by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady wrote:
I have an iPod. Music on the iPod sounds very good to me. The other day I downloaded many tunes from the iTune Store and was excited about being able to listen to all the oldies from the 50’s. I did a lot of listening with ear buds that day. The next day I listened to my down loaded tunes and I was disappointed. Everything had an extra edge to it; hard to describe but sort of like static and raspy. Real speech sounded that way to me as well. My ears felt like they had weights in them. I had more ringing in the ears than usual, the aids felt like ear plugs and I took them out. Ordinarily I don’t feel them in my ears at all. This condition went on for about a week and I was very discouraged. What is going on? Does listening to music with headphones or ear buds for too long bring this on?
You are right—too much of a good thing ends up being a bad thing, especially if you are listening to the music at louder volumes. Sustained louder sounds such as you would experience when listening to music with the volume up causes noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).
In fact you describe 3 of thee classic symptoms of noise-induced hearing loss.
First, you have the “plugged up” feeling. You describe it as your ears feeling “like they had weights in them” and “my hearing aids felt like ear plugs”. This muffled hearing is a sign that you have had the volume too loud for too long. You are now experiencing some degree of temporary hearing loss—what doctors call a temporary threshold shift. This makes everything sound muffled, or as though you are hearing through a fog. The more often you expose your ears to loud sounds, the longer this threshold shift will last, until finally you will be left with further permanent hearing loss.
Second, you have increased tinnitus. As you say, “I had more ringing in my ears than usual.” Any sounds that cause your ears to ring (or your existing ringing to get louder) indicates that you are exposing your ears to damaging levels of sound. This tinnitus is your first warning that the sound is too loud—so you need to immediately turn the volume down and/or give your ears a rest.
Third, you have distorted hearing, which you describe as “everything had an extra edge to it; hard to describe but sort of like static and raspy”.
The good news is that if you give your ears a rest from all loud sounds, often your hearing will go back to normal and the ringing and distortion will disappear too. In this case, it took your ears a whole week. That is quite long. Often it only takes minutes to a few hours. As I said, the more often your ears are exposed to loud sounds, the longer it takes them to recover. I’d be very careful in the future, because one day if you keep on listening to music at that volume and for extended periods, these symptoms will never go away—and you do not want that!
I am a 53 year old woodworker who has been exposed to way too much loud machinery. Two months ago I was shooting skeet without ear protection and experienced noise induced trauma. I’ve seen my ENT, had an audiogram showing hearing loss, although not much more than it showed 10 years ago. I hear fine except in situations with background noise. My concern is the distortion. Everything sounds like it’s coming through a broken radio speaker. I realize this may be my lot in life but I’m wondering if it may ever come back, or is it going to deteriorate even if I can control my exposure to loud machinery by using hearing protection.
Thanks for any comments,
Stan
My issue is similar to the first story. Im 52 and an Audiophile. I primarily listen through over the ear headphones. I like a full volume to be able to hear everything in the recording, i don’t see this as loud and in the past two weeks i was probably listening everyday for 60-90 minutes a day. Now when the sound becomes a little to loud do to variables in different recordings I turn it down. While listening one day i noticed a little pain irritation in my right ear while listening. I stopped immediately and went back the next day and i felt the slight ear pain. Now i have that fullness, or a muffled sound and while in the shower when water was running over my ear i noticed significant ri ging, but just when water was running over.
Hi Stan:
I agree, your ears have been exposed to way too much loud machinery. You should have been wearing ear protection from the word go. The good news is that it is never too late to begin wearing ear protectors.
Distorted sound often goes hand in hand with noise-induced hearing loss. You need to protect your ears whenever you are around loud sounds so it won’t get worse. Also, there is always a chance it will get better. It takes a while for your ears to “heal” after noise trauma so give them time–and that means several weeks or months without being exposed to loud sounds–so ALWAYS wear ear protectors when you are going to be around louder sounds.
I have extreme sensitivity in my hearing and some distortion as well. My ears buzz slightly to my own voice and others that have a deep tone in their voice. I believe this was sound induced from my Ipod and loud video gaming with head phones. My hearing is good except most everything with a high frequency hurts my ears and causes me distress. I have had this for a month and a half. Do you think it is permanent?
Hi Paul:
I think your extreme sensitivity to high frequency sounds will slowly go away IF you protect your ears from louder sounds from now on. It may never completely go away, but it should be a lot better given enough time.
Very often exposing your ears to loud sounds results in damage to your ears such that you now perceive some sounds as being much too loud–in your case, the high-frequency sounds. This is called hyperacusis.
The problem can result from just one loud sound, but the “fix” often takes several months. It is generally a slow process. Think of it like a sprain–you get it in one sudden wrench–but healing takes weeks or months–slowly getting better. However, if during this time, if you wrench it again, you have to start all over again.
Your ears are the same way. That is why you must be so careful not to expose your ears to those levels of sound again. You need to wear ear protectors in such situations if you can’t turn the sound down.
At the same time, don’t overprotect your ears by wearing ear protectors all the time or you can make the situation even worse. Your ears NEED adequate sounds reaching them all the time–just not TOO loud.
As part of my job I have to qualify with firearms on ayearly basis.With proper ear protection,will I be safe to qualify? I lose my job if I dont shoot.Is there anything safe enough to wear for protection.
I am 68 and from the UK. I suffered ear trauma when a large truck battery exploded about 3 feet from my ears a week ago. After washing off the sprayed acid I had intense ringing for about an hour and deafness in both ears. After 8 hour I had an examination at the local hospital. I was given an audiogram three days later and told to return in about 5 weeks to see a specialist. The audiogram shows a big loss in both ears. I expect some permanent damage. I have tinnitus in one ear and a loss of high frequency in both ears. All sounds are distorted, like a faulty loudspeaker. There has been some improvement in clarity in the last 12 hours.
I can hear male voices clearer than female voices.
Can I expect any improvement in hearing and a reduction of the tinnitus in the next few weeks?
Hi Bob:
You are lucky you’re not covered with acid burns in addition to your hearing problems.
Typically, when you expose your ears to a loud sound such as you experienced, you instantly get tinnitus and some degree of hearing loss. If the sound wasn’t too severe, over time–minutes, hours or a few days the tinnitus will go away and your hearing return.
However, with more severe sound levels, the tinnitus may be permanent as well as much of the hearing loss.
I suspect you are in the latter category. So I expect you will be left with a considerable degree of permanent hearing loss, typically around 4,000 HZ, and your tinnitus since tinnitus typically accompanies hearing loss.
Having said that, if you learn to ignore your tinnitus and go about your daily life, you will find your tinnitus tends to fade into the background and become softer and less intrusive. However, if you keep on focusing on your tinnitus, and being upset with all that blankety-blank noise in your ears, it will become louder and even more intrusive. Thus it is important to manage your emotions and focus on things other than your tinnitus.
You could have helped your ears if you had immediately taken doses of Glutathione or N-acetyl-cysteine. These are powerful anti-oxidants that occur naturally in your body (but not in great enough quantities to overcome the ear damage you experienced). The idea is that noise trauma such as you experienced, causes a lot of free radicals to be produced in your inner ears. It is these free radicals that ultimately cause the hearing loss by zapping (and thus killing) the hair cells.
The Glutathione and NAC essentially zap the zappers before they can zap your ears and cause more damage. Since more than a week has gone by now, it is unlikely that taking them will do any good now.
Regards
Neil
The distortion in both ears is a little less, or am I getting used to it? This causes the biggest problem with my hearing when using the telephone and listening to the TV. Some speech appears to have a frequency shift, like someone on helium.
The tinnitus is of two forms 1) all over head sensation with a difficult to describe background noise, similar to a bad head cold and 2) variable sound like listening with a sea shell in the right ear.
I can sleep thro this noise but is distraction in a quiet environment.
I am prescribed 5mg of Cialis (I had prostate cancer) and 75mg aspirin. Will these be beneficial or harmful in the short term?
Hi Dr. Neil,
For about a year or so, I had listened to my iPod (often on louder volume) while lifting heavy weights at the gym, typically 4-5 days per week. I didn’t have my iPod every workout, and I didn’t listen to it consistently during every workout, but probably the majority of the time nonetheless.
Earlier this year, say around March, while listening to the iPod, I noticed that my left ear became kind of distorted and fuzzy feeling. I expressed some concern to my ENT in April or May, who promptly ordered an audiogram, and to my surprise my hearing in BOTH ears was excellent.
Since May, feeling more confident about my hearing, I have mostly discontinued use of the iPod, but have noticed this buzzing sensation in my left ear come back time to time when I am in a loud bar or club, especially after several hours of being in that environment, or being too close to the speakers, all of the sudden I will get the buzzing in that left ear. I am pretty regularly in loud environments, roughly every weekend. I often feel I’m not hearing as well out of my left ear as my right, so I find myself often comparing the two by plugging the opposite ear and listening to different sounds, to which I usually find the hearing in the left ear to be slightly less keen.
This past Saturday I really learned my lesson. I walked into a club that had extraordinarily loud music and blatantly low quality speaker system. After thirty minutes or so, that left ear started buzzing and got distorted. I stayed there another two hours or so until it closed. The last couple days I’ve noticed several of the things mentioned here, the “plugged up” or “muffled” feeling in my ears, and speech sounds distorted.
I am wondering if there is any hope for me? After reading through these posts, I feel I never gave my ears enough time to rest and “FIX” themselves as you mention. Occasionally I would go out and would not notice the buzzing sensation whatsoever, most likely after good periods of non-exposure. It’s never too late to start hopefully, as now I will definitely be wearing protection anytime I am exposed to loud sounds. I will also continue having normal levels of sound in my environment. Is it too late?? Also, I started taking Vitamins A,C,E and magnesium on Monday night, and just bought the N-acetyl-cysteine after reading your post and took my first dose. Around midnight it will have been almost 4 full days since the exposure.
I am 28 now, out of a 4 year relationship, so I’m back on the social scene and exposed to loud noise again. I don’t recall having any of these issues in my early twenties. My ears definitely aren’t bouncing back the same way they used to. My most recent memory prior to this I had no problems! A few years changes things.
Please let me know your thoughts if you have a chance. I’m trying to be hopeful but right now my ears are not happy to say the least.
Sincerely,
John
Hi John:
When you listen to loud sounds for long periods, or for long cumulative periods of time, you damage your ears. Typically, your ears try to warn you by ringing, buzzing, hissing, humming, or producing one of the many other tinnitus sounds. If you heed this warning and don’t expose your ears to sounds of that volume again, all typically is well and no permanent damage occurs. This is especially true in the beginning when you are younger and your ears are more robust.
However, when you do this over and over again–and your ears keep trying to (vainly) warn you each time, eventually they succumb to the damage, and permanent tinnitus can result.
Another way your ears try to warn you that the noise is too loud, or you’ve been listening to it for too long, is your hearing becomes muffled and fuzzy as you describe. When this happens you’ll find that you have some degree of hearing loss, but hopefully, this hearing loss is temporary (what audiologists call a temporary threshold shift). Usually this feeling of muffledness goes away in a few minutes to a few hours and your hearing recovers.
However, the more you expose your ears to loud noise, the worse the muffled feeling becomes and the longer it lasts (along with the tinnitus). Finally, one day you realize it never goes away. When you get your ears tested, they will typically a “noise notch” on your audiogram around 4,000 Hz.
Congratulations, you have just permanently destroyed some of your precious hearing! Now you are going to have trouble hearing people, especially in group settings and when it is noisy around you. Furthermore, you are going to enjoy (NOT) your ears ringing incessantly, day and night, every day until you die. That’s what happens when you do not take care of your ears.
I hope the people reading this see themselves in this scenario and then deliberately choose to change their listening habits before it is too late and this happens to them.
And yes, John, there is hope for you, but you have to change your listening habits now! You may have already damaged your hearing permanently to some degree, and given yourself tinnitus–but you do not have to let this progress.
In the future, you need to protect your ears. So, no more noisy environments without wearing ear protection. Any environment where the average sound level is more than 80 dB is defined as noisy.
Ideally, you should listen to music at around the same level as people talk. If you do that, you’ll not have to worry about damaging your hearing or getting tinnitus. Unfortunately, too many people are addicted to loud music so won’t heed this warning.
Taking vitamins and magnesium (and don’t forget the zinc) and taking N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) are all good things to be taking–but it is even more important to avoid excess noise–especially for longer periods. Remember, the length of time you can be exposed to noise without resulting ear damage is cut in half with each 10 dB increase in sound. If you are in a night-club where the sound level can be as high as 110 dB, the safe exposure time is not to stay “two hours longer”, but it is only 2 minutes total! In such an environment, you’d need to wear ear protectors with a protection factor of 30 dB. to get the sound down to a safe level.
I wish you well John–but its going to be all up to you what happens to your ears in the future.
Neil
Hello i am not crazy, but i think
someone is bugging my home.
I often hear people that i know talking to me through many thinks around the house that has audio on it.. Its been going on sometime now.. I’m afraid that someone has it out bad for me and my children .. I can hear bad things being said about us. I have been to the police about this, but they think i’m crazy.. I need help to find out how to stop this , and how its being done , and who is it.. Yes my ears be ringing some times only when i come home. when i,m out \anywhere i go i can hear the same people.. No i’m not crazy just need help on getting to the bottom of this. please someone help. feel free to email me @ angelawise18 gmail.com
Hi Angela:
I think you need a bit of help. You are deluded into thinking someone is bugging your house, but from what you describe, that is not true.
For example, if someone was bugging your house, THEY would hear what you say there. But YOU wouldn’t hear anything. When you feel you are hearing them through your audio devices, you are deluded.
The difference between non-psychiatric auditory hallucinations (Musical Ear Syndrome) and psychiatric auditory hallucinations is basically in the former you hear phantom sounds–such as music or voices–but the voices are benign–such as a radio or TV announcer talking–but they never talk either to or about you.
Since you are hearing voices talking to or about you, I wouldn’t be surprised if you have schizophrenia or something similar. You would do well to see a mental health professional to be checked out because things just don’t add up right.
Cordially,
Neil
Hey John, you and I may have the EXACT same problems, no kidding! I turned 18 this June, but the problem started roughly 3 years ago, also involving music.
Anyways, does the buzzing/crackling sound like a “radioactive detector” or like a moth stuck inside the ear? Can you relieve the distortion somewhat by plugging your ears during the loud sounds? In the beginning, mine wasn’t that bad. At first, I attributed the fuzzy distortion due to my earphones, but after attending a loud concert was the problem apparently me. For some time now i’ve given my ears “rest” from all loud noises (starting this March), and my greatest fear is that one day, the “tolerance level” for this problem would be reduced to a point that even people laughing hard would trigger it. So far, the problem hasn’t come back most of the time this year, however just 4 days ago i’ve discovered the problem is still there–the trigger being my friend laughing hard. I’ve already gone to 3 different ENT’s seeking their opinion, and all of them said it wasn’t something serious, but I can tell from their facial expression they knew very little of this kind of problem, which is very frustrating. I’ve ruled out several symptoms that I think don’t “exactly” fit the description, namely Hyperacusis, and something called “Tensor Tympani Syndrome”. Anybody else who has any idea about this problem?
Hey Caleb,
Still waiting on Dr. Neil’s response, but I feel for you. It does feel like a moth is stuck in my ear. I know it happened from using the iPod too much while exerting myself lifting weights, which I’ve basically completely ceased using whatsoever.
Honestly Caleb, I think most doctors don’t know what it is. Dr. Neil seems to have a unique view and hopeful outlook on these issues, so I’m hoping he can shed some light.
One things is for sure, I’ll be wearing protection whenever I’m in noisy situations from now on. I also feel like one of the previous people who left a comment, in that I feel like my ears are more sensitive than other peoples ears. I’m also positive that background noise really disturbs my ears.
Bottom line is if you want your ears to function at their best everyday, then you need to wear protection in those noisy situations.
I just got back from the Audiologist’ office at Georgetown University Hospital who told me my hearing is “normal”. They were excellent about six months ago according to a different audiologist.
Something is wrong when I get that feeling in my ear. Listen to your body. If it doesn’t feel right, it’s not right. Here’s a link for some pretty nifty earplugs I found in case you’re interested: http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/er915and25pr.html
John
Hi Neil,
Thank you so much for your candid response. Trust me, Saturday was truly a wake up call for me. My hearing appears to have returned more or less to normal as of today and it doesn’t seem so muffled. That was a terribly long threshold shift, if that’s indeed what it was-I’ve never had one that lasted that long. I’m not totally sure how long it really lasted except that my ears felt fuller and more muffled than usual since Saturday.
Do you think that the audiologists I saw today would have seen the noise notch at 4000hz that you describe? They ran a lot of tests on me including some state of the art test that tests for noise induced issues, tinnitus, background noise, along with all the usual tests. They claimed my hearing was on par with normal for an 18+ year old.
I’m trying to stay hopeful that some of that full/sensitive feeling will dissipate with time if I heed your advice and avoid further exposure and wear protection.
Thanks again Dr. Neil. I really appreciate it.
Sincerely,
John
Hi Dr. Neil,
The trouble is, I never listensed to music more than 4 bars higher, and I make sure to stop listening after 30 minutes even before when things went bad. I’m home-schooled, and I rarely go to church or any loud places my whole life, yet i’m stuck with this mysterious problem…
The 3 ENT’s and audiologists i’ve been too have ruled out tinnitus after I enquired them about it, and i’ve been given audiogram test at least 3 times, results being the left ear (which is the problamatic ear) recording higher results than the right, the latest aduiologist commenting I had fantastic hearing! I’ve even gone through MRI to see any potential nerve damage, yet the results came out as nothing unusual. I’ve been reading around the internet exhaustively for clues and potential answers, but I still find myself doubtful as to what this problem really is; tinnitus, hyperacusis, tensor tympani syndrome etc…
Caleb
I was target shooting with some friends on Sunday. I was wearing the rubber insert ear plugs. I know that I took them out during reload, but I am pretty sure I put them back in.
Near the end of the event, my phone rang and I took out an ear plug. While I was talking about 30 foot away, a guy cut loose on 2 shots from a high caliber rifle.
I did not notice any issue until an hour or so later. I noticed a muffled audio and a ringing.
I have been fighting a sinus infection for a couple weeks. I went to the doctor and they said I had fluid in my middle ear that could be causing this. It has been 2.5 days at this point.
Should I be worried?
Hi Dr, Neil,
About 2 weeks ago a friend of mine surprised me by putting a pair of headphones on my head with dance music blasting out of them. I jumped a mile as I wasn’t expecting it. He was mixing music at home, so there was external music happening while he used the headphones to cue up the next song he wanted to play. The external music wasn’t too loud, but the music coming from the headphones sounded very loud, especially as I wasn’t expecting it. I am presuming to him it was at a normal level as he would of been listening to them for many minutes already and gotten used to it. Where-as for me they were just dropped on my ears suddenly.
Ever since then my right ear has felt plugged (this gets worse through the day) and when I speak it sounds crackly, it also feels sore if I try to listen to a phone in that ear. I don’t remember any sudden tinnitus, but then because there was external music also happening for another 30 minutes I can’t be sure if it happened for a short while. My right ear now sounds lower in volume than my left, and also deeper, not very comfortable. I keep putting my finger in each ear to test the differences, which annoys me but I can’t stop doing it as I keep hoping it is getting better but it always sounds the same.
The strange thing is though my friend pulled the headphones off me within 2 to 3 seconds when he saw me jump, so I wasn’t exposed to the noise for long. So I am wondering if maybe my problems are due to me straining my ears by constantly listening to see if it is better ? As although the music was loud and very cymbal and bassy I can’t imagine that it was anywhere near explosion or gun fire level which I know can cause instant problems.
So to summarize, my right ear feel like it has something in it, it is quieter and deeper sounding than the left, and when I talk it often crackles and pops (like when you puff out your cheeks). Oddly though the crackles and hissing side of it don’t seem to happen from other people talking, just myself, although everyone does sound slightly quieter and deeper.
Do you feel this is now permanent given the time frame ? Or could I still be okay ? As this is very frustrating and is making me rather bitter as it wasn’t my fault. The last time something similar to this happened, but worse and again not my fault, was about 5 years ago when a jet plane had just taken off from a small near-by military airfield and flew over my car on a main road I was driving on, with my window open, I never expected it and it left me with earache and a muffled ear for a week as the noise was incredible, but that seemed to get better much sooner than this and it was more muffled than this time. The noise level of that jet plane was MASSIVE and much louder than the headphones.
Many thanks for any help, much appreciated !!
Jon
Hello Dr. Neil,
About a month ago, I attended what seemed like a harmles indie music concert in a small indoor venue I was in the third row with my friend. At the time, my ears were not giving me or my friend any suggestion that the music was too loud. However, my friend’s ears rang for a week afterwards, and my right ear is still feeling a bit “plugged.” Additionally, when I swallow, I hear a small pop almost every time, and I am definitely more senstive to loud noise. These symptoms are better in the morning and evenings. It seems like the more loud or sudden the noises I hear throughout the day (slamming doors, dropped keys), the more tensed my ears become. I have been protecting myself by wearing noise distributors when exposed to potential noise threats and have not since let myself be volunarily exposed to loud noise levels. I am also taking Ginko Biloba as I read online it may help.
I did have a hearing test and the results showed “very good hearing,” but I am confident that something has changed or shifted.
I am more than a little scared that I have done permanent damage, this is especially heartbreaking since I have been very good to my ears my entire life–this was literally my 3rd concert and I am 30 years old. Everything I read online worries me as it seems that I should have healed entirely by now. I will admit that it does seem like a slow mending is occuring, but maybe it’s my imagination. I am in very good health…is it too late for me or is there still hope?
Any advice would be most appreciated!
Hi Dr. Neil,
I just saw your website and all the questions about distorted hearing. I am 33 and have always had perfect hearing, then 3 weeks ago I was exposed to a loud noise from a plastic wrapper popping an inch from my ear. I thought it was loud, but thought nothing of, but then that night through the next day, had muffled hearing and high hissing tinnitus. It took 30 hours (temp. threshold shift) to get my hearing back, but I was left with a slight hissing tinnitus that reacts with sounds and also distorted hearing. My own voice has a raspy edge/hissy sound to it and so do other voices/sounds. The louder a noise/voice, the worse the disortion. It is very frustrating as I have always taken very good care of my ears, and worn ear protection. I feel sick to think this would have caused permanent damage and am very concerned that since it’s been 3 weeks now, it is permanent. Could it still improve over time? Thank you.
Hi Lisa and Tori:
When you expose your ears to loud sounds it can make your ears more sensitive to louder sounds in the immediate future. Think of an analogy to getting a bruise.
Every time you expose your ears to louder sounds, its much the same a punching an existing bruise. It hurts worse and takes even longer to heal. But if you protect the bruise, eventually it will heal. The same should be your experience with your ears. Given enough time–and that may be a number of months, you ears should heal and slowly lose their sensitivity to louder normal sounds.
However, they may be more “fragile” to loud sounds than they were before (and thus “bruise” more easily in the future) so you have to practice good aural health from now on.
So give it more time and your ears will likely return to normal or near normal, but will also likely be lest “robust” to loud sounds.
Regards
Neil
Dear Dr. Neil,
Thank you for your input. I like the bruise analogy. It’s now been just over a month since the freak accident of a bag popping close to my ear. The sensitivity is much better now. However, I do still hear some distortion with my own voice and others voices, and although minimal, it is noticeable. I also still have a slight hissing that gets louder with sounds (and quiets down in a quiet environment). I would say it is 25% better than it was 3-4 weeks ago. I am still taking Magnesium, Vitamin A, C, E, and Ubiquinol daily. I plan to do so for another 2 months or so. I hope over the next few months my hearing continues to improve. So much you read online says that after a a couple weeks or months, what you are left with is permanent. However, I also know nerves heal slowly–so why wouldn’t this be the case with auditory nerves too? So I appreciate you saying “it might take a number of months” which leaves some hope that everything still might improve. I also saw a well-known ENT here in Orange County who said that, even at this point, he expects improvement. Time will only tell. Thanks again.
Dear Dr. Neil,
I was using In Ear Headphones one day and the next day, everything was muffled in one ear. Whenever I or someone else spoke, it sounded distorted and had an echo to it. Music sounded off tune and everything just sounded off. The music I was listening to was on low though.
It’s been two days of rest and when I went to the doctor he saw nothing was wrong and just shooed me away. What do I do now? I don’t want to go back to school because of the noise level. Should I go back to the doctor to ask for a referral to a ear specialist?
Hi Angel:
If you really did listen at a low volume, it shouldn’t have caused things to sound muffled, so either the sound was louder than you thought, or something else is causing the muffled feeling.
Most people that expose their ears to louder sounds have a temporary threshold shift–and the muffled feeling goes away in a few hours or so. Since yours is persisting for more than a couple of days, I understand your concern.
I’m assuming the doctor looked into your ears and there is no wax build-up that is causing the muffled feeling.
Another possibility is a virus getting into your inner ear and causing hearing loss.
I think you should go to an audiologist and ask for a complete audiological evaluation. See what comes of it. At the very least, you’ll learn whether you have any hearing loss or not, whether the hearing loss is conductive or sensorineural and whether you have what looks like a noise notch on your audiogram that would be indicative of hearing damage from loud sounds.
That should give you some clues as to the next step you should take.
Regards
Neil
Dr. Neil,
I’ve had a head cold with fluid in my right ear for a few days. Last night, I noticed a quiet, persistent tinnitus that I attributed to the cold. However, this morning, I’m experiencing distortion with the sound of my child’s voice, and sometimes, my own. Last night, I held him while he cried after injuring himself. He could have easily yelled into my ear while we were checking him out. Can I expect the distortion to go away? I’m panicked at the thought that my own child’s voice causes me discomfort. Thank you.
I have been listening to my ipod at the gym at a pretty high level for a year or so. I noticed the last two times, I have ear pain, not ringing or muffled noises, but pain for a couple days after. Needless to say, I have turned the volume way down and bought noise-cancellation headphones. Does this seem like damage to you? Is there something that I can do to make the pain go away? Thanks so much for your reply!
My father, a singer, started having some increased hearing loss and pitch distortions in the left ear. He says that pitches are sounding off-pitch on higher notes when he listens to music or even when he sings. We tried using a soft plug for the left ear, and that helped to keep him from hearing the distorted pitches, and he could sing normally. When he is heading the distortions with the ear unplugged, he can’t hear the right pitch to sing. He went to an audiologist and will now see an ENT. The audiologist gave him a report which indicates 88% Right and 80% left. I guess that indicates the level of hearing he has in each ear, but I’m not sure. He has had no pain. He states that sometimes his ear on the left feels tight. His regular doctor did not see fluid, but he did start him on a decongestant to see if that would help. Is there a name for the pitch distortion he has? Will this go away or be something he lives with? Thanks for you help!
Hi Dr Neil,
I was at a Target practice yesterday,had ear plugs,it was my first one so I was not familiar with how much protection I should have had as in Large Muffs.Have had the “Shift ” that you mentioned to others but I wondered how long this may take. My ears have been good considering I am in my 70’s but this scares me since hearing Loss is a big genetic factor in my Family. Thank you.
hello, i really need soem important advice, I just started listening to my ipod when i play basketball for about 3 hours a day at 65% volume. I was sitting in my room when i had a slight ringing in my left for about 20 seconds twice today even though i didnt listen to my ipod. I was wandering if listening to ipod caused it or if it was just normal because i was listening to it more. I really need help please respond thank you!
Hi Austin:
If the volume from your iPod is less than 80 dB, then it should not be causing tinnitus, unless your ears are very sensitive to sound.
However, if you suspect that listening to your iPod is the culprit, turn the volume down. You should not listen to music any louder than the typical person talks to you. If you set the volume so that it sounds about the same volume as people talking to you, it should ALWAYS be safe.
I’m curious why you feel the need to listen to your iPod while playing basketball instead of interacting with the people you are playing with. That would be better for your ears, you mental health and your emotional health.
Regards
Neil
Really concerned as it has been 4 days since my hearing has been distorted from Shooting (with ear plugs)In a crowded room like a Church Foyer it is very bad. On the phone the voice of the person sounds totally differant.Alarms or dings from the Microwave or car buzzer very low and differant in sound. TV is extremely hard to hear clearly.
One on one conversation is OK tho’ not as good as Previously. Know there is nothing I can do but I am asking for encouragement that this may not be too long lasting and Permanent. Thank You.
mostly because the gym I go to is relitively empty I switched to head phones as they are more comfortable. I was wandering if thinking about how my ears feel and going deaf can affect how they actually are? I havent hear any buzzing since then if my ear feels a little blocked is that anything to worry about? I just started listening to my ipod about last week so maybe my ears are just getting used to listening to it? thank you
I have worn ear buds lately while listening to music as I walk. The kind that come with the i-pods is what I was using, and did not find them very comfortable. After 3 days in a row (about 30 – 45 min. each time), I noticed that even though my ear buds were NOT in my ears, it feels like they are every couple hours. If I open up the air way to my ear, it disappears, but the feeling keeps coming back every couple of hours. If I try to ignore it, it feels “heavy” in my ear. I have NO ringing, and my hearing is NOT muffled. It is just a “phantom” feeling or something. But, after a few days, I thought it would be gone. Why am I still feeling this?
Hello Dr. Neil,
I noticed two months ago when someone spoke loudly on the phone into my right ear it would become fuzzy, almost like a deep vibration in the ear and would last a couple days before getting better (no ringing). Then, last week, I was in a club that was very loud and had a women yelling into my right ear to try to speak over the noise. She was yelling point blank into my ear and I could feel the intense vibrations once again. This lasted about an hour and a half. As soon as I left the bar I noticed that when I spoke it sounded like my right ear was a distorted loud speaker. When other people spoke it sounded the same. It has been exactly one week since this occured and I now have a slight, continuous ringing in my ear. Also, when I speak, and when others speak, it sounds as if a rining morse code is playing to the sounds of thier voice inflections. I have seen my primary care physicain and he has informed me that my ears have experienced loud noise trauma and will get better over time. It has seemed to have gotten slightly better (only stightly,) but I am worried that this could be permanent. Will my ears every get back to their previouse normanl state? And if so, how long would this normally take?
Thanks.
Hi Brandon:
I agree with your doctor that your ears have suffered noise trauma. Typically, your ears will recover given enough time–IF you don’t expose them to more loud sounds in the meantime.
How long will it take? It may take a few days or a week, or it may take a month or up to 3 months.
The more often you expose your ears to loud sounds, the longer it typically takes for your ears to recover. If you keep on exposing your ears to loud sounds, one day you’ll find that your ears never recover and you’re left with permanent hearing loss and tinnitus.
Your ears are warning you now–so pay attention–unless you want your ears to ring forever.
Neil
Dr Neil,
Thank you for your response. For the most part, the loud speaker sound that occurs when I speak or am spoken to has subsided. Yet, the ringing is still persistant, with a slight morse code ringing sensation in conjuction with particular voice inflections when in moderately loud environments.
I am continuing to wear an ear plug in that ear when exposed to loud noises but am wondering if there is any other percautions I can take to ensure my ear heals properly and more quckiy? Medications, ear drops, etc..? Or is it going continue to be a waiting game?
Hi Brandon:
It’s a waiting game. Think of it as a bruise–it takes time to heal. Give it a month or two. And protecting your ears when around loud sounds is good. Just don’t overprotect your ears or you will get other problems.
Regards
Neil
Dr. Neil,
I have read through all the previous questions and answers to glean an answer to my question; however, my situation remains puzzling. I have been encouraged by your comments regarding the ear’s ability to recover given enough time. Five days ago, a friend of mine was operating an electric saw about ten feet away. Always protective of my hearing, I had my fingers pressed into my ears for protection. While doing so, I shifted my jaw a little and the left TMJ popped very loudly. I heard a ringing for a few seconds, but it dissipated. When my friend stopped sawing about 30 seconds later, I took my fingers from my ears and when he spoke I realized I had dampened, distorted hearing in my left ear. Two days later an audiogram showed no significant change in hearing from my previous audiogram of five years ago. The ENT was puzzled by this as was I. He could make no connection between my jaw joint and inner ear. My thought was that since I had my ears blocked, the volume of that loud sudden pop so close to my inner ear caused a noise induced hearing loss. The doc didn’t really buy that theory, but had no explanation. He did begin me on a round of steroids anyway. First, do you know what might have happened and secondly, do I have reason to be optimistic for an eventual recovery? My symptoms have not changed in the 5 days since this began. Hearing remains muffled and distorted. I might add that I suffered from cochlear hydrops in that ear in the late 1990’s and had SSNHL in 2005 in same ear, but suffered no permanent loss of hearing either time. Your response is greatly appreciated!!
Dr. Neil, I have been into Trance music since last 20 yrs. I am 33 now, and occasionally attend concerts and Music Festivals. I usually stand next to loud speakers to enjoy music. After 4-5 hrs, its the usual ringing sound in the ears which fades away after good night sleep, untill yesterday, I attended an event. I was right in front of speakers and the music was very very loud may be upto 12-130 db, for 3-4 hrs continously without any ear protection. Its been now more than 20 hrs now, the ringing/hissing feeling is felt in left ear and its feels some kind of heavyness in the ear also. For the first time yesterday I had a distored feeling for 2-3 hrs which is not there now. But, the ringing feeling is still on. I am now really afraid that this could be a permananet problem or as you mentioned in other replies, that it might fade away with due care and time. Kindly Help!!!
Regards, Manoj
Dr. Neil,
Sir, awaiting your expert views. Ringing is still on and my fear of this being permenant is getting worse.
Hi Manoj:
I don’t know how to say this kindly, but it was really, really dumb to stand near really, really loud speakers for several hours. That’s just asking for trouble–and I fear that trouble has finally caught up with you.
You can only abuse your ears for so long before they give up. I’m surprised you haven’t had permanent tinnitus long before now.
I have no way of knowing whether your tinnitus will be temporary or permanent–but given your history of abusing your ears with loud sounds–I wouldn’t be surprised if it proves to be permanent. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that you don’t have to let your tinnitus drive you buggy. You can choose to let it, or you can choose not to let it.
What you need to do now is basically two things. First, you need to protect your ears from loud sounds in the future. That means staying away from loud venues or wearing earplugs that can keep the sound down to a reasonable level. Reasonable is defined as not known to hurt your ears–and that level is currently set at 80 dB. That means that if you wear a set of earplugs with a factor of 30, you could go to a venue that has sounds up to 110 dB without hurting your ears–but that’s it. No more 120 or 130 dB peaks.
Second, you need to learn NOT to worry about your tinnitus. Just focus on the loves of your life and let your tinnitus fade into the background if it will.
The more you focus on your tinnitus (and worrying about it is focusing on it), the worse it will become. And that is exactly opposite of what you want. You want your tinnitus to fade into the background and become less and less intrusive over time.
Regards
Neil
Thanks Dr. Neil for your reply. Its more than a week now and the ringing is still there. So i guess, my fear of this being a permanent types has become true. Huh!!!
I will work on your advice and ask my other friends also to be more cautious now.
Regards, Manoj
Hello Dr. Neil,
I’ve had very mild Tinnitus since I was a child when a small fire cracker exploded about a foot or two from my left ear and later in my twenties from standing macho-man next to a loud monitor in a club concert. But I’ve would recover then would have great hearing of course, but with a bit of tinnitus that I would notice in quiet environments.
Now in my forties after going through certain treatments, I’m now left with a buzzing feeling in both my ears but more apparent in my left ear.
It was much more severe after treatments, which left me with a congested feeling without having a cold or flu, my left ear drum would sort of flap, I was left with a feeling similar to an out of phase speaker setup. Like not fully clear, but I could hear, similar to also an AM station… with louder tinnitus.
Interesting to note that when I would listen to music with earphones, no distortion or buzzing in what I was listening, but when I would sit in front of loudspeakers and listen to the same sound I could hear distortion, all volumes of course set to moderate listening, no more than 80db, etc.
So skip 3 to 4 months later, I wasn’t hearing great but was recovering at small increments, I had been protecting my ears with earplugs in loud environments like city streets, etc. Then, I discovered a setback – I vacuumed my apartment without earplugs, the vacuum is rather loud, constant sound for about 5 to ten minutes roughly. Later that evening, I realized I was hearing my voice and others with a certain BUZZ, very apparent. I was noise sensitive as well. It was a setback.
Skip 3 months later and my hearing has improved and the real apparent buzzing quality in conversations and music was diminished, but I was still left with a sort of distortion feeling in my left ear. But another setback, I was talking with someone and that person let out a loud laughter, very obnoxious, I was about 3 to 4 feet away, very loud, almost high pitched and next day, woke up with high pitched tinnitus apparent, I realized as soon as I woke up. Buzziness kind of returned a bit more, with distortion and sound not really as good as the day before.
I had been making strides, improvements, after protecting my hearing with earplugs, except in that conversation, I wasn’t expecting that loud a laugh… my point is to others PROTECT your hearing in situations you have NO control in. A dog bark can mess you up, a foolish person suddenly yelling, a loud bus in the street, a siren, etc. etc.
At home, allow yourself to hear normally, you have control over that. Wear earplugs, its imperative that you always protect yourself because you NEVER know when a loud sound will suddenly “appear”.
Anyway, the most intersting part of my hearing recovery was that I can now hear crystal clear sound underneath or in combination with other instruments and sounds. I use a playlist of music that I am very familiar with and know that was well recorded and of high quality. I can hear the vocal chords vibrating with a richness and the highs of the s’s and detail of a microphone, the richness of a hi-hat, the snappiness of a snare. Horns sound wonderful, no distortion in a trumpet sound or certain synth sounds. I can make out details of lyrics sung in combination with rock guitar sounds, BUT – BUT… some guitar sounds or combination of multi-vocals can sound still, distorted, scratch-edy, and at times with some buzziness.
Here’s my main question:
For example, when I say “loud” or “buzz” loudly, my left ear can pick up the vowels too strongly and thus I hear them with a buzz, but if I repeat the same words softer, I don’t hear the buzz.
Same with music, I can hear at a moderate level, make out clear high frequency sounds, details in music, but will hear distortion or static-like sound over them, like as if my ears are too sensitive and I’m not abusing my ears or playing music really loud, just enough to fully enjoy music.
I hear this issue less with ear and headphones. So, I’m wondering WHAT is this exactly?
Is it my hearing nerves in the inner ear? Or is it my middle ear?
I once noticed sudden improvement after taking Sudafed or a off-brand Mucinex, took it at about 6pm as a test to clear out my middle ear perhaps, then listened to music at around 9 pm and to my surprise, I could hear more clarity than before, I kid you not.
I do take vitamins for ears, supplements for ear care also.
But Im at a loss trying to determine what is going on? Is it inner ear damage or middle ear issues?
Improvements like I’ve experienced gives me hope, again, its as is I’m hearing better, but distortion still is an issue and my ears are still very sensitive to any real loud bombastic noises or prolonged constant loud exposure, I protect my hearing very carefully now, its work, putting in ear plugs, taking them out, but worth it.
Thanks for your time and reading my long winded question and for any reply,
Gary
Hi Gary:
You say, “At home, allow yourself to hear normally, you have control over that. Wear earplugs, its imperative that you always protect yourself because you NEVER know when a loud sound will suddenly “appear”.”
This is true–you have no control over those unexpected loud sounds–but wearing ear protection all the time has its downsides too–it makes your ears even more sensitive to louder sounds, which also makes them more sensitive to tinnitus too.
So the more you protect your ears, the worse your sound sensitivity and tinnitus become. But the less you protect your ears the more chances you have of making your tinnitus worse with loud sounds.
There is a very fine line you have to walk. I sense you are almost going too far with the ear plugs and the worrying about your tinnitus. This obsessing about your ears can make both the sound sensitivity and tinnitus worse too.
You ask, “Is it my hearing nerves in the inner ear? Or is it my middle ear?”
It could be both. The Sudafed episode seems to indicate a middle ear problem. At the same time, the tinnitus and sound sensitivity indicate an inner ear problem.
Distortion can occur both as a middle ear problem and an inner ear problem the way I see it.
Regards
Neil
Thank you for your quick reply Dr. Neil!
I agree, over protecting isn’t good. At home, with my lady, a civilized office, inside my car with windows rolled up, etc., I don’t wear ear protection. But when entering a busy store, even late at night, or when there is little clientele, I still wear them.
I had one instance where it was late, not many people at a super market, nice and quiet, then suddenly clang clang! A grocery store employee drops without any care, the cover of a trashcan on the ground. I said, no, can’t be. So, I do wear them, I have to, if not, a sudden loud noise can mess me up. I can’t risk that anymore. I have more examples, but thats enough.
What I’m more mystified with is the distortion or buzziness, or the hyper-sensativity my left ear mostly has.
Today, my hearing has improved, I was listening to music with my good stereo and I could hear a bit more clarity than last week, more detail, richness. BUT, again, certain volumes or combinations of sound create a distortion, buzz or even an over amplification IN my ear, mostly the left.
When I turn the music down, nice and low, nothing. I don’t blast the music at very high volume, but at a comfortable reasonable level, and at times, certain songs, I hear distortion, then repeat the passage that I heard that at a lower volume, nothing, normal nice sound.
Its very strange, it sometimes happens with earphones which I also hear everything clear and but certain busy song passages I hear like a scratchy distortion when underneath I can hear clear details of the music.
I think my ears are very, very slowly recovering but I may have over sensitive middle or inner ear issues, the result of ototoxic treatments drugs. But I’m healthy and thats what matters, I understand the balance!
But again, that distortion has me totally mystified. Thanks again for your thoughts and quick replies!
Gary
Hi Gary:
The distortion and over-amplification you sometimes hear with certain volumes and pitches of noise sounds like you have some recruitment kicking in. If the sounds are below the recruiting level, you don’t notice any problems, but when any part of the sound hits the magic recruitment threshold, you get the loud/distorted sound. For example, certain parts syllables with speech can cause severe recruitment for me. I had to bad episodes yesterday listening to a seminar on my computer. The sound recruited so badly it hurt and I got a headache–all from a fraction of a second of severe recruitment. Such is life.
Regards
Neil
Ahhh recruitment. I’ll look into that condition a bit further, not obsessively but just to understand it.
Interesting that today, just about more than a week, my hearing has improved very well. I still have that distortion/buzz with loud sounds and even my own voice with vowels like the ‘uh’ of the word ‘buzz’. The uh buzzes! But not as much as before!
These senses are amazing. Its as if the body wants to heal and it does. You just need to give it time I suppose.
Anyway, interesting that in listening to multi-vocal passages in a certain song I keep using to check my hearing used to distort now flutters with little distortion from that recruitment, like something is clearing up in my hearing. Just a tiny bit of distortion.
Time is the healer. So, its been about 6 months and patience and time I think will heal along with good nutrition, my ‘ear vitamins’ which I think do help in healing and of course, careful but not obsessive ear protection… all of that is necessary.
I had the flu which may have contributed to my sensativity and ear issues as well.
Thank you very much for your answers Dr. Neil.
I went to an ENT and they pretty much just didn’t even allow me to explain just what I explained to you, they rushed me out with not even a mention of recruitment. It was awful. So I really appreciate your thoughts on my issues and hope it provides helpful information for others.
Hi Gary:
For a good basic understanding about recruitment, see my short article on the subject at http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/articles/recruitment.htm
Regards
Neil
I GET QUIT GOOD CLARITY FROM MY EAR WITH MY AID AND THEN IT GETS DISTORTED, WHY.
Hi Neil
i’ve been exposed to loud music for a very long period of time now(even when i go to sleep). when i woke up one morning and removed the headphone, i felt something inside my ears like “rushing air trying to escape” that same morning when i was laughing my ears were constantly sounding like “blown speakers”. Now even when i swallow or yawn my ear crackles…pls help i don’t know what to do.
And anytime i yawn, i feel a very sharp pain under my jaw. pls Neil i would really love to hear from you
Hi Benjamin:
You may have a few problems with your ears. When you hear crackles, it usually means you have “gunk” in your Eustachian tubes. You hear the crackles as the air bubbles pop around the gunk when you yawn or swallow.
The sharp pain may be your Temporomandibular joint (jaw) being out of place.
Are your ears congested? Or have you had colds and viruses or allergies lately. That could also account for your ear problems.
And, as you know, listening to loud music can cause your ears to sound distorted too.
Regards
Neil
Thanks for replying
No i havent had any cold or allergies lately. But what is really disturbing me is the “rushing air trying to escape” and it happens anytime i shout or talk loudly.
And i would really be happy if you tell me if there is any medication for my distorted hearing(blown speaker sound)or anything i can do to stop it…i can no longer play drums or piano in church again.
Pls help me, i feel very sad about this.
when i talk, “the rushing air”(soft vibration inside my ears) hits my eardrum from behind, external noise that are loud also triggers it.
i tried doing the valsalva manuver but it only stops the problem in my right ear but not the left, it lasts a few seconds then goes back to “the rushing air” problem…its a little hard to describe
and i also dont think its the temporomandibular joint because i’ve read on it before.
the pain i feel is just below my jaw, if feels like a swelling inside, i’ve had the pain since i was little(am 19yrs old presently) but it was ignorable then. not until after i finished recording a song in the studio…when i was yawning i felt the pain so bad that it even affected my left ears(the pain) after i finished.
pls forgive me but my symptoms are a little hard to describe
Hi Ben:
I’m trying to figure out whether you have a form of tinnitus (the rushing air sound), or whether you have patulous Eustachian tubes (where they stay open when they shouldn’t), or whether it is something else. If you have patulous Eustachian tubes–you hear your voice louder and breathier than otherwise. You may also hear your own breathing.
Try describing your symptoms in more detail. Maybe something you say will help me understand what is happening in your case.
Regards
Neil
Hi Neil, my symptoms are similar to that of Benjamin. When i talk it is like air is echoing inside behind my eardrum. Is there any medication for this, especially the blown speaker distortion?
Hi Joseph:
See my reply to Ben and consider whether you have patulous Eustachian tubes.
Here’s what you may hear if your Eustachian tubes stay open (Patent).
“When the Eustachian tube is patent, our voice and other sounds generated in our oral cavity, such as chewing and breathing, travel directly up the tube into the middle ear. These sounds are then heard at an abnormally loud level: autophonia is the abnormally loud perception of our own voice. In addition, because these vibrations will now be striking the tympanic membrane from the inside as well as from the outside, and these two separate signals will be slightly out of phase, the patient’s voice is not only likely to sound very loud but distorted as well. The specific cause of this phenomenon is not clear.” Yale Hearing & Balance Center
Does this describe what you are experiencing?
Regards
Neil
– Rumbling noises in my ears following speech/sharp external noise
– Crackling sound when i swallow or yawn
– Fluttering(low vibration) in my ears when i hear a loud sound, it’s almost like my ears reflect the sound back (feels like i have a weak eardrum). Its like my ears are sensitive
– Blown speaker sound in my ears when i’m in a loud environment or talking very loud or laughing
– No pain
– No hearing loss, my hearing is fine
– I have never had any problem with my ears
An ENT Doctor looked into my ears with an otoscope and saw nothing. This problem started immediately after i woke up with my earpiece on (the music was loud).
I’ve stopped listening to loud music for 3 months now and there has been no sign of relieve.
Please is there any solution?
Hi Ben:
The rumbling sounds sound like tinnitus, possibly reactive tinnitus.
The crackling sounds are congestion in your Eustachian tubes
The fluttering sounds could be the tiny muscle in your middle ear (tensor tympani) that is attached to the hammer (malleus) bone. If you have hyperacusis from exposing your ears to loud sounds (which you did), this contraction of the tensor tympani muscle tightens the ear drum, which can lead to the symptoms of ear pain/a fluttering sensation/a sensation of fullness in the ear (which you now have).
The blown speaker sound is likely the result of inner ear damage from the loud sounds as well.
Basically, what you have done is damage your inner ear (and messed up your middle ear) from exposing your ears to excessive sound. Now you have to pay the piper. Unfortunately, I think some of the damage is permanent. However, some of your symptoms may go away in time IF you protect your ears from louder sounds while they are healing. This could easily take 6 months or more.
At the same time, you have to let your ears hear regular sounds. If you overprotect your ears, things will get worse, and if you underprotect your ears, things will get worse (or not get better). So you have a fine line to walk. It’s like walking on a fence–you don’t want to fall off on either side.
For sounds at normal speech level and below you don’t want to wear ear protectors. For sounds substantially above normal speech you want to protect your ears–wear ear protectors–to bring those sounds down to just above speech levels–but you do not want ear protectors so strong that they bring sounds down to below speech levels.
That’s what I’d do if I were in your shoes. Your ENT should be telling you all this, not me–but since you asked…
Regards
Neil
Dear Dr. Neil,
17 years ago i was exposed to the noise of rifle fire in the german military. An earplug fell off, which i didn’t notice and the damage was done. It recovered noticeably for about a week but the left ear was damaged since then, the right ear far less but it still got some damage. A hearing test 17 years ago and 9 years ago showed the same curves.
– reduced hearing left side, and not as much in the right side.
– a weird, extremely distorted sound whenever lower frequencies with a certain sound level hit my left year. This could be a passing bus or even people speaking, or even myself when i wore earplugs so my voice was louder and deeper for me.
– Tinnitus which adjusted itself to the sound levels. Its was especially receptive to certain electric guitar sounds.
In early February this year i started to take magnesium and for the first three days the tinnitus got worse, kinda louder and somewhat more “solid”, and i even felt light pressure on my ears. Than i raised the magnesium to 900mg a day, and for three days up 1200mg a day. Than back to 900 mg a day for 4 weeks and its now down to 500 mg a day. My EMT gave me a nutrition supplement, especially for damaged ears which includes a lot of stuff good like magnesium, n-acetyl-cystein, ginko, certain vitamins etc. I could write up an entire list of the content if you want to but i can’t find anything online because this german company only sells to people who send them a list of their daily vitamin nutrition, to avoid overdoes. Its a very long list but i could do it eventually. I’m taking that stuff for 6 weeks now.
In the last 2 1/2 month i noticed this:
My hearing on my left ear is much better. Other people speaking on the phone or directly sound almost the same now in both ears. I test that by plugging one ear, than the other or change sides during a phone call. When i listen to music (on very low levels and i even reduced the maximum levels of all my MP3 and MP4 to 75 decibels with some programm) i can hear most instruments now with the same clarity and sound level on both ears, unless there are very fragile sounds like a very quite clashing sound (like glass breaking) in a particular song. Usually the left ear was a) quiter and b) kinda “shielded” by the tinnitus. Its also the same with TV and so on.
The distortions caused by deep frequencies and a certain sound level are almost entierly gone, or at least extremly reduced. The distortions annoyed me the most all this time.
The tinnitus, which was on my left ear rather loud, sometimes “shielding” it from most sounds, is now sometimes little more than a whisper in the background and even if its louder, its nowhere near as loud as it once was. Its not a thing of the mind either. Even if i concentrate on it, and plug my ears its not much louder. Also the frequences have changed. The tinnituses on both ears have almost the same level now, while the right was usually much quiter and higher than the left.
Also other little things show that my hearing is better. Like when i put my ear on some drink with carbon dioxide, the sounds of both ears are now more similar than just about 3 moths ago. There are still differences though, just not as much anymore. I’ve also ran a test at my EMT and it also shows that some of the lower frequencies came back while the right ear also changed a bit to the better. Its not much, but the damage was also lesser.
Also, when i plug my ears like at work, the tinitus got much louder usually after a while, i guess my brain adjusting, now its just a little louder and it gets quiter again much faster, even if i wear these things for 8 hours straight.
All this is a big relief for me. I have to say i protected my hearing all my life. I never went to concerts unprotected, never ever went to discos, clubs and wore even ear protection in the cinema, at least after the accident. I also avoided alcohol, smoking, and coffee. I didn’t even knew it would damage the ears, i just didn’t like this stuff. I had to use very few drugs. I never used loud speakers, no firecracker ever exploded close to me, and so on. The only time i got hit by noise unprotected was that accident. I think that this is the reason why magnesium triggered the recovery, even if it might never fully recover, its almost shocking how much better my entire hearing is now.
I have a question though. I read somewhere that Raishi and Auricularia fungals would support microcirculation of the blood and therefore were good for the little cells in the ears. Can you tell me if the circulation in the earcells can be too good and damage them? I would like to try these fungus, also to lower my bloodpressure, but keep the other stuff as well.
Dear Dr. Neil,
I am a mild tinnitus sufferer due to a rifle exercise (M16 Gun) where my ear plugs fell off and that is how I developed tinnitus. so doctor diagnosed me with hyperacusis and tinnitus from my ent scan and test result.
I had been behaving myself for a year trying to prevent myself from furthering damaging my ears, my hearing was perfect, it is just the ringing in my ears which i had adapted quite easily given by my doctor advice.
Since i had been resting my ears for a year, it was my birthday where my friends decided to throw me a birthday party (2days ago) at a club. I could not rejected since it was a thought from my friends, but after that night everything had changed, i was in there for like 5 hours, music were pretty loud, so i came out of the club after the place was closed and founded that my hearing seems to lowered down, i am not sure, it felt like my hearing have compressed (tightened a bit). So its been 2 days, still no sign of improvement or recovery, i could still hear everybody speaking, but just the hearing seems compressed (tight), but i could still hear everyone,so i would like to get some advise would my hearing get back to before or i just permanently damaged my hearing? I am prepared for the worst scenario if lets say i had damaged my hearing, i just want to hear from someone like you with a huge ample of experience. This lesson taught me alot, i guess after this incident i will never step into a club again. it is a big no, since i am a music student pursuing my degree right now. For any musician, ears are very important, i am living in regret now, but i guess what is done cannot be undone. So hope to hear some advice from you doctor, I am not feeling calm right now, everyday having lots of negative taught, that is why i wrote to you. i am at my lost end, because i love music.
Thanks you reading, hope to hear your reply soon doctor.
Regards
casper
Hi Casper:
You are right. What’s done is done and you can’t undo it. However, you still might be able to do something to help your ears. I suggest you read a couple of article of mine and act quickly on the ideas presented–like today or tomorrow at the latest. You may be able to save your ears. If not, lesson learned. Don’t go into noisy places, or wear ear protectors with a factor of 30 or so if you have to. Each episode of exposing your ears to loud sounds (temporarily) damages them more and finally they don’t recover and the damage is permanent. You’ll have hearing loss and probably tinnitus.
Here’s the two articles I was referring to.
Vitamins A, C & E Combined with Magnesium Help Prevent Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/vitamins-a-c-e-combined-with-magnesium-help-prevent-noise-induced-hearing-loss.php
and
Loud Music and Hearing Loss (the latter part of this article)
http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/loud-music-and-hearing-loss.php
I wish you well.
Neil
Dear Dr. Neil,
Thanks for your fast reply, it meant alot for someone suffering in silence. I will take note of the advice you gave me. I have read the article, it was great information shared. What now best i guess i could do it just protecting my ears with earplugs and see if i still be able to recover from some of my hearing. Thank you Dr Neil, at least your words help ease my thoughts right now. I will heed your advice and see long i progress from my recovery. Have a nice day doctor.
Regards
casper
On April 6th, 2013 I shot one round from my 9mm without hearing protection (I know stupid) and I got a sharp pain in my left ear with immediate distorted/kazoo hearing in that ear with loud ringing. The ringing subsided after a few days but the distorted hearing was still there so I scheduled an appointment with and ENT on April 12th. During my ear exam the ENT didn’t find anything wrong other then (what he called) a prominent Vascular Strip (a wind band of broken blood vessels on that eardrum) and he said that probably is not causing my condition. I was given a 6 day course of methylprednisolone and I didn’t notice any improvement after the course was completed. I also had a hearing test which showed high frequency hearing loss in both ears which I already was aware of. As of today May 4th I still have the distorted/kazoo hearing and it’s hard to tell if it’s getting any better, if there is it’s at a very slow pace. Here are my symptoms and the severity of the symptoms change from day to day, at my normal speaking voice I have no symptoms. When the volume increased from my voice or someone else’s this is when I get the distorted/kazoo hearing as well as a louder TV or radio with cheap speakers and it only happen’s at certain pitches especially women’s voices. If I clear my eustation tubes I can get it to improve for a few minutes when it’s more noticeable. Every once in a while I feel my ear will pop on its own and the symptoms are gone for a little while as well. I read about Eustation Tube Dysfunction but I can pop my ears and I don’t have the most of the symptoms of Patulous Eustahian Tubes But before this happened I went on a diet an lost 17lbs. and I heard that fat can be reduced around the tubes and could cause the eustation tubes to say partially open. I would think I would have noticed this condition before the ear trauma. When I clear my eustation tubes and my left ear pops it sounds different then the right one when poping, sort of like there is mucus in that ear and something is releasing. When this distortion/kazoo happens it feels like a vibration and or a rattle in my ear as well. I have searched the internet for a month regarding this condition and have not found anyone who has had an accurate diagnosis or solution to fix this problem. Most of the posts I read regarding this condition are from people who had an ear infection, musicians, someone had this happen after an ear cleaning or people just waking up in the morning and noticed the condition with no apparent reason. I think it may have something to do with damage to the Ossicular Chain. I have an appointment on May 9th with an Otolaryngologist from the University of Michigan Health Care System but I don’t expect to get any answers. If you have any more information regarding this condition please let me know.
Please how do i know if i have Tonic Tensor Tympani Syndrome?
Hi Dr. Neils
I already believe to have narrowed it
down to tensor tympani syndrome or
myoclonus (are they the same?). It’s like
the ear is overly sensitive to loud
noises, especially sharp ones like from
glass or metal. Also, I have the “crunching/crackling”-sound and feeling
that I’ve read comes with tensor
tympani syndrome, like some spasms of
this muscle. The sound/feeling comes
when I speak myself or when hearing
other sudden noises, so this probably sounds just normal for this kind of
disease. But here is what I didn’t see anyone
else having, at least they didn’t describe
it this way: When I go places with very
loud sounds, like the movie theatre, the
sound on my left ear will suddenly
disappear after some minutes and it will be replaced by some kind of
crackling sound. This crackling sound
goes away if I put my finger in the ear,
thus dampening the loud noises
outside. It sounds like listening to a
broken/blown speaker. It kind of scares me. Have any of you had similar
experiences?
Hi Mike:
Myoclonus is just a more general term for sudden muscle contractions, whereas tonic tensor tympani syndrome is a specific condition.
You can read my article about tonic tensor tympani syndrome at http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/do-i-have-tonic-tensor-tympani-syndrome-ttts.php. It should answer a number of your questions.
You NEED to quit going to loud venues like loud theatres. You are just making things worse every time you expose your ears to loud sounds.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr neil i happen to loose my hearing completely after a flight. 3 days later some return and i could use a phone. when i consulted with DR they said it was ETD.i could not hear well.I saw the ear poper online and could not get it. so i did use oxidizing oxygen on a tubing through my nose while i had a good seal on the other nose. As i swallow the gush of air myeustacian tube pop open sevaral time.Late at night i found my self completely deaf on my only fuctioning right ear that was stuff and buzzing. saw ENT next day and was put on prednisone. i am done but have recover some hearing. still losing some high and low frequency right now and not able to understand all phone conversation.Having a mild to moderate hearing loss for a month now.Are they chances i would finally recover from this trauma with the tinnitus going away. very despareate. Thanks
Hi Russ:
I’d have to know much more about your situation before I can help you. My rule of thumb is that the hearing you are left with after 30 days or so is all the hearing you will have in the future. Since a month has gone by, I don’t hold out much hope of more of your hearing returning. It’s about time to consider getting a hearing aid and to learn successful hearing loss coping strategies.
Your tinnitus is likely permanent (or will last as long as your hearing loss does if your hearing should decide to return), but you can learn to live with it so it will not really bother you. The best thing I’ve found is to completely ignore it and let it fade into the background. Otherwise, the more you focus on it, the worse it will become.
Regards
Neil
This was a trauma form using oxygen through my nose to clear my eaustacian tube which left me completely deaf the night after i did that. However i am at a point were i have some mild to moderate hearing loss. would the healing process continue or like you said i would not recover any more hearing. Thanks Dr Neil. How about any supplement you think might help. I do understand sometimes the said recovery can be up to a year or 18 months is that possible? Thanks
Hi Russ:
Anything is possible, even 18 months from now, but in my experience, what you have in about 30 days or so is what you typically will have in the future. You may be different (and I hope you are) but there are no guarantees. So you need to learn how to successfully live with the hearing and tinnitus you have now.
Regards
Neil
After some times will the tinnitus subside.
Hi Russ:
So much depends on the cause of the tinnitus and your own psychological/emotional makeup.
If you learn to treat your tinnitus as a totally unimportant sound, such as the sounds your fridge makes–so that you ignore your tinnitus as much as you ignore your fridge, in time you’ll find that your tinnitus seems to fade into the background and doesn’t bother you much or at all.
Regards
Neil
Hey Dr Neil,
So I’m only 14 but my friend screamed into my ear really loudly because I wouldn’t give her food. And today I would feel on and off pain in that ear, and it seems a little muffled and plugged with slight ringing when I sleep or when I listen to anything. Is my ear ok and can I go swimming since its mandatory at school??
Hi Steph:
I hope your friend was a two-year-old and not a 14-year old. Screaming right into anyone’s ear can cause instant permanent damage to your hearing. Not to mention that you can also be left with tinnitus and hyperacusis.
Your ear has suffered noise trauma. As long as your eardrum wasn’t ruptured–and I don’t think it was–you should be able to go swimming. I just wouldn’t dive deep into the water. But swimming, even underwater–at a depth of 3 feet or so shouldn’t do any further damage.
Your ear now needs rest. The muffled feeling is hearing loss–what they call a temporary threshold shift. Hopefully it will go away in 2 or 3 days. Ditto for the pain. If you don’t expose your ears to any more louder sounds for a few weeks to let it recover, there is a good chance the ringing will go away too. To help it do that, don’t think about your tinnitus. Just ignore it
There are no guarantees that this will all be temporary. If you still have problems after a couple of weeks, I’d say it’s time to see an ENT or audiologist.
Regards
Neil
My brother shot a small bb gun with no bullets in my left ear. And now when I talk loud or when someone talks loud to me it sounds weird in my left ear. Also selver wear raddling irritates my left ears. Its been almost 3 days Will it go away?
Hi Antwan:
I’m assuming this BB gun fired a burst of air into your ear canal. The effect would be just the same as someone yelling into your ear canal–and can cause hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing in your ears), hyperacusis (where certain sounds now sound much too loud (which you now have with the silverware rattling, and distorted hearing (which you also now have).
It takes time for all this to heal. Think of a bruise. It can take some weeks to go away. The same with your ear. It may take 2 or 3 months or more–so don’t expect it to happen fast. At the same time you need to protect your ears from loud sounds while this happens or things will just get worse. Think of whacking an existing bruise.
So protect your ears and hopefully in a few months your ear will be back to normal (or close to normal).
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,18 days ago I was hammering in my house doing diy without ear protection,i know dumb).Ever since then whenever I speak loudly or hear loud sounds there is a dry tinny rattle sound vibration in my left ear.Also I think Ive developed hyperacusis or fear of sounds.Ive been to an audiologist and he said I have normal hearing with slight hearing loss.He didnt seem too concerned and to give it more time to heal.I am wondering if this buzz/noise does not dissipate will my brain get used to it in time just like tinnitus,thanks.
Hi Pat:
I’m with your audiologist. Give it more time–3 months or so. These things don’t heal up overnight. Distorted hearing is a common result of exposing your ears to loud impulse sounds such as a hammer hitting a nail–especially when using a big hammer on 5 and 6″ spikes.
You also likely have hyperacusis where normal sounds now appear to be too loud. That is another common result of noise exposure.
If the hyperacusis sounds seem so loud that they hurt, you can develop phonophobia (a fear of sounds) since you don’t want to hurt yourself.
As you now know, wearing ear protectors when around loud soundscan save you from a multitude of ear problems.
Regards
Neil
Thanks for the reply Dr Neil.I know to give it more time,Im impatient!Yes im definately developing fear of sounds,i especially jump or react to impact sounds.I have taken your advice and am wearing earplugs when loud sounds are around,thanks again,Pat.
Hi Pat:
Just be careful with the ear protectors that you don’t overdo it. If you wear them when you don’t need to, you’ll just make your hyperacusis worse. You only want to wear them when there are sounds that are greater than 85 dB in volume. Below that, you don’t need them.
Regards
Neil
Yes thanks Dr Neil Il follow those instructions.The rattly tinny sound is the most annoying and worrying symtom but as you say I need to give it more time,Pat.
Hi Dr.Neil, this is antwan again I went to the ENT and they said that my hearing was great, and they looked in my ear and didn’t see anything. But she suggested steroids. And also my throat get very dry to the point where I have to drink water every time I swallow, she said that the inside of my nose looked swollen and my have caused nasal drippings in my throat. Any Suggestions?
Hi Antwan:
I’m no fan of steroids (or any other drugs) unless they are absolutely essential. I don’t know what is going on with your sinuses–but I can’t see how it relates to the BB gun episode.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil
For a while now since I was a little younger (I’m 23) I have this weird fixation with loud noises. Let me explain, I occasionally will take my phone play music on the max and put the speaker to my ear. I just like the vibration feeling but what I wanted to know was 1 is it normal? And 2 what exactly is wrong with me?
Hi Anthony:
Young people today seem to be addicted to loud beat music. A strong beat is addictive to be sure, but listening at high levels is just not wise if you value your ears. Exposing your ears to loud sounds can cause hearing loss, tinnitus, hyperacusis, distorted hearing, etc.–and none of these are pleasant.
So you should not expose your ears to loud music (or any other loud sounds). You don’t HAVE to do it. You can CHOOSE to turn the volume down to a reasonable level–so just determine that you will do so. Then do it.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,I posted earlier.Have you ever heard of trt and pink noise therapy for treating hyperacusis.At the moment my symptoms are more or less the same.My ear doesnt feel pain or anything,its just that im finding it difficult to not focus on my ear.,thanks Pat.
Hi Pat:
Yes, I’ve heard of it. Actually, there is a modification of the TRT program called HRT (hyperacusis retraining therapy). If done correctly it helps reduce hyperacusis in many people, but you have to be careful and listen to your body (ears) as I’ve also heard from people that made their hyperacusis worse by having the pink noise adjusted wrongly by the HRT/TRT professional.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil
I told you about my bb gun incident, so I went to an ENT, she checked my hearing and saw that I had no signs of hearing loss. Could that be a sign that my tinnitus will go away soon or not?
Hi Antwan:
It’s not a definitive sign. Your tinnitus may fade away, or it may not. Only time will tell. But continue to ignore it and that will help it along. Focusing on your tinnitus is a sure way to make it stay.
Regards
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil. About three weeks ago, I was breaking apart a large picture frame in front of my house when I tried to break one side of the frame (the wood was thick and hard) in half by hitting it hard on the roadway. The sound it made when it broke in half sounded like a gunshot. I immediately felt a fullness in my right ear, hearing loss, distorted sound from the TV, car radio, and from my own voice, and a muffled sound when in a large noisy space such as a restaurant. I don’t have a continuous sound in my ear like I’ve read other people do. The distorted sound from the TV and car radio has gotten considerably better, but I still have some hearing loss and a distorted sound from my own voice when I speak above a whisper – it sounds sort of metallic and like it’s reverberating from my right ear. It’s really scaring me. I have an appointment with an ENT doctor in a week.
My tinnitus just got louder 5 times, each time for a couple of seconds. Then it returned to how it was. Help? Bad?
its been 7 months now since my hearing on my left ear get distorted sound when there is a loud sound even voices that are loud my hearing get distorted, and also after a couple of months i think my right ear became sensitive to loud noise and slight ringing in my ears when im in a quite place. i went to ENT and they said im exposed to loud noise and this is permanent, is it true that there is no cure? that this will not go away? btw im a musician and a drummer of a band, and now i cant play drums without wearing ear plugs.
Hi Stephen:
If it’s been 7 months now, I think probably the damage you suffered to your ears is permanent. Typically, there is no cure since certain structures have died and they don’t regenerate on their own.
You shouldn’t be playing drums or any loud instruments (or be around loud sounds) without ear protectors on. If you had done that faithfully in the past, you probably wouldn’t have damaged your ears.
Wearing ear protectors when around loud sounds will help preserve your existing hearing for the future and hopefully prevent further problems.
Regards
Neil
I’ve gotten encouragement reading your responses to other people. Three weeks ago I was in an accident and the airbags went off. I had heavy buzzing for a while and the ringing went away after only about a half hour.
My ears are improving, but it’s very slow (although last Friday I experienced a fairly sudden and significant improvement). I sometimes hear buzzing distortion when the volume of sounds around me and even my own voice get loud enough. I think my left ear will be OK, but the right ear is most vulnerable. I’m trying to stay positive and patient and try to let time do its healing. Given that it was only 3 weeks ago and I’ve seen progress, do you think I might at some point lose the distortion? My 15 year old daughter was in the car with me and she recovered in a day or 2. I’m 52! I’m a classical musician, but am on a break this summer. In my area there are so few ENTs I can’t see one until August 18th and that’s still a month away. That is why I am writing to you. Thanks SO much.
Hi Scott:
No one can predict the future, but when you are having continued improvement, you can hope that the improvement will continue until any residual damage (if any) is almost imperceptible. So you have reason to continue hoping.
As I’ve said before, it takes time. Hopefully, but the end of the summer your ears will be their robust selves again.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr.Neil,
Recently I had fallen asleep with my earphones in and when I woke up my hearing felt muted when I tried listening through the earphones later, but every other sound I hear feels unnecessarily loud. I have a migraine that is on and off, and a slight ringing in my ear. I am 17 years old and I’m worried that I may have damaged my hearing. Do you have an idea of what is going on?
Hi Ashley:
I”m assuming you were listening to loud music when you fell asleep and this loud music continued while you slept. This is a dangerous thing to do because all the loud noise damages your ears. When you woke up, you had a temporary threshold shift (hearing loss) from all the racket your ears were exposed to. Another proof that the sounds were much too loud is that you now have hyperacusis–a sensitivity to sounds so they sound much louder than they really are.
Hopefully, the damage to your ears is mostly temporary, but there are no guarantees. What you need to do now is protect your ears from loud sounds while they “heal”. This could take 3 months or more.
You should not be listening to music any louder than your hear normal speech. Then you won’t damage your ears. When you listen at levels louder than that, you are just asking for trouble. Some ears are more robust and can stand more punishment, but others are not so robust and permanent damage is the result.
Regards
Neil
P.S I’m planning on attending a concert on Nov 17, would it be best for me not to go or use a sort of ear plug to dampen the sound?
Hi Ashley:
Either will work. Use ear protectors with a factor of 30 or so. You NEED to give your ears a chance to heal.
Regards
Neil
Would you also advise wearing them on a daily basis because my house is REALLY noisy and my family tends to talk and yell really loud.
Hello! 25 days ago i was in some club, music was too loud. A morning after that, i notice samo buzzing when someone talks loudly or when i talks little loud too. That’s distortion. I went to the ENT and he measured that i have hearing loss in my right ear 35 decibels. He give me to drink some ginko and vitamine B.
Is there any chance that this distortion will disappear? Thank you.
Hi Aleksandra:
Distortion from noise damage takes time to go away. I’d give it 3 months or so before you begin worrying about it. During that time, protect your ears from loud sounds so your ears can heal. However, if your distortion is the result of hearing loss (some hair cells have died), then that kind of distortion probably won’t go away because you now hear less at certain frequencies and that won’t sound normal.
You need to always protect your ears when you go into loud venues or risk damaging your ears permanently.
Regards
Neil
Do you think that this distortion will go away? I hearing that distortion in my right ear in which measured 35 db? Is there any hope that ear will heal? Thank you.
Please answer me on my first question, I’m desperate. I have to write too that i feeling a little pain when i listening some talking longer time and my ears are hot in that situation.
Hi Dr. Neil,
I have found your page very helpful so far I wonder if you might help me.
Like so many people on here I did not take enough precautions with loud music.
I have always been into going to gigs since a young age and used to put tissue paper in my ears when i was a kid, went through a very reckless stage as a teen and in my early twenties of not really using earplugs at all and then as i got into my later twenties i became more responsible using decent earplugs at gigs and club events with loud volume, although taking them out occasionally during my favourite songs.
However I also DJ at very loud club events and do not wear earplugs in order to ‘hear what i am doing’. I hit 30 this summer and having got a new job (i work in the music industry) and more money I started buying alot of concert tickets through July – I also got alot of bookings to DJ that month. I ended up going to a gig one night and only partially using the plugs and then DJ’d for 3 hours straight the next, in a very loud set up.
its nearly 6 weeks later and my left ear is fine but my right ear has very loud tinnitus to this day, and some distortions. Shortly after this happened I had the onset of bad tooth infection on the same side of the ear and, being distracted by the pain I was convinced that was the cause, forgetting the extra loud gig (mainly as I had ‘gotten away with it’ so often, but it couldn’t have originated from my ear?
I am on a waiting list to see a specialist, I am devastated about the idea of permanent tinnitus and hearing loss as I sound engineer and music is my main passion in life but I did not pay enough care. It is frustrating because i was becoming more careful but had the oversight to allow myself to go unprotected in order to perform DJ sets and make money, and having done this without any lasting problems, this one longer and louder gig seems to have done lasting damage..
The tinnitus in my right ear, feeling of heaviness, irritation and muffled sound has not really gotten any better in about a month. Does this mean it is permanently damaged?
Thanks for your help
Jack
Hi Jack:
I think you finally did one too many times of abusing your ears–and now you’ll have to put up with tinnitus (and no doubt some higher-frequency hearing loss) in the future. Chalk it up to experience and determine now to ALWAYS protect your ears in the future so you don’t cause more hearing loss and louder tinnitus.
It’s always possible your tinnitus may fade into the background, but there is no guarantee. The best way to facilitate this is to totally and completely ignore your tinnitus by focusing on the loves of your life. If you focus on your tinnitus, you’ll just make it louder and more intrusive and you DON’T want that!
Regards
Neil
Hey Dr. Neil,
So yesterday I was at the shooting range and we were shooting at an old TV that didn’t work anymore,and I decided to shoot with a gun that my dad forgot was really loud. So when I shot it,naturally my ears started ringing very loudly and I experienced some temporary hearing loss. My dad and my cousin that came along both said that my hearing would return. Well it did but oddly enough,not in both ears. My ear on the left-hand side of my head feels like it’s plugged up,and when I flex my jaw muscle it makes this weird sound,similar to a bird chirping,but in a more rapid manner. I’d really like to know what’s going on.
Also when I apply pressure to the ear in question, the muffled feeling seems to go away but it gradually returns.
I’m a 17 years old male and I came from. An aeroplane flight and ever since I got this high pitch screeching noisw in my ear , I could hear hissing and whooshing. And the problem is mainly in my left ear feels blocked , muffled and less volume then my right had this for a week , went to gp and only give me eardrops and pressure tablet n now when I hear the tv it feels like the volume go up and down and sometimes blank….. Help dr neil any solution
Hi Khalid:
Are you saying that this one airplane flight caused these ear problems you now have? Were you sitting in a particularly noisy spot on the plane? Was it a long flight? What else was going on that might have affected your ears at this point? Did you have a cold or virus? Were your Eustachian tubes clogged? Did you have any sinus congestion?
Not having all the details, I think it is possible that your Eustachian tube/middle ear is clogged giving you the muffled hearing and tinnitus. If so, things should return to normal when your Eustachian tube drains. This could take a couple of months, or it could happen much sooner.
Regards
Neil
Dr neil.
I could also hear high pitch screeching from car tyres and it hurts my ears… Please any response would be appreciated… Is my left ear damaged then and tv volume seems up and down what is the problem causing it…. I had this noises and tinnitus for a week…..
It was a. Long flight and I particulary had a nose flu at the time
Which I still do now sound. Seems abit more relaxed now , though left ear seems less in volume
I was sitting next to a friend earlier today when he popped a ball from those novelty toys right in my ear. I had ringing for about a minute and everything coming from my left ear now sounds muffled. Do I have permanent hearing loss? Will it get better soon?
Hi Alex:
All I can say at this point is that you have a temporary threshold shift, meaning you have a temporary hearing loss. Typically, it should get better in the next couple of days.If you still have it after a week or more, then there may be some permanent damage, but I’d hope that wouldn’t be the case.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil
I have noticed recently that when sounds come into my right ear I have trouble figuring out where exactly they originate. With my left ear I can pinpoint the origin of noise precisely, but with my right I am always way off in my guess of sound origin..
Should I be worried?
Hi Tracy:
I don’t understand what you are trying to say. The truth is you need BOTH ears to pinpoint the source of a sound. With one ear, it is impossible.
Perhaps what is happening is that your ears have unequal hearing loss. When a sound is loud enough for both your ears to hear it, you can tell where it is coming from. However, if the sound is too soft for the ear with the greater hearing loss to hear, then you can’t pinpoint its direction.
That would explain the results you have. This would mean that one ear has a significant hearing loss. You should go to and audiologist and have your hearing tested to find out if this is the case.
Regards
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil.
I’m 22 years old and I used to listen to loud music a lot. I had significant rest periods in between when I was younger but for a year and a half I overdid it cause of some issues and I ended up with some mild tinnitus that I had for some months before stopping the habit. I had an audiogram 3 days after my last exposure and it showed a 6000 hz notch in both ears. Threshold for right ear was 30db and 20db for my left ear.Since it’s in an early stage should I expect some improvement in thresholds in the following year and a reduction in tinnitus volume (or even remission)? I’m assuming this because that’s what I understood studying for the ENT lesson in my med school (also the reason why I freaked about my hearing in the first place).
Hi
I was listening to music on my ipad for a couple of hours and I stopped to play my saxophone. I am twelve years old and about 20 minutes after a put my saxophone away it felt like I still had the earphones in my ears. I’ve had this feeling for a day now and it comes and goes. Will it go away?
Thanks,
Brennan
Hi Brennan:
It should have pretty much faded away by now. How loud were you listening to your iPad? Too loud for too long could cause such problems to occur.
Regards
Neil
Hey,
So tonight I was at work and I was listening to my music with my ear buds in pretty loud. To block out the water pressure spraying, well after about three hours I took them out and my ears felt plugged and like I couldn’t here normal. It was like the sound around me was turned down. Well it went away in my right and it’s still in my left it’s been three hours sense then and now I have a ringing in my left ear. I don’t know what to do. I’m 18 do you think it will go away?
Hi Chelse:
It’s not wise to add more sound to block out loud sounds. All you are doing is damaging your ears further. If the pressure sprayer is too loud, you need to wear ear protectors–not add more sound.
What you have experienced is a temporary (hopefully) hearing loss. But there are no guarantees. You may also have caused some permanent damage to your hearing.
The tinnitus may be temporary (if your hearing comes back), or may prove to be permanent if you have done permanent damage to your hearing. You see, tinnitus very often accompanies hearing loss–even if the hearing loss is up in the high frequencies where you don’t even notice it is now missing.
In the future you need to protect your ears when around louder sounds. The foam ear protectors you can get in any drugstore for a few bucks will do the job. In addition, you need to keep the volume turned DOWN on any music you listen to or you will continue to damage your ears and in a few years you’ll need to wear hearing aids in order to hear speech. Not something you really want to have to do.
Regards
Neil
Hi Neil I hope you are well.
Can I’m hoping with your knowledge, you can help.
Ever since I had Microsuction Earwax removal in July 2020- I have had distorted hearing.
In particular the distortion happens with high frequencies human speech. In particular women’s voices, when they are talking at normal to higher volumes.
This has got marginally better and I also have like a vibration in my left ear. Again for the same duration all started after Microsuction Earwax removal.
The device was only in my ear for less than a minute for both ears.
I also get the eardrum flutter with these frequencies and some frequencies when it is not even loud – I.e a knife scrapping on toast with butter.
I have seen ENT’s and had numerous Hearing Tests. At the start they showed Normal hearing with some frequencies at -5 & -10 decibels.
Louder sounds like Road Traffic – Alarms don’t bother me.
It’s those certain frequencies that seem to sound distorted or almost as if it causes resonating in the ear.
We are February 2021 now and just wondering if this will get better or it is permanent.
Prior to having the earwax removed I used Hydrogen peroxide 5% for a week.
I am 32 and the last time I had earwax removed was when I was about 6.
I’m hoping it is Hyperacusis that will get better with time?
I don’t use earplugs and I’ve never exposed my self to any noise out of the norm – except for the Microsuction which was loud.
Apparently though the machine they used – generates a maximum noise level of 69db? And is what they call the ‘Gold Standard’ Microsuction Suction Device.
Thank you in advance for your reply.
Mevin
Hi Mevin:
Telling me you have distorted hearing doesn’t really help without telling me how your hearing is distorted. You say women’s voices sound distorted but you don’t say what is now different.
The vibration in your left ear is probably tonic tensor tympani syndrome (TTTS) where your eardrum vibrates often due to exposing your ear to a loud sound.
I’m assuming that you are meaning that higher-frequency sounds distort and that lower-frequency sounds remain normal–correct? Just saying “those certain frequencies” without telling me what they are sure isn’t helping.
How blocked were your ears with the wax before you had that microsuction? If totally blocked then two things can happen. When the wax is removed your ears now hear sounds too loud–so you essentially have loudness hyperacusis for a few days until your ears normalize again. The other things that can happen is if the wax blocks your ear canal and the suction tries to pull out the wax as a chunk, as the suction increases pulling the wax out, it’s like stretching an elastic band, and when the suction breaks and air rushes in, your eardrum snaps back just like an elastic band. This sudden motion generates the equivalent of a loud sound like a gunshot that can cause acoustic shock which can include TTTS and loudness hyperacusis.
Does this correspond with what happened as you see it?
69 dB shouldn’t sound that loud–certainly not hurtfully loud. So either they are wrong with the sound level, or it was the suction releasing that generated a loud sound.
Since it has been about 8 months now, it seems the problem isn’t going away on its own. I think its time to actively do something about it, because you should be able to treat it and reduce the problem.
My recent book, “Hypersensitive to Sound?” explains about these kinds of things in detail and explains what you can do to get it under control. You can get this book at https://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/hypersensitive-to-sound/ .
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil, thank you for your swift response.
Apologies, what I mean by distortion is that – women’s voices, high pitch voices when speaking slightly higher than normal conversation volume gives the sensation of distortion or like it is causing something the flutter in my ears.
Strangely, if I cover either one of my ears by pushing on the Tragus – the sensation is not there at all.
It is almost as if both ears are having trouble working together.
This only happens with high pitch voices at the above slightly normal conversation. For example if my wife talks to her parents on the phone – I get the sensation in the ears – as naturally your speaking voice raises – when talking on the phone.
I also get the same sensation – but only in my right ear when using my left hand to cut food – or scrape butter onto bread – doesn’t do it if I use my right hand!! I wonder if there is nerves connected triggering this?
When I say distortion – I can hear clearly what is being said – but it’s as if it is too sharp for my ears.
I also get a pooping sensation if I am talking in both ears, certainly if my voices raises slightly.
Also in my left ear I get a intermittent buzzing noise which fluctuates so much – that sometimes when I sleep on the left ear and cover the right I can hear the buzz which isn’t a solid tone. However then sometimes it goes completely. For example it will not be present when I go to sleep and I am still awake for an hour or two – however it will suddenly wake me up – in the morning and – then just as I get up it disappears again.
If I lye the other way the vibration can be so loud – if with the fan running all night I can still hear it.
Also I find if I shake my head the Tinnitus goes – but as soon as I stop it comes back as a solid tone.
If I block my left Tragus – the Tinnitus goes. Meaning I cannot hear any of the Tinnitus symptoms coming from my right ear.
However if if block my right ear – I can hear the Tinnitus from my left ear.
Both Ears had impacted earwax which was there for a long time.
I only had it removed as it had damaged my eardrum on e left – which I now have a tiny scar on.
I wonder if the Tinnitus is a result of the Trauma to the Eardrum with the very small scar present in the middle of the TM.
At first, after having the Microsuction – Cutlery clanging around gave me this discomfort, which feels like distortion.
All peoples voices, including males – gave me this sensation at normal conversation volume.
Even a phone call on loud speaker gave me the same discomfort. It literally felt like the noise was making my eardrums flutter/resonate.
Thank you in advance for your reply.
Kind Regards,
Mevin.
Hi Mevin:
Normally, when you have wax blocking your ear canals you can’t hear as well as you normally did, so your brain turns up its internal volume in order to hear better. Then, when the wax is suddenly removed, your hearing jumps back to normal, but the internal gain is still turned up so you hear everything too loud.
Typically, your brain turns down the volume in a few hours to a few days and things sound normal again. However, in your case, this doesn’t seem to have happened. Thus you now have some degree of loudness hyperacusis.
All the fun you are having with your tinnitus by touching, pushing on various body parts is because your non-classical auditory pathways are now hyperactive.
Here is a quote from my tinnitus book that explains what is going on.
“Some studies have shown that electrically stimulating the skin in certain places of the body can modulate tinnitus. For example, researchers can cause somatosensory tinnitus by electrically stimulating the median nerve in your arm. This indicates that what doctors call the “non-classical auditory pathways” are involved in such forms of tinnitus. In fact, it seems that the non-classical auditory pathways figure prominently in various forms of somatosensory tinnitus.
You don’t even need electrical stimulation. For example, since the auditory pathways receive input from the somatosensory system, some people can hear tinnitus which is evoked just by stimulating a narrow band of skin on the hand.
Just what exactly are these non-classical auditory pathways? The auditory nervous system consists of two parallel pathways. The first is called the classical pathway and the second goes by the name of non-classical pathway (otherwise called the extra-lemniscal pathway).
These two pathways process information differently and go to different parts of the brain.
The classical pathway is strictly for auditory information. It is narrowly tuned to sound frequencies. It processes auditory information as this information moves from the cochlea to the primary auditory areas in the brain.
In contrast, the non-classical pathways is are more broadly tuned, is are more diffusely organized and is are more plastic as compared to the classical pathway. The non-classical pathways receives its their information not only from the ears, but also from other sensory organs of the somatosensory system such as the tactile (sense of touch/feel) system and the visual system.
The association between the auditory and the non-classical (somatosensory) pathways occurs due to connections in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of the brain. There multitasking neurons receive signals from both the auditory and the somatosensory pathways.
Because there can be this association between the auditory pathways and the non-auditory pathways, when abnormal interactions occur between the various systems connected to these pathways, the result can be somatic tinnitus.
Note that the shorter the interval between the stimulus of one pathway relative to the other, the greater the interaction between them.
This explains the connection between various forms of “weird” tinnitus that affect the other senses such as somatosensory tinnitus, gaze-evoked tinnitus and moving–tongue tinnitus. This also explains why grinding your teeth can cause or modulate your tinnitus. It also explains how involving another sense can change your existing tinnitus.
To be sure, these strange experiences don’t happen to everyone, nor do they happen every time you may touch a sensitive spot on your ears, face or neck, but it does happen from time to time, more so in some people than in others. Consequently, the next time you experience touch-related tinnitus, know that you are neither unique nor crazy—but perhaps just a touch weird.”
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil. You may remember me. I’m the totally blind guitarest who damaged my hearing from one second of extremely loud microphone feedback with the speaker close to my left ear. I went to an ENT who said its probably permanent nerve damage. I didn’t submit to a hearing test, because I tested my hearing at home with my computer and sign waves at low volume produced by audio editing software. It seems I can hear up to about 11000 KHZ with a notch from about 3700 to 6400 KHZ. that causes the letter S to sound like F. What’s even worse however, is the distortion my ear hears in my voice and other sounds at all levels and frequencies. I’m so depressed since music and audio is my life, and I can’t enfoy it anymore. I can’t sing because it sounds bad to me. Just talking causes anxiety. Because I’m totally blind since birth, I really depend on my hearing. As I said, the noise burst only lasted about one or two seconds at the most befor I turned it down. My hearing in the left ear shut down for a few seconds and when it came back everything sounded muffeled and distorted. Its been that way ever since. This happened on September 27th. I have no tinnitus though and that puzzels me. I thought that always accompanied NIGL. Even though I went to an ENT, I’m going for a second opinion, and this time I’m going to allow them to do hearing tests. I’m only going for piece of mind and to ask more questions that I have since reading your web page. I just have to try one more time before giving up. I feel like my life is over. I’ve been singing and playing for 30 years and now can’t do it any more. Do you think the distortion is permenant? Its driving me crazy. Also. Do high frequency sounds damage more quickly than low frequencies.
I hope all working musicians reading this takes heed, and is very careful with speaker microphone placement. This didn’t have to happen. I know better, and it only happened because I was careless and had a moment of not thinking. Just two seconds of feedback may have ended my playing for life. Thanks for your wonderful informative web page. Regards. Joe.
Hi Joe:
Yes, I remember you. I’m with your doctor that the damage is likely permanent. Your “noise notch” (3700 to 6400 Hz) tends to prove that. Typically, noise damage results in a noise notch around 4,000 Hz and you are right in that ball park.
Since music is your life, I’d encourage you to get past the fact that some sounds are now distorted. That is a fact of life, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy music any more, or talk or sing. Sure it sounds “off”. I love music, but with my weird hearing, so much sounds off–in fact, I don’t even know what “on” should sound like. (I can sing in all keys at once (LOL) and be happy since I can’t tell where my voice is pitched in relation to the real music.
If you obsess about your hearing and see the glass as half emphy, you’ll just make yourself miserable. Rather, look at the glass as half or three-quarters full and be thankful for that and learn to work around the “off” sounds. Then you can be happy in spite of your loss.
Be happy you don’t have tinnitus. You are correct in that most people that suffer from noise-induced hearing loss also have accompanying tinnitus. So there’s a real blessing. And since it is Thanksgiving day today, you need to stop and count your blessings–all the things you still have.
Yes, the high frequencies are damaged first and more than the low frequency sounds. This is because the mouth of the cochlea where the sound enters the cochlea is for high frequency sounds. The low-frequency area of the cochlea is way up in the apex where it is more protected.
Because of this, you may find playing in lower keys makes music sound better. This is something you can experiment with and see if it works for you. That way you’d enjoy your music more in spite of the “distortion” in the higher frequencies.
Regards
Neil
Hi Neil. Thanks for your quick response. What bothers me most is the constant distortion I get in my own voice even when speaking. This left ear used to be the better of my two ears before this happened. Now its the worsed of them. The right one has low frequency loss and tinnitus but no distortion. The only way I can lessen the distortion is by holding my nose and gently popping my ear, but that also lessens the low frequency I can hear and doesn’t last. Could I damage my ears further by doing this? In your answers to some people you said this distortion may faid even after about three months. Its been just over two months now for me and it hasn’t changed. Do you think barring a miracle, I’ll have it for life? Is there anything else I could have damaged besides hair cells that would cause this distortion that could heal in time from this kind of accident? I’m going to another ENT on wednsday just to ask more questions before I give up. I guess I’m still in the bargaining stage. I’m thinking of getting your book on accepting hearing loss. I can’t read the print book, but if its in PDF, I think my screen reader and computer would read it.
Just one last question. What is your PHD in. Thanks again. Best regards. Joe
Yesterday I was listening to a talk on Youtube, there was something indefinably horrible about the sound, a sort of background vibration that was very uncomfortable. It wasn’t loud [sensitive neighbours!] I even wondered if it was generating the damaging 7 cycles a second sound. Nevertheless it was very interesting subject so I pressed on but eventually abandoned it as too unpleasant to endure. I got up and walked to another room and realised I felt very odd, a muffled feeling like blocked Eustachian tubes but more than that, as if my whole head was muffled and I felt a bit disorientated. I said out loud, ”something very weird is happening” and my voice sounded weird as well. The right Eustachian tube felt a bit blocked too. In addition a sound like a very distant road drill was heard in my left ear.
Today, I was really scared to find it all still happening including a very mild pain in the ears now and then and the muffling is much more extensive than usually happens with blocked E. tubes. This evening I listened to some choral music and my left ear reacted to some sounds by producing a distorted tinny high version of the note in question. It was so unpleasant and uncomfortable I put an ear plug in.
I am 67, have mild cocktail party syndrome plus very mild upper level hearing loss, almost too mild to be called a problem. Slight tinnitus when tired as well. In general I am rather sensitive to noise, wake easily at the slightest sound and generally prefer sound life in the quiet lane!
I am terrified of losing my hearing, I have/have had various neuropathies [including the visual cortex] linked to possible Lymes disease/and or Autoimmune problems and Vit B12 jabs have done a lot to sort the various damages or at worst keep them under control as long as the injection frequency is higher than the usual 4 times a year.
I also wonder if my not very big computer speakers are capable of putting out a very loud inaudible frequency that would damage like very loud noise can?
Hi Cherry:
As you have suggested, there are several things that might have caused this distorted hearing.
First, I’d get your ears checked to be sure they are not blocked to a large extent by ear wax. If wax is not a problem, then it could be your middle ears/Eustachian tubes blocked by gunk. Your audiologist should be able to do some tests to determine if that is the case or not–e.g. air and bone hearing tests to see if there is an air-bone gap and tympanometry to see whether your ear gives a type A result or not.
If no wax and no middle ear problems, then, as you say, it could be AIED (autoimmune inner ear disease).
If you have any active virus in your body (including Lyme) then it could be the virus attacking your inner ears and causing this damage.
Finally, depending which drugs you are on, it could be an ototoxic reaction to certain drugs.
I can’t see that your computer speakers are causing the damage. You didn’t mention exposing your ears to any really loud sounds recently, so I’m assuming you didn’t, but if you did that could have also caused what you are experiencing.
To me the above are among the most likely possibilities.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Dr Neil,
many thanks for your very quick answer.
I will get some tests done.
Many thanks,
Cherry
Hi there,
I have just arrived from a flight. I was listening to pretty loud music for around
an hour or more until the plane started descending. My ears were so plugged they were numb. I could still hear about 70% over 100% over the plugged ears. I got concerned about the ears and I started yawning a lot to reduce the plugged feeling. I tried blowing out of my ears while pinching my nose and I even tried swallowing. However they only helped a bit, if not no help at all. Right now my left ear is fine with just abit of pain. Unfortunately even though I can hear abit out of my right ear, when I talk it still feels blocked. What do I do? I have arrived for around 40 mins from the flight right now. Do I have a ruptured eardrum? Please help.
Thanks,
Celine
Hi Celine:
I doubt you have a ruptured eardrum. Most likely you have some congestion in your ear or Eustachian tube so you can’t pop your ear properly. When the gunk drains out, your hearing should return to normal. This may take a few days or longer. Some people find that if they have a cold or sinus problems that things go better if they take a decongestant before flying and again before descending.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks Doctor Neil For the fast and efficient reply. The next day from the flight, everything went back to normal, and I was quite elated. However, today, when I woke up, I had the same feeling in my right ear, maybe even worse. It feels plugged, very plugged and I can hear myself talk as if I was closing my ears to talk. I can hear my footsteps when I walk to the ground. It feels really uncomfortable and I thought that having a nap on that particular ear can help as the gravity might be able to push the pressure out. However nothing much changed, the pressure is still there. Please help :((
Thanks,
Celine
Hi Doctor Neil,
I have not heard a reply from u haha. Please help to reply asap! 🙂
Thanks,
Celine
Hello Doctor Neil,
Sorry for the irritating posts I’ve made, just one last update. My left ear is completely fine, however, my right ear is experiencing hearing loss. I have autophony, which I can hear myself talk and when I walk, it feels like loud thumping. I’ve tried to put on earphones in both ears and when I tried, my left ear ls louder than my right ear. I was really quite scared as I didn’t know whether this hearing loss is permanent or not. Please help doctor, I’m at a loss now.
Thanks,
Celine
Hello, Dr. Neil.
My recent eardrum injury is still causing me a great deal of anxiety and depression. Please help me if you can.
I experienced a traumatic 4-mm eardrum perforation on September 18th. The perforation closed in about two months ago, but I’m now plagued with crackling, clicking and popping every time I swallow.
It’s like a broken speaker next to my right ear. That’s how loud it is in my head.
Two ENT docs thought I was crazy when I explained this to them. The third, fortunately, agreed with me that maybe it’s that the new tissue simply hasn’t regained any real tensile strength yet (more vibrations = more sound). I hope this is the case and that I’m not plagued with this the rest of my life. I’m aware that the dimeric membrane that grew back is now weaker without its fibrous middle layer.
Without sinus congestion, my right ear pops every time I swallow. The slightest congestion and I hear crackling/crunching sounds in the damaged ear whenever I swallow, and the sounds are so loud that I am taking sleeping pills at night to calm my anxiety.
As I am now in the maturation stage of the eardrum healing, can I expect these swallowing sounds to subside down the road, or should I learn coping mechanisms to deal with it whenever I swallow?
Chris
Austin, TX
2 weeks back I fired a blank .22 calibre round for a dummy launcher for gundog training. This is the first time I’d used it and it was very loud which caused my ears to ring. However, after 2 weeks my right ear is still ringing! My right ear is a little sensitive to loud noise (people speaking loudly). I thought it was getting better, but now after a conversation in a noisy room it’s ringing loudly again. The ear also feels like is slightly swollen. I saw a Dr 3 days after the event and said he couldn’t see much due to ear wax and told me to come back a couple of weeks later. He didn’t think the ear drum was pierced.
I now wear an ear-plug in the right war since it seems to help filter the loud noises (traffic, etc. when outside or near the kids).
I’ve had a quick hearing test and it seems OK (yet to check the higher frequencies).
Do you think the ringing will go, and if so, what are the likely timescales.
Thanks
Oliver
Hello DR Neil
few weeks later i clean my ears and i feel something inside ENT specialist advice me some drops because of hard wax after five days he cleaned my ear but there was a mini wound he again advice me drops now that wound is recovered i have no pain no problem but why i am listening so (extra) clearly even i can’t bear traffic noise or other loud noises Is It permanent ?
Update from my earlier article 133 above:
It’s been exactly 3 weeks since my incident with a single loud bang. My right ear is still ringing (perhaps not quite as much). I now seem sensitive to noises in the right ear such as dishes clanging, toilet flushing, car noise etc. I was wearing ear-plugs, which I think made it worse.
My hearing test up to 8000Hz seemed normal (my right ear is actually slightly better than the left oddly enough). However, upon doing an online test for above 9000Hz my right ear seeem pretty much deaf unless I ramp up the volume to max.
From googling my conditions it appears I might have hyperacusis with tinnitus.
I now await my appointment with an ENT to learn more.
I will update my progress in a week or two.
Update from 135 above:
It’s now 5.5 weeks since I damamged my hearing via a NIHL. My symptoms are now slowly starting to subside. I saw a Harley Street ENT this week (cost £1,000) who varified my ear drum visually looks ok. It apepars both my ears are sensitive (right much more so), although further hosptial scans would be needed to understand more. He gave me some pills (Serc 16mg 3 x a day for 2wks which contains Betahistine dihydrochloride) to increase the blood to my ear to help it heal more quickly. I think it is working as the sensivity to noise is reducing and the tinititus is now less noticable. I am no longer wearing ear-plugs unless I am in a noisey environment (but noisy places does make my ear ring more for while). The ENT seemed to thinks things will settle down in time. He did a proper hearing test (amongst several other tests) which showed I have slighty better hearing at many ranges than average but the typical NILH arond 4000 Hz – although only slight so I probably wouldn’t notice it myself and nothing for me to be worried about he said. Basically I’ll give it another 4 weeks and assess where I am.
The ENT did advise I keep quiet for a while to give the ear a rest and a better chance to heal.
hi sir am suffering from hearing loss, bcoz usually i used to hear high sounds with my headset.i love to hear songs in high beats and rhythyms.wat can i do sir…it ll b alright or wat i have to do to get my capacity back!
Hi Viknesh:
When you destroy your hearing by listening to music much too loud (like you have been doing) and for long periods of time–hours at a time rather than just a minute or two–you cause two things to happen. First, you get a temporary threshold shift (a temporary hearing loss) from the results of the loud sounds. Essentially, you have damaged your ears but not to the point of killing the critical hair cells and other components in your inner ears. When this happens, if you give your ears a rest from loud sounds for a few days, typically your hearing (mostly) comes back. But if you do this too often, eventually the hair cells die and then you have a permanent hearing loss. The more hair cells that die, the worse your hearing loss becomes. There is nothing you can do to replace dead hair cells, so the hearing loss you now have is permanent.
At this point you have two choices. Continue to listen to loud music and lose more and more hearing, or be sensible and turn the volume down so it is about the same volume as a person talking and preserve your existing hearing.
To hear better, you now need amplification–typically get and wear properly adjusted hearing aids.
Cordially,
Neil
About 7 years ago I started attending single’s events that featured karaoke. The music was quite loud, but I enjoyed singing, and wound up hosting the event for 4 1/2 years. I don’t know just WHEN it started, but I began to notice a buzzing in my ears (similar to crickets at night) and then my hearing became muffled. I had a hearing test, which showed I had a loss of hearing – and thinking back on it, I’m sure I had this muffled hearing at the time of the test. It’s kind of like when you get off a plane, and just as with exiting a plane, if I yawn, sometimes my ears will pop and I’ll hear much better. Will hearing aids actually improve my hearing – or does this popping & clearing of the ear indicate there is another possible cause & remedy? Could there be something wrong with the tubes not opening properly? I can’t believe hearing aids will help this problem. Is surgery indicated – or is there possibly something non-surgical that I can try?
Thank you for your help – it’s appreciated.
I was cutting my yard and was hearing music for like 3-4 hours I felt my ear going numb didn’t really do anything that was on a Saturday. Sunday come along and nothing happen Monday night when I was sleeping I woke up to hearing loss from my left ear. I had permenet hearing loss from my right ear since I was a little kid from an accident..but know I feel like my left ear is stuffed or swollen every time I sleep or start to feel sleepy. I don’t have pain or any thing looking like an infection in left ear. WWhen I’m fully awake I can hear perfectly. Whats wrong and should I go see a doctor
I have a swooshing sound in my left ear, and my right ear is clogged due to loud headphones. Every time I go to blow my nose my ear pops and still feels clogged. Am I going deaf?
Hi Ayanna:
If your ear feels clogged after wearing loud headphones, then you are definitely damaging your hearing a bit at a time. The clogged feeling can be a psychological feeling that you get when you lose more hearing and your brain says to itself, “Surely I should be hearing more than I am, so the ear must be clogged up or else I’d hear more.” Thus it gives you the psychological feeling of your ear being blocked.
When you blow your nose and your ear pops–that is a real physical clogged up ear. The proof of this is that it pops as air gets through the Eustachian tube. Physically clogged ears give you a temporary hearing loss. Listening to loud noise typically results in permanent hearing loss.
The solution? Given time, physically clogged ears will drain and the clogged feeling goes away and any temporary hearing that was lost returns. And turn down the volume on your audio devices. You shouldn’t be listening to anything at levels louder than you typically hear people talking if you don’t want to slowly (or not so slowly) destroy your existing hearing.
The swooshing tinnitus you are hearing is typically a indication that you have been damaging your ears from loud sounds.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you very much Dr. Neil, have a great day!
Hey Dr. Neil,
One more question! Does the swooshing tinnitus ever go away?
Hi Ayanna:
It may, or may not. There are a number of factors. If the tinnitus is due to hearing loss from your middle ear being plugged up, then as the gunk drains out and your hearing returns, it should go away.
However, if you tinnitus is the result of permanent hearing loss, it may never go away, but if you ignore it, it can fade into the background where you are not even aware of it most of the time.
And one more possibility, if you swooshing sound is in unison with each heartbeat, that indicates turbulent blood flow in the arteries near your inner ear. In that case, it may reflect high blood pressure and treatment for this may eliminate it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil
I’m a teen, I’m a music fan and normally use ear phones to listen to music for more than two hours a day… Now I feel that my ears are clogged, but I’m not feeling any pains. I’ve been feeling this way for more than 2 days but I normally drag my ear to feel comfortable… Please Dr. Neil what should I do?
Hi Jessica:
You don’t say at what level you listen to the music on your earphones. If you keep the volume down to the same level as you would for listening to someone speaking, then you should not be damaging your ears. If you have the volume up significantly louder than a person speaking, then probably the clogged feeling is because you have some degree of hearing loss from listening to sounds too loud and for too long.
Probably the best thing you can do is to give your ears a rest for at least a month and see if the clogged feeling goes away. Ff it does, then you know that the volume was too high for your ears. In the future you need to protect your ears from louder sounds– and easiest way to do that is to listen to all music at around 55 dB, which is roughly the volume at which the typical person speaks.
Cordially,
Neil
I am 56 and love karaoke with highest volume. I primarily sing to record my song through over the ear headphones. I sing karaoke with the earpodes highest volume and then hear the song I prepared with the headphones highest volume. For me it seems normal volume. I like a full volume to be able to hear everything in the recording and enjoy it. i don’t see this as loud and in the past two years i was probably listening everyday for 60-90 minutes a day. Now when the sound becomes a little too loud do to variables in different recordings I turn it down. On oct 5 2018 I heard a song i know in my ears without having anything on my ears, i was just walking out of the bathroom. Then I was anxious to know the title of the song that i know ringing in my ears but couldn’t find out the title, than i felt bad and lost consciousness. Then woke up at the hospital, they did all tests and found nothing. This happen same thing another time on dec 7 2018 and yesterday feb 6, 2019.
Also if there is background noises i cant hear what someone is saying to me. I have a little bit tinnitus from time to time. I also have an hemangioma in my brain that is unoperable since 2008 and i take Tegretol to control seizure not to happen. After what happen to me lately my neurologist thought the hemangioma is bleeding. We did an MRI and it is still the same since 2015 with no bleeding. Does the music and the karaoke is the reason of this weird song in my ears or the hemangioma?
Thanks for your help.
Christine K.
Hi Christine:
When you listen to loud music, you are just asking for ear problems–not a wise thing to do. You shouldn’t listen to music much louder than you hear people talking. Louder than that and you can damage your ears.
The phantom sounds you heard before you lost consciousness could be due to your epilepsy. That is what I suspect is happening. If your hemangioma is near any auditory circuits in your brain, it could also be a possibility.
Since you have problems understanding people talking to you in noisy places, this is indicative of high-frequency hearing loss. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to get your hearing checked and see how bad your hearing is.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you so much Dr. Neil for your prompt reply. I have a hearing test next week and we’ll see if it is from the hearing loss or the epilepsy.
Muck appreciated.
Christine K.
Hello Dr Neil,
Last night, I accidentally played loud music at full volume- my laptop’s volume level was set at 10, which is what I generally listen at, but when I connected my earphones it suddenly jumped to 100 and that was how loud the music was played for a few seconds before I took off the earphones. Throughout the entirety of today, everything has sounded muffled, but it is slowly improving. Would there be any permanent damage?
Thanks.
Hi Eric:
Your ears suffered acoustic trauma, otherwise known as acoustic shock since it was sudden, unexpected and loud. Hopefully, no permanent damaged was done, and your muffled feeling (temporary threshold shift/temporary hearing loss) will fade away and your hearing come back to normal. Just don’t expose your ears to loud sounds for a few days to give them time to heal.
There is always the possibility that you did do some permanent damage. Only time will tell. The best thing to do is not to worry about it. What’s done is done.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks for the reply. Fortunately, it seems that my hearing has returned to normal.
I was on my phone and downloaded an app that had radio i pressed that button and a very loud screeching noise irritated my hearing and my ears rung but i quickly shut it off after 5-10 seconds. (phone was near my face no ear buds) My ears still ring and feel sensitive the next day. Will this go away?.
Hi Albert:
The ringing should go away. Ditto for the sensitivity. But it could take time. During this time, take care to protect your ears from loud sounds, or you could have setbacks.Think of your ears being bruised and whacking a bruise just prolongs the healing time.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil,
Ayanna here, I hope everything is well with you! I was wondering if earwax removal kits work. I just purchased one and the product looks incredible. Thank you very much and have a great day!
Sincerely,
Ayanna
Hi Ayanna:
I’m sure many ear wax removal kits work. They typically soften the wax so that you can rinse it out with a syringe. Just be very careful if yours uses a syringe that you do not use too much pressure–just a slow gentle pressure is all you need.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil,
Thank you very much for the advice! You’re an amazing help! Have a good one!
Sincerely,
Ayanna
hello dr. Neil. I will be brief. after a slight acoustic trauma I did 5 sessions of BHO. obviously I had problems with the pressure and the noise that was in there.
I got worse and my right ear started with tinnitus as well, in addition to the left I had at the beginning.
also having a folliculitis problem I had the brilliant idea of using the cream with 0.1% gentamicin as other times.
now I don’t know what the cause is, but despite not having had large dB losses (more than 12k), I have distortions especially in the right ear at some frequencies, not all. for example 4k, from 5k to 6k ….
the distortion does not occur at high volumes, as in recruitment, but at low volumes, and disappears from 40 – 50 dB upwards.
I do not know if it could be the outer hair cells that are still there (otherwise I would not feel below 40 db), but are damaged or not enough, or the nerve connections in pain or damaged (but it would perhaps be distorted even above 40 db ).
what do you think?
now after a month the situation is always the same. could it be damage that is no longer recoverable?
I don’t understand why distortion usually occurs at high volumes, while to me it happens at low volumes.
also on some frequencies instead of being distorted the sound is at a different tone, and if I turn up the volume it becomes the right tone.
thanks if you can answer me
luke
Hi Luke:
I have trouble understanding what is going on with you. You are assuming I know all about your history, and I’d don’t know anything. What caused the slight acoustic trauma you have? Why did you need HBO treatment if it was so slight? What problems did you have with the pressure and noise? What got worse? And that’s only the first paragraph.
If you could slow down and explain things in more detail so I can understand what’s going on, then I might be able to answer your questions. You jump around and assume things as fact, when they may not be. What does the folliculitis have to do with your ears? Etc. Why bring that up?
English may not be your first language, but I still need to really understand what you are trying to tell me before I can tell you what I think.
Cordially,
Neil