One random night, I lay on my bed in my silent bedroom, and I felt that the silence is uncomfortable. Why, I asked myself, that the silence felt sharp, like I prefer the noise of my annoyingly loud dehumidifier, or the muffled sound of traffic in my old apartment?
I realized that the silence was ringing, in a high pitched noise that we all associate with being hit near the ears. My inner voice told myself: “man, you have tinnitus.”
Thinking back, that wasn’t the first time I thought that I have tinnitus, but I was probably in denial for years, or it just got louder. The sad part is that I’m only 26, and somehow, I feared getting tinnitus ever since my childhood.
Even worse, I just ordered a pair of headphones with ANC, and when I don’t play anything through it, the ringing gets very clear.
Was depressed for a few days, thinking that it’s not fair that I got it even though I don’t expose myself to loud noises often, I listen to music at a couple levels lower than my preference, and I don’t turn up my music to drown out noises.
But nothing in life is fair, and to compared to the suffering of others, this is only a mild discomfort. So I’ll try to keep positive about it, and be grateful that I still enjoy a comparatively luxurious life.
I’ll visit a doctor soon though!
Any of you have a similar experience? I’ll be happy to read your stories!
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I’ve had it at least my entire adult life, so long I don’t remember not having it. In my 40’s now, but yeah, it sucks.
If you see a specialist/audiologist, they’ll tell you there are two main kinds. Neurological (brain issue, no cure or treatment) or lymbic (physical issue, easier to determine, likely treatable/curable if they can find the cause).
Is it still going? Afaik tinnitus is getting that ringing in your ears, but forever.
Plenty of times I just randomly hear a ringing in my ears; but it generally only lasts for a moment. IIRC that is usually just caused by a muscle spasm in or around the ear.
It’s still going. Yes it could be permanent, but it seems that people can just adapt to it especially when not thinking about it. I used to have momentary ringing as a kid, but now it’s there all the time.
Take care of your ears! And teeth, eyes, and joints, and uh… health.
I realized I had it a few years ago. I liked loud music and headphones so it wasn’t much of a surprise when it happened.
Still I had a woe-is-me self pitying stage where I obsessed over it. I hyper fixated over the sound it made, I did online hearing test to see how bad my hearing was, read through internet fourms seeing if there were cures to tinnitus or hoping it was a reversable kind caused by earwax or some bs. Typical human copium psychological stuff, you know the drill.
Ultimately its one of those things where I learned to accept it as life. It could be worse, and hoped one day it lessens or even recovers. And in the meantime I just tune it out with basic background noise and plain old learned cognitive filtering. I think it may have even lessened a little over the years too.
Ive had it since I was pretty young. I can’t hear it unless I try- for example, your post made me become conscious of it, and there it is. It comes and goes, I notice. It doesn’t bother me at all, essentially
Yeah I think I’ve had it my entire life, tbh. I think it likely significantly contributed to my fear of the dark as a child (and even sometimes now as an adult).
I don’t hear a single tone. It’s a kind of subtle noise that seems to have a lack of tone. It reminds me of a CRT whine, but a bit different. Most notably, it constantly warbles in quality and directionality, which is why I think it contributes to said fear. It can make it hear or really simply “feel” like an entity is there when it isn’t.
In general I don’t really pay too much attention it. Only when there’s a lack of noise or stimulation…as when you’re trying to sleep.
When people described silence as being “deafening” metaphorically, I always assumed they meant literally because they were talking about the noise lol.
Same, i was totally unaware of it today, I read this post, and now its loud and clear. hahaha
now i fuckin hear it again (hadn’t all day then read this reply before bed) now eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I have had tinnitus all my life, and honestly did not know the ringing wasnt a normal thing until I watched an episode of Archer. Becoming truly aware of it was a terrible day for me.
Generally, it isn’t something that is treatable, but in my opinion it is better to have it at an earlier age, when your brain is more adaptable, as it makes it easier to adapt to the constant ringing, and learn ways to tune it out.
If you need to, get some sort of white noise/nature sound generator and keep it playing during the quiet times, and focus on those noises. I find that tinnitus is worst when you are focusing on it, and the more you think about it, the more you notice it.
One thing I have found to NEVER work is mentally playing with the volume/pitch - those sliders only go up, and stay up until I have focused on something else for awhile.
White noise for the goddamn win.
Brown noise to be exact.
A search for a 15 minute brown noise MP3 track years ago saved me
It’s just like Jesus, even though he’s brown, people keep on making the mistake of assuming that he’s white 😂 Jokes aside, I’ll look into it, I might need it in the office.
If for any reason you don’t quite like the noise video/track, it’s almost trivially easy to create your own white, brown, or pink noise track in an audio editor like Audacity. Then you can adjust the EQ, high/low filters, mix in other sounds, etc and really make it your personalized sleep track for offline listening (good for planes).
iOS can add background sound for dead spots in audio too. I like it for reminding me that the podcast ended while I’m working mindless tasks.
mawp, mawp
lana
Lana
Lana!
WHAT?!?!
Yes, the awareness is the terrible part, it’s like noticing a smudge on an otherwise perfectly clean surface - not gonna kill you but you’ll keep looking at it 😂
And to be overly positive; at least now I will take an extra good care of my ears - limiting loud noise and all, and maybe I’ll avoid hearing loss in my old age.
Drag can make it go down.
There are two causes for tinnitus. Your brain is hearing sounds that aren’t there and poor blood circulation at your ear. I was 29 when I developed tinnitus after scuba diving in deep water. Ginkgo biloba helped me in a few hours after taking it. It’s cheap and available at drug stores if you’re interested in trying it
I’ll try out Ginkgo, thanks!
The screech in my left ear started almost 20 years ago. The first year was extremely annoying but now i don’t notice it much unless i think about it. If I’m sick or really tired i think it does make me a little extra irritable.
Then I wish you good health good random internet person!
My tinnitus sounds like the insects I could hear at night when I was younger in the tropics.
I don’t live there anymore and the tinnitus feels comforting because of it. It doesn’t distress me at all.
That is oddly beautiful. I can see the resemblance with cicada or cricket sounds. I used to live in the tropics as well. When I’m bummed about it I’ll think of your comment.
I’ve had it for over a decade now. Given I love live music and music production is a hobby of mine, it was pretty sad when the penny dropped for me that: yes, this ringing isn’t gonna go away like it used to, a day or two after a gig.
Some kind of white noise or similar (I like rain sounds) when trying to sleep is an essential for me. ANC headphones will stop you from causing further damage as long as you keep your volumes at healthy levels (the ANC means you can use lower volumes that feel louder than they actually are).
Also, get yourself some loop experience (or similar) ear plugs for gigs that are designed to let through a bit more in the range music is generally played, whilst blocking loads of the frequencies you don’t even hear. It’s important to make sure you don’t cause further damage now, I know some people get the “well I’ve already got it now, why bother” thought, but sadly you can always worsen things.
Generally I have gotten used to it tbh, I don’t spend loads of my time thinking about it at least and with things like white noise for sleep, I can generally work around any issues.
Good you say you’ll visit the doctor, it’s very often caused by sound related hearing damage, but tinnitus can be a symptom of all sorts of other things, some of which are indeed temporary.
Finally if it is hearing damage, there’s actually been some progress in new therapies for it in recent years. I read recently about a (currently pretty pricey, unfortunately) treatment where they sort of “recalibrate” your brain to filter out the signal generated by the damage. It apparently has pretty good results, I’m thinking of looking into it myself at some point
I’ve been wanting to get those earplugs as a precaution for a while but I don’t go to music fest or concerts often enough to justify it. But maybe I should get em and go out more.
Hopefully the new medical tech gets more mainstream and cheaper soon, just like lasik.
I’ve had tinnitus since I was a child. Like others in this thread I learned to live with it, and I don’t need white noise to tune it out. You might end up being able to do the same. Like the others it seems to get louder if my blood pressure goes up.
It’s a bit comforting to know how many others in this thread have also had it as long as they can remember. I’m the same…can’t remember there ever being a time where I didn’t have it. It also isn’t the stereotypical classical single tone “ringing” noise for me, so I didn’t ever connect the dots as it being tinnitus until into young adulthood.
Still makes me a bit concerned that I’ll lose my hearing some day. Both my mom and maternal grandfather experienced significant hearing loss over time.
That’s pretty cool that you can tune it out. I hope I’ll be able to do it as well!
I’ve grown used to it. I had it since I was a child, and it became a lot worse after an accident in my 20s. I’ve seen medic but they couldn’t really help. I think it became quieter since then, but I can still hear it well. I’m in my 40s now and I couldn’t care less.
I hope it will be the same for you.
that’s very kind of you.
I’ll try my best not to be fixated on it.
It can also be to do with things like blood pressure or blood vessel dilation.
For example I often get it when I go to bed after a couple of drinks.
So it’s entirely possible there’s a contextual reason that you can fix if it’s important to you.
Got it right now after 5 cups of coffee and having to pretend to work the day after Christmas when 90% of the office is on vacation or allowed to work from home.
Coffee and seething anger appear to be triggers for me.I’ll check my BP when I get the chance. I think I suffer more mentally to the thought of having to constantly live with it for the rest of my life.
When it happened, had you had a drink that day/evening?
Nope, just a regular day and not too much caffeine either. I was a bit tired though because I hadn’t got enough sleep, but also not severely deprived (6 to 6.5 hrs, pretty OK).
Yes. Fighting it all my life. I first noticed when I went to the desert and it was so silent all I could hear was this high pitched squeal like a old CRT tv.
I’ve been to doctors, sometimes they’ll give you basically ear viagra, to increase blood flow. That can help.
Changing my diet significantly helped, improving blood flow to all of my extremities including my ears significantly reduced my tinnitus symptoms. If you have high blood pressure, or any other metabolic syndrome factors, improving that may also improve your tinnitus
What dietary changes did you make to improve blood flow to your extremities? That’s a problem I have as well, including tinnitus.
I eventually settled on low carb high fat. Lots of literature out there supporting it. After 6 months my blood pressure was back to normal, and other benefits. I’ve been sticking to it ever since.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb
Happy to answer any questions
(There are many paths to metabolic health, this one worked for me, I’m recommending it - but my recommendation does not invalidate other people’s choices)
Ear Viagra! I’ll never forget your description.
I think I have normal BP so far, and historically rather low, but I think I’ve been eating too much salt lately I’ll have to cut back on highly processed food (but their shelf life is just so conveniently long!) I’ll look out on my BP!
Salt has gotten unfairly blamed for the damage sugar has done, i wouldn’t recommend reducing your salt.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/salt-guide#controversy
On the whole, regardless of which diet you subscribe too, eating whole foods, not processed, where the ingredients is just the name of the thing - is a great way to clean up your diet.
Hey, thanks it was a good read. I’ve known that it’s largely inconclusive and the conflicting recommendation is confusing.
Nevertheless, as you said, getting whole food is the best, and if I want it salty, I’ll add the salt and msg myself 😂
Few times I’ve had this and the doctor just cleaned my ear and it was gone. In ear headphones can cause that by pushing earwax back. I stopped using in ear headphones and haven’t had that happen in years. Just giving you a reason to stay positive, tinnitus can cause by some easily fixed things.
Not gonna hold my breath, but I’ll definitely visit a doctor, hopefully it’s not permanent.
About 8 years ago I got out of the shower and was cleaning the water out of my right ear (as I usually did) and I must have done it wrong that time, as when I went to lay down that night I heard this very annoying high pitch sound from that ear. I might have looked around to see if that sound was coming from something (maybe from my computer, other electronics, or something outside). But no, it was from my ear.
Took about 2-3 years for me to be able to completely tune it out when there’s silence. Sometimes I miss being able to hear nothing when it’s quiet, but now I have ringing in both ears so it’s really easy to ignore it.
It might suck for a while until your brain is able to tune it out, but it’ll be easier someday.
It’s a bit overwhelming for me at the moment, but it’s very comforting to hear that it’ll get easier over time.
