Tinnitus

hosedagain

I hi jacked the thread below from another forum, something a lot of us music and movie hobbits might not consider until its too late. I suffer from tinnitus and believe me its no fun. Google "ringing in the ears" etc for more info.




Last night I was awaken by a very loud ringing sound in my ears, mainly my left. It lasted about an hour and honestly scared the **** out of me. During that hour I was seriously thinking about selling my Captivator that I've owned since May.

Here is some background. I first noticed my tinnitus when I was 27 years old (I'm now almost 38) back when I had a JL Audio subwoofer in my car and would crank the music pretty loud (with overblown bass of course) on my daily 30 minute one way commute to work. It scared me enough to never crank my car stereo to that level again, in fact I don't even have a sub in my car now.

The level of the ringing has stayed pretty consistent since it first started over 10 years ago. I sleep with a recorded fan noise playing in the bedroom stereo at a low volume and also have the same recorded fan noise playing through a speaker designed to be placed under the pillow to mask the ringing while the head is sideways with the ear on the pillow. I've done this for the past 10 years and it has worked fine, and my tinnitus has not gotten any worse (or any better) until last night. The ringing was at least 10 times louder and it wasn't the type of ringing after a concert. After a concert your hearing is a bit muffled but last night my hearing was crystal clear which made the ringing that much more pronounced and obvious.

Since I bought the Captivator I have been listening to a lot of music, which has always been one of my favorite things to do. I'm a teacher on summer break so almost every night I'm listening for around 2 hours on average after everyone else is in bed. Last summer when I didn't have the Captivator it was more like 30 minutes and often times not at all.

I have a radio shack meter and I usually have the volume at 80-82, but there are breif parts of songs that I'll crank to 90 or sometimes higher. Overall though I don't like to go above 85db. Although there have been moments that I've gone as high as 116db on bass heavy music.

As far as movies go, I'll watch a bass heavy type movie maybe once or twice a month at around 15 under reference with the bass anywhere from 3-6 hot.

I really love to listen to music on my system, so it's depressing to think that I may have to stop. For the time being I think I will NEVER go above 85db when listening to music and back the average level down to between 75 and 80. Even with that I'm going to take at least a few days before I turn the Captivator on again.

Also, I had been under the impression that low frequencies don't do the same kind of damage that higher frequencies cause, which always made sense to me (and it was a nice justification for how I run the sub hot) since bass doesn't seem to hurt your ears much. (wow, while typing this my left ear just cranked up some ringing like last night... I had to stop typing and I waited for about 30 seconds and it slowly faded away - man, it's impossible to think or focus on anything but the ringing while it is happening). After doing some reading today it appears that is not the case. SPL level is all that matters when it comes to hearing damage, the frequency is irrelevant.

This may be the wrong place to post this kind of thing, and I'm not preaching to anyone to turn the volume down. I'm just curious if any of you guys have experienced anything similar and to be honest I'm scared by what happened last night (and just now!). If that level of ringing were to become permanent.... well it's easy to understand why tinnitus can cause major depression issues and even suicidal thoughts etc. Sorry if I'm bringing anyone down, I'm a bass-head so I understand if some on this forum don't want to read a thread like this.

BlueFox

That is great news if the morons with boom boom cars are damaging their hearing. It can't happen soon enough. I have a little tinnitus in my left, but I suspect it is mostly from cranking the music loud with headphones. My ears would be numb and ringing after those sessions. Now I use ear protection every time I go into the lab at work, cut the grass, use the vacuum, etc., and only use headphones at work at a low level.

lightman1

Have it in my right ear. Car audio installer back in the day. I started to notice about 10 years ago. Backed off the volume and it hasn't gotten any worse .....or better. Lesson learned.
Be kind to your ears kids.

oldmodman

It's affected me for the last 35 years.

Two causes. First cause was a rifle shot very close to my ears. I had just fired a 7mm magnum and my thumb caught on, and dislodged my shooters phones just a moment before the shooter in the next lane fired his rifle and my ear on that side caught the full, unprotected blast.
The other ear got it's damage from a generation one Panasonic portable phone. The very first generation had the ringing sound generated by the ear piece speaker. Very loud and intense sound and an incredibly poor design. I had just finished a call and had turned the phone off BEFORE REMOVING IT FROM MY EAR when another call came in, blasting the ring sound directly into my ear.
never did that again.
Went to an audiologist after both incidents and had my hearing tested. Hearing was actually still quite good. I had always worn ear protection with power equipment, when shooting, and even at concerts. Unfortunately the damage done (tinnitus) would be with me the rest of my life. After the second even I even started wearing custom moulded ear protection under my motorcycle helmet.

However the tinnitus does have one good side effect. As soon as any friend's kids start to yell and scream I can just get up and leave due to my "condition" And I always inform any flight attendant about my condition, and that under the "American's With Disabilities Act" my need for relative quiet must be foremost ahead of people traveling with children. I have been moved up to first class several times for free after the aircraft left the ground.

woodhead 2

I have it too. Totally sucks. Gets worse before a storm rolls in.

Syndil

There's been a few tinnitus threads, and I always mention earplugs in them, so I'll do it again. I always carry a pair of earplugs with me on my keychain, and I use them liberally, pretty much any time I feel like I would need to raise my voice to be heard. Hearing loss is cumulative and permanent. Once it's gone, it's gone for good, and even if you don't feel like you're doing much damage, it is cumulative, so not much damage over years can add up to a lot of damage.

The plugs I use are musicians' earplugs from Etymotic Research. They are excellent and turning the volume down without muffling or distorting the sound. I find that in a loud environment (like a club or bar) I can actually hear better with the plugs in that without them. I know this because when I am speaking with my friends who are not wearing earplugs, they ask me to speak louder.

Here's the plugs I keep on my keychain:

http://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Research-ETY-Plugs-Protection-Earplugs/dp/B0044DEETC

steveinaz

I have tinnitus in my left ear, brought on by an ear plug falling out while night-firing an M60 machine gun. It's a constant pitch, but I don't think it's there all the time---or possibly I have just learned how to tune it out at times.

The Heart/Def leppard concert in vegas didn't help either---but that was my fault for forgetting hearing protection. Damn it was LOUD.

skrol

I feel your pain. Hopefully mine is temporary. I have had this before where my eustachian tubes get blocked and fluid builds up behind my ear drums. Doc says that it is likely caused by allergies and put me on an antihistamine, decongestant and steroid nasal spray. Between the distortions caused by the fluid (voices sound like aliens) and the tinnitus, which sound equivalent to about 60dB at 4Khz, it is driving me crazy. External sounds sum and def with the tinnitus frequency. Ear plugs are a must at time as I have four kids. My sweet 6-year-old daughter's voice hits it just right. I haven't been able to listen to music for two weeks now. When will it end?
Stan

BlueFox

I know what you mean by sounds aggravating it. I can't listen to piano music anymore. It just makes my left ear ring. Violen music, on the other hand, soothes it.

goofyGAguy

skrol wrote: »

When will it end?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it probably won't. Good luck.

cnh

I've been able to notice High Pitched sounds coming out of both ears when all is quiet since I was a kid! So no concerts or loud music is responsible. It has, i suppose, gotten worse over time. I had a number of ear infections when young. I suspect a combo of aspirin [remember we had no Reye's Syndrome warnings in the dark ages] and whatever the antibiotics of choice back then were (remember how Tetracycline led to striations in ones teeth?) must've done some permanent damage, although my last hearing test was excellent for my age. So hearing is "good" but tinnitus is always there and as Bluefox says, when you hit whatever frequencies match what is coming out of your ears it can be a little unsettling. Fortunately that does not happen too often and you can just back off the volume.

Recently I've also gotten more into headphones so, paranoid dude that I am, I use an SPL meter to check if I'm listening at or above 85db, which is PRETTY easy to do and not a good thing. I've also found that open backed phones relieve some of the stress of the tinnitus or its prevalence--but maybe that is just an illusion?

Here's something else to think about. People have described TWO sounds they hear when they are put in sensory deprivation tanks which numb, cut off the senses from the outside world.

The first is a High Pitched sound. And these are people who DO not necessarily have tinnitus?
The second is a low pulsating tone.

Supposedly, the first is related to the activity of the central nervous system, and the second is the pulsing of the circulatory system. So, it seems that there is no "perfect" silence where humans are concerned?

cnh

hosedagain

Supposedly, the first is related to the activity of the central nervous system, and the second is the pulsing of the circulatory system. So, it seems that there is no "perfect" silence where humans are concerned?

at one time I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, like Pink Floyd's DSOTM lasted about 6 months and disappeared
But I still have the high pitch humming-frequency.

bikezappa

I have intermittent ringing in both ears. If you need ear plugs anytime just roll up some toilet paper and wet it and put it in your ears. Better than nothing.

I also find that if I put my hands in my mouth on the back molars in the jaw and pull down the ringing stops. It comes back if I release my hands but sometimes it's reduced.

Try it some time.

steveinaz

My ringing (going crazy today thanks to Zyrtec) seems to be in the 3kHz-4kHz range. Not excessively loud, but there. Cold medicines/aspirin seem to make it more noticable.

Is there any truth to ear ringing being related to high blood pressure?

jflail2

Syndil wrote: »

Hearing loss is cumulative and permanent. Once it's gone, it's gone for good, and even if you don't feel like you're doing much damage, it is cumulative, so not much damage over years can add up to a lot of damage.

Amen brother. We preach this like the bible at my local gun range. There's no shame in taking care of the only pair of ears you'll ever have.

skrol

I certainly hope this is temporary. If not, my music listening days are over.

I had this happen a few years ago but it went away much quicker. There is definitely fluid behind my ear drums and it all came on fairly suddenly without loud noises. Interesting about the meds causing the tinnitus since I am taking these to get rid of it.