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Tinnitus


HookEm

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Over the last year, I've developed a moderate case of tinnitus.  Basically my ears have a continual high pitched ringing, especially my left ear. I suspect it was caused by a combination of sinus issues, jaw issues, constant video calls and possibly COVID (50/50 whether I had it).  Interestingly, my boss and main coworker have also developed moderate cases this year.

I figured that this is a good topic to get some discussion on given the rise in cases and the recent suicide of Kent Taylor (Texas Roadhouse) due to tinnitus.

Is anyone else experiencing it?  Are there any experts in the Austin area you would recommend?  Also any good ENT doctors?  

If this works better in another forum, please move it.

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I've had tinnitus for 30+ years.  Went to an audiologist when it first appeared and he assured me that I didn't have a brain tumor or anything life-threatening. Haven't gone the treatment route.  I need a white noise machine or a fan on in the background to be able to easily get to sleep, but other than that -- I just live with it.

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I've had tinnitus for 30+ years.  Went to an audiologist when it first appeared and he assured me that I didn't have a brain tumor or anything life-threatening. Haven't gone the treatment route.  I need a white noise machine or a fan on in the background to be able to easily get to sleep, but other than that -- I just live with it.

Same here. It’s why I have to go to sleep with the TV on. I have to have something to drown out the ringing. It’s persistent 24/7/365.
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Sorry to hear y’all have this issue. My mom has been suffering from the ringing in one ear. She is basically deaf in that ear.  Constant ringing. Also suffering from moderate to severe vertigo spells. It really is an issue, quality of life deal and it sucks because nothing seems to work. She has recently gone through a regiment of shots in her inner ear but unfortunately they have not been the magic bullet we were all hoping for.  
 

As far as a doctor referral, she has seen several specialist, including a neurologist. She is currently seeing Dr. Patrick Slater. Of all the specialist she has seen, she is most impressed and happy with her care and treatment from Dr . Slater’s outfit.  
 

Good luck fellas. I can see how much this condition effects my mom. It sucks. I hope y’all can get some treatment that helps alleviate the ringing and related issues. 

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Both ears.  Different tones.  Down 50% hearing in one ear and 45% in the other.  
 

I’m used to it.   Test drove hearing aids with the white noise feature.   They were ok.   Didn’t commit.   May revisit that.  
 

Welcome to the club.  Fill out your paperwork so we can get you on the payroll.  
 

Good luck. 

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10 minutes ago, RPM said:

What?

My first thought seeing the thread title.  Lots of shooting and loud 70s/80s rock killed my hearing a long time ago.  Ringing all the time, both ears, loudly.   I can tune it out most of the time but the white noise of a fan going at night does help sleeping.

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I'm with Deadshank

Tinnitus in both ears, don't really notice it anymore

Significant hearing loss in both ears.

Wear hearing aids.

I'm 46 now and had normal hearing up until about 2008 or so when I noticed it was gradually getting worse.

It sucks and is super frustrating at times, but it's manageable.

 

 

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1 hour ago, DalTxHornFan said:

I've had tinnitus for 30+ years.  Went to an audiologist when it first appeared and he assured me that I didn't have a brain tumor or anything life-threatening. Haven't gone the treatment route.  I need a white noise machine or a fan on in the background to be able to easily get to sleep, but other than that -- I just live with it.

Same for about 20 yrs.

Can't sleep w/o some background noise, but other than that it hasn't slowed me down.

 

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10 minutes ago, Tylerocks said:

I'm with Deadshank

Tinnitus in both ears, don't really notice it anymore

Significant hearing loss in both ears.

Wear hearing aids.

I'm 46 now and had normal hearing up until about 2008 or so when I noticed it was gradually getting worse.

It sucks and is super frustrating at times, but it's manageable.

 

 

Embrace the suck.

Rock and roll, small arms fire and machinery done it to me. At least it was fun.

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Just now, deadshank said:

Embrace the suck.

Rock and roll, small arms fire and machinery done it to me. At least it was fun.

Yeah, I'm blaming hundreds of concerts in my 20's-40's

Or genetics.

I was adopted so have very little in terms of biological medical history.  They didn't think that through in the 70's.

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1 minute ago, Tylerocks said:

Yeah, I'm blaming hundreds of concerts in my 20's-40's

Or genetics.

I was adopted so have very little in terms of biological medical history.  They didn't think that through in the 70's.

You weren't adopted. 

You were paintakingly developed in a controlled laboratory setting and then loosed on the world.

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If you see an ENT they may check for an Acoustic Neuroma tumor as tinnitus is a sign of this, as is sudden hearing loss and other things.  Note that while 25M Americans have tinnitus, only about 3,500 have an Acoustic Neuroma tumor so don't sweat this.

Having said that, I did have an Acoustic Neuroma and then the associated surgery.  (See "It's not a fake tumor" thread from the old scat porn site).

The odd thing is that while I had my inner ear removed (permanently) as part of the surgery and tumor removal process, I still have tinnitus in that ear even without the plumbing....as well as the other ear.

For me I just learned to ignore it.

I do notice that caffeine and alcohol seem to trigger it for me more, but I ain't giving those up.

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1 hour ago, deadshank said:

Both ears.  Different tones.  Down 50% hearing in one ear and 45% in the other.  
 

I’m used to it.    
 

Welcome to the club.  Fill out your paperwork so we can get you on the payroll.  
 

Good luck. 

Same here... except a lot of the time a flock of birds is chirping in my ear, alternating with a bunch of cicadas.

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2 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

I've had tinnitus for 30+ years.  Went to an audiologist when it first appeared and he assured me that I didn't have a brain tumor or anything life-threatening. Haven't gone the treatment route.  I need a white noise machine or a fan on in the background to be able to easily get to sleep, but other than that -- I just live with it.

2 hours ago, Hate said:

Same here. It’s why I have to go to sleep with the TV on. I have to have something to drown out the ringing. It’s persistent 24/7/365.

Yep, never goes away, although I've learned to "forget" about it for most of the day, except when a room is really quiet (well, as quiet as it'll ever be to somebody with tinnitus), there's a loud noise, or somebody starts a thread about it.

The worst is when I'm in loud areas, like a kids basketball game in a YMCA gym with the teenaged officials using their full lung capacity on their whistles.  I have to wear fucking ear plugs because that shit hurts.  I'm going to start having my kids wear ear plugs or headphones or something to the games.

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47 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Same here... except a lot of the time a flock of birds is chirping in my ear, alternating with a bunch of cicadas.

Very high-pitched cicadas for me.

Mine came about gradually, through any and all of these things, but most likely the last 1 or 2.

  • Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, various other 70s and 80s rock bands
  • Shitty headphones on Sony Walkman cassette players
  • M119 Howitzer
  • M16-A12

It was gradual enough, that it wasn't bothering me when I separated from the Army, and I can still hear well enough, just have the persistent ringing in the background.  I was pretty sure it was from the Army (by the time I got out, I mainly listened to music and radio through speakers and not headphones)

The fact that it wasn't bothering me when I separated, and I got a clean bill of health and all of that, caused problems for me later on when I went to the VA to see if there was anything that could be done.  

BUT, that was peacetime and pre-9/11.  In the last 10-15 years, the military has gotten serious about tinnitus (I think it may even be one of their biggest disability issues). A while back, I came across an article about it from one of my old posts, and they had an officer who was an  "Army Hearing Program Manager" which surprised me.  Maybe they had them all along.

https://www.army.mil/article/124245/what_did_you_say_fort_sill_talks_hearing_loss

Edit: Mine has been about the same for the last 15 years or so.  If it gets worse, I'll be going back to the VA and seeing if they'll do something now, but I have friends who have tried the hearing aids and the therapy stuff, and I don't feel like that stuff will help me much right now (and as far as I know, I'm not missing much hearing-wise, just the constant noise).

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33 minutes ago, midtown said:

Everyday in my house

Kid: something something

Me;  What

Kids: something something

Me:  You know dad can't hear that well

I'm paranoid with my kids because of it - I only let them have headphones that have limits on the volume levels, and any devices (tablets or phones) they play with, and have headphones, I also have the audio levels limited.

If we go to auto races or airshows or other loud events (certain basketball gyms), they're going to have headphones or ear plugs.  I figure I'll try to get them through high school with no hearing loss, while repeatedly telling them how much it sucks, and make sure as they go forward, they keep the audio levels limited on various devices.

They can thank me years later when they walk into a silent room or are camping somewhere, and they can hear absolutely nothing.

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Being out in a public setting like a restaurant with lots of conversations going on at surrounding table is a beating.  
 

All I hear is a very tinny squawk and all voices are gobbledygook.  Couple that with the tenor and pitch of a woman’s voice, such as my wife’s, and I just sit there like deaf and dumb grandpa and mutter to my soup and occasionally blurt out a response to something that sounds vaguely decipherable that turns about to be nowhere near what the others are conversing about. 
 

Then I go back to my soup.  

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4 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Mine resulted from a lot of unabated .45acp, M1 Garands, 75mm, .357, .22, etc.... and my very annoyed 8th grade English teacher.

You were only 8 generations before hearing protection was developed.

 

In your day, another continental army soldier would stand behind you while you shot and he put his fingers in your ears. 

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35 minutes ago, deadshank said:

Being out in a public setting like a restaurant with lots of conversations going on at surrounding table is a beating.  

All I hear is a very tinny squawk and all voices are gobbledygook.  Couple that with the tenor and pitch of a woman’s voice, such as my wife’s, and I just sit there like deaf and dumb grandpa and mutter to my soup and occasionally blurt out a response to something that sounds vaguely decipherable that turns about to be nowhere near what the others are conversing about. 

Then I go back to my soup.  

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I've had it for years: both ears, left is worse.  Most of the time I forget about it, unless I'm reading a book with no noise in the room or something.  I blame it on the thousand or so live concerts and my younger days of playing my guitar and driving around listening to metal as loud as I could stand it.  Since I pretty much did it to myself, I don't bitch about it.

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1 hour ago, deadshank said:

Being out in a public setting like a restaurant with lots of conversations going on at surrounding table is a beating.  
 

All I hear is a very tinny squawk and all voices are gobbledygook.  Couple that with the tenor and pitch of a woman’s voice, such as my wife’s, and I just sit there like deaf and dumb grandpa and mutter to my soup and occasionally blurt out a response to something that sounds vaguely decipherable that turns about to be nowhere near what the others are conversing about. 
 

Then I go back to my soup.  

I hear you brah.... maybe.

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1 hour ago, deadshank said:

Being out in a public setting like a restaurant with lots of conversations going on at surrounding table is a beating.  
 

All I hear is a very tinny squawk and all voices are gobbledygook.  Couple that with the tenor and pitch of a woman’s voice, such as my wife’s, and I just sit there like deaf and dumb grandpa and mutter to my soup and occasionally blurt out a response to something that sounds vaguely decipherable that turns about to be nowhere near what the others are conversing about. 
 

Then I go back to my soup.  

No tinnitus but I can't decipher conversations if there is noise around me. I'm the dude at the 10 person restaurant table that can only understand what the 2 people near are saying. I've been tested and I can hear sounds very well and at low levels, but my brain can't follow one conversation. 

If I'm at a concert or nightclub, it isn't a big problem because everyone has to yell to talk. Restaurants and parties are the worst.  It's a quality of life problem as I want to avoid crowds because of it.

COVID also taught me that I was partially dependent on reading lips when talking with someone. The masks have made my hearing problem worse.

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Lately I've been watching the NBA playoffs or something and my wife and daughter will be having a conversation beside me while possibly watching something dumb on youtube.  I usually end up snapping at them because the chaos of them talking plus phone plus the game crowd plus the announcers is just auditory overload. It drives me crazy.

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I'm in, where's my t-shirt?  One ear, non-stop, varying intensity, always the exact same very high frequency tone.  Once I was at Dollywood with the fam and heard a machine whining at the exact same frequency.  I asked the fam if they heard it, yes, of course.  That is in my head 24-7.  Minds blown.

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I’ve had it for many years. Recently somebody posted something about a guy killing himself because of tinnitus, and I was like “yeah, I can see how somebody might decide to check out because of tinnitus”. I fucking hate it.

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13 minutes ago, XYZ said:

I’ve had it for many years. Recently somebody posted something about a guy killing himself because of tinnitus, and I was like “yeah, I can see how somebody might decide to check out because of tinnitus”. I fucking hate it.

Just think about sex.

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4 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Same here... except a lot of the time a flock of birds is chirping in my ear, alternating with a bunch of cicadas.

OMG, that's the worst. Nonstop cicadas.  I've got those.  Also, Bose keeps spamming me about their new hearing aids. Maybe when I'm 50 I'll look into those (or some real ones)

Also,

 

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For anyone reading without tinnitus, they make musician’s earplugs that are relatively cheap. They make things softer but it still sounds relatively normal. You get over any weirdness with them pretty quickly.
 

Get a pair, get a little holder for your keychain so that you always have them, and use them in any questionable environment. For shooting or other really loud stuff, use something a little more heavy duty, but at least you’ll always have something on hand.

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I’ve had it for decades (I’m 67 now).  I think shooting without protection and many loud concerts are the main reasons.  Mine is a constant very high pitch in both ears.  Not loud enough to keep me from sleeping.  Several years ago I found the best-credentialed ENT I could turn up in the Houston Medical Center - she said it was my brain creating the simulated sound to fill in the frequencies that are missing.  She said the was nothing that could be done about it.

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Pescado has joined the chat. I've had it for years. Tons of rock shows in clubs and small venues, worked in a car stereo store for 10 years, and 1,000s of rounds through various firearms over the years. As long as there is some background noise it doesn't bother me. When I travel I have to use a white noise generator on my phone to cover hotel noises, as I can't really wear ear plugs because they make the ringing worse. When I'm home alone working I usually have music playing softly for the same reason. I also get lost in conversations in loud areas. I can hear fine 1x1 or in small groups, but busy restaurant or sporting event I can't focus on shit. 

 

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I've had the steady high pitched noise in both ears for years. It was caused by 4 years on the flightline working on B52's and then 40 odd years in noisy machine shops.

It bothers me more some times than others and reading this thread really brought it out.

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8 hours ago, HookEm said:

Over the last year, I've developed a moderate case of tinnitus.  Basically my ears have a continual high pitched ringing, especially my left ear. I suspect it was caused by a combination of sinus issues, jaw issues, constant video calls and possibly COVID (50/50 whether I had it).  Interestingly, my boss and main coworker have also developed moderate cases this year.

I figured that this is a good topic to get some discussion on given the rise in cases and the recent suicide of Kent Taylor (Texas Roadhouse) due to tinnitus.

Is anyone else experiencing it?  Are there any experts in the Austin area you would recommend?  Also any good ENT doctors?  

If this works better in another forum, please move it.

What noise levels you were exposed to 20-30+ years ago is more likely the cause than anything recent.

Be glad you're in Texas and it blends in with the katydids, crickets, etc. for sleeping.  I had no idea mine was so bad until moving to the Midwest and not have insect sounds for it to blend into 6 months out of the year.

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