Tennitus

[JRSherman]

If I didn't hear ringing in my ears I don't know what I would do.

I do, I'd probably start crying if it miraculously disappeared.

I tried telling the hearing doctor in the Navy that I had real bad problems with it. Then I watched one time as I was given the wrong test scores from a hearing test, and decided it was futile.

 

[Super Dave]

I have Meneire's Disease. The ringing is always there, some times super loud, just loud the rest of the time. It has been there for so long, I forget it is there often. Thanks for reminding me!!!!

 

[JonnyRocco]

I guess I am not alone. I am surprised with the number of people that have it here. Mine started Dec 13, 1989 after a trip to the dentist to get a crown done. It sounds like katydids in the hot summer although the last trip to the range aggravated it for a day or two. Most of the time I have gotten use to it. I cannot hear a mosquito though.

 

[bettingpython]

... It has been there for so long, I forget it is there often. Thanks for reminding me!!!!

I hate that stupid commercial on the radio for quietus, I was having a pretty good day the first time I ever heard it they played that stupid high pitched tone and set my ears off. I'll never use their product because of that and told them as much.

People with tinnitus know exactly what it sounds like and we don't need a simulation to remind us nor do people with no need for the product need to be given a sample of what it sounds like.

 

[buckeye]

-Everybody- will hear the TV flyback transformer type sound in a quiet enough setting. Mine has gotten louder over the years and now it takes background noise somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 decibels to cover it.

Fun stuff to know:

The nerves serving your inner ear are two-way. It's currently thought that hair cells and such in your cochlea work at their best when they're lightly "engaged" - sort of analogous to the way transistors are more linear father away from their on/off point. Our brain keeps a feedback loop going between itself and the sensory cells, thereby maximizing sensitivity. Supposedly, one cause of tinnitus is the brain trying too hard to engage damaged sensory cells. It'll 'turn up the volume' saying, "Where are you?" to the damaged cells until we actually perceive a sound. Since hearing loss tends to affect high frequency first, that's what we hear in tinnitus most often.

Surgically induced deafness (cutting auditory nerves) does -not- always cure tinnitus. What I've read suggests that it almost never does, in fact. The sound often lingers, similar to the "phantom limb" deal.

There's a little bitty muscle connected to the back of your eardrum, the tensor tympani. It keeps the eardrum under tension and increases that tension in the presence of sustained noise, making our ears "numb" after ... well, shooting for a while, for example. It also tightens in response to a puff of wind on the eyeball, a curious vestigal reflex... If this muscle goes into spasm (like my left one does pretty much every night), you can hear the eardrum rattling back and forth.

Sufficient exposure to loud noise (85dB and up these days) temporarily (permanently, given repeated exposure) increases tinnitus and alters your threshold shift (the quietest sound you can hear at a given frequency). My threshold shift has moved enough that what used to be nearly inaudible tinnitus is now exposed, at least that's how it appears subjectively.

There's no cure, although "Tinnitus Retraining Therapy" can help a person deal with insufferable tinnitus. It's all about learning to embrace it, basically, just as a previous poster said. The mind is a wonderfully plastic thing, and you can rewire your mind to a certain degree just by force of will. The goal is to remove the powerfully negative associations with tinnitus and accept it as a neutral part of life. Over time, this attitude helps you perceive the noise less and less...

see: http://www.tinnitus.org/home/frame/THC1.htm for some good stuff

Sorry, that was a long, maybe excessively instructive post... I researched tinnitus like crazy this year. Hopefully all this will be helpful to somebody!

tl;dr = Yup, I have it too, but not as bad as some of you guys. It still sucks.

 

[dennishoddy]

I've had it, for 30 some years now. Some from the military, and the rest from working in loud industrial enviroments.
Same as everybody else, fan beside the bed, etc.
Will have to go with hearing aids before long.
One thing to note, most of the newest hearing aids will blank out the ringing in your ears electonically.
Be prepared to shell out some $$

 

[Powerman620]

One thing to note, most of the newest hearing aids will blank out the ringing in your ears electonically.
Be prepared to shell out some $$

I wonder if insurance will pay for these?

 

[dennishoddy]

I wonder if insurance will pay for these?

Some will, some not. Check with them.

 

[SiGArmed]

I just recently had another series of tests done, and on the dual graphs it looks like a couple of rouge waves about to crash into each other. Even though I wear plugs and muff's when shooting my hearing is bad that even slight loud noises are doing damage.

LMAO I hate sitting in those booths...all I can is riiiiiiiiiiiing.....

Im almost deaf in my left ear, I guess I have trouble hearing womens and childrens voices. So when women start griping, I give em the left ear and nod.

 

[nofearfactor]

Over 20 years as a rock guitarist I definitely have it. Just got used to it. Sounds like jet airplanes in one ear and the other isnt as bad. I started wearing ear plugs in band rehearsals and at shows as well as in-ear monitors some years ago on stage but I still listen to and play loud music in my studio,and in my Blazer ( the truck has true duals thru the cats and out thru extra long glass packs so I have to turn the stereo up even louder...). But its not getting any worse. I sleep with the TV on. Mine is mostly from always being situated stage left so my right ear has been the closest to my amps over the years,and playing metal I have always used really loud amps,making the right ear way worse than the left.