've seen similar techniques offered on Youtube of clearing up sinuses by rubbing the cheeks and pulling the ears back:

 

[Timcognito]

I don't have tinnitus but a good friend does so I always read up on it. I posted this on a another ASR topic post. FYI for sufferers.

How am I still enjoying music with my age related hearing loss?

I had a hearing test yesterday. It's been 4 years since my last one and with constant tinnitus caused by concerts, motorcycles etc I should do them regularly. The verdict that my hearing was fine apart from age related loss. Probably exacerbated though. My hearing in fine in the critical...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[JRS]

I occasionally get Tinnitus in both ears with the right being worse. It's more of a buzzing sound with me, sounds like a heavy vehicle from a distance. This started about 6 or 7 years ago and by accident I figured out a cure. I had been to the doctor, had my ears washed but within a few minutes it returned. I do get it regularly, had a bout last week but my cure always works. I won't bore you with how I found how to do it and, trust me, it was innocent but, I place a small hand held pulsating massager on my ear and leave it there for 30 seconds or so. It always works. My assumption is that I have a small amount of wax attached to a hair somewhere in my inner ear and the massager dislodges it. Every few months I do use mineral oil to clear the wax but I still get the tinnitus. Not sure if this will help but good luck because I know how uncomfortable and infuriating Tinnitus can be.

That is really interesting, and I love the metaphor about wax being lodged in the inner ear. I tried to google whether low frequency stimulation could fix the "split ends" or whatever is going om with the hair cells. (BTW I might mention that the detection of acceleration in the vestibular side of the inner ear is a lot like that: a small mass attached to hair cells like a bob on a pendulum that is in turn suspended in a viscous fluid, so under acceleration the inertia of the small mass causes deflection and the perception of acceleration).

Anyhow I am still looking for some references that might hint as to whether this effect is known. Along the way I did come across some treatments for tinnitus using high frequency masking that for a bunch of audio guys ought to be duck soup to try and play with. That's described in the articles I have linked. Hope it helps--I lost my grandmother to tinnitus--sadly she actually committed suicide to make the sound go away.
Also as an MD a little PSA--if you have tinnitus and have ever had crippling vertigo and nausea--like the worst bed spins ever--you may have another condition called Meneir's Disease.

https://www.tinnitusjournal.com/articles/tinnitus-improvement-with-ultrahighfrequency-vibration-therapy.pdf

https://www.tinnitusjournal.com/articles/use-of-highfrequency-and-muscle-vibration-in-the-treatment-of-tinnitus.pdf

 

[JRS]

At first it was kind of scary and I STILL have the tumor, only it was stopped from growing by the gamma knife radiosurgery. That was in 2008. The hearing loss is certainly inconvenient but I have learned to ignore the tinnitus, maybe because it's only on one ear.

Gamma knife--how totally cool that a bit of physics and geometry led to such a fine outcome. For those who have never heard of it, he way it works is by focusing multiple beams on the target, often a tumor or blood vessel abnomality. Each beam by itself isn't enough to kill the tumor cells or ablate the malformed vessel, but more importantly, neither does it destroy the brain tissue before or after the target. By focusing several beams of sub-therapeutic radiation ( high energy gamma rays), the effect of each is multiplied to a lethal dose. Gotta love science and engineering!

 

[AdamG]

I've seen similar techniques offered on Youtube of clearing up sinuses by rubbing the cheeks and pulling the ears back:

That did work. Thought it was bullocks at first. Tried it anyway and it helped. Thank you for posting!

 

[JRS]

This technique is probably aiming to inmprove blood circulation in and around the hearing area. Insufficient blood circulation can be a cause/trigger for tinnitis. This is also the rationale behind prescribing diazepam/valium.

I suspect that the valium is for chilling, and not so much a targeted therapeutic. It is certainly not a vasodilator. Certain Calcium channel blocking drugs, and of course Viagra--if nothing else a little sex might prove distracting.

 

[pseudoid]

Oh, Mahn! I can only wish it is a temporary issue.
I've always been conflicted as to which sense I would want to retain above all others. Sight? Taste? Touch/Feel? Hearing always wins out!
But it isn't that George Thorogood gave me tinnitus for days in some basement dive-bar in Dallas. It also isn't because I pamper my ears by riding motorcycles for 40 years. I don't think I have tinnitus and it may be one of those mind-over-matter things (if you don't mind, it don't matter!) but I don't want to even take a 'hearing test' because I may not want to see the results.
Here is the possible "Snake Oil" information, which I am surprised did not get much coverage in this post: There are some new hearing-aide devices made for the 21st Century ears, and using 21st Century technology. At least, that is the way the ads have you believe. Friend spent around $3k (just about the price of 2 plug-in boards for an Ovation8.3) and thinks that they 'definitely help' reduce whatever his tinnitus is tuned to.

 

[EB1000]

I'm 49 and had occasional tinnitus on both ears for over 7 years now. I've seen many ENT specialists and did many tests, the cause remains unknown, which means it's most likely psychological, as with 80% of chronic monaural tinnitus without hearing loss or dizzy spells. In fact, my 13kHz tone did not bother me for over 3 months, but now after seeing this thread, I've started to notice it again... I usually take one Xanax and go sleep to get rid of it... I wouldn't worry about symmetrical tinnitus w/o any other symptoms...

 

[stalepie2]

That did work. Thought it was bullocks at first. Tried it anyway and it helped. Thank you for posting!

He has a video similar to the other one I posted. I guess I am skeptical that such techniques really help, but maybe they provide temporary relief for some people which is better than nothing:

or maybe it's just homeopathic nonsense. Here is another video that was in the related section... but I haven't watched it:

 

[stalepie2]

I wonder if this helps with tinnitus?

more info:
https://med.uth.edu/orl/texas-sinus-institute/services/balloon-eustachian-tuboplasty/

When ET cannot perform these functions well, the condition of Eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD) results. Patients with ETD describe ear fullness, hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing sensation) and even dizziness. Many patients with ETD report that they feel as if they are “under water,” and that they cannot clear that their ears.

Not all patients with these symptoms have obstructive ETD. Thus, a good ear exam (known as otoscopy) and special test (tympanometry) are necessary to confirm the diagnosis.