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I've had Tinnitus since birth or shortly thereafter. Rather than a "ringing" in the ears, mine has been a continuous high pitched tone that is ever present and impossible not to be noticed. Yep, 24/7 all of my life. It's something I have learned to live with and try not to focus on.
Does anyone else have Tinnitus, and if so, when did it start, what does it sound like to you? How is your hearing otherwise? Mine is fine, it's not related to hearing loss.
Chris L
This is bizarre. No lie.... I was driving down the street last night and thought about posting this very question. I was at a light next to one of those cars with the booming bass that goes through everyone else's car. Urge to kill but that is another story. I was thinking how the rude idiot with the noisy radio will have tinnitus soon enough if he doesn't have it already.
Lots of 44 magnum handgun shooting out in the boonies with a couple of spent shells in my ears for protection, 20 years of ironwork driving pins through connection points in beams and girders with no ear protection probably contributed to mine. I was in my mid thirties when I first noticed it.
I hear birds chirping off in the distance 24/7. Like you I've learned to live with it. Much of the time I don't even know it is there. When I lie down to go to sleep and turn out the light it kicks in more than when I am up and around but it doesn't bother me really.
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...
I am really sorry for your tinnitus. I know something about, and at least for me it is a very nasty thing that really makes ones life troubled.
I've worked for the military for + 20 years, and during this time i guess my ears had their full share of shootings, explosions, engine noise etc. At home i work with electric tools every now and then and i've had several motorcycles during years that weren't so silent either.
Every now and then i have tinnitus so hard that it wakes me up in the middle of the night. No moments of silence but rather like very high tone screaming in my ears. Luckily it is not continuous, i can still have my moments of silence too. I've learned to respect them. This has been going on for the last 10 years or so.
Otherwise there is nothing wrong with my hearing. On the annual health and fitness tests i'm still A1.
What makes me sad is that i haven't been able to hear the grasshoppers 'playing their violins' for years.
Tinnitus is a terrible thing. I think that some who hasn't experienced it cannot really understand what is it all about.
Well when i was born my right ear was about 85% to begin with then when i was 12 i started playing drums , and loud guitar, and had been been in bands ever since(im 25 now) And now im a recording/mixing engineer so hearing is very important and i can notice that when i put the volume all the way down and turn it up slowly it will start in my left ear then my right, and occasionally will have ringing in my ears from a 8 hour day of mixing, but im always afraid of getting really bad Tinnitus,a guy i work with has it soo bad he had to have the tv on when he slept so that he wouldn't hear it. Its kind of like the worst thing in my industry next to going completely deaf. Im sorry Chris that you have to live with that, but im glad that you stay positive and not let it get to you.
You are pulling your wife's hair in your sleep...Quote:
Originally Posted by Sailor
I'm lucky no tinnitus just some hearing loss. Same deal worked in the steel industry for too long. Spent months on a rivet crew. Then OSHA decides to give hearing tests and have companies provide protection. Typical. I get a little ringing some nits now when the shop is super loud but most times the hearing protection works
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by HNSB
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.
That's interesting you say that about the fan. Tinnitus masking is using something external to create a white noise type thing. The tinnitus doesn't go away, but the brain focuses on the external noise rather than being ever conscious or at least less conscious of the tinnitus.Quote:
Originally Posted by hornm
Those with tinnitus may want to check out this Stanford University site where you can listed to some sound files with a headset. I've been trying the sound of sitting in the rear of a Boeing 747. It doesn't drown out the tinnitus for me, but it does seem to help a bit. I was able to keep the sound playing in the background when I made calls from my PC (I use my PC as my office phone).
Here's the link
Chris L
I have dealt with patients with this disorder and it can be heart breaking to hear them. There is also no known treatment that is great. Especially for those who have no anatomic abnormality that can be identified.
This is a disease waiting for a Nobel prize. Hopefully some neurologist or neurosurgeon will figure it out for all those who suffer.
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.
:beer2:
I've had it since I was a child. (I'm 57.) Probably 99.9 percent of the time I can ignore it. In a few rare instances it was so loud I thought I was having a seizure or something.
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.
The sad part is they hammer home the idea of protecting your hearing and we usual do so. We are afraid of losing our hearing. Tinnitis is waaaaaay worse. It is the first step in hearing loss and it can drive you insane, literally.
Hearing loss doesn't cause deafness. It creates a high pitched whistle in your ear, similar to nails running along a chalkboard.
If someone said, protect your hearing or you'll have a high pitched sound screaming in your ear 24/7 and you'll lose all your sleep for the rest of your life, I think I would have walked around with earing protectors everywhere I went.
I did a great job of protecting my hearing for 48 years with the exception of the 10 minutes I caused permanent irreversable damage.
:soapbox:
Perhaps a dumb question, but what gave you this idea?Quote:
Originally Posted by HNSB
I mean I can understand firing the first shot. Well, not really, but you didn't know how bad it would be. However, after having fired that first shot, what made you fire the 59 shots after that?
You can blame the anti-seat belt lobby for that one.Quote:
Originally Posted by icedog
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 :rolleyes:
As for myself: I am lucky I didn't have it.
when I was 9 or 10, I took a roll of that fire cracker ammo you can use in toy guns. I put it on a stone slab, and then hammered it with a large rock.
The sounds actually hurt really bad, but the high pitch hum went away.
I also once fired a shotgun in open air without ear protection. same result.
Sometimes (weirldy only in office environments) one of my ears will suddenly ring with a high pitche sound that will fade quickly.
I have had a very low level tinnitus all my life. I only hear it in a quiet environment. As a matter of fact everyone has it to some extent. Your inner ear is basically a receiver + amplifier. Yes, like a radio. All receivers + amplifiers generate some noise.
People who say they don't have it should put a shell with the concave side against their ears. If you can hear the sea you know what your own tinnitus sounds like.
Tinnitus drives some people crazy. If it is accompanied by hearing loss a hearing aid often helps. Some people actually wear a masking device that looks like a hearing aid that emits a different sound that they like better than their own tinnitus. Putting music on helps a lot of sufferers as well. i have treated patients with amitriptyline to make it more bearable.
I guess that would be totally different kind of screaming :rant:, combined with some slamming on my head maybe.Quote:
Originally Posted by HNSB
in my job i deliver to many types of factories and manufacturing facilities. there are some that really set the noise off, even before i get inside the building or close to the machines or whatever is creating the noise.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
have any of you ever been inside of an office or computer room that use "white noise"? this seems to help as the ringing goes away in this type of environment. the first time i walked into an office with a white noise generator, i just stopped and it took a while to figure out what was going on. i was so used to the tinnitus and all of a sudden it was gone or covered up. it made for a weird feeling at first, almost to the point that i thought i had gone deaf all at once.
i am almost tempted to try out one of these machines to see if it will help:
White Noise Machine - Sleep Mate - Marpac 980-A - Sound Machine - Sound Screen - Sound Conditioners - White Noise Machines - Sleep Mate - Marpac 980 - Marsona
Since I was about 28. I usually only become conscious of it when it's mentioned. For example, in an article or on a thread like this.
Like many others firearms, noisy machines and motorcycles have all contributed to it. I have to say that as soon as I became aware of it I started using earplugs and earmuffs together for shooting.
I sometimes act as a technical scrutineer for Formula One and I am one of the last people off the starting grid. Nothing blocks the noise of 24 GP cars starting a race. Or for that matter, standing next to one in the pit garage.
Ladies and gentlemen:
I have had a bad case of tinnitus since the Vietnam war, thanks especially to artillery fire. Vietnam was an angry place where people ran around shooting at one other, which wasn't exactly neighborly, you know?
Yes, Chris, like yours my tinnitus makes a high pitched sound — and it is always in my ears. As a result, I have had some hearing loss, mostly in the upper ranges. Next week the Veterans Administration will fit me for hearing aids for both ears, not only to help with the hearing loss, but also to counter the tinnitus somewhat.
Fighting tinnitus day and night since Vietnam has been a battle, and for me, a tragedy, especially since I spent 30 years as a classical music radio announcer/music director/program director. Not to be able to hear Brahms in his full glory is indeed painful.
Since Vietnam I have not heard the night's sounds clearly. The night's silence. Loud noises, including conversations, especially from arrogant and ill-mannered people, rattle my system. Caffeine spikes the sound more. And the list goes on.
So, yes, tinnitus is a continuous war in my head. I might lose a battle occasionally, but I fight hard psychologically to dominate in the war.
Regards,
Obie
I've had it for years and don't know when it started. Both ears recently and sometimes ringing turns to a flat note bell ring kind oflike "DOINK".
About a month ago I finally had to get hearing aids as I also have a High frequency hearing loss. The aids do not mask the ringing. Had them the last week of hunting season here and didnot reallize all the frogs and crickets that were in the woods. Never heard them before.
I was going on a hunt the following day, and my scope took a hard hit that morning. It took a long time to get it re-zeroed. I found out later that when it got hit the reticle got knocked loose, so it wouldn't stay zeroed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
only have going to a gig. but it goes away after time.
Wear earplugs. One of these days it won't go away.Quote:
Originally Posted by manlymanbeard
I remember being concerned about the ringing in my ears after shooting my Dad's .308 when I was around eleven or twelve. "Don't worry, that'll go away," my uncle told me.
And sure enough, after some time, it did. But then a year or two later when I was blasting away with a shotgun (perhaps emboldened by previously witnessing that any ringing 'would go away'), it didn't...
I have it and have had it for as long as I can remember.Its just like you said a High Pitch ringing in my ears sometime it leads to a headache but sometimes it stops ringingfor like a couple mins and it feels wierd when it does and my hearing has never been the greatest so its never really changed my hearing
+1.Quote:
Originally Posted by Blade Wielder
I went to 2 Manowar concerts.
Always wore earplugs.
My friend had 2 others with him who didn't. Because they were metal heads. And earplugs are uncool. And of course, they also insisted on standing near the speakers.
And the fact that their hearing was shot had nothing to do with them refusing to wear earplugs in a concert in which I still thought it was loud WITH earplugs, and the bass drums literally punching me in the chest hard.
:shrug:
Stupid is as stupid does. Now if only Manowar would visit Belgium again. Hail and Kill.
I have it. Have the high pitched tone like you. It started on my fortieth birthday. Had it checked. Dr. said it was more common than most think. Does not bother me I guess I learned to live with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisL
Wow. I never realized it was so common! For me it started at the age of ten. I still remember thinking "What is that noise?" and asking my sister about it; it took us a minute or two to realize that she couldn't hear it because the sound was in my head. It's not exactly a ringing or a whining sound. It's more like the sound you sometimes hear coming from a big electrical transformer, but thinner and higher pitched.
It's never effected my hearing and, like ChrisL and Mvcrash, I've learned to live with it.
Best Regards
goshawk
Thirty years ago I was in my second floor apartment and thought I heard birds chirping one night. I thought to call the landlord and to tell him to check and see if birds were nesting in the attic but it was late at night so I didn't.
The following morning I was at a traffic light in my car and heard the birds. I knew then that I had bats in my belfry rather than birds in the attic. :banghead:
My ENT says it is more common than most folks think.Quote:
Originally Posted by goshawk
Good thing you did not have bats in your attic!!:)Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
I've noticed it the past several years. It's getting worse, or at least more constant, I think. Kind of a constant high-pitched low-volume thing, a little like the sounds I used to pick up from the transatlantic cable when I had a portable short-wave radio. Maybe too many earaches as a kid, maybe too much loud live rock in the sixties, maybe genetics (my dad got pretty deaf in his later years), maybe some combination.
I think I'm going to check out that Quietus too, but I'm afraid my hearing may be getting ready to go. Kind of a bummer; music is one of my great joys; and having a little less than the average complement of social skills, I feel like I have to listen closely to what's going on in conversations so as not to make a complete fool of myself (just 3/4 of a fool, thanks). What can you do, though. It's definitely good to read all these responses and know it's something a lot of us are dealing with.
~Rich (Eh??)
Hearing loss is way too common.....
Lets see.... +five years of NRA 22 rifle competition.
Air powered hammers and drills underground in a mine.
Personal weapons training in the army (we did have ear plugs of sorts)
Handgun range for years....
Howitzers 105, 155, 8"....
But the killer for me was snow tires on the highway in the summer.
Lots of years driving down the road with that high frequency snow
tire buzz in my left ear. It took a toll on my left ear and the upper frequencies
response is very much gone.
I am lucky -- ringing in my ears is rare..... I get it on occasion
and for those that have it all the time -- well I would rather shave with
a dull brick.
FWIW -- my white noise generator is a small snoring dog.
I have Tinnitus also. It's a result of Minear's Disease that came on about 8 years ago. Minears (incurable disease of the inner ear) causes a constant motion in the fluid in the inner ear which is interpreted as sound. Mine sounds similiar to the cicadas you hear in the trees in late summer. 24/7 sometimes louder than others but always there. It interferes with my hearing because if someone doesn't speak above the "noise" I can't understand them. I'm told that in time I'll probably loose all or most of my hearing because the stereocilla (the little hair cells in the inner ear) are only good for just so many inputs and then they wear out (why old folks have trouble hearing). Just to add a little excitement Minears can mess with you equilibrium and I occassionally have severe vertigo for which I get to have a ride to the hospital in an ambulance and get pumped full of drugs.
Oh well, such is life.
Pelkey