Tinnitus

[iomegaman]

So I have "suffered" from tinnitus in my right ear for a number of years...

Oddly enough the basic concept as I understand it is that the hairs in your inner ear that transfer air/sound pressure to electrical go missing either through damage or something else, but the problem comes in that your brain rather than eliminate the sound that corresponds to that damage actually creates it as a constant signal...so in my case I hear a frequency somewhere in the area of 12,721 Hz at a fairly constant volume (about 2-3 out of 10)...

I've gone online to frequency generators and matched the frequency in closed back headphones and oddly enough it is around this frequency that sound disappears in my left ear...(the sound at this frequency is non-stop in my right ear and nothing above it)...

So I basically cannot hear anything above 13kHz...(not that there's a ton up there I want to hear anyway)...

I do notice however that when I am at the ocean it does not bother me in the slightest, it is almost enough to make me move at this point since it is getting to be quite irritating...

I'm wondering since i cannot actually hear that (my brain is making up the noise) if there is a way to figure out if it can be phase cancelled or something along that lines...?

Thoughts?

Only in the right ear.

 

[scott2000]

Were you or are you a DJ?

One more thing/////Does "popping" your ears make your hearing return???

 

[iomegaman]

Ha, no never a Dj, I am 58 and played a Marshall Stack pretty loud in my 20's...worked construction with power tools for years as well...

Honestly my theory is this is based on the way I have slept for 50 years...

I sleep on my stomach with my face turned tot he left so I have basically slept on the right ear pointing down for most of my life...

I used to get seriously debilitating ear infections/aches as a child in the Oklahoma wind...I still absolutely hate being in wind...my ears are sensitive to it...

 

[scott2000]

Interesting.... I sleep the same way...but toss and turn a decent amount I think...

I also dislike wind more than anything weather related.... But I paint outside a lot so, I think that's why.

I also have a pretty good case of misophonia so, my highest frequency range is very focused on more than I like..... I've recently started wearing ear plugs a lot more just to avoid getting frustrated around my dogs...lol ...works great....just enough low pass

Anyhow, I damaged my left ear, I'm a lefty, DJing many years and had that same frequency range go out in that ear..... But I could pop my ears and get that range back in that ear....


Weird thing is once I started eating better and cleaner, it's all pretty much cleared up...... I still think I have a tiny bit of tinnitus overall but, I only hear it when it's dead quiet....

But I sleep with a noise maker so, it doesn't bother me....

Interesting on the phase cancellation idea.....I think some cars use that technology in their road noise  whateveryoucallits....

Hopefully you'll find a solution....That head stuff can be a real nightmare if it gets too invasive...

 

[boji]

"I used to get seriously debilitating ear infections/aches as a child in the Oklahoma wind"

Regarding the wind and bed, correlation without causation, imho. Not that our minds aren't crazy powerful and can manifest all sorts of things if a belief is strong enough...but... That marshall stack was plenty sufficient.  

In my teens I used to rage for whole sets on a crash ride to my left and now, when my blood pressure goes up, the ringing starts leftwise.  I used to sleep with a fan to offset the noise but it's not as bad now.

Push your jaw forward if and when the ringing is prominent.  Does the noise momentarily reduce? If so, hypertension may be at play. But i'm no doctor.  Schedule a checkup with your local ENT specalist to be safe.

 

[iomegaman]

Regarding the wind and bed, correlation without causation, imho. Not that our minds aren't crazy powerful and can manifest all sorts of things if a belief is strong enough...but... That marshall stack was plenty sufficient.  

In my teens I used to rage for whole sets on a crash ride to my left and now, when my blood pressure goes up, the ringing starts leftwise.  I used to sleep with a fan to offset the noise but it's not as bad now.

Push your jaw forward if and when the ringing is prominent.  Does the noise momentarily reduce? If so, hypertension may be at play. But i'm no doctor.  Schedule a checkup with your local ENT specalist to be safe.

I've been on blood pressure meds for about 6 months now, had serious dental infections went to get them pulled but prior to that I would simply take a ton of Advil when I had serious tooth pain...like 15 a day for three days until the infection subsided...did this off and on for a few years last year spent $6000.00 getting the damaged teeth pulled...

(One sound you will never forget it the sound of tooth roots being twisted/breaking inside your head as a very carting dentist does her best to not hurt you)...

At any rate before the dentist could pull teeth (she draws 4 vials of blood/spins it separates white blood cells out and then injects the white blood cells directly into the wound as she sutured them I literally had no pain the next day other than typical jaw soreness...only used local anesthesia...) she told me I had to come back when my blood pressure was down it was 160/100...went to my Doc, he ran test sent me to kindey specialist who basically said I damaged my kidneys with all the NSAID's I'd been popping...long story short my blood pressure is down to 120/80-ish most of the day but I am on Losartan Potassium to make it so...

I only played the Marshall Stack for about a year and never really stood in front of it much....it might have been standing next to the drummer though...I honestly do not recall ever having any painful SPL issues/events...never came away from a concert or gig with ringing ears...

Might be hereditary...I dunno...

I do sleep with fans all the time but thats because I cannot sleep if the room is warmer than 70 degrees...I run a large humidifier non-stop since I live in Tucson...and the pillow goes ON my head not the other way round...always has.

 

[pucho812]

some medicines can cause that kind of action too, proceed with caution

 

[Gene Pink]

I do sleep with fans all the time ...

Aah, yes, the good ol' days of playing in a band.
;D

 

[JohnRoberts]

Sorry about the tinnitus, it generally has multiple possible causes but injury to cilia (inner ear hairs) that vibrate in sympathy with sound, to stimulate nerves at the bottom of the hairs.  The most common I am aware of is cilia/nerve damage from too loud sounds. The outer ear has AGC mechanism to prevent excessive loudness but there are time constants associated so impulse noise can get through, and some sounds are just too loud to reduce.

I've been on blood pressure meds for about 6 months now, had serious dental infections went to get them pulled but prior to that I would simply take a ton of Advil when I had serious tooth pain...like 15 a day for three days until the infection subsided...did this off and on for a few years last year spent $6000.00 getting the damaged teeth pulled...

Tinnitus is also linked to circulatory issues. There are tiny blood vessels inside the ear so easy to clot up.

In addition serious dental infection can spread to other sites in the body. Heart valve problems have been linked to excessive dental infection.  It is very smart that you cleaned that up.

(One sound you will never forget it the sound of tooth roots being twisted/breaking inside your head as a very carting dentist does her best to not hurt you)...

Another odd sound is listening to your pulse inside you inner ear as a small traveling blood clot partially blocks a tiny blood vessel in there (sounded like a pulsed rushing noise), that I could only hear during dead quiet lying in bed at night. BTW aspirin is a natural blood thinner so useful for clearing clots.

At any rate before the dentist could pull teeth (she draws 4 vials of blood/spins it separates white blood cells out and then injects the white blood cells directly into the wound as she sutured them I literally had no pain the next day other than typical jaw soreness...only used local anesthesia...) she told me I had to come back when my blood pressure was down it was 160/100...went to my Doc, he ran test sent me to kindey specialist who basically said I damaged my kidneys with all the NSAID's I'd been popping...long story short my blood pressure is down to 120/80-ish most of the day but I am on Losartan Potassium to make it so...

Taking NSAIDs like candy can cause multiple problems. I had one neighbor collapse and almost die from a bleeding stomach ulcer caused by overuse of NSAIDs for his knee joint pain.

I take NSAIDs for my arthritic knee (naproxen sodium) but time my doses to be with meals or some food snack to reduce gastric stress. I also get a full blood panel one a year to confirm no incidental damage to liver/kidney (from NSAIDs or beer.)

I only played the Marshall Stack for about a year and never really stood in front of it much....it might have been standing next to the drummer though...I honestly do not recall ever having any painful SPL issues/events...never came away from a concert or gig with ringing ears...

another common source of musician HF hearing loss is drummers "crash cymbal ear"....

Might be hereditary...I dunno...

I've used ear plugs ever since I was young adult first to deal with wind noise while riding my motorcycle and later at loud live sound shows. In the military we were usually issued hearing protection for training sessions, but one time as permanent party they skipped that luxury for an annual rifle range qualification. I made some DIY ear plugs from borrowed cigarette filters stuffed in my ears.

I do sleep with fans all the time but thats because I cannot sleep if the room is warmer than 70 degrees...I run a large humidifier non-stop since I live in Tucson...and the pillow goes ON my head not the other way round...always has.

I run a dehumidifier because MS is not as dry as AZ.

Good luck, circulatory system health (like BP) could be a factor in tinnitus but most likely is due to old sound exposure injury.

JR

 

[ruffrecords]

Don't know if this will help but white noise can alleviate the symptoms for some sufferers. My wife has had tinnitus for years. I built her a little battery powered box that was basically a headphone amp set on high gain with a resistor on the input - basically a white noise machine. She wears the phones for a couple of hours a day, mostly whilst reading the newspapers, and then her tinnitus is reduced enough for her not to notice for the rest of the day.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Tubetec]

I doubt a couple of years of high voltage guitar amps would kill your hearing that much to be honest , a lifetime of using noisy power tools and machinery could well cause damage though. I have heard of many people with temporary hearing loss due to ear infections  ,the molars are also in very close proximity to the ear ,so any issues tooth wise certainly can play a part .
I used use cotton bud's or q tips regularly to clean my ears , this really isnt a good idea as while you will remove some wax this way more of it just gets pushed in against the ear drum , I've needed to get my ears syrynged a few times and then a course of antibiotic drops after . On ocassions Ive ended up with temporary hearing loss and tinnitus untill the doc removed lumps of impacted wax from my ears , so no more cotton buds for me .There probably is something to the way we sleep and how our eustacean tubes and inner ears clear themselves , obviously due to gravity the ear you sleep with upwards will drain better than the ear thats down to the pillow ,but wax in the outer ear will of course be cleared better in the downward facing ear . I have some residual noise that becomes apparent in quiet moments ,but its never really a problem . The white noise generator Ian mentioned is well worth a try ,many scientific studies exist showing benefits to people with loud ringing in their ears from the use of it , and if your handy with electronics figuring out a simple noise source is easy.  My guess is an unchecked tooth/ear problem does a lot more damage than even the loudest guitars  ,but at that I certainly have come away from many gigs with ringing, Motorhead was one of the worst actually. What John said about the correlation between tooth health/general health is an excellent point too ,again many modern studies are pointing to the fact that people with better teeth enjoy better health in general.
Theres an old Irish saying ,'Did you know death comes in through the teeth' , there might be more truth in that than we give it credit for.

 

[scott2000]

The white noise generator Ian mentioned is well worth a try ,many scientific studies exist showing benefits to people with loud ringing in their ears from the use of it , and if your handy with electronics figuring out a simple noise source is easy. 

sister in law just pulls up stuff on youtube and plays it ...

so for that  white noise///////

10 hour white noise....lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMiBWQF-ryg

 

[cyrano]

Sounds very familiar...

What I've found that helps, is a simple yoga exercise:

http://goedgeluid.be/IMG/mpg/tinnitus.mpg