• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Contact | 360-778-1266

Center for Hearing Loss Help

Help for your hearing loss, tinnitus and other ear conditions

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Reference
    • Glossary of Ear Terms
    • Drug Pronunciation Guide
    • Looping Information
    • “Learn About Hearing”
    • Useful Links
  • Museum
  • Blog
  • Shop
    • Alerting Devices
    • Assistive Listening Devices
    • Books
    • Loop Systems
    • Speechreading CDs
    • Telephones, amplified
    • Visor Cards

Tinnitus—”The Sound of Hell”

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

For some people, the tinnitus they hear all day long—every day—makes it hard to cope with life. Eddy is one such person. Now totally deaf and almost blind, she writes, “The noises in my head almost drive me nuts. They change constantly. I know, that people could go nuts with what I am going through. I am not surprised if some end up committing suicide or in a mental hospital.”

In spite of her horrible tinnitus, Eddy is a poet and finds relief in her poetry. Her poem “From Music to the Sound of Hell” gives a bit of insight into what her bad tinnitus really is like.

From Music to the Sound of Hell

Once—my voice rang out with joyful glee,
Others used to sing with me.
Once—I played accordion, mouth organ, and mandolin;
I even played the organ, and the violin.
My ears were very sensitive:
To them it was offensive—
To be subjected to the sound
The clock beside my bed made—and I found—
To get some rest
It would be best
To hide it under a hat;
Henceforth, I did just that.

Now—times have changed;
My hearing is deranged,
I cannot sing,
No instrument will bring—
The music I intend to send.
No lovely tune I hear,
Loud noise I have to bear
In both my ears and head
During days- and nights in bed,
Which never gives me peace.
I do not find release
From humming, strumming, banging, clanging,
Slapping, clapping, hissing, sizzling, howling, growling,
Orchestrated sounds.
There are no bounds—no limits set—
To my regret
For this destructive torture.

No one understands my pain.
My only wish is—to stay sane.
I learned to hide what bothers me,
Therefore, not a one can see
The devastating state I am in;
The horrible calamity
That frightfully engulfs me,
Keeps petrified me in my chair
In agony, and deep despair—
Not knowing what’s in store for me,
Praying: “Please God, let this be
The last of these unbearable attacks.
I do not mind—if I can’t hear,
Therefore, I have to bear
Cruel disrespect from all,
Just save me from the fall
Into this hellish nightmare.”

My body is deprived of sleep
That’s restful, long and deep.
More often than I care—
I doze off in my chair,
Don’t go to bed at all,
Why bother? I don’t fall
Asleep there anyway,
Night seems like day.
The discord music in my head
Never stops—Instead—
It’s getting worse each day.
I wish there were a way
To end this dreadful agony.

Edeltraut L. Scheffler-Plath.

(c) 1999. (Used by permission)

Edeltraut (Eddy as she likes to be called) has written a book of poems. If you like her unique brand of poetry, you might be interested in getting her book 131 Poems from the Heart. It will tug at your heartstrings.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. geoff says

    April 22, 2009 at 6:00 PM

    Hi Eddy
    I am at home today with jet engine ringing and not feeling so good. Yesterday I did a day’s work on an excavator and find myself mentally crippled with noise.
    Your poem reminded me that I’m not the only one on the planet with this affliction.
    thank you so much.
    Geoff

    Reply
  2. Scott Neff says

    November 29, 2020 at 5:04 PM

    I completely understand and too realize that only the afflicted realize the horror of severe tinnitus. I was told by the idiot who shot a gun a foot from my head to “get over it” when I became distraught and angry at him on the brink of suicide! He was a member of my family at the time( brother-in-law) and my immediate family never gave me any real sympathy for the condition. Almost 5 years have passed and still no one really understands. If I am really honest with myself, before I had tinnitus I would not be able to comprehend the horror either. I fear I will die in this condition. I don’t think modern science can undo evil. I honestly don’t know how I survive from day to day with the mask I wear to others who have no idea of the darkness I live in.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hearing Loss Research & Resources

Free Visor Cards

Download your free Visor Cards for hard of hearing or deaf people here.

Loop Systems

Loop your home or meeting room. Discover how you can hear wonderfully clear sound again when listening to the TV/radio, etc, or when listening to a speaker at a meeting.

Loop systems are one of the best-kept secrets in town. To learn more about Loop Systems and what they can do for you, click here.

Take Control of Your Tinnitus—Here’s How

If your ears ring, buzz, chirp, hiss, click or roar, you know just how annoying tinnitus can be. You do not have to put up with this racket for the rest of your life. This book teaches you many things you can do to help bring your tinnitus under your control so it no longer bothers you.

Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Sounds Now Too Loud for You?

Hypersensitive to Sound front coverIf some (or all) normal sounds seem so loud they “blow the top of your head off”, or make you wince or jump, or cause you headaches or ear pain, or affect your balance, or result in fear or annoyance of sounds so you feel you have to avoid these sounds, this book is for you!

Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Hearing Phantom Sounds?

When hard of hearing people begin hearing phantom voices or music, they immediately worry they are going crazy. It never crosses their minds that they are sane and are just experiencing Musical Ear syndrome.

To learn more about the strange phantom sounds of Musical Ear syndrome and what you can do about them, click here to read a comprehensive article about Musical Ear Syndrome.

Or get the book—Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Glossary Navigation

  • Full List of Glossary Terms
  • A to Z Index

Footer

Center for Hearing Loss Help

Neil G. Bauman, Ph.D.

1013 Ridgeway Drive, Lynden,
WA 98264-1057 USA

Email: neil@hearinglosshelp.com

Phone: 360-778-1266 (M-F 9:00 AM-5:00 PM PST)

© 2025 Center for Hearing Loss Help – Help for your hearing loss, tinnitus and other ear conditions

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life [which also includes perfect hearing] through Jesus Christ our Lord." [Romans 6:23]

"But know this, in the last days perilous times will come" [2 Timothy 3:1]. "For there will be famines, pestilences, and [severe] earthquakes in various places" [Matthew 24:7], "distress of nations, the sea and the waves roaring"—tsunamis, hurricanes—Luke 21:25, but this is good news if you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, for "when these things begin to happen, lift up your heads [and rejoice] because your redemption draws near" [Luke 21:28].