Thread: Any Tinnitus sufferers out there?

I don't have ringing, but I get the sensation of running water in my left ear.

Six years ago I had one day at the range with my 30-06, a brick wall to my left, and no hearing protection. No big deal I thought... I went through 60 rounds IIRC, and it was too painful to continue. I've had this problem ever since.


To the OP: Perhaps a dumb question... If you've had it 24/7 for your whole life how do you know it's there? I would think that if it was always there you wouldn't know the difference...

Originally Posted by HNSB

To the OP: Perhaps a dumb question... If you've had it 24/7 for your whole life how do you know it's there? I would think that if it was always there you wouldn't know the difference...

I understand your question, but I know it's there because it's a sensation, a constant and unwavering high pitched tone and it's very obvious. It's not something that I have to stop and "listen" for. And, many other people I've asked through the years have said that they don't experience the same thing.


Loud noises make it worse so in that regard I'm conscious about avoiding loud noises. I wear ear plugs at movies. I still remember the time over ten years ago when I was walking with some friends on the 4th of July in downtown Minneapolis when some loser riding by on a bike threw a lit M80 next to us for giggles. That made the ringing in my ears much worse for a good week or more.

Chris L

Yup. I've got the steady, high pitch, low volume ring going. Started mid 20's (I'm about a week shy of 35). I just have to sleep with a fan going 365 days a year, that's the cheapest & so far best thing I've found for my situation.

Yes in my left ear since the side airbag deployed in a car I was driving when I went over a bump four years ago.

Yes, I have it too. Started last year. Its a very high pitched sound, mostly in the right ear. I think it was caused by riding a motorcycle. The tone is exactly the same tone I had in my ear when I was riding with the windscreen off.

I'm afraid me too. It started recently in my right ear. It sounds like a steam pipe-hissing. Very low but noticeable. Doesn't affect my hearing though.

i have had it since i was in the U.S. NAVY and used be on deck when the ASROC missiles were fired(extremely loud), i could not resist watching these and the surface to air missiles being fired. should have used ear plugs then.
i have gotten used to it. in fact i had not even thought about it in some time until i read this thread, now it is bugging the crap out me again..
i have heard on XM radio about a product called "quietus". probably just another scam. i have tried quite a few so called cures and nothing works..

WHAT???

Yup, me too. When I was in Vietnam I traveled extensively in the II Corps area, the north central quarter of the country and all this travel was by helicopter, a UH1D, a Huey, that marvelous, durable, deafening machine. And I'm a shooter, and I use portable power tools - lotsa routers, and I have this loud high pitched ringing in my ears, and the audiologist says the I have a profound hearing loss in the not-so-upper-end of what you're supposed to be able to hear.

At least you don't have to hear well to read these forums or shave with one of those straight razor gizmos, and developing a lather is pretty much a tactile thing, but the swish, swish, swish of the stropping stroke is a complete fantasy. A fine fantasy it is, but a fantasy nontheless.

At least I have ears for ornamental purposes. Maybe I should get earrings to give them some other purpose in life - structural rather than solely ornamental.

Yes. When I was around thirteen, I went duck hunting with my Dad and the guys he'd go with every fall. Neither he nor his friends wore hearing protection, and although I had ear plugs that day, because I saw none of the big guys wearing any, I thought that it was simply a comfort thing and that it was an option to "tough it out."

I was provided with a .410 shotgun that day, although I did swith to 20 and 12 gauges, it was what I used most. The thing is, I wasn't even shooting at ducks most of the time, but target practicing and goofing around, as thirteen year-olds do. I still remember the shot that did it: I blew a field mushroom apart.

Anyway, since then I've learned to live with it...more or less. I can't remember what it's like to not have it anymore.

Originally Posted by icedog

Yes in my left ear since the side airbag deployed in a car I was driving when I went over a bump four years ago.

You can blame the anti-seat belt lobby for that one.
In Europe, airbags are softer and slower because we have seatbelt laws. An airbag is a secondary safety feature, mainly designed for keeping your head off the steering wheel.

In the US, an airbag is thought of as the only safety feature that can be relied on to be applied, since many states have no seatbelt laws. As such, the US airbags have to be able to stop a heavy adult at a 120 km/h (~70 mph) head-on collision.

And because of this, US airbags explode with much more intensity. Kids have been decapitated by US airbags. But at least you have the right to be stupid and not wear the belt. So everybody wins, right