by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man wrote:
I do not expose myself to high noise levels either in my occupation or leisure. I do not listen to iPods etc. However, 5 days ago after a night out, when leaving a bar with loud music, my hearing felt dull. While my hearing appears normal, I now have a feeling of fullness and a constant ringing. I have scared myself silly reading all the forums and panicking that after 5 days, this may be permanent. Has tinnitus been known to go after 5 days?
I’d call going to nightclubs exposing your ears to loud sounds in your leisure time. You may have been exposing your ears to more loud sounds than you realize.
The feeling of fullness you are experiencing is actually indicative of a temporary threshold shift. In other words you do have a hearing loss significant enough that your brain notices it—thus you get this “blocked” feeling. The constant ringing (tinnitus) is another sign that the noise was far too loud, and you exposed your ears for far too long.
I’m glad you have “scared yourself silly”. Hopefully, you will now carefully protect your ears in the future. Too bad you hadn’t done that before. At the very least, have some foam ear protectors in your pocket, and put them in your ears before you go into noisy places, or leave as soon as the racket gets too loud.
Now to explain about tinnitus and whether it will go away. Typically the way it works is that the first few times you expose your ears to loud sounds the tinnitus goes away reasonably rapidly—hours or a day or so—but the more you expose your ears to loud sounds (and the louder the sounds are), the longer it takes for the tinnitus to go away. Finally, if you don’t wise up and protect your ears, it will never go away.
I doubt this was your first time in a night club, so I fear you have been exposing your ears to excessive noise for some time.
The main thing now is not to expose your ears to any louder sounds in order to give them time to “heal” if they will. After a month or so, re-evaluate your tinnitus and see whether it has gone away. In the meantime don’t dwell on your tinnitus or it will only appear to get worse. You need to totally ignore it by focusing on the loves of your life and let the tinnitus fade into the background.
In a month or so, it wouldn’t hurt to go to an audiologist and have a complete audiological evaluation to see the state of your hearing. That way you’d know if there was any permanent damage. I wouldn’t go now—give your ears time to recover, and hopefully the temporary threshold shift will go away.
I have suffered tinnitus since May 2007 when i came out of a gig and my hearing never recovered.
I’ve been listening to loud music since i was a teenager, riding motorcycles without ear plugs and now i’m suffering. It’s not nice and i really am scared about the future of my hearing.
The last test i had confirmed a loss of 14.5% in my left ear and 10.5 in my right ear. Is there anything i can do to make it go away and/or not get worse in later life. I’m only just 42 yrs old.
Thanks
Steve
Hi Doctor, am kind of at desperation point now with my tinnitus. I had an inner ear infection 3 yrs ago and it’s left me with constant tinnitus, with which I suffer from frequent migraines. Have seen an audiologist but have been given no advice really other than that my hearing hasn’t been impaired but it’s so debilitating. I’m a nurse so the constant ringing of call bells doesn’t help. Please tell me, will it ever get better/ or go away?
Hi Clare:
Was it the ear infection that caused your tinnitus, or the drugs that you took for this infection? I’d suspect drugs at this point, not knowing anything else about your situation.
How are the migraines related to your tinnitus? Any ideas?
What does your tinnitus sound like? Like your call bells? or what?
If your tinnitus is constant–never goes away and more or less stays at the same volume and has done so for the past 3 years, then you are going to have to work on taking control of your tinnitus, rather than letting it run (and ruin) your life. I explain how you can do this–either with, or without professional help in my book, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus”. You can get it at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/ .
Once you have read it so you know what is going on and what your various options are, if you need further help, contact me again.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor,
I’ve had tinnitus since about the beginning of December (2 months now). Its a loud insect noise which really makes me anxious and puts me into depression. There are some very few days I don’t hear it at all, but today it is louder than ever.
I was on an anti-malarial, Malarone between June-January. Does this medicine cause tinnitus even after its discontinued? I have stopped the medication since beginning of January.
I went to an ENT and she instructed me to get an MRI since it is only in my left ear and not on both sides.
I had pulsaite tinnitus in my right ear for two days – because of my TMJ.. that one is more annoying as it sounds like beach waves when there is no beach around.
I have researched the side effects of Malarone but read that side effects should stop after usage. Do you think Malarone could be the cause?
Hi Sandra:
Malarone is made up of two drugs–Atovaquone and Proguanil. Both of these can cause tinnitus in some people, but it doesn’t seem to be very common.
Just because you stop taking a drug doesn’t mean that the tinnitus will go away. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. I think a lot of it has to do with your psychological (emotional) makeup and how you respond to your tinnitus.
Drugs can cause tinnitus in one ear or both. Just because your tinnitus is only on one side doesn’t mean there is something else going on.
If you have pulsatile tinnitus, that is a vascular condition and has nothing to do with the drugs you took. Often, a good ENT can fix it surgically or medically. If you are sure it is just caused by TMJ, then a good dentist or upper cervical spine chiropractor may be the best person to treat it.
The good news is that if your tinnitus disappears for a day or two at a time, that shows that it does not have to be permanent. So you need to work on making it go away for more days at a time. My book, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus” at
http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/ can teach you how to help this along.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Steve:
You can’t fix the damage that has already been done to your ears, but you CAN try to prevent more damage from occurring in the future.
You need to protect your ears from loud sounds. Loud sounds are any sounds greater than 85 dB or so. This means wearing ear protectors when you are around loud music or riding your motorcycle and kindred things.
Your hearing may continue to get worse over time, and eventually you will need hearing aids to help you hear better. That’s the reality of the situation.
Neil
I was shooting my ar 15 with no protection dumbly, and I had muffled hearing for the next couple or days after that I had a constant ring in my right ear that was almost 5 weeks ago is the tinnitus permanent because I went to an audiologist and she said that my hearing was fine I didn’t do any damage to my hearing miraculously but I am very scared about the ringing I’m only 17
Hi Colby:
If your tinnitus has persisted for 5 weeks now, there is a good chance it may prove to be permanent. You have to remember to ALWAYS protect your ears when using firearms or when around loud sounds.
You have almost certainly damaged your ears–whether your audiogram shows it or not. They now call it “hidden” hearing loss. This does not show up on an audiogram.
One of the best ways to deal with tinnitus is to learn to ignore it by focusing on the loves of your life and let your tinnitus fade into the background where it will not bother you. You might also want to try Arches Tinnitus Formula at https://www.tinnitusformula.com/store/arches-tinnitus-formula.html. It often helps people with noise-induced tinnitus. Note: you typically have to take it for 3 months for it to become effective.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Niel Since then it seems to have reduced in sound. is that a good thing? Maybe showing that it will eventually go away
Hi Colby:
Any time your tinnitus reduces in volume, that is a good thing! And if it continues to do so, soon it won’t even bother you. It may eventually go away, or at least fade into the background so you are not even aware you have tinnitus much of the time.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr Bauman,
I recently have terrible noises in my ears.
I have never been exposed to loud noises.I have taken Lorazepam to help me sleep for the last 3 months. But, the dose I take is 1/4 to 1/2 of an 0.5mg tablet. Will the noise ever go away? I’ve read about having lidocaine injections in the ear, but am very afraid of doing that.
Does Zyprexa cause hearing loss. The drug is psychotropic.
Hi Sylvia:
Olanzapine (Zyprexa) can cause hearing loss in some people. Since it belongs to the Salicylate family of drugs, I suspect any hearing loss is probably temporary, but that’s only my best guess.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil
How far (reasonably) do you think we are away from the ability to regenerate human hearing hair cells?
Hi Nick:
They can regenerate hair cells now, but that is not the real limiting factor. It will probably take at least another 10 to 20 years before they get the bugs worked out IF they can work them out.
You can read more about it in my article called “Cochlear Implant or Stem Cell Therapy–Which? at http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/?p=500. Follow and read all the links in this article and you will see some of the major problems still to be resolved.
Regards
Neil
I exposed myself to loud noises this past weekend and I am now on my fifth day of the ringing. It seems to be lessening but I can’t be sure. My ears also feel clogged. How long will the clogged feeling last, and is it possible that the ringing will go away?
Thanks,
Devin
Hey Doc,
About a week ago I went to the shooting range to shoot my handguns, and afterwards it felt like I had water in my right ear. That feeling went away after a few hours, but my ear continues to ring when it’s quiet. I am quite upset that this happened to me, especially since I was wearing ear plugs and the damage occurred anyway. My left ear is fine, and it was only 1 shot that seemed to penetrate through the right foam plug. I was hoping you could tell me the chances that it will go away, given that it was only one shot from a gun that caused it.
I have a question I cannot get answered in my town.
There is only 1 provider of hearing aids.
I have a moderate hearing loss in my left ear and tinnitus in that ear as well. My right ear is normal. I have been told all I need is 1 aid for my left ear. The audiologist here says I need 2 because the tinnitus will migrate to my good ear.
I am very suspicious of this because this was never told to me and I believe they are trying to sell me something i do not need.
I would appreciate any information you could offer. I a a retired hospital director and psychogist.
Thank you very much.
Robert DeLong MA MFCC LT
Hi Robert:
You only wear hearing aids in ears that need help hearing. So what you were told–one hearing aid–is correct. If you were to wear a hearing aid in your good ear, you’d find everything would be too loud and that would probably CAUSE tinnitus in your good ear.
I have not heard of tinnitus “migrating” as such. Some people hear their tinnitus in one ear, the other ear, both ears, or just inside their head without reference to any ear. For example, as I am writing this, my tinnitus has decided to be louder in my right ear. Normally it is about the same in both ears, but sometimes it is louder in my left ear. That just the way it is. (Mind you, I have a severe hearing loss in both ears.)
I’d get a hearing aid for your bad ear–and when you are wearing your hearing aid, you may find that your tinnitus goes away, but may come back at night when you take your hearing aid off. That is a common occurrence. Personally, I’d never wear anything in my good ear (if I had one).
Regards
Neil
Hi,
Here in the UK November 5th is fireworks night. I was part of a group that put on a display for the local school. At the end of the night, after we set of a few more and one exploded very close to my head. It was very loud and the ringing has been with me since (7 days), plus a dulling of my hearing in my left ear. I am fairly certain this is going to be long term. My doctor has prescribed prednisolene steroids as they may help. Do I have a life of buzzin ahead? Will the steroids do anything?
Hi Kevin:
I wouldn’t expect the steroids to do much for your tinnitus directly. They may help bring back some hearing though. And if some hearing comes back, your tinnitus may reduce in volume.
If your hearing is “bad” after 7 days, you likely have more than a temporary hearing loss, but permanent damage to your ear. If this is the case, your tinnitus could be lifelong too. However, you can do things to help bring it under control. As I’ve said many times, you need to learn to ignore your tinnitus as much as possible and don’t focus on it. That is one secret to successfully dealing with your tinnitus.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr Neil, I went to a party with my family October 1 2011, The music was a little loud, but nothing not normal, I stayed away from the speakers as I hate that feeling of my ears going dim and hissing at the end of the evening. I left the venue with my wife who danced the night away next to a belting 15inch speaker, my ears hissed a little, so did my wife’s ears hers were worse than mine.
However the next morning we were both fine, no problems, we enjoyed Sunday laughing and joking, 6 days later, someone tried to attack me at work, there was no physical contact just some shouting. Few hours later I began to hear a high pitched Ring in my ear 13100 Hz, Its been 40 days its gone down a little, will it go? is it here to stay? Was it noise exposure or was it shock that triggered it?
Hi Joe:
I think it was a bit of both. The more you expose your ears to loud sounds, the more likely tinnitus is to develop. The “shouting match” may have been the last straw for your ears.
And of course, stress and anxiety are two triggers of tinnitus.
If you get your stress and anxiety under control, and protect your ears from loud sounds from now on, your tinnitus may slowly fade into the background. It is important not to obsess over your tinnitus as this just makes it worse and it will never go away. You need to treat your tinnitus as a totally usless noise–one that you never listen to–just like no one sits on the edge of their chair raptly listening to the fridge. Instead, they totally ignore it. Thus, treat your tinnitus as “fridge noise”
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr Neil
There might be some success from scientists from the university of Texas as trials of the New vagus nerve stimulation get going in Europe, could there be a cure for us around the corner?
Hi Joe:
Vagus nerve stimulation shows some promise, but like all other tinnitus treatments, no single treatment will cure, or even reduce, all forms of tinnitus. But it is certainly one of the “tools” you should have in your tinnitus toolbox. Try it and see if it will work for you. If so, great. If not, put it back into your tinnitus toolbox and try another “tool”.
Regards
Neil
Dr. Neil
When I move my Jaw left to right, my tinnitus gets louder in the effected ear, could my tinnitus be a T.M.J problem? or is it just common of what I have.
Hi Dr. Neil,
It seems my tinnitus started back in February due to a passing of a family member. Is it normal for stress and anxiety to be the cause of tinnitus? I’ve suffered with anxiety and stress since I was a teenager and I’m 25 now. I’d like to know if this will go away naturally? I also don’t think I’ve ever damaged my ears with loud music or sounds. I went to an ENT and had my ears checked, they told me that I have absolutely perfect hearing and no hearing loss. Please tell me there’s hope!
Hi Maria:
Stress and anxiety are ONE cause of tinnitus. There are a good number of other causes as well.
In order for your tinnitus to go away naturally, you’d have to get your anxiety under control. When your anxiety levels drop to normal, it is quite possible, but not guaranteed, that you should see a drop in your tinnitus levels. Your tinnitus may not go away completely. However, the new low level of your tinnitus should not bother you.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr, Neil
Thank you for your good advice, I am making good progress with your advice you gave me back in November,
I have had Tinnitus 3 months now. I controlled my stress and anxiety and its almost halved the Tinnitus noise, I only check my T once a day now as thinking about it constantly seems to amplify it. I am getting on living my life happily. Thank you once again Dr Neil
10 days ago my right ear happened ringing buzzy after one night i felt extreme sad and anxious and i hit my head top hard with my hands then i slept over with much sadness. The second morning my ear started ringing.
I tried to help myself by some physical movements (like yoga or headstanding and avoiding noise and spiritual things)then the symptom was gone in two days. But it came back again after a night of sleep! i really got panic, i went to see my dr.
I got my two ears washed( lot of old ear wax )After that i felt totally well for that day and evening. But it started stably sounding again in the morning(less sever). my dr said my right ear drum looked dull in color without the shiny obviously seen at center part. I have to wait to see.
Now im rather worried if this will be gone??
How do you think about my case? it’s on and off lasted 2 weeks already. Please help me~
i feel the low tone wooming sounds more obvious in the morning and during the day(i took long walk in nature. ok?) but less in the evening.
Hi Suzanna:
Tinnitus can occur from a number of different things. For example, numerous drugs can cause tinnitus. Exposing your ears to louder sounds is a very common cause of tinnitus. But not as many people realize that emotions like anxiety, worry and depression can also cause tinnitus. And sometimes tinnitus seems to come out of the blue for no apparent reason.
It seems that you tend to be an anxious person–and anxiety will make your tinnitus worse. So the more you worry and obsess over your tinnitus the worse you are making it for yourself and the harder it will be for your tinnitus to go away.
Learn to focus on other things–the loves of your life–and let your tinnitus fade into the background. Forget about your tinnitus for a month, then reassess how loud/intrusive it is at the end of that time. I think you will find it will be better than it is now. But if you continue to worry about it, I can guarantee you that it will be worse at the end of a month. So choose your course wisely.
Regards
Neil
Thank you sooooo much, Dr. Neil!! I get what you mean. Im very grateful for your help and advice. Suzanna
Hello Dr Neil,
Following some good success with controlling my Tinnitus I have starting having H.B.O.T treatment,in order to try and silence the T a bit more, I am on my second session, the pressure is 1.5 times normal pressure (16ft) and I am having oxygen for an hour, I am booked for 20 sessions can this do more harm than good ??? Worried about making matters worse? should I stop?
Hi Joe:
I guess you have to ask yourself the question, “Has there been any change in your tinnitus since you began the hyperbaric oxygen treatments?” If you tinnitus is getting worse, then it would be prudent to stop. However, if it seems to be getting better, then it may be working in your case and worth continuing.
I’m not aware that hyperbaric oxygen treatments make tinnitus worse so you shouldn’t have to worry on that score, but I’m certainly not an expert on this topic.
Regards
Neil
Many thanks Dr Neil,
I have not seen any improvement yet, but one thing I do notice, Once they dive me to 16ft my Tinnitus stops. (wow silence for an hour) but soon as we come up again to normal pressure, the ringing starts up again. Is my Tinnitus something to do with pressure in my Ears.
Hi Joe:
Blessed relief! Makes you want to stay down forever, huh?
I don’t think it is the pressure as such, but the extra oxygen under pressure that brings more oxygen to your inner ears and thus changes something that stops your tinnitus.
It would be easy to test whether it is the pressure alone or not by having them just use regular air and take you down to 16 feet. If your tinnitus stops, then it has something to do with the increased pressure alone.
Then test it the other way by having them give you the increased oxygen but leaving you at normal pressure. If your tinnitus goes away, then you know it is just the extra oxygen that makes the difference. (If this is the case, then taking vasodilators such as Vitamin B3 or Ginkgo biloba might do the trick to reduce or eliminate your tinnitus.)
If neither of these two tests change your tinnitus, then you will know it has something to do with the increased oxygen under pressure.
If you do this, let me know how it goes. I’m curious.
Regards
Neil
Dr Neil,
Tried just Oxygen on its own, no changes, I tried compression and no oxygen, I had no tinnitus. I tried Oxygen and compression, no tinnitus again. When we get compressed it gets warmer in the chamber, and soon as it gets warmer The tinnitus is no longer audible. Soon as we go back to normal pressure it gets colder in the chamber and the tinnitus is noticeable again.?? I cant understand it??
Dear Dr. Neil,
This is a good news.By yesterday morning(2Feb 2012, the issues in my right ear have been 100% resolved. I should have been here earlier as i wanted but i couldn’t since the recovery process was not straight line; it went on upwards spiral swirling up way.I was happied for three times but the ringing sounds came back to the ear for three times. However, live has overcome it’s issues. Now I dont hear the woozy fuzzy ringing sounds anymore. I hope the peace in such good condition will hold it’s foot to goodness being healthy as it supposed to be.
I have 1 note, 1 summary 1 statement here for all the people around the world who confronted( might confront directely or indirectly) tinnitus. What i say here are all from my personal experiences, I dont stand for any other or any theory; all from my instinct and general knowledge I learned at school and in life.
My note is:I later used some eardrops-herbal product which was made as washing earwax. But i sensed out that’s something the tissue in ear and brain might absort for rejevenal. I sensed out that the smells compound liquid were made to stimulate growth, the essences are: penetrating, refreshing and alerting.I recognize those from my original instinct. Oh ja! i drank proper amount of salt water of the degree i felt ok, during the later process. That’s another key!(not unbearable salty but salty enough to feel the stimulation to cells)
My Summary is: the illness came as 4 dimentional(in my case) causes relating to 4kinds of sciences: environics(mechanical to physical to acoustical to electronical causes)and physiology(tissue related, nerves related, brain chemical related and psychology(personality related, mentality related)to sociology(spirits and higher power…which i can’t be sure but that’s obvious.)
My statement is: tinnitus is not something totally scary. It can be overcomed while the right actions and treatment are applied in time. Yoga is one key in the hand of anyone who suffered this problem. And the right wind shall help you to balance the body, and the self help Qigong!
And last not least, Dr. Neil was the great guidance at the doorway.I wish all of us to be very confident while facing this suffering health issue. It can be overcomed!And we shall let every human being know it’s original environmental cause. We must care for our ears!Our ears are equaly important as our eyes.
Once more, thank you! Dear Dr. Neil, thank you so much for providing this gracious space for all the patients of tinnitus. High five to all! Suzzana
Hello,
I have just come down with what I believe is tennitus.My ENT blew it off he said my hearing was 20 or above on all levels and unless you have no sound in your ears than any sound is tinnatus. Tinnatus is ringing in the ears even if its slight. I suffered horrific anxiety and depression for years but have walked away from that darkness a few years ago. I had severe wax in my left ear my GP never was able to remove it gave me drops to put in and sent me home. two years later which was a couple weeks ago I went back for a check up and mentioned my ear sounds he looked in my ears and said the entire canal was blocked he tried again to get it out and it wouldn’t budge he sent me home again with drops. A friend mentioned tinnitus. I went to the ENT he used a suction on my left ear he said the right was normal.I am having an awful time with this but am learning to deal with it and stay calm. Do you think it was the wax left to long in my ear. My GP should have acted the first time. I had no idea about tinnitus. I now have a new love and respect for my ears. I always took them for granted. How very sad it must be for deaf people. Have you ever heard of anyone that beat tennitus?? I pray every night for a cure because God can do anything. Thank you, Sue
Hi Sue:
Wax blocking your ear canal can cause some conductive hearing loss. Since tinnitus often accompanies hearing loss, you shouldn’t be surprised to have tinnitus for that reason.
However, when the wax is removed, your hearing returns to normal and thus, typically, you could expect your tinnitus to disappear in a few days too.
As I’ve said many times before, tinnitus is a psychosomatic condition–there is a physical component (in this case wax in your ear) and an emotional (psychological) component (you are having an “awful time”).
What can happen is that if you don’t “let it go”, your tinnitus can get worse even though the wax is removed. So you want to learn to remain neutral to your tinnitus and basically ignore it by focusing on the loves of your life.
It’s also entirely possible that your tinnitus is from some other cause than the wax in your ear.
Regards
Neil
Hello,
Its nice to see someone knowledgeable answer the queries here. I wish to seek some advice from you. My case is entirely different. There was no emotional cause to this faint ringing sound in 1 ear. I am a young girl in my 20’s and while studying in 2006 end of year, i absent mindedly put a pencil in my ear to remove wax. Ear got blocked and ringing sound like an engaged tone started in my ear. The ENT was out of town for 2 days. I studied hard along with that terrible sound. And after 2 days, he put a hook in my ear and removed all that wax and the sound was gone. Then in 2009, again the same thing happened with the same ear. This time I put my little finger inside to remove the wax and instead of the wax coming out, it went further inside and blocked the ear. I didnt panick as it happened before. Only this time I went to an another doctor who was old and he followed the old school. He insisted on using Soliwax to melt the wax first and he removed 2 weeks to just melt the wax. I lived with it for 2 weeks since I knew it would go away like it did in 2006. But this time, the doctor did not use the hook like instrument .. he used a watergun to flush the ears. Infact he used it twice since after using it once, I told him the ear was not completely unblocked. So he did it 2nd time after 3-4 days.
The ear got ublocked.. i could hear clearly again but the sound did not go away completely. It diminished but did not disappear completely. I was surprised… and thought maybe some wax is still left, blocking the ear drum and hence there is still some sound coming. So I went to him again and this is the time, he flushed the ear again.
The faint ringing sound hasnt gone since. I went to my earlier ENT ( the one who I visited in 2006 year end) and told him to use the hook. He said there was no wax so how could he use the hook. Since I was on AKT treatment since 2008 to 2009 year end, he thought maybe Streptomycin could be a cause. But I wasnt on Streptomycin at all when I was on the AKT treatment. So that was ruled out. Then he suggested losing weight which I had put on because of the steriods and medicines along with the bed rest, during the AKT treatment. He said circulation would be better since there is no other reason he could fathom for the faint ringing sound left. I anyways intended losing it asap and was just waiting for the course of the treatment to be over. He also asked to me take some cobalt medicine which i took for a month but no effect. I started my weight loss in 2010 and in about a year, had lost more than what I put on during the course of the AKT treatment for TB.
I lost about 23 kgs and the sound diminished but did not go away. Since 2011, I have been thin and fit, but the sound is still there.. very faint though, still there.
I have no problems getting through my day, and dont even realize it most of the times, except when I sleep at night and I realize it. Also when I meditate. I am thankful that there is no hearing loss in the ear and I can hear the minutest of sounds. An audiogram confirmed this. The ENT ( the 1st one ofcourse.. the 2nd one i never went to… since he is the real cause for this) he said there is no cure.. askd me to take some other cobalt medicine.. when that didnt work, he askd me to take tryptomer… which i didnt because a medical friend told me it is an anti-depressant and there was no reason I should take it for a faint rining sound caused by a ear block. I didnt and I am glad.
So, its been 2 years since the sound is there… I have lost all the weight, so circulation shouldnt be a problem. I am still fit and healthy, exercise and eat well… I just want this minor trouble to go away. Especially since I am only in my 20’s. I dont want to live my life with it.
I believe the reason for the faint ringing sound is the use of the water syringe used. The ear got unblocked, but the sound which started when the ear got blocked, didnt go away completely… it diminished, but didnt disappear.
I think the water syringe used may be the cause for it, bcos the 1st time the same ear block happened, the hook was used and the wax went away and so did the sound completely.
Check this article out : http://www.naturalhealthweb.com/articles/currie1.html
After you read the article in the link, even you will agree with me. The water syringe creates a loud noise while flushing the ear and that could be the real cause, since the 1st time the hook was used and there was no sound left.
I really want to get rid of this sound because it isnt normal. It doesnt come in my way of day to day life, but I absolutely want to get rid of it .
Really hoping you can help ! Thanks.
Hi Zeisha:
I agree that a likely cause of your current tinnitus could have been the ear syringing your ENT did. This does not happen to everyone, but certainly happens to some. I’ve had my ears syringed several times without causing any change in my tinnitus. But all that needs to happen is for the doctor to put a bit too much pressure on the syringe and the water hitting your eardrum has the same effect as a very loud sound would. The result can be tinnitus.
As you said, your case is different in that there was no emotional involvement to cause your tinnitus. I agree. But now you are emotionally involved with your tinnitus. I can tell this by the tone of your letter. And it is this emotional involvement that keeps your tinnitus bothering you–even though it is is very faint according to you.
You need to let it go–totally and completely ignore it and let it fade into the background where you are not aware of it unless you listen for it. You do this many days and this is good. Now you need to ignore it all the time. Treat it as though it were some ever-present yet totally meaningless noise such as the noise your fridge makes. No one sits on the edge of their chair raptly enthralled with listening to their fridge. So why do that with your tinnitus.
Just treat it as fridge noise and ignore it by focusing on other things. When that happens you will be habituated to your tinnitus and it will no longer bother you although it will probably still be there if you ever listen for it. If you do this, perhaps one day you’ll realize that your tinnitus has vanished.
Regards
Neil
Thanks for your reply … Everybody says I should just ignore it and since my activities go on pretty well, they think I am already doing it which is actually true. It really doesn’t bother me but I know for a fact, that it isnt normal since I experienced complete silence before this happened, whenever I was in a glass cubicle or while sleeping. So its just that after knowing how complete silence is, you feel this sound is not normal.
It was easy to ignore it while I was on the weight loss regime as I felt that as soon as the weight would go, so would this… when it did not, after a year, it got my attention again ( though only when I was in a glass cubicle or I concentrated on it ).
Now, the only point is I dont want to get habituated to it… It doesnt have my attention at all.. because I have a lot of things to do and at night too, it doesnt really bother me. I have read comments above and other places, where people have had a really bad time. By God’s grace, I haven’t faced any such times.
I just wish complete silence during meditation and yoga, which is a slight impediment due to this faint sound. My question is: is there really no cure for it, if the cause was as small as ear wax blockage and a wrong method used ? Will cleaning the ear with a hook after some time help ? (its already been 2 years so there must be wax buildup again)
Thanks again.
Hi Zeisha:
I agree, hearing tinnitus is not “normal”, but it is very common. But your tinnitus is very quiet so you only hear it when it is very quiet around you. That is good.
The thing is, in complete silence, even people who don’t have tinnitus, find they can hear it after a while. Your brain WANTS to hear something. Perhaps you should do your meditation/yoga with a very soft background sound–possibly some music, or listen to an environmental CD that has natural sounds–maybe running water, waves lapping on the beach, etc. Playing it very softly should keep your tinnitus at bay–but it is not silence–just a different sound you’d be hearing.
It is true that ear wax can result in tinnitus. So if you think that is a problem, by all means get your ears checked out and have your doctor or audiologist remove any wax.
People build up wax at different rates. Some have to have their ears cleaned out every few weeks, some every year or two.
Your ears are designed to automatically remove wax bet sometimes things don’t work exactly the way they should for whatever reason. For those of us who wear hearing aids, the earmolds keep pushing the wax back in so it builds up. Thus we need to have our ears cleaned out at regular intervals.
If your ears are blocked, getting them cleaned out is a good idea in any case–and if it gets rid of your tinnitus at the same time, so much the better.
Regards
Neil
I started having problems with tinnitus after I volunteered at a local haunted house last fall. Usually I am very protective of my hearing, but I let my guard down for one night. I have been to an audiologist and a ENT. And I am watching my diet (i.e. less alcohol, less coffee etc.) .
I have a couple of questions. 1) I love to play my tenor sax. And I have greatly modified the way I practice. I mostly play very mellow music and often with various different kinds ear plugs (experimenting to see what kind is better). Will my tinnitus get worse by playing music? The ENT doctor advised me that it would be ok to practice as long as I didn’t play loud rock and roll. But after 6 months my tinnitus has not changed. Some days are better than others. Still trying to figure what aggravates or doesn’t aggravate my tinnitus. I would really like to get a better handle on this.
2) I also like to exercise . I read that exercise is good for tinnitus. But it seems like when I exercise the ringing in my ear gets worse. Are these temporary up and downs the with level of ringing in my ears inhibiting my tinnitus from improving &/or healing?
Thanks I really appreciate this forum. I’ve been doing a lot of reading about tinnitus and it is great to share and read other peoples experiences with this.
Thanks
bob
Hey doctor, I recently used Ciprodex and my right ear has started ringing really badly. Is this normal and should it heal up? I am getting really scared because I can’t sleep or even think in a quiet room
Hello,
I went to a softball game in the evening almost a week ago. It was kind of a windy and cool night. I came home and noticed my ear was hurting really bad, to the point that I thought I needed medical attention. I took some tylenol and went to sleep, tossing and turing into the wee hours of the morning until I feel asleep. I woke up to the pain being gone but my ear being plugged and a pulsating sound wave that hasn’t gone away. I have had ear problems since I was a child and had tubes in from the age of 5 until 7 and now this. It is only in my right ear, which is my bad ear and my lymph node below the ear is really swollen and tender to touch. What could this be?
Hi I have recently suffered from sinusitis and otitis media. I got sick on the 21 I was running a fever and all. By the 25th my fever had went away but my hearing was muffled so I went to the doctors he prescribed antibiotics and told me to take Zyrtec-D and my hearing would get better. It did not, by the 27 i was back at the doctors and he now said I had otitis media and gave me some ear drops when I put them in and went to sleep I woke up with the cotton ball full of puss and tinnitus in my ear when will it go away?
Hi Gabe: (#36)
Taking Ciproxed (Ciprofloxacin) can certainly cause loud tinnitus. I’ve heard this from numbers of people although the “official” figures are that Cipro causes tinnitus is less than 1% of the people taking it.
There is hope that your tinnitus will eventually go away, but this may take some months.
Regards
Neil
Hi Tiosha:
It sounds like you have a middle ear infection and that your ear drum has burst. Probably your tinnitus will go away when the infection goes away and the gunk drains out of your middle ear and your ear drum heals up. This could take from a few days to a couple of months.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil, I had always had a faint ringing in my ear due to an infection about 4 years ago. I then had a problem with my right ear getting blocked when I had a bath.
I used eardrops to clean my ears and stupidly used a normal syringe to wash out the mixture. Everything was fine, but about ten days later I have a loud ringing in my ears. Would the damage to the eardrum take 10 days to start – or would have the Tinnitus started very soon after I used the syringe? I went to the doctor and he said my ears look a bit weepy. He said I could have a slight infection and put me on antibiotics. The ringing noise has caused some panick attacks, so he perscribed an antidepressant.
I do not really want to take them, but wondered if you think it might help? (Many thanks for your help).
Hi Neil,
I have had a ringing for 5 days now. I was at a concert filming right at the front for work on Sunday. It was loud, i had ear plugs in, i was filming for 30 minutes.
I went to a Dr. where a hearing test showed i did not have any hearing loss and my hearing is very good. But the ringing is still there (predominantly in my left ear).
As it is still early days, what can i do to increase the chances of it going away? Should i ask my GP for steroids in case it is due to some hearing loss? I am only 21, and this was the first loud event i had been to for around 6 months. The last one was another live music event where i also had plugs in. Before that my ears were not exposed to much loud noise, or iPod’s etc…
I cannot cope with the idea of this lasting for 60 years, please advise what i can to do help my ears recover?
Thank you so much for your help.
Hi Dr.Neil i am 13 years old and 6 feet tall. About three weeks ago my brother came over to visit and we were playing with caps for cap guns. So we put the caps in the cap gun and saw that the caps were not exspolding so we started hitting them with a hammer everytime after i did it my ear ring for a quick couple seconds and then i stacked 4 caps on top of each other to make a superbang and as soon as i hit it my ears started ringing and have not stopped since. i am really worried about this and always learking in the back of my mind is this ever going to go away my parents and friends said stop worrrying grant it is going to go away it was just a 4 caps from a cap gun when i was a kid we did a whole bag of 30 quarter sticks when i was a kid so that is what my dad said but the ringing is so annoying and it is hard to sleep at night because of it and i have adcesive compulsive disorder so it is hard for my to stop thinking about can u tell me if this wil go away because i am really worried.
Also Dr.Neil i went to the doctors to get my hearing tested and she said i had average and above average hearing. she also said this could take a few days few weeks or few months for this to heal but i still constantly focus on it and worry about it can you please answer my questions as fast as possible so i can stop worrying about it and it will make me feel a lot better getting this information from a professional.
Thanks,
Grant
Hi Grant:
As you have learned, exposing your ears to loud sounds, especially loud percussive sounds can cause your ears to ring. This is a warning that the sounds are too loud and you need to protect your ears NOW–not keep on exposing them to these loud sounds.
Typically, when you expose your ears to loud sounds, your ears begin to ring, but the ringing goes away in a few minutes to a few hours.
However, if you persist in exposing your ears to loud sounds, eventually the tinnitus will NOT go away.
Also, the louder the sounds, the more likely the tinnitus is to be severe and more persistent–and may be permanent.
There is no way I can predict whether your tinnitus will be permanent or not, BUT I can tell you this, IF you continue to worry about your tinnitus it will only get worse, and you don’t want that.
So here’s the deal. First, in the future (beginning now) you have to protect your ears from loud sounds. When you are going to be around loud sounds, wear ear protectors–ear muff style or the foam protectors you put in your ears. This will ensure you don’t make your existing tinnitus worse.
Second, you need to forget about your tinnitus by focusing on the loves of your life. When you are engrossed in something else, you’ll find you typically aren’t aware of your tinnitus.
Over time, as you do this your tinnitus should fade into the background (and maybe fade completely away).
I can give you hope that if you do this, your tinnitus will cease to bother you, but I cannot guarantee that it will go away. Only time will tell.
One more thing, don’t overprotect your ears and wear ear protectors when you don’t need to. Doing this will actually make your situation worse.
I wish you well.
Neil
Dr Neil,
My name is Tom, I have recently started noticing ringing in my ears, high-pitched and only very faint, and nowhere near as loud as the sounds typically associated with tinnitus. I noticed it weeks ago briefly but soon forgot about it, hopefully emphasizing how faint it is, but the fact its there at 21 is whats worrying me.
I have been a drummer for the past 11 years and for a great deal of that time have always tried to wear earplugs (not special ones). I’m not a fan of clubs and can literally count with both hands the number of times I will go every few years, the same with concerts (excluding my own few gigs where earplugs are worn).
I have though listened to headphones regularly for a long time, although not notably loud in volume or in style of music, and for a long time they were headphones not in-ear earphones. I’m not getting the “fullness” usually experienced after a concert etc but still a faint ring.
I just want to know if it will go away (obviously). It has come and gone since I noticed it again 2 weeks ago and I’ve never experienced it before, but its so faint its hard to tell sometimes if its coming and going or if I’m just not noticing it, its actually hard to remember the absense of a sound and to try and think back to what it was like before. After I first noticed it a month ago I can’t remember hearing it at all up until 2 weeks ago, where i’ve felt like its distinctly come and gone. Its more the fact that its there at all which concerns me, and now I’m worrying about it enough to ask your advice it will surely start to seem louder. Any thoughts please???
Thanks
-Tom
Dr Neil
I am 47years old I have been very naughty in the past rearding my ears. In my twenties and thirties I worked in a factory with load machinery I wore a walkman to drown out the machine noises and listened to loud music in the car and at home.
I had never experienced tinnitus during or after exposure to load noises/music. now at 47 I havent worked in a factory with load noises/music for about 5 years or so, I rarely listen to music it is at least 6 or 7 months since, and I havent listen to music or the radio or anything in the car for about 5 yrs. So for at least the last 3 to 5 yrs I have not been exposed to any kind of noise likely to cause cochlear hair damage.
However about 3 weeks ago I was wathcing a soccer match on TV (not loud) and started to hear whistling in my left ear. It soon went away and I forgot about it. about a week later I noticed the whistling again and after a couple of days it became permenant.
It has been like this now for 2 weeks except a couple of seperate days it seemed to stop for a few hours. It is less in the morning but gets continuely louder towards the afternoon.
I never have any earwax and the my GP has told me my ears are completely clear, he looked inside with a light thingy. H told me I have tinnitus and there is nothing I can do except learn to live with it.
He says I damaged my ears at somepoint in my youth and it has now manifest. Is this possible as I always believed tinnitus would appear immediatly following exposure to the noise that damges or breaks the chochlear hair cells.
Is it possible that I damaged my ears some 10years ago and that it has now manifest as tinnitus?
Thankyou for taking the time to read my long winded question.
Hi Tom:
It’s great that you typically wear ear protectors when in noisy situations. That makes a LOT of difference. At the same time, you may have experienced some high frequency hearing loss from times you were around sounds that were too loud for your ears. The tinnitus you hear may be in response to this missing high-frequency hearing.
Unfortunately, when you have your ears tested, they typically only test to 8 kHz and this will not show up hearing loss between 8 kHz and 20 kHz.
So what should you do now? Here are three things.
1. Continue to protect your ears when you are around loud sounds–music or other kinds of sounds.
2. Give your ears a rest from louder sounds. I like to think of it this way. Loud sounds can “bruise” your ears. Just like with real bruises, it takes time for this “bruising” to go away–typically a few months. Thus giving your ears a rest for a while allows them to “heal”. Hopefully, your tinnitus will disappear during this time.
3. Completely and totally ignore your tinnitus (now that you know what is going on). This is important because the more you listen for it and think about it (obsess over it), the more your brain will think it is an important sound and thus will crank up your internal volume. When this happens, you will perceive your tinnitus as even louder and more intrusive.
And one more thing–don’t over-protect your ears from normal sounds (wearing ear protectors when the sounds are less than 80 dB for example). If you over-protect your ears, your brain will also crank up its internal volume control. The result is that you will perceive normal sounds at a louder level (with the result that background sounds can become annoying loud. Your tinnitus will be louder too–something you definitely don’t want.
Regards
Neil
Hi Rebecca:
In your younger years, you probably did damage your ears to some degree. People’s ears vary greatly in how much punishment they can stand from loud noise before hearing loss and/or tinnitus occur. For some people even one loud episode of noise can result in permanent tinnitus and for others, it takes many years of loud noise before damage shows up.
Typically, you would expect tinnitus to show up at the time loud sounds caused damage, so you are right to be puzzled why your tinnitus occurred now and not years ago. It is possible that this was a delayed reaction, but there could be other reasons for tinnitus showing up now.
For example, perhaps you took one of the many drugs that can cause tinnitus. A lot of people don’t realize that just taking one dose of Ibuprofen can cause permanent tinnitus. So think back. Did you take any drugs–prescription or over-the-counter–in the weeks before your tinnitus showed up. If so, that could be the culprit rather than noise exposure from years ago.
Other causes of tinnitus include stress, anxiety or depression. Certain foods can also cause tinnitus–think caffeine for one.
You need to rule out these other possibilities before you settle on past noise as the cause of your present-day tinnitus.
Regards
Neil
Dr Neil,
My name is Tom and I posted a few days ago. I don’t want to pest, but I have just a few more questions based on your response.
– I know you can’t predict tinnitus, but if you could try and tell me, how long would you wait for the whistling to stop before you would think it might be permanent?
You said you ears can become “bruised” and the tinnitus might go in the months it takes to heal (I’m praying thats the case), but I do find it coincedental that I’ve just completed a year at music college and its only just started, and never experienced it at all in the 11 years as a drummer before that.
– I know for a fact I won’t be going to clubs and concerts in the next few months of healing, but would you say I completely give up drumming and listening to my iPod while they are “bruised”, even with ear protection during drumming?
For some reason I’m putting the blame down to my fairly consistent iPod listening for 9 years over anything else, although I will stress I don’t like it blaring down my ears, its not loud in style of music, I never usually have it full volume, and for a while I did use headphones not in-ear earphones
– How much tinnitus possiblily is there in listening to my iPod for roughly 9 years???
I’d say about 50-60% of the time playing drums I’ve worn basic ear protection and thought that was enough, but if considerable damage or risk of tinnitus can come from iPods….then I’m sure thats whats caused it.
– And lastly. Coincedentally I have finally started to use the special hearing protection ear plugs over basic ones. Do they completely erase the chance of hearing damage during gigs, or shall I still consider quitting for the next few months???
Sorry to bother you again but I’m concerned. I have made feeble attempts to protect my ears and I mentioned it wasn’t that aggresive, but I’m still very concerned it could be permanent.
Thanks Dr.
-Tom
Hi Tom:
If you have tinnitus every day for 6 months or more, I’d say the chances are more than likely it will be permanent–unless there as an ongoing cause for your tinnitus such as taking a medication that causes tinnitus while you are on it.
Were you in louder situations in college than you were before? Perhaps you were under greater stress while at college and that triggered it? It’s hard to second guess these things without much more information.
The secret is to keep all sounds under 80 dB, not to avoid all sounds. And you definitely want to keep sounds below a level where it makes your tinnitus worse. This may vary depending on the person and how “robust” your ears are.
Did you ever use a sound meter and see exactly how much sound you were pumping into your ears? Damage is caused by volume times time–so a louder volume and a shorter time could equal the same damage as a softer volume for a longer time.
Also, it is good to give your ears a rest from constant music or other background sounds. Listen to your music, then give your ears some “time off” before listening to more music. This helps keep your ears “happy”.
It all depends on the volume you listened to the music times the time in hours each day, how robust your ears are, how loud the peaks were, etc., etc. So there is no way I can answer your question–but if you believe that was the cause, you must have reasons why you believe it–and thus you could very well be right.
So about half the time you didn’t wear ear protection. And if the volume was high, that could have been enough to damage your ears.
It all depends on how loud the sound is around you and the protection factor of your ear protectors. Typically you can only get about 30 dB of sound reduction. This means that in order to keep all sounds below 80 dB, and assuming your ear protectors have a rating of 30 dB, you’d have to keep all sounds and peaks below 110 dB.
It’s always possible you tinnitus will be permanent. Just remember what I said before about focusing on your tinnitus. That can make it go permanent. So protect your ears in noisy places and focus on things other than your tinnitus and hopefully it will go away in time.
Regards
Neil
To Dr Neil
Thankyou for your reply.
As with Tom I don’t like to be a pest but I am curious to understand my ailment.
I rarely take medication of any kind except I am on prescribed Ethinylestradol tablets for HRT which I take 30micrograms per day.
I have been on this treatment for almost 3 yrs so I am guessing that is unlikely to be the cause.
The only drink I have that contains caffeine is instant coffee which I have very weak and have been drinking it since i was about 10yrs old.
I do eat quite a lot of chocolate but actually no where near as much as I used to.
my ear feels blocked up all the time although according to my GP it is not. also my nasal passages feel blocked up especially the left one which is the same side as my tinnitus. I have little if any trouble breathing except when I breath deeply my left nostral seems to close up (if that is possible.)
When I blow my nose nothing come out however I do seem to produce (sorry for the term I use here as I am unfamilar with the medical term) a lot of bogeys and I also sneeze a fair amount.
I am also fairly sure my hearing is fine and seems to be just as good in my left ear as my right.
Oh and I almost forgot in December 2007 I had plastic surgery on my nose for vanity reasons. Although I have read that nasal/nose surgery can cause tinnitus, again I would have thought that it would have manifest by now had the nose surgery been the cause.
I have also read that cheese can cause tinnitus. I have never been a great cheese eater but few weeks ago I bought some cheese from the supermarket 2 great big slabs buy 1 get 1 free and as I live alone I had cheese and tomato on toast every lunchtime for about 2 or 3 weeks. Which would co-inside with my tinnitus but as it has beenover a week since the cheese ran out I would have thought the tinnitus would have gone by now, although I don’t know how long it could take to get back to normal.
I cannot really think of anything else that may have brought it on.
I have been closely monitering my tinitus and I seem to have it for 3 days gradually getting louder and louder on the 3rd day is almost unbearable and then for no apparent reason it stops on the fourth day for several hours after which the cycle restarts.
Is there some sort of test I could undergo to proove that I have cochlea hair cell damage. The doctors just sem to shun tinnitus sufferers by saying
“learn to live with it”
without really first discovering the cause. If I knew for certain that hair cell damage is the cause I could begin to make plans for my future and find ways to “live with it” as at the moment I live in hope that there could be some undelying problem.
Thankyou sincerly for your help
Rebecca Sturges
Dr Neil,
9 days ago I had an ear tube put in to help drain my ear for eustachian tube dysfuction. I was prescribed Ciprodex ear drops by my ENT to help with clearing out my ear. I used that for the first 3-4 days after I also used for the 4th day a few squirts of Fluticasone Propionate Nasal Spray as well as Afrin nasal spray which my ENT said was fine (I had been using these moderately in the past to try to help unclog my eustachian tube but to no avail). On the 5th day (this past Sunday) after drinking some coffee and getting on the bus I noticed shortly after that my ear that had the tube in it was ringing with a high pitch. It is still ringing right now and I can’t hear very well in it. Is this tinnitus temporary or permanent? Is there any way to know what caused it for sure?
Thanks
Nate
Hi Dr,Neil
I’m an 18 year old and I was at a club a week ago and after leaving the club I had ringing in my ears it has happened before a few times but not to often. This was unusal to other times as now a week later the ringing is still there. Two of my other friends both have had the sane ringing from the same night. I’m not someone who listen to ipods often or even when I do I don’t like to loud music, I also don’t go out to loud clubs often. I’m just wondering will this go away? Its been getting me down the past few days and I’m struggling to sleep. The ringing I only notice when I’m on my own in complete quiet. I’m just beginning to get very worried.
Thanks Dr
Hi Samantha:
The fact that both you and your two friends had your ears ringing indicates that the racket in that club was even louder than you thought. Typically the way it works is that you can expose your ears to louder sounds and your ears ring for a few hours after. But after doing this several times, the tinnitus may become permanent. This may be your situation now. It’s hard to tell at this point.
The best thing you can do is NEVER to expose your ears to such loud sounds again–wear ear protectors if you are going to be around loud sounds. Hopefully, your tinnitus will not get worse, or maybe even fade away with time.
Second, do NOT dwell on your tinnitus or you WILL make it worse. The best thing is to learn to totally ignore your tinnitus and focus on other things. When you do this you probably won’t even be aware you have tinnitus for hours at a time. Learn to treat it the same as you do the sounds your fridge makes for example. No one sits on the edge of their chair raptly listening to the fridge. Instead, you so totally and completely ignore it that if I asked you whether your fridge is running, you’d have to listen for it. Treat your tinnitus the same.
Regards
Neil
Hi. I have had mild tinnitus in my left ear for over 20 years after exposure to a loud sound at a concert and this has been traumatised a couple of times during the intervening years. I am always trying to protect my ears when around music and take earplugs when think necessary. About 5 weeks ago, I went on the spur of the moment into a music club/bar with a friend and as couldn’t feel pressure in my ears at the time, I stupidly stayed in the club although I now know that the sound level was loud. The next morning, my left ear was feeling blocked and with enhanced tinnitus. I have since persistently dug/pulled/pressed this ear to change the tinnitus level and clear the blockage, but blocked feeling then comes back fairly quickly. I have seen 3 doctors and have used ear sprays/drops, sudafed, inhaled obas oil in hot water and used olive oil, but not much happened to improve situation. Can feel popping on this side, when open my mouth. I have also caused scabs inside of opening of ear canal which I am struggling to leave alone as when move them, seems to momentarily ease the blocked feeling. Is there a reason for this? Having now seen 3 doctors, who say all is clear that they can see, I persisted and now have a referral to an ENT (not I might add an urgent one!) Have had various consultations with ENT in previous years and feel this is way forward. So all on here should insist from doctor on a referral with ENT as can give a bit of peace of mind. I am feeling down and lack concentration at the moment. Do you think have an ETD? Is there such a thing as air trapped behind eardrum? I am going for an ear candling appointment next week with a reputable practitioner. I have had this done years back and did help my symptoms. I need to keep pushing forward with whatever I can to help myself, although one can get obsessed with reading all the info on internet these days and then mind tends to dwell more on the tinnitus/blockage; so can end up in a vicious circle. Any answers to my above questions?
Many thanks
NICKY
I had a bad middle ear infection ringing in both ears., the infection is gone now ringing in one ear, the infection over but still ringing never had this before, please help
Hi,
Two nights ago I went to a drum and bass night at a club, and since then I’ve had a ringing in my ears. I don’t often go to clubs or listen to music excessively loud, but I have had this once before after a night out, but it only lasted an hour or so. Will it go away soon or is my hearing permanently damaged?
Hi Abigail:
I’d think your tinnitus will go away eventually (give it a couple of weeks) if you don’t expose your ears to loud sounds in the meantime, but there are no guarantees. That is why you need to protect your ears from loud sounds ALL the time–unless you like the prospect of listening to your ears ring for the rest of your life!
Regards
Neil
dear dr. Neil
I am 13 years old and I like to like to listen to music that is quite loud but has never affected me. I have been known to have very good hearing anyway, but one day I was playing with a megaphone and a high pitched noise came out (very loud too) very suddenly for a few seconds . That evening, i found out I had tinnitus and I had a very large headache. A very high pitched sound was playing constantly in my left ear. This has been going on for 2 days now, and I’m really worried this could be permament. The doctor says it should get better but I’m still worried. the headache is a lot better now but the high pitched noise is still there. Help!
Hi Matthew:
There’s not much you can do now except protect your ears in the future. Unknown to you, the loud music you’ve been listening to has been slowly and insidiously damaging your ears. Now, the loud squeal has brought it to the fore with tinnitus. This is a sure sign there is some damage.
You’re a teen (barely) and teens think of themselves as invincible. Thus they expose their ears to excessively loud sounds thinking that there won’t be any lasting harm to it.
As you are now aware, that is not true. In order to protect your ears in the future, you should not listen to music that is much louder than you speak. That’s a good rule of thumb. Music does not have to be overpowering in order to be enjoyable.
One of the problems with loud music is that it becomes addictive–so you “need” it loud–and your ears suffer as a result.
Much better to break this addiction and learn to enjoy music at a volume around the level of speech. Then you’ll never have to worry about damaging your ears from music–and consequently you’ll have a lifetime to enjoy music.
As for your tinnitus, your doctor may be right–and if you protect your ears in the future and don’t think about your tinnitus, it very likely will fade away–but there are no guarantees. If it doesn’t go away completely, I think it will reduce in level so you won’t really notice it unless you specifically listen for it.
Regards
Neil
Dr. Neil,
I was at the gun range yesterday and was wearing muffs. However when I left the range and took them off all the sounds were muffled and a roaring sound was in my left ear.
My right ear now seems fine and my left ear seems to have the roaring still a day later. It is a bit lessened though.
Should I go to my doctor immediately? How long should I wait this out and see if it is temporary or permanent?
Also is it possible to go back to the range if I wear plugs and muffs?
Seth
Hi Seth:
I’m assuming you shoot right-handed. That means your left ear is towards the gun barrel and thus get more of the blast than your right ear. That is likely why your left ear has the more severe symptoms.
You are very wise to wear ear protection when using firearms. Your ears can only stand so much punishment before damage occurs.
Having said that, some people have “cast iron” ears and seem to be able to fire guns “forever” without ear protection and resulting ear damage. Others get tinnitus from the very first shot.
If you got tinnitus and a muffled feeling, that indicates that your ear protectors are not strong enough. Wearing ear plugs and muffs over them will increase the protection somewhat. Or you can get the fancy (and expensive) noise cancelling ear muffs.
Since it is getting better after a day or so, I’d tend to wait it out. Stay away from loud sounds for a couple of weeks to give your ears a chance to recover.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil it is me Grant again and my tinnitus is still her after 5 months probably because i HAVE BEEN CUTTING A LOT OF LAWNS THE DOCTOR SAID A TRAUMATIZED IT AND IT CAN LAST VERY LONG IF YOU KEEP EXPOSING YOURSELF TO LOUD NOISES, BUT IT WILL EVENTUALLY GO AWAY JUST NO MORE LOUD NOISES
Hello, Dr. Niel,
About a week ago, I went to see a band I like. It was a small venue, but I was in the back of the crowd. When they paused between sets I noticed immediately that my hearing felt dull and when I got out my ears were ringing and wouldn’t stop for days.
I have been to so many rock concerts back in college, and even saw this very band a couple years ago, and I’ve /never/ once had problems like this at all. Never had ringing for even a few hours.
I’m so panicked right now. A week later, the ringing has largely stopped. It comes back for a few seconds a couple times a day in my right ear only. My right ear hearing feels worse than it did before, and, paradoxically, both ears are /more/ sensitive to sounds.
My car stereo, the tv news, everything ‘hurts’. And the children’s voices! I teach elementary, so I can’t really stay out of cacophonous rooms entirely, and even my own ‘teacher’ voice bothers me now.
My father went near deaf from directing airplanes, so I have seen what that road looks like. Is this all just a prelude to seriously losing my hearing for good? Is there still a chance for recovery after a week? I am thinking about going out and buying earplugs and wearing them constantly, but is there really a point? I’m just going crazy about this, if there’s anything you could tell me I’d be very appreciative.
Hi Mary:
When you abuse your ears like you have in the past by going to loud rock concerts, your ears suffer damage. Sometimes they let you know right away–muffled hearing and tinnitus–and other times the damage is insidious–no obvious signs of damage.
Finally, one day, you go to a concert no louder than previous ones and much to your shock and horror–you experience loud, unceasing tinnitus and maybe permanent hearing loss.
All the times you have abused your ears has finally caught up with you. As a result, in the future you are always going to have to think of your ears or worse things can happen.
Fortunately for you, your tinnitus has largely calmed down after a week. Take that as a warning. The next time, the tinnitus may last a month or a year or forever! Your ears are not robust like they once were so you need to protect them from now on.
Your sensitivity to sounds is not surprising. This is one common result of noise damage. You’d think you’d just lose some hearing, but to your dismay, you also find that the normal sounds you used to hear are now too loud and shrill and may even hurt.
This is called hyperacusis. It takes time for hyperacusis to go away–think weeks or months. During this time you need to protect your ears from loud sounds.
Think of the analogy of a bruise. You get hit and a bruise forms. It hurts. Now, if someone hits you on the bruise before it is healed up, it just makes matters worse and the bruise will take even longer to heal. Frequently hit the bruise and it will never heal.
The same holds true with your ears. Every time you assault your ears with loud sounds you are “hitting the bruise” and it will just prolong the hyperacusis and it may even become worse.
You have probably already lost significant hearing. Go to an audiologist and have a comprehensive audiological evaluation to confirm this. If you protect your ears in the future you can hope to hold the loss where it is now.
Thus, when you are going to be in noisy environments, it is wise to wear ear plugs to keep the sounds reaching your ears to acceptable levels. Acceptable is defined as sounds less than 80 decibels (dB).
Now this is VERY important. Do NOT overprotect your ears. If you do, you will make your hyperacusis worse and worse. Therefore, ONLY wear ear protectors when sounds are above 80 or 85 dB.
Don’t go by how loud things sound to you because you now PERCEIVE normal sounds as too loud even though they are still under 80 dB. Such sounds do NOT hurt your ears even though they seem too loud to you and appear to hurt. The hurt you feel is based on your perception level, not on the level of the actual sound.
Regards
Neil
Thank you for your reply, especially the part about not overprotecting my ears (I might have otherwise done this). I’ll be going to an audiologist and I guess just see how things go for a while. Hopefully things aren’t too bad, and can still improve a little.
Hello i’m Kristi and i’m just 15 years old. 2 months ago i was at a concert and hearing music with high sounds. I have been hearing a ring in my ear now i hear it really really lower than before and I hear it really low from day to day do you think that it can be go away sir? Sorry for my bad english ?? Thank You For Help
Kristi
The home alarm system went off and it took me a few minutes to turn it off. It is a high decibel, piercing sound. I have had high pitched ringing for the last two weeks. I am beside myself with fear. Is there anything I can do to help it in this early, accute phase, like prednisone?
I don’t know how you ignore it and let it fade into the background. I feel like it is separating me from the ones I love and distracts me from the things I love to do.
Help!
Hi Neal.
Im 23 years old and i have experienced temporary tinitus on and off for several years. Although i’ve never payed much attention to it before as it usually clears after a few days. This time, however, its been 2 weeks and still ringing, i’ve read your comments about trying to ignore it, which i am trying to do, and im trying to keep my music to a moderate level. I think the main thing i need reassurance that there is a chance that my “non ringing” hearing may come back if i keep my ears protected and try not to think about it too much. Regards
Rob
Hi Dr.,
In the last 10 days my tinnitus has gotten much worse. I went to a concert 16 days ago that in hindsight was much too loud. I had mild, intermittent ringing before, now like a fire alarm sometimes in my right ear. I told my ENT I have fullness in both ears but his test showed my hearing mostly unchanged from my last test. No signs of infection or fluids.
As I have researched this and spoke my dentist and an ENT, I’m learning that I may also have TMJ. I also have a 24 year old neck injury (broadside car accident) which, along with poor posture, causes a very stiff neck and tension headaches 3-4 times a week, always when I wake up. I had little treatment after the accident other than chiropractic to get range of motion back. I have also awoke with an ear ache 5-6 times in the last 6 months. I goes away once I’m up.
My question for you is what path should I pursue next? No doubt the concert was the last straw for me but it seems I may have a few things also causing my tinnitus, not to mention stress. My first reaction is to try everything at once – TMJ treatment, accupuncture, massage, pills, etc.
My ENT rush me out the door after 5 minutes with many unanswered questions.
How would you treat this and should I have any expectation that the ringing will be reduced any time soon?
Hi Dr Neil,
I’ve had tinnitus since 29/06/2012 when I went to see a live rock band and it was far too loud.
I’ve been through hell since then and it continues. My big problem now is that its getting worse. I cant ignore it or not be terrified when its getting worse all the time. What seems to cause it to get worse is what you would probably consider ‘normal’ noise. For example, a shopping trip, a busy restaurant, a trip to the pub where people are talking and laughing (no music). I wont do any of these things from now on without ear plugs.
What I really want to know is why is it getting worse with this type of noise? I wouldnt consider these environments as ‘hearing loss loud’. Maybe they are above 80db though?
Thanks,
Louise.
Hi Darryl:
Rock concerts are ALWAYS played much too loud. Unless you take and wear ear plugs, you WILL damage your ears. It may not be noticeable the first time, but all that excess noise is insidiously damaging your ears. Finally, one day you will realize you have permanent tinnitus and/or hearing loss–but now it is too late.
The reason your ENT couldn’t find any fluid or infection is because when you said you had a feeling of fullness in your ears, he immediately thought of those two things. What he doesn’t realize is that your feeling of fullness was a psychological sensation, not a physical one.
I think the first thing I’d do if I were you, since you have neck problems when you wake up, which indicates to me that your pillow is not the right kind/height is to experiment and find the pillow that works for you so that you do NOT have headaches or neck pain when you wake up. This is further proven in that it goes away in a bit after you get up. (I have the same problem so I’m very careful how I arrange my pillow so I don’t wake up sore and with a headache–but sometimes I goof and pay the results. You may find an orthopedic pillow is the ticket, or just getting one the right firmness and height and arranging it so it holds your head exactly right for you.
Certainly dealing with your stress will help your tinnitus and health in general.
After getting your back/neck looked after and dealing with your stress, see how your tinnitus is then. Maybe you’ll have largely fixed the situation.
But in any case, you need to avoid loud sounds in the future if you don’t want your tinnitus to get worse. So stay away from loud concerts or wear ear plugs with a rating of 30 and don’t sit near the speakers.
Regards
Neil
Hi Louise:
I can’t stress this is enough. Rock bands are ALWAYS too loud! Therefore, you need to protect your ears by wearing earplugs and sitting away from the speakers.
However, the damage is done. Now you want to know what to do about it.
You’ve noticed that your tinnitus continues to get worse when you are around louder sounds–not unreasonably loud sounds just louder sounds. Here’s why.
The rock concert you went to damaged your ears. I’ll use the analogy of a bruise. As you know, I bruise takes considerable time to heal. During the time it is healing, it is still very sensitive to further damage. If you hit the bruise during this time, you will just make things worse. It’ll hurt even worse than before, even if you don’t hit it as hard as you did the first time.
Think of your ears as being bruised. It’s going to take time for them to heal. Every time you’re around louder sounds, it’s like you are whacking the bruise again. It just makes your tinnitus worse.
So for the next few weeks or months, you need to protect your ears from ALL loud sounds. In other words, stay away from rock concerts. Stay away from any venues that are excessively loud. That’s the first thing.
Second, you need to protect your ears from sounds that make your tinnitus worse, even though they’re not too loud by normal standards. You should be wearing earplugs that have a protection factor of 10 or 15. Don’t use earplugs with the protection factor of 30. The idea is to reduce the volume of the sound you are listening to buy a little bit-just to below where it causes your tinnitus to get worse.
However, you do not want to over-protect your ears, or other bad things will begin to happen.
If you over protect your ears, your brain is going to turn your internal volume up and make your tinnitus worse and cause you to have supersensitivity to sound. This is called hyperacusis.
As a result, you need to walk the fine line between protecting your ears just enough so your tinnitus doesn’t get worse, but not so much that your internal volume gets turned up and causes hyperacusis.
As you of learned, you now have to take very good care of your ears in the future if you want to get your tinnitus under control and not have it flare up in the future.
Unfortunately, you won’t always be able to protect your ears. For example, you’re walking down the street and a truck backfires, just as it comes past you.
Instantly your tinnitus gets worse, just like whacking a bruise again. The good news is give it time, and I do what I’ve said above, and your tinnitus will eventually return to its normal level.
Regards,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
I’ve read a lot of your posts here and was hoping you could offer me some insight into my own situation. I’m a 19 year old music major and developed tinnitus in February of 2012 after a band practice. I’ve been playing music since I was in kindergarten; school band, choir, marching band, rock and metal bands, etc. Never once was tinnitus mentioned or brought up in all those years of playing. I think this goes for a lot of people, but when you are a musician and you play loud music you hear the typical “You’re going to go deaf!” but when you’re a teenager, you don’t think that’s going to happen just from playing in school band. Hearing loss is something that I think a lot of people think happen to older people who have done damage for years, not some kid in school band playing drums or trumpet being guided by a teacher whom you trust. I’ve been playing drums since I was in 7th grade (about 12): everything from drum set, snare drums, bass drums, cymbals, and various percussion instruments. Never once were earplugs suggested for those types of situations.
I can recall ringing and fullness only a handful of times in high school, not enough to where it was noticeable or I was concerned. In my audio engineering class, we learned about tinnitus and hearing loss about a week before I actually developed it after rehearsing with my band on drums. Needless to say, I began to lose my mind. As a musician, we are trained to pay attention to subtleties and any change (a buzzing light, a high frequency whine from an old television) I notice immediately. I’m not sure if I had a mild case of tinnitus before and I exacerbated it and started noticing it after paying closer attention to what I was hearing in music and life the weeks before. I went to see my primary doctor and he said he thought it was noise-induced hearing loss and it would go away. In my hysteria, I went to see an ENT. I have had sinus issues since puberty and have been on dozens of doses of antibiotics like Amoxicillin, Augmenten, and ZPAC to the point that they probably overprescribed it. The ENT put me on prednisone for 5 days and the originally high pitch (it’s hard to remember back then, it was a blur) seemed to go away. In the months that I’ve had tinnitus, it’s calmed down to a hiss/static noise in both ears with a slight pitch in my left ear at times (it sounds like someone is plucking a guitar string toward the headstock or playing harmonics sometimes) which I have learned to tolerate. Every now and then (like today) I will wake up not being able to breathe, congested, with a sore throat and an ear will be ringing. Usually it subsides quickly once I get up or I have to pop my ears and it stops or just goes away on its own, but it usually happens after I’ve mostly forgotten about my tinnitus and freaks me out all over again.
I went through a lot of what you said as far as hyperacusis from overprotecting my ears. I purchased -25 dB ER49 musicians earplugs immediately (I used noise canceling headphones and foam earplugs every now and then…usually when I would play drums) and wear them in the car, walking on a busy street, and so on. I don’t feel that I’m over-protecting my ears as I carry a decibel meter with me (thank God for iPhone apps) that gives me a general idea of the DB level. I now play drums with the -25 dB earplugs and -29 passive noise isolation headphones to bring things down to a comfortable level (the attenuation is obviously not that high, I’d guess 35 max). I also went to my first concert about 3 months after I developed tinnitus and wore the earplugs and measured the peak level at 105 dB (I stood outside out of fear, but I’m glad I did).
So, given my background of sinus infections, possible allergies, and being a musician I was hoping you might be able to answer these questions.
1) Tons of musicians have tinnitus. Loud noise levels are just sadly part of the music industry. Any band, even acoustic acts, can be well above 80 dB. Mixing sessions in the studio are anywhere from 70-90 decibels, or higher. As a musician, performing frequently is part of the job. Do you advise any reasonable techniques like resting your ears every hour after playing or listening to music that could be applied in real settings?
2) What do you think of IEMs (In-ear monitors) that so many professional musicians use? Many of them offer up to -25 dB attenuation and feed the mix directly into your ears like earbuds. Do you think they can do more damage than traditional floor monitors, even if you are wearing earplugs?
3) I’m a singer and have measured my voice to have peaked at over 100 decibels. It is extremely hard to sing with earplugs in low-volume settings (like a small ensemble choir). Can you damage your ears with your own singing? Is there any known evidence of someone doing vocal warm ups or singing in their room without amplification damaging their ears? I’ve seldom found it makes my tinnitus worse (except for today, but I’ve had green discharge from my nose, congestion, and I’m sure singing is just irritating it) and in some cases, actually better.
4) Do you think there should be a conscious effort among venues, musicians, and music teachers to educate students and young musicians about tinnitus and other hearing issues associated with music?
At the end of the day, I can’t stay away from music. Music is my life. It would just be nice to be able to enjoy peace and quiet and continue to do what I love for years to come.
Thank you for any advice you may be able to offer.
Harry
Hi Harry:
> I’ve read a lot of your posts here and was hoping you could offer me some insight into my own situation.
I can try.
> I’m a 19 year old music major and developed tinnitus in February of 2012 after a band practice. I’ve been playing music since I was in kindergarten; school band, choir, marching band, rock and metal bands, etc. Never once was tinnitus mentioned or brought up in all those years of playing.
This is not good and needs to be rectified. However, people that are addicted to loud music aren’t willing to listen to sane advice–like, “Turn the racket down!” So, they have to learn the hard way.
Classical musicians also suffer from tinnitus and hearing loss or hearing distortion from the volume of music in orchestras. Some orchestras have clear plastic music shields so the trumpets, trombones, etc. don’t blast the ears of those directly in front of them. This is a step in the right direction, as are wearing custom-made musician’s ear plugs.
> I think this goes for a lot of people, but when you are a musician and you play loud music you hear the typical “You’re going to go deaf!” but when you’re a teenager, you don’t think that’s going to happen just from playing in school band.
Right. Especially if your band master doesn’t worry about his own ears. I’ve seen rules coming out that require band teachers to wear protection so they don’t destroy their own ears. They should require the same for students.
> Hearing loss is something that I think a lot of people think happen to older people who have done damage for years, not some kid in school band playing drums or trumpet being guided by a teacher whom you trust.
I understand. Did you know that about 19% of all kids in school have significant hearing losses. That’s almost one in 5. So a lot of damage is being done to children’s/young people’s ears right from the word go. I’ve seen parents with toddlers on their shoulders at air shows when jets are winding up their engines (and my ears are hurting with my 30 dB ear plugs in place) and these kids have NO ear protection. Young children’s ears are even more prone to ear damage from loud sounds than are adults. It’s no wonder that by the time they get to school age, many of them have hearing losses.
> I’ve been playing drums since I was in 7th grade (about 12): everything from drum set, snare drums, bass drums, cymbals, and various percussion instruments. Never once were earplugs suggested for those types of situations.
You’ve been there and now know the dangers. Maybe you are the one to go on a crusade and try to change this.
> As a musician, we are trained to pay attention to subtleties and any change (a buzzing light, a high frequency whine from an old television) I notice immediately. I’m not sure if I had a mild case of tinnitus before and I exacerbated it and started noticing it after paying closer attention to what I was hearing in music and life the weeks before.
Once you know about tinnitus, you become more aware of it, and thus it seems louder and more intrusive. (It’s also a hazard of working with people who have tinnitus–it makes my own tinnitus louder and more intrusive too.)
> I went to see my primary doctor and he said he thought it was noise-induced hearing loss and it would go away.
That is true only if you have a temporary threshold shift. But after enough times of this, you end up with a permanent threshold shift (otherwise known as a hearing loss).
> In my hysteria, I went to see an ENT. I have had sinus issues since puberty and have been on dozens of doses of antibiotics like Amoxicillin, Augmenten, and ZPAC to the point that they probably overprescribed it.
Amoxicillin and Augmentin are not known to cause tinnitus, but Azithromycin can and does cause tinnitus in some people, not to mention hearing loss. You could have a significant high-frequency hearing loss and no one knows about it. This is because hearing testing normally is only done to 8 kHz, but it should be done right up to the highest frequency of sound you can hear (around 20,000 to 24,000 Hz). Then you’d get a true picture of any hearing loss (and accompanying tinnitus that may develop because of that loss).
> In the months that I’ve had tinnitus, it’s calmed down to a hiss/static noise in both ears
To me, hissing tinnitus is a likely indication of high-frequency hearing loss.
> with a slight pitch in my left ear at times (it sounds like someone is plucking a guitar string toward the headstock or playing harmonics sometimes) which I have learned to tolerate.
I don’t have a clue what these sound like–as I can’t hear such things.
> Every now and then (like today) I will wake up not being able to breathe, congested, with a sore throat and an ear will be ringing. Usually it subsides quickly once I get up or I have to pop my ears and it stops or just goes away on its own,
The ear congestion results in some temporary hearing loss and probably this tinnitus accompanies it. Once your ear drains when you get up, hearing comes back and the tinnitus goes away.
> I went through a lot of what you said as far as hyperacusis from overprotecting my ears. I purchased -25 dB ER49 musicians earplugs immediately (I used noise canceling headphones and foam earplugs every now and then…usually when I would play drums) and wear them in the car, walking on a busy street, and so on. I don’t feel that I’m over-protecting my ears as I carry a decibel meter with me (thank God for iPhone apps) that gives me a general idea of the DB level.
Your ears WANT to hear sounds so you don’t want to protect them against sounds less than 80 dB–so if you are in 90 dB sounds, you only want to wear factor 10 earplugs–not factor 25s for example.
> I now play drums with the -25 dB earplugs and -29 passive noise isolation headphones to bring things down to a comfortable level (the attenuation is obviously not that high, I’d guess 35 max).
Just don’t overprotect your ears, but don’t underprotect them either.
> I also went to my first concert about 3 months after I developed tinnitus and wore the earplugs and measured the peak level at 105 dB (I stood outside out of fear, but I’m glad I did).
With 25 dB ear plugs, that would have just brought the sound down to 80 dB, which would have been safe.
> 1) Tons of musicians have tinnitus. Loud noise levels are just sadly part of the music industry. Any band, even acoustic acts, can be well above 80 dB. Mixing sessions in the studio are anywhere from 70-90 decibels, or higher. As a musician, performing frequently is part of the job. Do you advise any reasonable techniques like resting your ears every hour after playing or listening to music that could be applied in real settings?
Certainly resting your ears is a smart idea. Remember, ear damage is a product of volume and length of exposure. So if you play at higher volumes, you need to shorten the time (and have longer rest periods for your ears). Or wear adequate ear protectors.
I do this myself. Since my hearing is so bad (almost deaf), I have to play at HIGH volumes just to hear. If I turn the volume on my keyboard down just a bit, I immediately begin making mistakes as I can’t then tell the difference between the notes.
Therefore, I play loud for an hour or so, then go back to my silent world–hearing little or nothing–thus giving my ears a complete rest. (I seldom wear my hearing aids so my ears get LOTS of rest periods.) I have to do the same with the telephone–LOUD volume–two amplifiers in series to boost the volume to where I can hear it–but after the phone call, I go back to silence and rest my ears.
> 2) What do you think of IEMs (In-ear monitors) that so many professional musicians use? Many of them offer up to -25 dB attenuation and feed the mix directly into your ears like earbuds. Do you think they can do more damage than traditional floor monitors, even if you are wearing earplugs?
If the volume is kept well below 80 dB, it shouldn’t make any difference. I don’t see a problem with ear monitors when kept at a reasonable volume.
> 3) I’m a singer and have measured my voice to have peaked at over 100 decibels. It is extremely hard to sing with earplugs in low-volume settings (like a small ensemble choir). Can you damage your ears with your own singing? Is there any known evidence of someone doing vocal warm ups or singing in their room without amplification damaging their ears?
I’m not aware of any studies showing this. One of the good things about singing yourself is that you know when you are reaching a loud part and your ears automatically go into protective mode and reduce the volume internally. Thus you shouldn’t be able to hurt your own ears with you voice.
But if someone else does it, you don’t get the same protection–such as a baby suddenly screaming in your ear. That can and does cause problems.
> 4) Do you think there should be a conscious effort among venues, musicians, and music teachers to educate students and young musicians about tinnitus and other hearing issues associated with music?
You betcha! It’s long overdue. It’s certain to help, but not everyone will listen as you well know, so they will have to learn the hard way.
> At the end of the day, I can’t stay away from music. Music is my life.
So don’t stay away from it. Just play at a safe level and enjoy your music all day long.
> It would just be nice to be able to enjoy peace and quiet and continue to do what I love for years to come.
I understand. My ears have been ringing day and night for more than 60 years now. I don’t know what quiet would sound like. But I don’t let my tinnitus bother me. I enjoy life with the little hearing and all the tinnitus I have. But if I could wave the magic wand and get rid of my tinnitus, I’d do it.
I wish you well.
Neil
Hi Neal,
I keep well away from loud noise, as I’m visually impaired and my hearing is extremely important to me. Yesterday I attended a wedding reception and was seated with the band directly behind me. No matter where I went in the room, even in the back, the decibel level was the same: so loud that the band, which played during the entire 3-hour dinner (after which I left) caused my ears to become so painful that at certain points I physically blocked my ears as I felt they were about to explode. Just before I left they cranked up the volume even more and started the dance party, and I felt as if my ears physically couldn’t take any more abuse… or else. That’s how painful it was. Immediately upon leaving my ears began to pop when I swallowed, which seemed to aleviate the pressure in them, so I made faces hoping it’d completely go away. Got home and my ears felt so blocked I used a q-tip to see if there was wax in there. The blocked feeling continues today and there’s no ringing or pain, just a plugged feeling in my right ear (the one closest to the band) and I wore earplugs to spin class, where normally the music doesn’t bother me. I’m absolutely terrified of what happened, and scared to death, hoping to God it isn’t permanent. Nothing like this has ever happened in my life before, and my ears are so sensitive that I steer clear of loud noise. I’m a classical musician and have never had any probles. I can hear, and my left ear’s fine, it’s my right ear that’s blocked and it’s been like that for 24 hours. I read temporary threshhold is supposed to go away in 16-48 hours. Please help! If I’d know the music was going to be that loud, I’d have worn earplugs. I don’t want to lose my hearing. Please help! Angie
Hi Dr neil,my name is wale!am 22 yrs old and I got tinnitus after taking ofloxacin.it became a little bit worse when I used an ear phone.its been 2 weeks since I used the ear phone and I have been having this constant ringing in my left ear!does ofloxacin induced tinnitus go away and do I wear ear plugs only in my left ear(affected ear) or both.and can I get an ear plug that can be used for a long time.thanks as I await your reply!
Hi Wale:
Taking Ofloxacin can indeed result in tinnitus. It can also cause hearing loss and a bunch of other ear problems. I don’t have a lot of information on this drug, but one reference says that hearing loss is often temporary. Therefore, tinnitus may be temporary too, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Why would you want to wear ear plugs? From what you have told me, you only have tinnitus–and wearing ear plugs is NOT the way to treat tinnitus–UNLESS there are loud sounds around you.
You want to let your ears hear normal sounds–just not really loud ones. So only wear ear plugs when they are really necessary.
Regards
Neil
Hi Angie:
Exposing your ears to loud sounds for 3 hours is a recipe for ear problems. I would have gone to the bride and groom immediately and told them that you’ll have to leave if they don’t order the music turned down–then follow through.
In such situations I refuse to abuse my ears and leave as soon as they make the music loud.
I can’t predict whether you have a temporary threshold shift that will go away in a few days or not. Only time will tell.
Are you saying that your right ear still hears as well as your left ear–just that it feels blocked?
If you want to do something to help your ears–apart from protecting them from loud sounds in the future–you might want to try taking powerful antioxidants.
I wrote about this in a couple of articles. You can read them at http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/loud-music-and-hearing-loss.php and http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/vitamins-a-c-e-combined-with-magnesium-help-prevent-noise-induced-hearing-loss.php.
If you decide to do this, you need to act now. In another day or two it will be too late.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr neil! Its me Wale.I also have the feeling of fullness in my left ear and constant tinnitus in the same ear.pls I want to know if the fullness is as a result of hearing loss and if I should use ear plug in only my affected ear or both ears(that’s when am in noisy places like a club) thanks!
Hi Wale:
I suspect the feeling of fullness is a result of hearing loss. You can always go to an audiologist and have your hearing tested to know for sure.
As for using ear plugs, I’d use them in BOTH ears when you go to noisy venues. You need to protect your good ear too or it will soon be as bad as your bad ear.
Regards
Neil
Dear Dr Neil,
I have had high pitched Tonal Tinnitus 14 months, it’s been one level pretty much everyday, once in a while it gets a little lower, buts its always there 24/7/. I have noticed that if I move my Jaw, my tinnitus in my left ear gets louder? And strangely if I turn my head hard right it gets louder in my right ear and if I turn hard left it gets louder in my left? Are these just characteristics of tinnitus ? I don’t ever grind my teeth and I have never had whiplash or any neck problems? What do you recommend I do doctor Neil?
Hi Francesca:
You have your regular tonal tinnitus, and then you have what they call somatic (body) tinnitus. If moving your jar causes your tinnitus to change, you probably have problems with your temporomandibular joint (TMJ). You can have a dentist or chiropractor that specializes in TMJ disorders check it out and help get it back into proper alignment.
Turning your neck to the left or right and hearing louder tinnitus is actually quite common. This is an indication that your neck is out of alignment and/or that the two big muscles on each side of your neck (the sternocleidomastoid muscles) are not in balance.
A chiropractor can treat that.
I’ve not heard of people that have their left ear tinnitus louder when turning to the left and the right ear tinnitus get louder when turning to the right–but I’m not suprised that it does in your case.
In my experience, the tinnitus gets louder by the same amount no matter which way you turn your head–so yours is a bit different, but the same principles apply.
Regards
Neil
Many thanks Doctor Neil, I will get my neck and jaw looked at. So just to check I have understood this right, I have 2 tinnitus one normal one and on top of that I have another one that’s somatic.. 🙁 How unfortunate could I be 🙁
Hi Francesca:
Not necessarily. Your tinnitus could be caused by your jaw or neck and just gets worse when you do certain things. But then, it could be caused by something completely different. You need to think back 14 months to when it originally began and see what changed with you that might have caused it. It could have been noise. It could have been drugs. It could have been stress. Etc. etc. But it could have been that back then your jaw or neck developed some problems that resulted in this somatic tinnitus.
Regards
Neil
Thanks Doctor Neil, Your information is very helpful, I spoke to my doctor today and agrees with your theory, He’s sending me for an MRI he says it shows up any tissue damage, he said he’s ordered a full neck & spine scan. Not looking forward to being stuck in a narrow tunnel for 20 mins, the one to rule out the acoustic neuroma only took 6 minutes I just about managed that but I suppose I better get it done.
Dr. Neil,
I apologize if this question has been posed before, however I did not see my problem specifically in the previous posts.
I went shooting this past Saturday and i was foolish and did not wear ear protection because we did not have enough (I have definitely learned my lesson though). We shot several different guns and probably around 50 rounds in total between the three of us. It is now Monday and my hearing has not recovered yet. I have hearing loss in both ears though my right is significantly greater, also there is ringing in both ears again with the right significantly greater.
My hearing does seem to have gotten better since Saturday, but it doesn’t seem much better than yesterday. I know I have probably done some permanent damage, but will my hearing get better? and will the ringing get better as well? I’m guessing about a 20% loss in my left ear and a 40% loss in my right as of now.
Thank you!
Ben
Hi Ben:
There is no law that says if you have a temporary threshold shift (hearing loss) from noise exposure, that hearing will return within a certain designated time–such as a few hours to about 48 hours.
True, this is the norm, but I don’t see any reason why for some people it may take longer. To be sure, the longer you go without any more hearing coming back–the slimmer your chances are of more hearing returning. So you may have reached the limit at this point. Only time will tell.
Tinnitus is another matter. It can take several weeks to largely fade away. Much of it depends on your emotional state. If you worry about your tinnitus, then your chances of it fading away become MUCH less than if you just ignore it and get on with your life and let it fade away on its own.
During all this time, you need to protect your ears from loud sounds while your ears are “healing”. Exposing your ears to loud sounds can start your ears ringing loudly again. Just don’t overprotect them. They need to hear normal, everyday sounds or your tinnitus can get worse and you can also end up with hyperacusis (where even normal sounds seem too loud).
Regards
Neil
I fear my T was cause by having my hearing aids set too loud. This happened 4 months ago and the T is pretty much the same. It starts rather quiet in the morning and then develops into a constant high pitch shrill after a couple of hours. I’m taking Xanax, .5 mg 3 times a day. It really helps, especially to help me sleep, but I’m guessing I can’t stay on this long term.
I’ve worn hearing aids for 4 years, have pretty bad hearing loss and had occasional T. I went to a new audiologist (mine was out of town and one of my hearing aids “broke”, the line from the ear piece to the hearing aid came off [Phonax audeo]) and after a week the ringing started and has not stopped. I told the audiologist that the hearing aids were too loud. Too bad I just didn’t wear them. I’ve had my hearing aids reset to their original settings by my original audiologist, but the ringing continues.
Any suggestions?
Dr. Neil,
Last weekend I attended a party and I was dancing quite close to the speakers for just over an hour. It has been 6 days since the party. My ears were ringing a lot 2 – 3 days after. A few days past by and the ringing in my ear had been really reduced. I can’t hear the ringing unless I am in a quiet room but I can feel it is very slowly fading but it’s still worrying me. The ringing is only in my left ear. I went to see my GP 4 days after the party. He said there’s no sign of redness and no ear wax. He suggested that inside my ear is bruised and will take time to recover. Though, he also said if after two weeks it doesn’t go away then they’ll do a hearing test. Also, my left ear is feeling full/clogged to a small degree.
Could you please recommend what I should do and what are my chances of getting rid of the ringing in my left ear?
The ringing in my ears began on november 17th of this year,It first started out in both ears. The second day it was only my right ear. I have seen a ENT doctor and he put me on two courses of metro. During that time the ringing went completely away for several days but came back in my right ear.The left ear was great for two weeks, with the right ear at times becoming extremely intense.Then the left ear started ringing again with it becoming so intense that I wanted to rip my head off.Since then after a great nights sleep the left ear was perfect for four days with just a slight noise in the right ear.Now the left ear is ringing again.I need to tell you that I have been out of work since September due to depression and anxiety.Tinnitus makes that worse.I was taking Effexor xr for six weeks before the ringing started.I was told that the effexor could be the cause of the ringing.I do have normal hearing loss for a 54 year old male.I have been off the effexor for 10 days and the ringing is not as intense but still there.I guess my question is do you think it could be the effexor and if so how long after taking the drug will the tinnitus go away?
Hi Mike:
Metro (Metronidazole) is an antibacterial drug. Why did your doctor give you that? How was that supposed to help your tinnitus?
Anxiety and depression can trigger tinnitus by themselves. Thus, dealing with your anxiety and depression can go a long ways to getting your tinnitus under control.
Effexor (Venlafaxine) can certainly cause tinnitus and may have done so in your case. I don’t have any specific information how long the tinnitus may last after you stopped taking the Effexor. It’s a good sign that your tinnitus is already getting less after 10 days. I’d expect that to continue. It may take a number of weeks yet. Some drugs take 4 to 6 weeks. At the same time, as I said before, you need to get your depression and anxiety under control, and also not dwell on your tinnitus. Focus on other things and let it fade away.
Regards
Neil
hi dr neil,two and a half month back I heared a delta wave promoting meditation music in the form of binaural beats.it was 100 hz pure tone being played constantly for one hour.I listened it with headphones[later i measured with spl meter sound was 51 db in right speaker of headphone and 54 db in left].I played it at moderate volume but it was like humming and headphone was vibrating a bit.the very next day when i got up i heared screaching sounds in my ears more on left side.I was prescribed prednisolone for five days but no improvement.later i tried piracetam 2400 bd for seven days there was some reduction in tinnitus while on piracetam but it made me very alert and i woke up at night frequently so i discontinued it.Presently i am on gingko ,antoxidants magnesium and zinc.one peculiar thing about my tinnitus is that for one or two days it appears to be very silent or hardly noticeable but then third day it becomes loud again for one day.Gradually it has decreased to say 25% Of initial loudness at 11 weeks after exposure. my question is ; 1. are there known cases of fluctuating tinnitus like mine. what may be cause of fluctuation.
2. are these silent days a good prognostic sign?are there good chances of total recovery due to presence of silent days?
3.can it take months for healing?iam having slight distortion of sound starting from two months after exposure and hear more tinnitus intead of masking when i hear white noise.why it may be so.it is like a burnt speaker giving extra sound.it is more so in the evenings.
I have undergone audiometery two weeks after exposure .left ear shows slight dip at 4 khz [5to 10 db] which my ent surgeon says is almost normal and I remember it that about 5 year back also my ent surgeon told about some high frequecy loss in my left ear.I personally tested my hearing online which shows 16 khz is heared less by about 15db in my left ear in addition to 4 khz which is heared less by 5db as compared to right ear.subjectively in day to day life I hear slightly better in left ear[if i close my ears one by one].Please reply soon .
thanks
Hi Dr. Singh:
Sounds at 50 to 60 dB should NOT bother your ears. That is the volume at which we normally speak. You said you listened at a moderate volume and the earphones wire vibrating a bit. Was this level still in the 50s dB range?
What levels of ginkgo are you taking. In order to be effective, studies have shown that you need to take 480 mg per day of Ginkgo that is standardized to 24% flavone glycosides and 6% terpene lactones. Too many Ginkgo formulations use much less and so are not effective.
I don’t know what is causing your fluctuating tinnitus, but I consider it a good sign. If your tinnitus can go quiet for a day, there is no reason that eventually it can go quiet most of the time.
Is your fluctuating tinnitus locked into a 3-day pattern, or can it vary from that time-frame. Can you relate the louder days to anything you are doing differently–perhaps eating a different food that causes your tinnitus to spike?
What does you tinnitus sound like–a high-frequency sound? or a middle or low frequency sound?
Tinnitus has its own timetable. You are doing well since in 11 weeks your tinnitus has reduced by about 75%. If it is still slowly getting softer, I think that in a couple more months, it will be at a low level. It may never go away, but the level should be so low that you can easily ignore it. I would consider that success.
Regards
Neil
Dr. Neil,
I am a 65 yr.old male that has been suffering from T. in my left ear for over ten years. Sometimes it gets so loud that it louder than any other sound. Recently, while recovering from a head cold I blew my nose and felt air being pushed up to my ear. Miraculously, my T. went away and my hearing went back to normal, equal to my right ear. This lasted for about 10 min. and then slowly went back to its previous state. Considering that my hearing loss in my left is significant I’ve been considering hearing aids. My question is, if my inner ear is supposively damaged to induce T. why did my left ear return to what it was 10 years ago when I sneezed. When I was very young I had my ears lanced quite a few times. Is it possible from treatment of ear infections that I have incurred permanent ear damage like a detached ear drum?
I had idiopathic sudden sensorioneural hearing loss in one ear since Sept 13 and had oral steroids and also shots which helped bring back some of my hearing. I also have a white noise type tinnitus in that ear 24/7. About 6 weeks ago, I started getting a truck motor type tinnitus in my good ear. This is also there most of the time and it seems to be both reactive and non-reactive (ie, it is still there in the middle of some very quiet woods). That ear was also tested for hearing loss when that tinnitus started, but the hearing is still perfect in that ear. Why do I now have tinnitus in my good ear and do you think that could be temporary?
Hi Neil,
At one point which was about 4 weeks ago I was cleaning my ears out with cotton buds a lot, I then randomly got a fullness in my ear one day and then the ringing began. It was very very loud, then got lower, then got lower, then I slept it off and there was nothing. After that I then could hear the faintest static sound in my ear then poof and it went one night. Then recently (the last week) I have come down with a regular head cold and as a cold does it affects your ears. I have been meaning to get my ears checked for wax by the doctor, but as I’m slowly getting better day by day a faint ringing sound came this morning and I’m still awake. It went fast, it’s now almost diminished. I’m a generally an anxious person and am on beta blockers which are propanolol hydrchloride. I was just wondering what your thoughts are?
Dear Dr Neil, thanks for reply.I am an eye surgeon and obcessive personality.may be the vibrations were due to resonance due to low frequency but volume was less.Other thing is spl meter measures low frequencies very poorly.
I take gingko 40 mg tds ,but even that causes insomnia so I am planning to discontinue it.
T fluctuations;some times quite for two days ,some times one day but not consecutively for 3days. No relation with any food but something in sleep pattren triggers it eg begining of REM sleep in early morning.Always more in morning even in quiet days also.
regarding frequency;I matched it ;it is about 16 khz high frequency hissing.
what medicine should I take now ,because any medicine described make me alert and produce insomnia. what is you advice regarding vinpocetine or piracetam again? or should I discontinue ALL MEDICINES?
Hi George: (#96)
If your hearing returned to normal, even for 10 minutes, that shows that you do NOT have a sensorineural hearing loss. Rather, you have a conductive loss, presumably caused by a malfunctioning or blocked Eustachian tube.
The reason your tinnitus went away is because often tinnitus accompanies hearing loss, so when your hearing briefly returned to normal, your tinnitus disappeared then too.
The fact that after a number of minutes your hearing dropped again and your tinnitus returned, indicates that your middle ear was blocked again.
You need to have a complete audiological evaluation with emphasis on bone conduction testing and a tympanogram. This should immediately show an “air-bone gap” indicating a conductive loss, and your tympanogram should not be normal (Type A).
If that is the case, your ENT should be able to help you. He may have some tricks to make your Eustachian tube work properly, or even put a tube through your eardrum to equalize the air pressure–which should restore your hearing IF your middle ear isn’t filled with “gunk”.
So that’s what I’d do and see if these professionals can help you in the long-term.
Regards
Neil
Hi JoJo: (#97)
I don’t know why you now have tinnitus in your good ear. There are many, many factor that can cause tinnitus and I don’t know your history well enough to say.
One cause is that you don’t have perfect hearing in your good ear. Did your hearing test just stop at 8 KHz? Or did they test you to the upper limits of your hearing–normally around 20 KHz? You can get tinnitus from hearing loss in the high frequencies, even though you have been given a clean bill of health in the testing to 8 KHz.
Does your motor truck tinnitus sound like a truck or bulldozer or heavy equipment working nearby? Some people have this kind of tinnitus and also FEEL the ground or house shaking (when it’s not).
I consider this a form of Musical Ear Syndrome. I’ve experienced it from time to time. The good news is that for me at least, this is a temporary kind of tinnitus that typically only lasts for less than an hour.
Regards
Neil
Hi Neil, thanks for your comments. I don’t know what the hearing test range was. I don’t know how to read those reports. On the chart at the top it has 0 then 250 and on up and the marks by the audiologist start at 250. It doesn’t say what those numbers represent. On the left side is starts at -10 and goes up to 110, is that what you mean? It looks like the audiologist marked something in the range between 0 and 10. I guess I would have to ask her. It sounds like a truck and I feel vibrations in my ear only. Musical ear syndrome sounds nicer than it is! I wouldn’t mind so much, but at times I do not know if there is really a truck or it’s my ear. Here is something interesting: a fellow sufferer told me that her chiropractor told her to put her palms over her ears backwards and drum her fingers on the back of her head for one minute. It lessened the tinnitus for a while. I tried it and it worked for me too. Even less than a minute helps for a bit.
My tinnitus started about four months ago. It is a high pitched squeal in both my ears. It sounds like there is a slight frequency and phase difference between each ear resulting in some strange “stereo” effects.
I don’t think that it is a coincidence that the ringing started as I was discontinuing Cymbalta over a two week period. I perhaps worry a little too much, but I was taking the Cymbalta primarily to treat tingling in my hands and feet. Will the Tinnitus eventually go away as the drug leaves my system or will it be permanent?
I have also had some wax packing but only in my right ear which has been flushed many times. I am 58 years old.
Dear Neil,
This past weekend I was rehearsing for a performance of a small choir with around 7 brass instruments. We rehearsed for about 2 hours on Saturday evening and performed on Sunday morning.
I stood about 3 feet away from the trumpeters and blocked my ears for about an hour and a half until I could go and buy some basic silicone earplugs, which I wore in the performance. I was very interested in Harry’s comments above. I don’t know what the average decibels coming from the brass would have been, but it was physically uncomfortable. I guess my question is, assuming I have some temporary threshold shift,at what point should I expect my hearing to return to normal? My ears are feeling uncomfortable and ‘full’, around 24 hours since the performance. Naturally I am concerned as I am only 25 and work in the arts, so my hearing has to be good. Other information about sound exposure on the Internet seem to concern industrial noise, the kind of volume which would (I suspect) fluctuate much less than a piece of brassy classical music with characteristic peaks and troughs.
I’m also interested to know whether the pain could be from jamming the silicon plugs in my ear.
I rarely attend discos or electronic performances so I just have no idea how long I should expect this feeling to last, and whether the feeling could be permanent. I’m trying very hard not to stress.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Jan:
Well, around 120 dB is when sound gets painful for the average person.
This depends so much on the person. Each of us are different. Some ears are more robust than others. I would give it a week or so before I’d start worrying.
The pain could be from the results of the loud sounds, or as you say, it might be because you jammed the ear plugs in your ears. I rather think it was from the former, though.
Regards
Neil
Was dealing with stress, lack sleep, nervous disorder when one ear starts pulsing in one ear and in the head there is high frequency pitch.
Pulsing come and go. But the high pitch in head constant. Does it mean the pitch is likely permanent type of tinnitus?
Hi There:
When you have a pulsing kind of tinnitus, that is often the result of high blood pressure or clogged arteries.
If you also have high-frequency hearing loss, your high-pitched tinnitus may be permanent. Or it many be temporary and will drop in volume as you get your stress under control.
Regards
Neil
Dear Neil,
I went out to a night club last night and was exposed to some loud music for about 6 hours or so. After I left i had that muffled feeling in both of my ears but did not concern myself with it because i have had the sensation before, Normally after a situation such as this, my hearing feels much butter the next morning. It has been about 10 hours since I left the night club and right ear appears to be fine but i am still having trouble with my left ear. I would go see a doctor but I am currently out of the country and will be for at least another month. Is this something that I should be worried about? Will my hearing return on its own over time?
Dear Neil,
I’m in the idf army
and after a some shooting ranges i started to feel rings and problem with hearing. it started about 6 weeks ago. i was than given better ear plugs, but still was near loud noises. now in the last 2 weeks or so i try to keep myself away from loud noise and i’m going to change a path in the army that doesn’t invole more shooting frequently. i did some of the things that are not so recommended like worrying, and over protecting when ever i was in the near the area of the ranges. i now feel Sensitivity to noise and Tinnitus. the hearing test at first showed my hearing was fine, but i felt it wasn’t so much and also they don’t test over the 8000 ‘hertz’. in the army they didn’t really treat me well at first, i was near loud noise a few more times, just now i got time to rest.
how can i get rid of this problem. thanks.
Hi Jonson:
As I’ve said many times in previous comments, you need to protect your ears from loud sounds (and not that easy when you’re in the army). At the same time, don’t overprotect your ears. There’s a fine line in there you have to find that works for your ears. You want to protect your ears enough from louder sounds that they don’t make your tinnitus worse, but at the same time let your ears hear enough that they don’t turn up the internal gain.
Also, your ears need time to rest and recuperate–but that is not going to happen in the army either.
As you know, you mustn’t obsess or worry about your tinnitus since that will also make it worse.
Regards
Neil
Dear Neil,
Almost two months ago I went to a clinic to get my ears irrigated because I had some blockage from an ear wax buildup. I had this done once before, years ago, and it worked like a charm. The nurse irrigated my right ear with no problem at all. She was having a lot of trouble with my left ear and tried numerous times with irrigation as well as with some sort of ear pick. When she used the ear pick, about 4-5 times, it was extraordinarily painful! She tried irrigating one last time after one of the painful ear pickings and I ended up getting super dizzy and passed out. A bunch of wax ended up coming out within the next couple days when I used some drops that she gave me.
However, from this moment forward my left ear has been ringing constantly and I have never had a problem with that before. For the first couple weeks, I even had spells of getting dizzy and feeling “spacy” but, thankfully, that has gone away. I am worried that the painful ear picking might have caused some permanent damage though.
Do you have any idea as to what happened, what I could do, or if you think the damage/ringing might be permanent?
Thanks,
Mike
Hi Mike:
What I think happened is that with the picking, the person grabbed the wax and pulled to try to pull it out. Depending on whether the wax was attached to your eardrum or just sealed off the ear canal doesn’t really matter. What essentially happened is that by yanking at the wax, this distended your eardrum back and forth just like a very LOUD sound would–and this was transmitted to your inner ear as though it WAS a loud sound. The result can be tinnitus as you have discovered. Also this can exert pressure in the balance system part of your inner ear and cause balance problems.
Irrigating (syringing) using too much pressure can do the same thing.
The secret to getting wax out is to do it GENTLY–no matter what method a person uses. Thus it is wise to soften the wax first before trying to get it out.
Even better, is to not let it build up in the first place. I clean out my ears every morning so I NEVER have any wax build up and thus no problems. I’ve been doing this for a couple of decades now after I had a similar experience to yours–not as severe–but it did affect my balance for a bit.
You tinnitus (ringing) may be permanent, just like exposing your ears to a loud noise could cause permanent tinnitus. However, you can do a lot to change how you perceive your tinnitus so it won’t bother you. The first thing is to consciously focus your attention on other things and thus away from your tinnitus. As you focus on the loves of your life, you won’t be aware of your tinnitus so much and it will tend to fade into the background. Over time, it may fade to a very low level so you won’t notice it unless you actively listen for it.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
my situation is this:
about ten days ago i began to experience a very slight discomfort in my ears, primarily my right ear, there was no tinnitus at the time. a short while later, on the 24th of Feb 2013 i was walking down the street and a truck drove past me with some sort of machine that produced a really loud noise in the back (there had been a football game and i assume this was part of the celebrations). I was carrying things and thus was unable to cover my ears in time. When the truck drew near i immediately regretted not putting my things down and protecting my ears. As soon as it passed me i felt my right ear “pop” slightly. All in all it must have been less that ten seconds of intense noise. I didn’t think much of the event that evening or the next day, as i only stil felt the previous discomfort and still no tinnitus. On the evening of the 27th of Feb there was an intense ringing in my ears and i found myself unable to sleep untill exhaustion took me. I immediately went to the ENT. He used a syrringe to clean my ears of wax – there was quite a bit built up in my right ear. He tested my hearing and found that my right ear was fine and my left ear suffered from mild hearing loss from 6000-8000 Hz. The ENT seemed happy with the results and said my tinnitus should subside within 15-20 days.
I do not attend concerts and the like, the only loud noise exposure i find myself in is listening to music in my car, although hardly ever to the point where i can’t converse easily with another.
In conclusion, I am terrified that the tinnitus may be permanent as it is now been three days of near constant ringing and I have resorted to melatonin to get some sleep. The fact that it did not appear right after the noise incident is also worrying to me and feel that the ENT may have been trying to sooth me by giving me such a solid figure.
I guess my question is: does this sound like a case of temporary tinnitus? is there any way to tell? I am 22 years old and I cannot imagine living with this incessant ringing for much longer – though I imagine most people feel that way in the beginning.
Please, any help is appreciated. I feel emotionally drained and can’t seem to focus on anything else during my time awake.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Evan:
Typically, you would expert instant tinnitus after exposing your ears to loud sounds like you experienced.
However, I could build a case for delayed tinnitus. You see, loud sounds can cause your inner ear to produce a lot of free radicals. These free radicals then “zap” the hair cells over the next few days. So the damage doesn’t occur instantly. So that is one possibility for having the delayed tinnitus.
There is no way to tell whether your tinnitus will be temporary or not. Only time will ultimately prove whether your doctor is right or not.
Since you have not exposed your ears to really loud sounds in the past, I’d like to think that your tinnitus will be temporary–but there are no guarantees.
As I have said many, many times, you will do yourself a disservice if you focus on your tinnitus. That will only make it worse and strengthen the tinnitus neural pathways–something you DON’T want to happen.
Since there isn’t much you can do about your ears now–except to protect them from loud sounds as they “heal”, you should, as much as possible, learn to ignore your tinnitus by focusing on the loves of your life. When you do that, your tinnitus will tend to fade into the background.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr Neil. Six days ago(17 March) I attended a rock concert in London. It went on for 3 hours. I was very close to the front near the speakers and it was very loud. I haven’t been to a concert for many years(I am 42 years old)Upon leaving I noticed normal sound was muted. I had the whistling ears the next morning but a fullness in both ears,more right than left. Six days on it still feels the same,normal volume sounds hurt a little. I have been to my doctor who said I had evidence of an ear canal infection and gave me some otosporin drops. I fear I have done permanent damage to my hearing. Prior to the concert I have been suffering with awful sinus trouble and bloody sinus leakage,which is still present now. On top of the ear fullness,sensitive hearing I also have a terrible headache. Do you think I should get my Dr to refer me to our ENT department for a hearing exam?
Hi Stu:
The muted sounds you notice are what is called a temporary threshold shift. This typically occurs after exposing your ears to excessively loud sounds. Typically this goes away in a few hours as your hearing returns to normal. However, if you do this too much, eventually, it doesn’t go away and you are left with a permanent threshold shift–i.e. a permanent hearing loss. Your hearing should have come back in the past six days.
It is also common for loud sounds to make your ears more sensitive to sounds in the future. This is known as hyperacusis. It may go away in time IF you protect your ears from loud sounds in the future as they “heal”. This could take several months.
It’s good that your tinnitus is not permanent at this point.
The headache could be the result of your clogged sinuses. The sound pressure could have caused more problems there. It wouldn’t hurt to see and ENT about this.
You should get an audiogram done to see where your hearing stands. If you have a conductive loss, the effects could be temporary, but if your audiogram shows you have a sensorineural hearing loss, I would expect the hearing loss to be permanent.
That is why it is so important to protect your ears where you are in loud venues. You should have worn ear protectors with a factor of 30 dB or so.
Regards
Neil
Forgot to mention also that I do have some tinnitus still but it isn’t there always. The ear fullness,however,doesn’t seem to subside.
Thankyou for the prompt reply Dr. I am worried that I have indeed done permanent damage because six days after is way too long to not have had an improvement. The tinnitus comes and goes and I try to ignore it. There is definitely a noticeable change in my hearing.
Hi again Dr. Its been a week now and the tinnitus has kicked in. Big time. Can hardly hear anything apart from the high pitched whistle. Think I did some major damage here…
Hi Stu:
Unfortunately, you may be right. Our ears are delicate organs. They are not made of cast iron. So we have to treat them with respect, or pay the consequences.
There are a number of things you can do to help bring your tinnitus under control. My book, “When Your Ears Ring” gives a number of things. All help some people, but no one treatment works for everyone.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
First, please let me thank you for taking the time to continually respond to so many different peoples’ concerns. As for me, I’m 23 and woke up about 2 weeks ago with my right ear feeling stuffed up and experiencing a persistent ringing. I haven’t been around loud noises at all so this seemed odd and I assumed it was an infection or something along those lines. After a week, I went to an ENT, who barely examined me at all and then sent me in for a hearing test. My hearing was perfect, so he said I should be fine. It’s now a week later and my right ear still feels stuffed up (like I’m on an airplane except I have trouble getting it to “pop”) and the ringing hasn’t subsided. I’ve kind of prepared myself at this point for this to be a permanent condition, but wanted to get your opinion on if this stuffed up feeling is likely indicative of something else, and if I should go to another ENT for a second opinion. I will add that I have been on citalopram for over 3 years and I understand this can cause it, but it seems odd that it would take 3 years to show up. I’m really doing my best not to stress too much about this because I know that makes it worse, but I want to know if I should be taking proactive steps (i.e., getting my ear cleaned out) before just accepting it and living with the condition.
Thanks, Dr. Neil, for any input.
Hi Lee:
You’re welcome!
At the time this happened, did you have a cold, virus, flu or active virus? It could be a virus that attacked your ear.
Even though you got a clean bill of health on your hearing, I’m almost certain they only tested you to 8,000 Hz. Your tinnitus could be the result of hearing loss above 8,000 Hz. That is one reason they need to test hearing all the way to the highest frequency you can hear (usually around 20,000 Hz before they can rule out tinnitus as caused by hearing loss. The stuffed up feeling is often a psychological feeling caused by hearing loss rather than a really stuffed ear. Since the doctor couldn’t find evidence of an infection, that’s my guess.
Sometimes drugs can cause funny side effects to appear after you have been on them from 3 to 5 years, so you can’t entirely rule out drugs–but it does seem unlikely, given the drug you are taking.
Why would you get your ears cleaned out? They should have been clear, or else they wouldn’t be able to do the hearing test.
In any case, as you already know, you don’t want to stress over it, or you’ll just make your tinnitus worse.
Regards
Neil
Hello Dr Neil
Thank you, for being here and for answering and helping so many distraught sufferers.
I got tinnitus 3 weeks back due to aspirin overdose, I had been taking extra strength aspirin for a blood condition for a long time now. The day my tinnitus began I felt a migraine coming on , I panicked and took at leas 4/5 aspirins.plus I was going through some stress and physical exhaustion at the time too.sine the tinnitus I’ve been eating lots of pineapple, garlic and turmeric, also taking gingko biloba , zinc and b 12. The tinnitus volume has gone down quite a bit some days are good some bit bad. I’ve been so sad and miserable about this. Please doc let me know if my tinnitus will go away ? Thank you so much.
Sherri
Hi Sherri:
Tinnitus due to taking Aspirin is almost always temporary–so they say. So I’d expect if you are off the Aspirin for two weeks, you should notice a decided drop in your tinnitus, if it doesn’t go away completely. However, stress can bring on tinnitus by itself, or make the tinnitus worse, or keep your tinnitus going, even after the cause (Aspirin) is gone.
So you need to work on “hanging loose” and reducing your stress. You seem to be doing everything else right.
Regards
Neil
Sorry forgot to mention I’ put 1drops of hydrogen peroxide 3 % strength 4 times a day for 3 weeks now I’m putting castor oil 4 drops. The noise level has reduced considerably , from a million crickets sound it’s now a swooshing sound mostly. Please help !
Thank you
Hi Dr. Neil,
I got tinnitus in 2007 when I flew from the U.S. to Malawi with a sinus infection. It wasn’t ever bad until this last year. Over the last year I’ve flown about once per month to once every other month between the U.K. and U.S. and my tinnitus is always loud after flying. Lately (after flying on azithromycin recovering from strep throat) it hasn’t gone away and I wake up at night unable to fall asleep again right away because it’s so loud. Is there anything I can do to make it better? Unfortunately (or fortunately since I love to travel) there is a lot of flying in my future too.
Many thanks.
Jessica
Hi Jessica:
In the 2007 flight incident, were you taking any medications at that time? I can’t see the tinnitus as a direct result of the flight, but I CAN see tinnitus resulting from medications taken at that time.
Constant louder noise (like you find on many planes) can make your tinnitus worse for a time–but airplane noise should not CAUSE tinnitus.
It can also be that if you have a sinus infection, that the differences in air pressure during takeoff and landing can force “gunk” up your Eustachian tubes. This blocks your middle ears to some extent resulting in temporary hearing loss. This hearing loss can result in tinnitus or louder existing tinnitus.
Azithromycin by itself can cause tinnitus in some people, but I think more often the tinnitus is tied to the hearing loss that can result from taking Azithromycin.
Some people won’t fly when they have a cold or sinus infection so they don’t end up with middle ear problems. Others take a decongestant before and during the flight to prevent this.
I’d be careful about taking drugs that can cause hearing loss and or cause tinnitus or make existing tinnitus worse. (That’s a LOT of drugs.)
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr Neil
I am having tinnitus for the last 7 months[started with headphone loud music].Few days back I did online high frequency test with tones lasting 2 sec [using computer speakers] no head phones.It seems my tinnitus has become worst 2 days after that.The tones were not loud at all and 16 khz was hardly audible.Is it possible?
2. Of late my tinnitus has migrated to the head from ears and is audible variably at both places at differant occasions and it is changing its character since begining what may be the reason?when will it stablise?
3.Iam getting dipressed and having sleep disturbances. which medicine I can take which is not ototoxic.Presently I take diazepam 7.5 mg sos.Iam considering to take mirtazipine.Is it ototoxic or increases tinnitus.what about ssri ‘s like escitlopram.Please advise urgently.
thanks
harpreet
Hi Harpreet:
1. I’m sure anything is possible–especially if you were worrying about your tinnitus–but it may not be likely. I’d think that your tinnitus resulted from listening to loud music and then decided to flare up at that time as you thought about it.
2. Some people hear their tinnitus in one ear, some in the other ear, some in both ears and some just in their heads. I don’t know why that happens and whether it will stabilize at some point or not. That is just the way it is.
3. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably take a non prescription drug instead. My choice would be the herbal Valerian. Or I might use music to help me sleep or use a CD of environmental sounds. However, if you insist on taking drugs, my first choice would NOT be drugs in the Benzodiazepine class as they can be dependence forming and you could go through “hell” trying to get off them in the future. Better not to become hooked in the first place. Diazepam can cause hearing loss and tinnitus among other things. Mirtazapine is a tetracyclic anti-depressant and can cause hearing loss and hyperacusis (when sounds become too loud). Again, not something you want to experience, not to mention all the other ototoxic side effects. Escitalopram is an SSRI and can also cause hearing loss and tinnitus among other ototoxic side effects. If I were depressed, I’d take the herbal St. John’s Wort. It works as well as most antidepressants according to a number of studies and it is NOT ototoxic.
I”ve had tinnitus for more than 60 years now and I’ve never taken anything for it. I’ve learned to live with it and it is no big deal now–although my ears are ringing away fairly loudly as I write this.
Regards
Neil
Dear Dr Neil
thanks for your input.Is there any difference between homeopathic and simple hebal st johns wort.I donot know if herbal one is available in india. Iam scared of homeopathic one because these are prepared in alcohol leaving no medicinal content and their principle of action like begets like[may not increase my depression].Is passiflora incarnata [homeopathic] safe for ears.It is available here in india and is anxiolytic and hypnotic.
thanks
harpreet
Hi Harpreet:
Yes, homeopathic treatments are totally different from herbal treatments. In the USA homeopathy is considered a quack treatment by many people. Herbals command much more respect. I can understand your skepticism of homeopathy as it doesn’t seem logical. I haven’t used it myself, so reserve judgment on whether it works, and how well it works if it does.
I’ve never heard of any homeopathic formulations that are ototoxic so they are all probably safe for your ears if you choose to try any of them.
If you want to try herbals such as St. John’s Wort–if it isn’t available in India, it certainly is available on-line, so you could order it and have it shipped to India if your customs allows it into the country.
Regards
Neil
Hi Neil,
A question for you. I’m originally from Ohio in the USA, moved to Denmark 8 years ago. Developed tinnitus about 5 years ago, I believe it started on a flight back to Denmark after visting home in Ohio. Now, here is the weird part. When I go home to visit my tinnitus all but disappears, when I come back to Denmark it returns full force. Denmark is below sea level, Ohio is far above sea level, can this possibly be the reason the tinnitus goes away when I’m back home and returns when I come back to Denmark? Also was wondering about ‘Baro-Trauma’ as a possible reason for the tinnitus. Thanks!
Hi Barb:
I find it curious that it took 3 years AFTER you moved to Denmark before your tinnitus began. Was it on your way back after your FIRST trip back home after you moved to Denmark that your tinnitus began?
I’m also curious when exactly your tinnitus appears and disappears–is it in the plane? and if so exactly when–what elevation are you at at the time? Is it after you got off the plane? If so, how soon after?
As for barotrauma, the difference in elevation between Denmark at close to sea level and Ohio is less than 1,000 feet. The lowest point in Ohio is 455 feet and the highest is 1549 feet, with the average around 850 feet. When flying in a plane the air pressure change is much more–in the neighborhood of 6,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level.
I could see the flying causing the tinnitus, but not the change in elevation between Denmark and Ohio. Perhaps it is because you are so glad to be home that you don’t notice your tinnitus and you are more anxious, stressed or depressed when in Denmark.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
My situation seems to be different than most of what I’ve read. Bear with me while I explain.
Out of nowhere, I suddenly got a high-pitched ringing in my head. You need to know that I have NEVER exposed myself to loud sounds, even as a rock-n-roll loving teenager. However, in my car I have an adapter that allows me to play my MP3 player through the cassette deck. A few weeks ago, I ejected the cassette deck and got a very painful ear blast from the FM radio. (For some reason you have to turn up the cassette player a lot louder, so when it ejected the radio was up extremely high.) You’d think I would have learned the first time, but it happened again. I’m only telling you this because it’s the ONLY thing I can think of that would be ear-damage related. But I heard no ringing whatsoever at the time; it was probably at least one or two weeks later when the ringing appeared. My head has been ringing for a week now.
I guess my question is, is there a chance this will fade since the exposure was not over a long period of time?
Hi Jack:
There is always a chance your tinnitus will fade. But in order for this to happen, you need to learn not to focus on your tinnitus, but focus on other sounds and thus ignore your tinnitus in the process.
I’m not sure your tinnitus is related to the sudden loud racket you heard–the timing seems wrong. I would have expected your tinnitus to start almost immediately.
There are lots of other causes of tinnitus. Drugs would be a very common one, but you don’t mention any medications you have or are taking.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
I recently experienced something similar and was wondering if I could ask your opinion.
I was recently listening to Youtube videos through my car speakers while driving. I went from a very quiet video to an extremely loud video, and I had turned the volume up. The sudden noise hurt briefly, and I immediately turned it down. I forgot all about it until two days later when I noticed a high-pitched ringing when everything was quiet.
I’ve been to the doctor twice. The first doctor told me I had signs of ETD (negative ear pressure, sinus drainage, etc.). My ears click every time I swallow, especially the left one that rings.
The second doctor did not think I had hearing-loss tinnitus and advised me to take Aleve for inflammation.
That was a week ago. Since then, my ear ringing has begun to stop for longer and longer periods, sometimes for all or most of the day. I still have frequent ear popping and ear pressure that briefly resolves when I swallow, accompanied by clicking. The ringing does return, but it seems to fade away again more quickly and stay away for longer. I’m now 3 weeks in.
So I suppose my questions are:
1. Does the car stereo incident sound like it could have caused the ringing that began 2.5 days later?
2. Does it sound like my ringing will go away?
I should also mention that I went through an extremely stressful divorce 7 months ago and have been under considerable and constant stress. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you so much.
-Scott
Hi Scott:
The sudden loud CD with the sound way up–even though it was for just a brief time–could have caused acoustic shock that resulted in tinnitus 2 or 3 days later.
Since your tinnitus is going away for longer and longer periods of time, I see that as good news and that hopefully in the not to far distant future, your tinnitus will entirely disappear (unless you expose your ears to loud sounds again).
Are your ears congested at all–hence all the clicking and ear popping, or not? Depending on your answer, there are different treatments. Your doctors seem to think it is congestion, but I wonder. Let me know.
Cordially,
Neil
I have the same problem..its been 5 days now.Should I go to the Doc immediately or wait for it to fade away? I haven’t been exposed to any loud noise..but I have had it after I took a long shower last week..so could it be an ear infection or ear wax and not tinnitus? but my ear is not just blocked..I can hear this static sound…
Pls advice.
Thank you !
Hi Ramya:
If you go to the doctor, what do you expect him to do? Prescribe drugs? or what? If your problem is a middle ear infection, it typically will clear itself in a few weeks without any treatment.
Is your tinnitus a continuous staticky sound, or an intermittent crackley sound? The former would likely be tinnitus, while the latter could be a middle ear infection or gunk in your Eustachian tube.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
I asked since I wasn’t sure if it was tinnitus or ear infection.The static sound has been continuous and it seems to have become more or its just that I sense it better because I’m conscious of the sound now..I’m not sure. But its starting to annoy me.I assumed it to be just water that got into my ear and possibly an infection but after 2 days I started to hear this static sound and got worried as I was aware about the tinnitus condition.
So, to answer your question..yes it is a continuous sound.What should I do ? I don’t usually expose myself to loud sounds and I’m startled and worried that I could suffer with tinnitus for the rest of my life. Thanks!
Hi Dr Neil,
I am 34 years old. Three years back, i felt a continuous ringing sound in my ears,and my right ear was blocked for sometime. On consulting the doctor and undergoing audio-gram test, i discovered that there was a mild loss of hearing in both the ears. I was not given any medicine and my doctor told me to ignore the ringing sound as nothing could be done about it. In these three years the problem decreased and i forgot about ringing sound.
In last three weeks, the ringing sound came back, but this time, the sound was high causing me a lot of disturbance. My doctor repeated my audio-gram tests to see if hearing loss had increased, but the hearing loss is almost the same as in the past i-e hearing TSH is 23.3db for right ear and 20 db for the left ear.
Doctor says there is no eardrum damage, only the audionic nerve has got weak. doctor gave me multivitamins, Neurorubion forte as well as BetaSerc 16 mg for use.
With the use of medicines the sound has reduced, but the problem is my anxiety. I feel very scared as i don’t want the sound to get loud again. At times, for an hour or so, i feel no sound at all. But as soon as i start hearing even a mild ringing sound again, i get scared of it getting increased again. My fear gets control of my body, my blood pressure goes low, my shoulders start aching, i feel unable to do anything at all.
I am very scared of having permanent tinnitus, and don’t wanna spend rest of my life hearing ringing voices. Please guide me if this tinnitus is permanent or not? Is it a big problem, or will it fade away just as it did 3 years back when i had started ignoring it. Why am i feeling so scared of it this time?
waiting for help. Thanks
Hello Dr. Neil,
9 Month back i was experiencing heavy piercing sound on my right ear. I was prescribed some medicine like vertim-16.. But on the 22nd Jan 2013 i totally loss the hearing sensation. After all the test ( Blood,MRI of ear & brain,Etc) shows normal then i was given Intra-Tympanic Steroid injection 4 times ( start on the 11 February 2013) in a span of 1 week besides some capsule & tab of vitamins. Now also the condition is same. Besides total hearing loss i also experiencing some some sound in it ( rt ear). For 2 Months no more medication ( i hv given up). Suggest Please…
Hi Nik:
If I understand you correctly, you got loud piercing tinnitus about 9 months ago. Do you have any ideas what caused it? How much later did you notice you were losing your hearing? Sometimes tinnitus is the only warning that you are losing your hearing.
I don’t understand why you were given Vertin-16 (Betahistine). It is normally given to people experiencing vertigo–which you didn’t have.
Since you lost your hearing several months ago now, the chances of doing anything that will give you your hearing back is almost nil. Much better to now focus on learning how to successfully live with a hearing loss. If a hearing aid will help you, get one, but if you have total loss in the one ear, a standard hearing aid won’t help.
The sounds in your ear are tinnitus sounds and often accompany hearing loss. I’m not surprised you hear these sounds. The best thing to do is totally ignore these sounds and let them fade into the background. The more you focus on them, the worse they will become.
Regards
Neil
Greetings Dr. Neill. I’ve now had tinnitus for just over 2 MONTHS. It all started when I had fluid(mucous) fill both my ears during a cold. I went to the doctor and he said I had otitis media and gave me some drops and zithromax. which to me kinda sounded like a weird diagnosis because I had to pain or fever. the fluid remained in my ears for several weeks before it seemed to clear out, but now it is several weeks later and both my ears are still ringing. when I went to an ENT a couple weeks ago she said it will self resolve and not to worry, it was due to inflammation. but it isn’t going away. I had no pain or vertigo, or fever/ vomiting so in at a loss how this could happen. Ive had some dizziness but that’s about it. is there a good chance this could still go away cuz I’m losing hope and the docs I’ve been to seem to be worth next to nothing. thanks doc.
Hi Greg:
When you get a cold and it gets into your middle ears, it causes a conductive hearing loss. Typically it can take 2 or 3 months or more for the “gunk” to drain out via your Eustachian tubes–and hearing returns to normal and any associated tinnitus fades away. Doctors like to give you antibiotics to treat this–but doing nothing is a better choice according to the latest research–just let nature take its course and drain away naturally.
Ear drops and antibiotics such as Zithromax (Azithromycin) can cause more problems than they solve. For example, Azithromycin can CAUSE tinnitus, hearing loss and otitis media, dizziness and vertigo–the very things you have and want to avoid.
Given time, these symptoms may go away–and hopefully they will–but side effects from such drugs can be permanent in some people. That is why you want to be so careful when taking any drugs. You don’t know whether they will be temporary or permanent in your particular case.
My policy is only to take drugs for serious things–such as a matter of life or death, and let nature take its course for minor things (or use alternate treatments such as herbals, etc.). That way I avoid the side effects of drugs.
Regards
Neil
Dear Dr. Neil,
Three years ago I flew overseas when sick and congested and developed severe barotrauma when the plane was descending. I couldn’t hear very well in my left ear for almost a month. I have suffered from pulsatile tinnitus in that ear ever since. The pulsatile tinnitus has definitely improved, and now I only hear it when it is very quiet. It does not affect me or majorly upset me.
Two weeks ago, I slipped on a wet floor and hit my ear on the bathtub. My ear was numb and throbbed for about an hour. I went to bed and upon wakening, noticed a very annoying sound in my ear. I can describe it as the sound a light fixture makes when going bad or the sound of crickets heard in the evening. I’m afraid that damage has been done, and this sound affects me greatly. I even hear it when the tv is on, or when other noise is present. I am very distressed about this. Do you think that the tinnitus is permanent, or could it go away?
Looking forward to your input.
Thanks,
Janet
Hi Janet:
Ouch! That’s not the way to treat your ear! A nasty blow to your ear like that can cause tinnitus that may or may not be permanent. Only time will tell. I’d give it another month before you worry that it might be permanent. I have no way of knowing what the outcome will be. However, I can tell you this–if you remain neutral emotionally towards your tinnitus and focus on other things, it will tend to fade into the background and not bother you much. So even if it never goes away, it may become like your other tinnitus–just there, but not a source of annoyance. This will take time–a number of months or more, but it will happen if you don’t focus on it.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
I’ve had tinnitus for 8 years, a result of TMJ and fibromyalgia. Recently my tinnitus changed pitch, it changed from a ringing to more of a staticky hiss. Today though my right ear is ringing much louder than the left. I’ve been doing really well at ignoring the noise but recently it’s been a struggle.
I’m now masking with a fan, which helps, and the changes started after adding vitamin B12, zinc and melatonin to my daily routine.
My TMJ is mainly on the right side. It is possible for the pitch to change/increase on the TMJ affected side? It’s definitely in both ears but the right side is now louder.
Hi Bekah:
Yes, TMJ can affect tinnitus on either side. If your jaw joint is out, just clenching your teeth should make your tinnitus change in pitch and or volume. So can turning your head all the way left or right.
Have you gone to a dentist or chiropractor regarding your TMJ? If so, are any treatments they do helping?
Regards
Neil
Also forgot to note that my TMJ has been flared up the last couple days as well.
Hi, one week ago i was in a loud nightclub. I had low tinitus and some hearingloss from the past. But after the nightclub ny hearing and tinitus is much worse. I didnt were plugs, but i took lots of earbreaks outside and tryed to be carefull. Is there any hope of recovering? Im spesially conserned about my hearing, because it got alot better in the past and i was happy, now i am relly sad.
Hi Bastian:
You can only abuse your ears so much before you do permanent damage. In loud situations you need to ALWAYS wear ear protection since you have damaged your ears in the past (both hearing loss and tinnitus). Taking ear breaks is good–but in your case, obviously not enough to prevent damage.
Since it has been a week now, and since temporary threshold shifts typically revert to normal hearing in a few hours, it is not looking all the good for you. The tinnitus may take longer to fade away (if it does), but hearing should have returned by now if it is going to. I wouldn’t give up hope until a month has passed.
In the future you ALWAYS need to protect your ears from loud sounds (ear protectors, not just ear breaks) or your hearing will just continue to get worse and worse.
Regards
Neil
Thank you for quick reply. So you think that my hearing will stay like this and not improve? What could happen in a month? Could my hearing improve or just my tinitus? Sorry for asking so much, but this is making me depressed.
Dear Dr Neil,
I am very worried about my son Michael who is far away from home in Australia. He went to an audiologist in Australia as he was suffering badly with continues high pitched ringing in both ears. He was told that his hearing was slightly off. However he was told there is no cure for tinnitus and to learn to live with. Sadly he suffers from OCD and this is compounding it and he is saying that he cannot live with it. He has had it now for two months and although I am doing everything to support him l cannot help feel helpless and any advice would be greatly appreciate.
Kind Regards
Monica Streat
Hi Monica:
What caused his tinnitus in the first place? Drugs? Noise? ?? What changed two months ago?
OCD can make dealing with tinnitus ever so much harder as a person with OCD typically won’t leave their tinnitus alone and focus on other things. They typically keep on focusing on their tinnitus and this only makes it worse and worse. I’ve helped people with OCD before, but it can be a slow process–taking 2 or 3 years or so.
Regards
Neil
Dear Neil,
Thank you so much for your reply. Michael was on a course of antibiotics. Additionally he did notice it after going to a nightclub. In my heart I think he is better to come home as we can support him as the distance between is awful. I really appreciate your support. I am telling him not to focus but as you addressed it in your reply the OCD is not helping
Kind Regards
Monica
Hi Monica:
Do you know which antibiotic he took? Some are much more likely to cause tinnitus than others. Also, taking some antibiotics and at the same time exposing your ears to loud sounds (nightclubbing) in the weeks or months afterwards can make the effect of noise much worse–sort of a double whammy.
If he is really having trouble with his tinnitus, he should get help. Neuromonics (which was developed in Australia) is one good treatment. So is Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT). I’d recommend the Neuromonics and see whether it helps him. It’s expensive and he has to take the time to do the necessary listening, but the results can be worth it, but ONLY if he sticks with the program. Ditto for TRT. Both are long term treatments–up to 3 years–but that is probably what he needs. There is no easy/quick treatment–especially with OCD.
Regards
Neil
I hope you are still monitoring this blog. Sadly, I now have tinnitius and it is usually accompanied with a minor headache. It started approximately May of this year when, I know you going to tell me this is crazy, I went into my office one day. My ears rang in my office and stopped when I left. It was literally on and off when I stepped across the threshold of my door. Despite the ringing, which was low and had a high frequency, I continued working for the most part and suffered it out in my office. After a week, the ringing never stopped when I left my office. A few weeks later, my throat started burning after being in there. I finally got them to test the air in my office they found moderate levels of formaldehyde(greater than 50 parts per billion). I have now abandoned my office for a cube, but sadly the ringing persists. Luckily, my throat feels fine. I have gone to several physicians and an ENT. They do not know what caused my ringing, but they all believe it was partially resulting from damage to my ears. I cant hear the higher frequencies well. I tried to explain to them that it would be difficult to hear anything at those frequencies at low decibels, because of the ringing in my ears. Furthermore, this doesn’t explain the ringing that was only occurring in my office. I had an MRI and it came back normal, which is a good thing. By my calculation, I would have been exposed to Formaldehyde for almost two years before I started complaining. Have you heard of a similar story to this or do you have any recommendations. I am scared and pray this goes away. I am now taking sinus and allergy medicines for the first time in my life too:(.
Hi Arlo:
It sure sounds like you have some sort of pollution in your building that concentrated in your office. (Maybe you had you door shut.) If you are experiencing “sick building syndrome” it could be the formaldehyde, plus a number of other pollutants.
Formaldehyde is only listed as causing dizziness and vertigo, not tinnitus–that is why I also suspect something else. But formaldehyde is a poison and can cause lots of things to go wrong with your body.
Do your symptoms (headaches and tinnitus) go away over the weekends when you are away from your office for a couple of days? If so, think “sick building syndrome” no matter what they officially “find”.
Tinnitus should not interfere with hearing testing except at the frequency of your tinnitus. But if they tested you using a warble tone instead of a pure tone, you could readily distinguish one from the other. The solution is that easy–but few seem to care to do that.
Taking sinus and allergy drugs just compounds the problem as they may cause the tinnitus themselves. Just allergies alone can cause tinnitus. So you have some different possibilities–high-frequency hearing loss, pollutants, drugs, allergies–and likely more than one of these at the same time.
Regards
Neil
Dear Dr Neil,
Thank you so much for taking the time to offer such support.
I have passed on your messages to my son Michael and he is very grateful to you.
When Michael and I last spoke he mentioned that apart from the high pitched ringing he is now saying that he cannot talk with out constant popping/clicking in his right ear. He believes this is because he has damaged his cochlea.As mentioned previously his tinnitus does change pitch when he clenches his teeth. He also mentions that he cannot go into bars, clubs, parties and festivals and if he drinks alcohol it gets worse. Could you recommend a make of earplugs. I feel he will become a recluse as he has also lost his job which has compounded everything.
Kind Regards
Monica
Regards
Monica
Hi Monica:
The constant popping/clicking is not damage to the cochlea. Typically is is caused by either the temporomandibular joint out of place (TMD) or “gunk” in the middle ear/Eustachian tube commonly from a middle ear infection, and when air exchanges–typically when you yawn or swallow, the air passing through the “gunk” makes a popping or clicking or crackling sound.
Not a good idea to go into loud venues like bars, etc with wearing ear plugs to protect your ears from the loud sounds. Loud sounds just make tinnitus worse and worse.
For some people alcohol is a tinnitus trigger–seems to be in Michael’s case. For other people it acts the opposite and quiets tinnitus.
Regards
Neil
Dear Neil,
Thank you so much for your reply.
I passed on your message and Michael is very relieved that the clicking is not cochlea damage. I did forget to mention that Michael actually suffers from Pure O OCD and I am wondering how this will effect his recovery as it involves unwanted thoughts.
Kind Regards
Monica
Hello Dr Neil my tinnitus started like two months ago by listening to loud music with my earbuds first it was just my left ear but the next day I started noticing a high pitch noise in my right ear, I also hear a crackling/popping sound in both of my ears when I yawn or swallow, my jaw hurts too when I eat my hearing test was good an I had an MRI done just to make sure I didn’t had a tumor and everything was good my ENT doctor told me that my tinnitus is not permanent but they don’t know when is it going to stop I believe that I damaged some hair cells.
Hi Everardo:
I think you have two different problems. The crackling/popping sounds you hear and your sore jaw indicates that you likely have temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD). A dentist or chiropractor that specializes in this should be able to help you. This can also result in tinnitus. So treating this may help alleviate your tinnitus.
Exposing your ears to loud sounds, especially over a longer period of time such as when listening to music for hours via earbuds can lead to tinnitus too. Typically, tinnitus from this is temporary and lasts a few hours or days. However, the more you do this, the longer the tinnitus lasts until it becomes permanent and never goes away. This is one reason you need to practice proper listening habits before you ever get tinnitus. The proper level for listening to music (or anything else) is to adjust the volume so it is about the same volume as people talking. That may seem much too soft to you if you are addicted to loud music, but that is all you need in order to hear music well (after all you hear people well at that volume) and it won’t damage your ears–which could result in tinnitus, hearing loss, hyperacusis and other ear problems.
Regards
Neil
Hi DR Neil
I have been doing some research as mine started ringing/hissing(feel like hot air is coming out of my ears) last week. It started with a throat infection and my GP was not very optimistic and he put me down by saying that i’ll have to live with it. I finished my antibiotics and my throat and right ear( bad ear) are both itchy. Obviously the antibiotics didn’t work. Do i get a repeat? There’s a girl Suzanna in the threat she says she has used a herbal ear drop. Do you have any idea which one is that? I am doing my final year at university and i dont want the noise to bother me. Please help.
Hi Vinusha:
I’m not clear about the start of your tinnitus. Did your tinnitus start after your throat infection, but BEFORE you began taking the antibiotics, or AFTER you began taking the antibiotics?
I suspect that the antibiotics caused your tinnitus. If you tell me which antibiotics you took, I can tell you more about whether your tinnitus is likely to prove permanent or not.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil
I recently (3 days now)have the ringing in my ears. I know it’s not from loud music or noises or swimming so am curious to what it could be from and what/if I can do to make it go away. It’s been constant for 3 days now it’s not too loud but I notice it. Am 29 years old male and a smoker. I haven’t been to doctor for has long as I can remember. Am wondering if I change my bad habits like smoking and drinking Pepsi will I be able to get rid of this without having to go to a hospital. Any insight would be helpful, Thank You
Hi Chris:
The first thing I’d like to know is what changed in your life in the two weeks preceding hearing your tinnitus. Often that gives a clue to your tinnitus.
For example, did you have any extra stress, anxiety or depression? Strong emotions can cause tinnitus.
Did you change any medications or drugs or start any–medical or otherwise? More than 450 drugs can cause tinnitus.
Is there any change in your hearing? Smoking can cause hearing loss. And hearing loss–even way up in the high frequencies where you typically don’t notice the loss can cause tinnitus.
There are some things to consider. Anything ring a bell?
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr Neil
I’m a 30 year old female who has been experiencing high pitched tinnitus in both ears for 2 weeks now.
For the past 7 months I’ve been battling a sinus infection which was diagnosed via CT scan. Ive been on quite a few courses of antibiotics (not in any list of tinnitus causing medication) trying to shift it.
3 weeks ago I saw an ENT who prescribed a nasal spray (fluticasone) and a nasal irrigation (Neilmed)
This worked for a few days – it felt as if whatever was blocking my sinusus in my forehead and behind my eye was moving down – I began to feel pressure under my eyes.
However when doing the nasal rinse one day as usual it hurt. It felt as if I was very clogged and took alot of squirting to get the rinse past my nose. After the rinse than night I started to hear ringing. My ENT told me to stop the rinse which I have but no change in the ringing.
Is it possible this is sinus related? Or could the pressure of the nasal rinse have damaged my ears from internally? At the moment my ears feel blocked on and off slightly – not impeding my hearing – and most of my sinus pain and symptoms have disappeared.
Would love your take on this,
Amelia
Hi Amelia:
First, I’m surprised that you have taken several antibiotics and none of them are listed as causing tinnitus. I’d be interested in comparing them to my list of tinnitus-causing drugs.
I think you can get tinnitus from sinus congestion, but I don’t think you can affect your ears from too much nasal pressure when squirting, but I’m no expert on this aspect of ears. I’d give it a couple of weeks and see whether the tinnitus goes away.
Regards
Neil
Thanks for your prompt response. I truly appreciate it.
The antibiotics were amoxil and augmentin duo forte (Australian branding) while I was on them at no time did I have ringing. That only started with the nasal spray and rinse.
The specific name of the nasal spray is “Amamys”.
Unfortunately even with ceasing that treatment the ringing persists
Hi Amelia:
Amoxicillin is the generic name of Augmentin. Typically it is not ototoxic, but the odd person may get tinnitus from taking this drug.
I think your nasal spray was Avamys (not Amamys). The generic drug is Fluticasone. According to my information, it is not reported as causing tinnitus.
I think your tinnitus is the result of your congestion somehow affecting your ears. I’d expect it to go away when the congestion all clears up.
Regards
Neil
Dear Dr. Neil,
I was having ear ache and i used ear buds to clear the wax in my ears. As i did it, it started ringing in my ears the next day. I went to ENT to get the ears checked and he said since i used ear buds it has pushed the ear wax further inside. My ears were blocked and i couldnt hear clearly.
He gave me soliwax drops to soften the ear wax post which he cleaned both the ears. My hearing became really good and the levels of sound in the ears had also dropped significantly, however there was a still slight whistling sound in both the ears.
Its been 2 weeks now and the sound levels are more or less the same. Obviously i was deeply stressed about it and keep thinking about it all the time and look for hearing.
I cannot hear it during the entire day now but i can hear it when i go to bed and put my head to the pillow. Obviously this keeps me thinking about it during the day and i keep checking in between whether its there or gone.
I went back to my ENT again today after 2 weeks of clearing my ears and he said you just forget about the noise in your ears and it will go gradually since your ears are clean and it takes few days for the noise to go after the cleaning.
Pls advise.
Regards,
Ehsaan
Hi Ehsaan:
You are doing the worst thing possible by concentrating on your tinnitus. This is GUARANTEED to make it worse and permanent. What you need to do is just totally ignore it by focusing on other things. Don’t keep on listening for it to see if it is still there.
In time, maybe a few days or a few weeks or longer, it will fade into the background and you won’t notice it at night anymore than you notice it during the day when you are busy with other things.
Regards
Neil
Thanks Dr Neil
i will follow ur advise. i only come to know about it in the night time when i go to bed.
i also have cold,shall i take souna steam, will that help.
my audiogram shows my hearing as normal
since this is due to ear wax,will this go permanently.i hope i havent aggrovated the situation by checking frequently in the last two weeks.as i can say my sound levels have reduced than before
thank god,i found ur forum.you are doing a great service.god bless u
pls advise
regards,
ehsaan
Dear Dr Neil,
Thanks a lot for your advise.
I will surely keep this in mind now. I am not able to hear the voice the entire day. I can hear it only when i go in a silent room or when i am sleeping at night time. The whistling sounds is particularly irritating during night time while sleeping.
I am also having cold, the doctor has given me one table to bring down the cold and asked me to take steam bath.
Will the whistling sound go permanently since this was caused by ear wax and i hear a very mild sound.
I have not checked the entire day today and follow my advise. I hope i havent aggrovated the situation by checking the levels of sound for the past 2 weeks.
You are doing a great service to everyone.
Thanks,
Ehsaan
Hello Dr,
I am 24 years old and in the Canadian military. Friday was my first shoot with the .50 cal sniper rifle. I was wearing the foam, orange ear protectors. After shooting my left ear was partially deaf, but I have gained a bit back now. But, ringing has continued and not stopped (it is now Tuesday). I have seen the military doctors who have documented it but have given me little to no information other than stay away from loud noises. At what point should I start to become concerned?
Thank you,
Nicholas
Hi Nicholas:
Were your foam ear protectors in properly? You need to roll them up then insert them and let them expand. If you don’t do it properly, they won’t protect your ears. Next, what was the protection factor? I’m assuming that you were using a 30 db protection factor.
Now to answer YOUR questions. A loud sound can give you a temporary threshold shift–in other words a temporary hearing loss. Typically, the muffled feeling lasts for a few minutes to a few hours. I wouldn’t expect it to last for 4 days–unless you have abused your ears in the past so they are on their “last legs”. You could also expect the tinnitus to go away in a few minutes to a few hours too.
Don’t give up hope yet, but maybe it’s time to do something about it. If you go to an ear specialist (ENT), typically all he will do is prescribe Prednisone (a steroid). Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesen’t. If you want to try more natural ways, you could follow what I have written in a couple of my articles at
http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/loud-music-and-hearing-loss.php
and
http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/vitamins-a-c-e-combined-with-magnesium-help-prevent-noise-induced-hearing-loss.php
There are no guarantees in any case, but the alternative is to do nothing (and so far that’s not working).
Regards
Neil
I am not sure what type i was using and yes they were in correctly. I have been in the army many years and shot many guns but never experienced this. I saw my doctor today who said he thinks it will go away but has referred me to a specialist.
Hello Dr.
I’m 40 and I visited an outdoor shooting range 8 days ago. Despite being outdoors the shooting booths were enclosed and pretty reverberant (almost like an indoor range). I doubled up with 28 NRR plugs and 26 NRR pads, and preceded to fire 25 rounds of .30 Winchester magnum caliber. At the time, I felt like my ears were well protected. I couldn’t hear much with the protection in.
Anyway, I think my left ear has suffered damage. I have done some testing of my ears at home, and I can only hear to 14KHz with my left, but to 14.5kH with y right. Plus I have a feint ringing in my left at ~14.5 kHz type pitch. Sometimes it’s quite pronounced, other times (like last night going to sleep) it is almost not there. I do have a slight bunged up feeling in my left ear. Coincidentally I do suffer with hard wax in my left ear.
I am really annoyed with myself that I didn’t think things through, and wear heavier protection and visit a more open range. I was too excited to fire my new rifle I guess.
I am having a professional hearing test this Tuesday.
Some questions I’d like to ask.
Is there any chance this tinnitus will go away?
Is it possible I just pushed wax into my ear canal with my ear plugs (maybe I’m just grasping at straws here)?
Should I visit a ENT doctor, maybe try steroids or something?
Do you think it be OK/safe to keep shooting this rifle if I wear 33 NRR plugs with 30 NRR muffs and shoot on open booth outdoor ranges? Should I stop all shooting for the short term?
Any advice appreciated.
Hi Paul:
I think your ears were well protected with the plugs and pads. There is a limit as to how much protection you can add. That figure is somewhere around 35 dB or so. After that the sound just penetrates your skull and generates a sound signal in your inner ears.
I’d say the proof that you were well protected is that you state you couldn’t hear much of anything. If the shots didn’t sound loud to you, that is probably the truth and you didn’t damage your ears–or certainly not very much if you did.
I don’t see any reason why your tinnitus won’t go away, or at least fade into the background–BUT you have to make it happen. If you obsess about your tinnitus and listen for it to be sure it is still there, you can almost guarantee that it will never go away. However, if you totally forget about your tinnitus and get on with your life, there is an excellent chance that you’ll almost never notice it, and even if you do, it won’t bother you. It will just be there, like the noise of your fridge is “there” but you seldom notice it unless you specifically listen for it.
If you have wax in your ear, that could cause tinnitus by itself, as well as giving you a bit of a hearing loss. And the ear plugs could also push it in further. So when you get your hearing checked, make sure they take the wax out first so your ear canals are clean.
I definitely wouldn’t recommend using steroids at this point. You just need to see a person qualified to take out the wax. In some places that is a medical doctor. In other places, an audiologist can do it. So you need to check where you live.
I wouldn’t give up shooting–just use adequate protection–unless you notice that any more shooting aggravates your ears. But I’m betting getting the wax out and using high-protection fact earplugs/muffs will do the trick.
Regards
Neil
Many thanks for the advice.
I have since learnt that my .300 calibre rifle could generate 170 dB SPL, and I guess in a reverberant environment that could climb to ~174 dB? If my protection could only ever be as great as 35 dB, then I think I could have exceeded 140 dB at my left ear. Classically my right has no issues, as it was shielded from the muzzle by my “head shadow” (I’m a right handed shooter).
The shots didn’t sound loud when I fired, but sometimes when you’re concentrating and pulling the trigger, you don’t notice the “bang” so much. But certainly I never thought, “damn, my ears!”. Not at all. In fact I took off the protection to chat with the range officer during cease fire.
I don’t recall any issues with my hearing later in the (Saturday) evening.
I shot trap (12 gauge shotgun) the next day, and that was in the open and noticeably less loud.
I’d say it was Monday that I started to notice this.
I’ll get some better muffs and only shoot the rifle in the open. I’m also thinking of knocking up a makeshift shield to put between the muzzle and the left part of my head.
I’ll ask the audiologist to clean my ear canals on Tuesday prior to the test, but I’m not letting them stick wires in or anything! I’ve read of a few disasters with that technique.
Dear Dr Neil,
My 4 year old daughter experienced hear loss due to wax. A ENT doc used a hook to remove wax and hearing seemed to be slightly better. But even after 2 days of this episode, her hearing is not back to normal. I am totally scared. What are your thoughts please ?
TIA,
Anu
Hi Anu:
First, how do you know that the hearing loss was due to wax? Second, how do you know the doctor removed all the wax?
IF the hearing loss was DUE to wax and the doctor got ALL the wax, hearing would return instantaneously.
So either her hearing loss was NOT due to wax (at least not totally due to wax), or the doc did a shoddy job of removing the wax.
You need to go to another doctor and have him tell you whether her ear canals are wax-free or not. That’s the first step. If they are wax-free, then you know that her hearing loss is due to other causes. Thus the next step is to go to an audiologist and have a complete audiological evaluation done. That will tell you whether her hearing loss is due to a conductive cause such as a middle ear infection, or sensorineural cause which would indicate hearing loss in the cochlea–perhaps from a virus, or from taking ototoxic drugs that can cause hearing loss, etc.
Regards
Neil
I was near to bomb car accident just 5 meters on 6 august 2013,which led to the next:
Right ear small hole eardrum a few lost hearing and no tinnitus.
The left is the problem with greater hearing loss and ruptured eardrum(50% of it as the doctor said) and continuous tinnius.
For the ear holes they did not cure till now.
the specialist wants to make a paste operation by topical anesthetic to eardrum ruptured.
Are this operation affects on the strength of hearing or tinnitus in my case?
Thank you for help and advices.
Hi Esam:
I think it is a good idea to get your eardrums fixed. It should help prevent ear infections as well as give you back about 20 dB of hearing in your left ear and may reduce your tinnitus too–although there are no guarantees.
You’ll still be left with a mild hearing loss in both ears though.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr.Neil
Then I will do it
I will let You know the result in few days I hope
Thank you Thank you
Hello, I have tinnitus for a month now and it started after I came back home from my holiday (two hours flight). I have to mention that I noticed it when I when to bed four days after my flight. Also I attended a few parties with loud music the days before I had to fly back home. After the parties I had the noise in my ear but by the morning it just went away. When I arrived home I felt some mild jaw pain that ended the day my tinnitus started( 4 days after my flight). Some days I still feel that pain. My doctor said I have no hearing loss and that I have to wait one more month for further investigation. I would like to hear your opinion on my situation and if you think this is noise induced or it is caused by something else. Thank you for all the insight provided so far.
Michaela
Went to a show on Saturday night. Literally stood a foot in front of one of the speakers for around 3 hours straight. It was super loud but not completely unbearable which is why I stayed there (plus the view). Anyways, I haven’t gone to all that many loud shows/events in my life. This year I have been to about 10 shows and only 2 have I left with minor ringing in my ears the next day, which went away within 24 hrs. This time is different though. The day after it was worse than ever. I couldn’t hear others speak unless they really spoke up. It’s slightly subsided…at the 36 hour mark. But there is still significant ringing in my ears and now I’m getting quite nervous. I’ve read many different things. That because I really don’t have prolonged exposure to this time of noise, I should be fine and also that the one incident this bad could really cause permanent damage. I was hoping for some realistic feedback here. Also, how long before I can even think about going to a club/show (obviously positioning myself to where I’m not in too loud of a spot)? Thanks.
Hi Jimmy:
Each time you expose your ears to loud sounds, you risk more damage. This damage is cumulative. Standing 1 foot from a super loud speaker was not smart for any length of time. Standing there for 3 hours was just plain dumb. You have a significant threshold shift–meaning a hearing loss. Hopefully most of it will prove to be temporary, but there are no guarantees.
There are no guarantees that your tinnitus will go away now. The first few times it usually goes away as you have found in the past, but eventually, as you continue to expose your ears to loud sounds, it finally becomes permanent. You are “playing with fire” at this point.
Its time you stop abusing your ears and begin to protect them. It’s not that you can’t go to shows in the future, you just have to wear ear protectors. Even then, you can’t stand right next to speakers because the sounds will go to your inner ears via bone conduction.
A good rule of thumb is to limit your noise exposure to 80 dB or less and you shouldn’t hurt your ears. If you expose your ears to sounds above 80 dB, then you need to wear ear protectors and limit the time you expose your ears to louder sounds.
You can get sound level meter apps for you smart phone so you know what is dangerous to your ears and what isn’t.
Regards
Neil
Hello. Im 44 y.o and as a kid I grew up with constant ear infections. So much so they were going to put tubes in. But over time I was fine. As a kid I was also diagnosed with 10% loss of hearing in my left ear. Once I burst an ear drum. But asI got older. No Iissues. But 3 yrs ago I had a motorcycle accident and landed on my head first. I did lose temporary consciousness and of course had a concussion. Among other injuries. While I was in hopsital for a month I never did notice any ringing and was on massive amounts of meds and which some I still am. But I did start noticing the ringing. But its in both ears. Now I can hear but its just that its muffled when I try to listen when people talk. I and them get frustratedbecause I have to ask them to repeat. My doc sent me to an ent. They gave me hearing test. The ringing just overrides sounds. They said have some loss Iin both. But said nothing can be done for the ringing and may need to use aids one day to help clarify people speaking. I cant believe how loud it is. It drives me crazy. I try not to pay attention. But when its so loud in both. It cant b done. Is there a way to help or cure or well anything to help. Its been 3 yrs now. Thank you for your time.
Hi Diana:
Since so many drug can cause tinnitus–and you took massive amounts–I wouldn’t be at all surprised if your tinnitus is drug-induced, but it may also be partly caused by the head trauma you endured. It doesn’t have to be all one or all the other.
If speech sounds muffled when people talk, that is typically an indication that you have a significant high-frequency hearing loss.
Loud tinnitus makes it hard to hear speech through all the racket, doesn’t it? I remember when my tinnitus would get really bad I didn’t want to talk to anyone–just be by myself until my tinnitus toned it down again.
If you can learn to be emotionally neutral towards your tinnitus, you have a good chance at bringing your tinnitus under control so it won’t bother you. However, if you are high-strung and keep worrying about your tinnitus, you’ll fiind your tinnitus continues to bother you and get worse. If that is your case, you need to seek help from someone that treats tinnuts using either Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) or Neuromonics. Just be away that both of these treatments can cost you $2,500 to $3,000 and can take from 18 months to 3 years or longer to complete. But it can be well worth it in the end. You have to persevere with these treatments in order to succeed.
Regards
Neil
dr for about 10 days from now i have some hissing kind of sound inside of my head.together with that i have redening of my ears as my doc said.i still have ear block,pain and difficulty of sleeping and nasal congesion.and i have chronic tronsilitis.my tympanogram and audiogram is normal.i started my antiobiotic course 2days back.will this hissing kind of thing will go away..thanks alot
Hi Kamal:
There is no way to predict the future, but if you hissing tinnitus is caused by your cold/virus and middle ear infection, then as the infection goes away and the gunk in the middle ear drains away, chances are your tinnitus will also go away or fade into the background, but there are no guarantees.
Regards
Neil
Hello Dr. Bauman,
For the past 6 months I have been experiencing fluctuating hearing loss/tinnitus in both ears. I’m more concerned with the hearing loss than the tinnitus as it is pretty quiet. The loss started after a night out at a club. I was in the club for no longer than 30 minutes, and far from the speakers. Upon leaving my hearing was diminished. It returned to normal over the next few weeks and stayed that way for a while. However the hearing loss has come and gone over the past few months. It will be normal for a few weeks, and then be clogged up for a week before returning to normal. I have also noticed that whenever I am in an environment with a moderate noise level (75-85db) and I return to a quiet environment I can’t hear as well as I did beforehand. When I return to the quiet environment it’s as if there is still background noise even though there is none. Any idea what could cause this? I saw an ENT at the onset of these problems and he seemed to think everything was okay. I’ve seen 2 audiologists and they have both said I am hearing normal.
Hi Scott:
You say you are having fluctuating hearing loss, but when you are tested, your hearing is normal. That means either you are tested when your hearing is good, or you have the perception of hearing loss when you don’t really have a hearing loss.
When you say “clogged up” does this mean that your hearing feels muffled/blocked, or is it because you have congestion in your middle ears from a cold/flu/virus? When your middle ears get physically clogged up, that can cause a conductive hearing loss–but your audiologists should have picked that up.
When you go from a noisy environment to a quiet one and can’t hear as well, that is because you have a temporary threshold shift. In other words, you have a temporary hearing loss. You shouldn’t experience this if the worst sounds were only 85 dB, but maybe your ears are particularly sensitive for some reason now.
The “background noise” you “hear” is probably a form of tinnitus. Does it go away when your hearing returns to normalL
Regards
Neil
hello dr neil,
I first got tinnitus from fire alarm exposure, i was in a packed shed trying to find the alarm, i was in the shed for 2 minutes trying to find the alarm that was on the floor somewhere in the shed, my eardrums were beating like 2 heartbeats in my head, i got temporary threshold shift straight away follwed by mild tinnitus, the full feeling i got lasted 2 weeks before disappearing. i had mild tinnitus for 14 months until 6 weeks ago, i slammed shut a car bonnet/hood, thought to myself it was quite loud, but my ears felt fine after, but 6 hours later i believe i got temporary threshold shift again, the same fullness feeling i got with the alarm exposure last year. My ears felt extremely blocked for 5 days until disappearing, but a day after the noise my tinnitus has gone from mild to moderate, i can hear it in the day now, it has increased a fair bit.
Is this tinnitus increase permanent after 6 weeks?
Can temporary threshold shift be delayed? it took 6 hours for the stuffy ears to show up.
Hi Mick:
It’s entirely possible that you have a permanent increase in your tinnitus now, but if you learn to habituate to your tinnitus and focus on other things, it may fade into the background and not bother you. Typically, the effects of loud noise are cumulative so with additional loud sounds, you can make your existing tinnitus worse, especially if your ears are particularly sensitive.
I’m not sure how to answer your question about a delayed threshold shift. You’d think it would be immediate, and it often is, but I think I could build a case for a delayed threshold shift too.
Regards
Neil
Thank you Dr Neil,
I am completely shocked that shutting a car bonnet gave me TTS and increased tinnitus, all i thought would increase tinnitus before was sustained loud noise such as concerts or loud bars etc. This leaves me very uncertain about any unavoidable loud noises worsening me tinnitus again. Do you think me getting TTS means that my noise threshold has been lowered, what wouldn’t bother my ears before now have physically shown damage? The way im going i will have severe tinnitus in no time!
Hi Mick:
I’m not saying it did, you did. Is there anything else to which you could attribute your hearing and tinnitus problems instead? If not, we have to go with what we have–presumably the loud slamming of the bonnet.
You can get tinnitus and a TTS from a sudden loud sound like a rifle shot. It does not have to be sustained noise.
It is very possible that you ears are damaged and thus more sensitive to future loud sounds. Only time will tell how it will work out in the future. But I don’t think you have to be overly worried–just be careful of what you expose your ears to.
Regards
Neil
thanks Dr Neil,
I originally thought maybe it was a sinus infection causing the blocked ears for 5 days after. But then i thought about the car bonnet slamming shut, remembering before with TTS i got from the alarm last year.
But then i was doubtful because of the time it took for me to get the blocked ears, i slammed shut the car bonnet at 10am and it wasn’t until 4pm i got stuffy, blocked ears that lasted 5 days after. But maybe it is possible for TTS to be delayed for hours after?
Would a car bonnet slamming shut be enough to cause TTS? Or isn’t it likely to be the noise and could be something else such as a 6 week long sinus infection? i am confused to what caused the blocked ears followed by this tinnitus increase.
To Dr Neil,
Would a car bonnet slamming shut be enough to cause TTS to appear 6 hours later?
or is the blocked ear feeling for 5 days after something unrelated such as sinuses, congestion etc causing this increase in my tinnitus for 6 weeks now.
Thanks
Mick
Hi Mick:
It’s sure hard to say–given the limited information–whether slamming the hood or the sinus infection is the cause of your TTS. Perhaps it was a combination of the two.
I think the only way you’ll know for sure is what happens in the future when you have no ear or sinus infections and a loud sound assaults your ears. If no harm results, then it was likely the infection. If you get a TTS and/or tinnitus, then you know it is loud sounds.
Regards
Neil
Thanks Dr Neil,
It must have been from the car bonnet slamming shut then increasing my tinnitus and giving me stuffy full ears for a week after.
The only reason i thought it was somethink else was because it took 6 hours for the stuffy ear feeling to come on.
Hopefully it will go back down soon.
Thank you.
Mick.
Hello Dr Neil,
I wanted a second opinion from you,
I went to see my local doctor and explained to him I slammed shut a car bonnet and my tinnitus increased a day after, I told him I got blocked ears 6 hours after the noise, that I thought was temporary threshold shift lasting for 5 days after.
He told me it is not possible to get temporary threshold shift from a car bonnet slamming and if it did i would have got the stuffy, blocked ears straight away, not 6 hours later.
I am not sure what to believe, in your experience, could the car bonnet have caused TTS for a week after? Or was the blocked ears followed by the increased tinnitus for 7 weeks now from something unrelated?
I would be very grateful if you could give your opinion as you seem more of an expert in this area.
Thank you.
Dr Neil:
I was told I have a ruptured ear drum in my left ear most likely due to the ear infection I had, this was a little less then 2 weeks ago and I’ve had a ringing in my ear I’m assuming (tinnitus) I was wondering can the ringing stop once the ruptured ear drum is healed? Or will I have to deal with this for life? I’m currently setting up a date to meet an ENT specialist
Hi Raymond:
Yes, the ringing may stop once your ear drum heals AND the infection that caused the rupture in the first place goes away. Your hearing should come back to normal and at the same time, your tinnitus should fade away. However, if you worry about your tinnitus in the meantime, you can cause it to get worse instead of better. So, basically learn to ignore your tinnitus and focus on the loves of your life.
Regards
Neil
Dr. Neil
I try to distract my mind from it but it’s easier said then done especially when you have a ringing in your ear all day every day for going on 3 weeks, I try to stay thinking positive thoughts but I’m sure everyone fears the thought of long term tinnitus I’m only 20 I cut down caffeine, smoking (marijuana) I’m just hoping for the best is there anything I should do that may help in the mean time?
Hi Raymond:
You also need to protect your ears from loud sounds in the future. Some people find their tinnitus gets a lot worse when a loud sound assaults their ears. So wear ear protectors when you are around loud sounds (or better yet, avoid them completely). However, do NOT wear ear protectors when there are no loud sounds present or you can make matters worse since at that point your ears (brain) are starved for sounds and your brain can turn up its internal volume and THAT makes your tinnitus louder.
Regards
Neil
Dr. Neil
It now seems like I’m also starting to get the ringing in my right ear as well I’m starting to worry a little more now I don’t know if this is a process that usually takes place or not but I want to know is this bad? Does this mean it wouldn’t go away?
Hi Raymond:
About half of the people with tinnitus hear their tinnitus in both ears at the same time. I’m one of them. So it just means that both ears have the same problem–probably because you have one brain that works with both ears–and since tinnitus is a “brain thing”, you shouldn’t be surprised tinnitus often affects both ears. Another 25% hear their tinnitus in their heads without it seeming to come from either ear.
Remember, you don’t want to listen for you tinnitus. That just makes it worse. You want to learn to ignore it and get on with your life and let it fade into the background. It can never fade into the background if you keep listening to it and worrying about it.
Regards
Neil
Happy New Years dr. Neil
I try to keep my mind focused on other things all day, but if it started in another ear does this mean the ruptured ear drum wasn’t the cause? I want to visit with a ENT. Is their any specific questions I should ask?
Hi Raymond:
Not necessarily, but it could be. There are so many unknowns about tinnitus. I certainly don’t know all the answers. See what the ENT thinks.
Regards
Neil
Hi Neil
Does listening to music at low volume but for 5-6 hours or more every day will make my tinnitus worse? Is it better with speakers or headphones?
Hi Leonard:
Listening to sounds/music at low levels should not bother your tinnitus (or make it worse). That’s a general rule. However, some people are just “weird” and some people have “reactive” tinnitus. Thus, you have to monitor your own results. If low-level music makes your tinnitus worse, either turn the volume down more until it doesn’t, or don’t listen so long that it bothers your tinnitus.
Theoretically, earphones or listen via loudspeakers shouldn’t make any difference if the music is low in volume. Where a problem could come, as I see it, is if you were listening to classical music, for example. Let’s say the piece is generally softer, but at points there are crashing cymbals and loud drums or other sudden crescendoing louder sounds. If you are wearing earbuds/headphones, there is less room for the extra loud sounds to dissipate before they enter your ear canals, so I tend to like loudspeakers in such cases. (In my case, I need to have the basic volume very high to hear and understand it–close to or over the damaging level. Thus, ANY increase in volume can be harmful to my ears, so you always have to keep in mind your own situation.) But for music that is basically at a constant volume, then earphones/earbuds should not cause any problems.
Regards
Neil
Dr Neil,
My question is Should I wear ear protector when I go outside in traffic ?
======================================================
My Story—
I’ve recently developed T on 22 or 23 dec 2013( strange thing is is that I noticed hissing sound in Oct 2013 just for one or two day, at that time I ignore it and it vanished). Now its back. I am seeing ENT specialist.
I believe there may be 3 reasons for this ringing in my cases.
1. On 20th Dec (morning), I hit my head against wall while I was trying to sit on my bed. I was carrying a laptop, and wanted to sit in a comfortable position against wall. [now it cannot be the case, because head trauma at the back usually affect eyes, which are normal in my case]
2. On 20th Dec (evening), I had a Skype call with someone. But during the call there was a disturbing high pitch sound in the background which even made me to end the Skype call.
3. Stress, PTSD (My body react very strange when I go through a traumatic event/ stressful situations. I’ve gone through a difficult time, very stressful situations in the last 2 months, and I was not taking proper diet as well)
===============================================
I visited an ENT specialist clinic on 26th dec.
###First Visit to clinic###
Medicine Courses 1 ( 6 days)
a) antibiotic (amoxicillin, 625mg, 2 times)
b) Defstar-6 (Deflazacort)
c) Charge up capsule (Astaxanthin, Bilberry extract, Ginseng, Pine bark extract, Ginko biloba, lutein, Amino, Vitamins and minerals)
d) Solvein (for digestion or something)
###Second Visit to clinic###
Medicince Course 2
a) Tinnex (7 days)
b) Stoblan PV (Betahistine 24mg and Ginkgo Biloba 60mg, 10 days)
c) Antax (Alprazolam) 0.25mg (one time, 7 days)
c) ME 12 (Methylcobalamin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride I.P., Folic Acid )
==============================================
### Third Visit to clinic###
When nothing works. My doc said, Ishank I am not going to give you any medicine until we have hearing tests done.
IN the meantime, before I went for ENT checkup. He also prescribed me diamox (acetazolamide) for 2 days (2 times a day)
*** Good things is that my Hearing tests are Okay. No hearing loss.
===================================
### Forth Visit to clinic###
When I went to doctor and showed him hearing test report. HE said Ishank you would be fine and don’t need any medicine.
But seeing me in panic, he prescribed anatx (aka xanax) .25 for 10 days (2 time a day) and “charge up capsule” for 15 days.
Still no improvement. But I focus on my T, it become loud and if I stress and don’t take proper sleep, my T become louder.
=================================
I had a history of ear infection in past (in aug 2013, Eustachian Tube problem. I was hearing popping sound in my right ear which was treated using antibiotics). Amoxcyllin for a week which did not worked. Then doctor changed my antibiotic and it worked, and my clicking sound problem was treated very well.
I am still wondering it could be infection (which may cuase hearing in head, or it may be just stress. My body react strangely when I am depressed.
Going to visit my doctor again. Still baffled why I got T.
======================================
How bad is my T ?
Hissing sound ans sometimes low pitch buzzing which I hear in quite environment.
Sometimes in right and sometimes left. Louder in right.
Bad sleep habit make it worse.
=======================================
I shared my story to help those who are suffering from T and trying different medicines. I hope you may find some useful information.
Thanks
Ishank
Dr Neil,
I have had Tinnitus on my left ear since I was aged nine or ten, when a girl in my class at school decided to scream directly in my ear. She was an unpleasant child, to say the least!
I am now 35. I recently went to a nightclub for the first time in a long time. There were some live bands playing and it was quite loud. A friend tried to speak to me and, unfortunately, I could not hear her. Being as she was quite drunk, she thought it would be a good idea to shout directly into my right ear. I actually felt physical pain when she did this!
Since then, I have had a ringing in my right ear, albeit at a lower level than the constant ringing in my left ear. To be honest, I have not really noticed the left ear for a very long time. I have also been left with the distinct feeling that my right ear is fractionally blocked, although I feel that I still hear better out of that than I do out of my left ear.
The night out was on 17th January and it is now 4th February. I am concerned that my previously significantly better ear has been permanently damaged by a moment of stupidity on the part of a drunken friend. Is there still time for it to improve and return to its pre-incident state, or am I likely to be left with this permanently?
Thanks for any assistance or advice you’re able to provide.
Kind regards,
Pete
Hi Pete:
People screaming in your ear can certainly cause tinnitus, not to mention temporary (or some degree of permanent) hearing loss. That happened to you when that brat screamed into your ear in school. And it happened again with your drunk friend.
As you found with the earlier incident, by ignoring it all these years, it has mostly faded into the background and is not bothering you. You can hopefully expect the same thing to happen with the recent incident. These things take time.
You have some resulting hearing loss too–the blocked feeling indicates that. Your hearing may return, but I would have expected it to do that by now if it was going to. The blocked feeling will go away in time, but that does not indicate your hearing necessarily came back, just that you brain got used to the new “normal”. Normally, a temporary threshold shift only lasts a few minutes to a few hours to a few days. Since this is more than 2 or 3 weeks now, I’d say the hearing loss is permanent.
In order to manage your new tinnitus, there are a couple of things I’d do. First, protect your ears from loud sounds for a few months while your ear has a chance to “heal”. You may find that you are also more sensitive to sounds now too. That is to be expected. But over time 3 or 4 months, this may go away IF you don’t expose your ears to loud sounds in the meantime.
At the same time, you mustn’t overprotect your ears or you will just make things worse, so only wear ear protection around loud sounds. Take them out when the level becomes more normal.
Second, do what you did last time, and learn to focus on the loves of your life and ignore your tinnitus. That way it will slowly fade into the background and not bother you, even though it is still there.
If you had asked me the day after it happened, I would have told you to take a number of things that are good for helping ears damaged by noise, but you have to take them in the day or two after the incident. If you wait, it is too late. Two of my articles that talk about this are at
http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/vitamins-a-c-e-combined-with-magnesium-help-prevent-noise-induced-hearing-loss.php
http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/loud-music-and-hearing-loss.php
Regards
Neil
P.S. I should have added that the pitch of the ringing in my right ear changes every minute or so and it can sometimes pulse slightly. The ringing in my left ear is constantly at the same pitch.
Dr. Neil,
I have had tinnitus for the last month now. I am not sure if i had it before but atleast if so it was not bothering me. Now I wonder what antidepressants (zoloft) can do as my docktor described it and said it could lower the noise. But when I read about it it seems to cause tinnitus aswell and even make it worse. Do you know if people have been taking these meds and how it has worked for them? I am not really interested in taking zoloft and risk higher noise.
Hi Bas:
Some people report that taking drugs like Zoloft help them with their tinnitus. Personally, I don’t think it really affects their tinnitus, just drugs them so they don’t care about their tinnitus any more. Much better to deal with your tinnitus in a constructive way rather than trying to drug it into oblivion.
You say your tinnitus began about a month ago. Any ideas what caused it? That’s the first place to start in trying to get it under control. For example, if certain foods or drugs caused it, then the solution is obvious–don”t take those foods/drugs. If noise is the cause, then protect your ears from loud sounds–it may not make it better, but it will stop it from getting worse. Etc.
Sometimes tinnitus is the result of anxiety, stress or depression. The solution is to get these emotions under control (by non-drug means) and hopefully your tinnitus will fade into the background.
The worst thing you can do with tinnitus is dwell on it as even thinking about it can make it worse (at least temporarily). Instead, you want to focus on the loves of your life and by doing so totally ignore your tinnitus.
Regards
Neil
Hi dr Neil.
Last week i was playing drums and i hit the drums too hard with no ear protection and my ear felt weird so i stopped got a constant ringing in my left and over the weekend it started in my right i have been to the doctor last week and this they said my ear is fine could go away in a week and also randomly it started in my right ear on the weekend what are the odds of this and is there hope for it to leave me alone? I’m only 16 years old.
thank you. Sean.
Hi Sean:
If this is the only time you’ve ever exposed your ears to loud sounds you could expect your tinnitus to go away as the doctor said–in a few days or weeks. However, I suspect that this isn’t the first time you’ve exposed your ears to loud sounds. The more you have done this, the greater the chances of developing permanent tinnitus.
I don’t find it strange that you have tinnitus in both ears. After all, both ears absorbed the loud sounds.
In the future, you NEED to protect your ears from loud sounds–either by playing softer, or wearing ear protectors. It’s just not wise to expose your ears to loud sounds. You have your whole life ahead of you and you certainly don’t want to have your ears ringing for the rest of your life.
Regards
Neil
Thank you for your instant response i do expose my ears too loudness on the occasional time are the odds good like do u know of story’s of people having the same situation of me and if it did heal how long it took for them.
sorry too go on i do not stress about it just pops into my head.
Hi Sean:
Everyone is different. Sometimes the tinnitus goes away in minutes, sometimes it is hours, sometimes it is a few days, sometimes it takes weeks and sometimes it never goes away.
There are many variables such as whether this has happened before, or was your first time (typically the more you expose your ears to loud noise, the longer it takes to go away), how loud the noise was and how long you exposed your ears to the loud noise (the louder the sound level and the longer the exposure, the longer you can expect the tinnitus to last), what your emotional status is (if you are anxious and dwell on it, it can take on a life of its own so you want to remain emotionally neutral towards tinnitus and ignore it, rather than dwell on it).
You just have to be patient and see what happens. Just do not expose your ears to loud sounds while you still have tinnitus or it can extend the time you have tinnitus.
Regards
Neil
Thank you.
If the sound is getting quieter is that a sign of healing? for me it is less noticeable now.
it does flare up every now and then like get louder for a sec in one ear. but what was weird is my right ear started ringing 3 days after the left and I was avoiding loud noises.
Hi Sean:
Any time tinnitus gets quieter, that’s a good sign–either your ears are “healing” or you are getting habituated to your tinnitus.
Flare-ups are common–as long as they get less and less frequent and don’t last as long as before, you know you are “healing”. It can be two steps forward, one step back–but over time you really notice the progress you are making.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr, I’ve been exposed to loud environments being that I’m a musician, and club host for quite sometime now. Just recently, I’m experiencing tinnitus, with some hearing loss in my left ear. My question to you is, ” will I be able to resume being a musician, and club host which would consist of about 1-3 times a week of exposure to loud environments wearing professional ear plugs, without my tinnitus getting worse?” Also, what are the Best brands of professional earplugs can you recommend?
Hi Gem:
I see no reason for you to stop what you are doing IF you protect your ears. Professional ear plugs with a rating of 30 dB should do the trick IF you keep the peak sound levels below 110 dB. That would give you sound at 80 dB in your ears. Sounds at that level are not thought to cause ear damage and shouldn’t cause/aggravate your tinnitus. But you’d have to try those ear plugs to see.
At the same time, you should realize that you are harming the hearing (and causing tinnitus) in your patrons, so they should be wearing ear plugs too. However, that begs the question, why have the music so loud if everyone is wearing ear plugs to drop the sound to 80 dB in order to protect their ears? Why not just turn the volume down so the peaks are 80 db and no one will have to worry about their ears and won’t need ear plugs either?
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil:
I have had tinnitus for almost 2 months by now. It started when I cleaned my right ear with some qtips. I have done some audiometry tests, and otoacustic test, also, a computed tomography, and they were ok, they didn’t show any damage. But the tinnitus stay and I cannot sleep well. What is your opinion and recomendation in my case?
Hi Giselle:
I’m assuming that your tinnitus is not the result of pushing wax back into your ear canal against your ear drum. Presumably, the ear professionals you went to checked for that. If so, then the only other cause of tinnitus from using Q-tips that comes to mind would be from pushing them in too far and too fast and “hitting” the ear drum with too much force. This would push the tiny bones in your middle ear together and make them rap on the oval window with the same force as if you had heard a sudden loud sound such as a gunshot. That could result in tinnitus, the same as a loud sound would have.
Does that seem like what happened?
If so, did the tinnitus come on right then, or was it later? Put another way, how do you know that the tinnitus is related to using the Q-tips and not to something else that happened around that time?
Regards
Neil
Yes, I understand. Thank you for responding. I am grateful for your time. One more question please? Is there a time limit on how long I should stay in an environment, If I wear a pair of professional ear plugs of 30 dB, and the sound levels below 110 dB. Also, is that the highest amount of dB that I can get? Just thinking incase in an environment like a concert where the dB levels might surpass 110.
Hi Gem:
The time you expose your ears to loud sounds without damage is related to the volume of the sound. For every 3 dB increase in sound level, you have to halve the time for safe exposure.
Current wisdom says that sounds under 80 dB are safe at all times. After that, for each 3 dB increase in sound level, the safe exposure time is cut in half. Thus:
Sound Safe
Level Time
85 dB 8 hrs.
88 dB 4 hrs.
91 dB 2 hrs.
94 dB 1 hr.
97 dB 30 mins.
100 dB 15 mins.
103 dB 8 mins.
106 dB 4 mins.
109 dB 2 mins.
112 dB 1 min.
115 dB 30 secs.
118 dB 15 secs.
121 dB 8 secs.
124 dB 4 secs.
127 dB 2 secs.
130 dB 1 sec.
So those are the “safe” times for normal, average ears. Your ears may be more robust or more sensitive than average, so you might have to adjust the times. However, don’t forget, your ears are now damaged (you have tinnitus) and you may find that even these volumes and times are too much for your ears. If it makes your tinnitus worse, it is too much–it’s that simple.
If you are wearing ear protectors with a factor of 30 dB, then if you were in 110 dB sound, your ears would only be hearing them at 80 dB. Thus, theoretically, you could stay in such an environment permanently without ear damage. As the volume goes over the 110 dB level, then use the above table to be safe. This is because ear protectors only reduce sounds up to 30 dB. After that, the sounds go through your skull and bypass your ear protectors. So you always want to be careful around sounds greater than 110 dB even when wearing ear protectors (but you do have more leeway than the table shows as your skull does not conduct sounds to your inner ears as well as your ear canals do.
It’s always better to err on the side of safety. Just remember, if it aggravates your tinnitus, it is too loud no matter what the sound level (or exposure time) is.
Regards
Neil
Thank you sooo much Dr!
Hello
I was wondering if you could give me any advice on my tinnitus. I am only 21 years old and I certainly don’t live a lifestyle where I am exposed to loud noises – I love silence hence why this has proven to be such a problem for me. My tinnitus just came on all of a sudden. I went to bed one night and had ringing in my left ear. I went to the doctors the next day and they said my left ear was inflamed and I had an outer ear infection. This cleared up within a week however the ringing remained. It has now been five weeks and I still have the ringing in the left ear. I have seen an ENT who is just as puzzled as I am as I have none of the usual causes of tinnitus. I also have no symptoms that go along side this- my hearing is perfectly fine and I have had no dizziness, pain etc.
It literally seems that tinnitus has started for no reason. I have another appointment with ENT next week to establish whether I will need further tests as by then it will have been six weeks since this began.
I just wondered if you could think of a probable cause for my tinnitus and whether you think this is likely to go away?
Thank you
Hi Monica:
There are many causes for tinnitus. Some are obvious such as exposing your ears to loud noise, or having a hearing loss. Others are much harder to pin down. Have you been taking any drugs whether prescription, over the counter, or recreational? More than 550 drugs are associated with tinnitus. Are you anxious or depressed? These are two emotional causes of tinnitus. Do you have allergies? Have you had a recent active virus, cold, flu, etc? It could be related to certain foods you eat such as getting too much caffeine, for example. You could be sensitive to molds that result in tinnitus. There are just so many possibilities.
Like you say, it doesn’t just happen for not reason, although it can seem that way. So you have to dig to find the reason.
One clue is the kind of tinnitus sounds you hear–whether low-pitched or high-pitched. Is your tinnitus constant or does it vary throughout the day and night? A varying tinnitus has more chance of going away than a tinnitus that is constant day and night in my opinion.
And your emotional attachment to your tinnitus largely determines whether it will become permanent or not. Thus, you want to remain totally emotionally neutral towards your tinnitus.
Do any of the above “ring a bell” with you?
Regards
Neil
I am anxious and depressed now that I have the tinnitus but I certainly wasn’t before. And as for all the other causes I don’t have any of them. I was in good health when it started and wasn’t taking any medication at all. The tinnitus seems constant although not too sure on this as background noise outside etc covers it up. The worst is at night I am currently not sleeping at all. I am struggling with regards not being emotional towards it as I am a lover of silence and it is really tormenting me.
Thank you
Monica
Hi Dr. Neil:
Thank you for your answer. Yes, the tinnitus came on after using the qtips. Nevertheless, I was in so much stress in that time (it wasn’t a good idea cleaning my ears), and also I was leaving behind a severe cold. So there were some circunstances behind the tinnitus.
Assuming that the cause of the tinnitus was pushing the qtip too far and too fast that hitted the ear drum with too much force, my doubt is howcome the audiometry, otoacustic test, and the computed tomography didn’t show that? could this kind of damaged be measured by these exams?
Regards,
Hi Giselle:
The stress could have caused the tinnitus. So could a cold virus. Maybe it wasn’t the Q-tips after all.
The first two tests are going to show hearing loss. The CAT scan would show physical damage. But if you didn’t do any physical damage such as dislocate the bones in your middle ear, it wouldn’t show anything wrong. Tinnitus is subjective–only you hear it, so it doesn’t show up on tests.
Regards
Neil
Let me say – ever since going my first rock concert in my 20’s (I am in my 50’s now)- I NEVER-EVER go to a concert or listen to loud music without ear plugs – and you got it- I forgot them at just one concert 5 days ago. I am still suffering. It was one of them – you can’t re-enter after your leave and I was with my daughter and her boyfriend – I felt like I couldn’t leave, and I knew it was too loud for too long. If the ringing and the clogging feeling ever goes away I will praise the Lord – And I will ALWAYS keep a pair of ear plugs in all my wallets and purses I carry. Such a horrible feeling. Wish me luck!
Hi Linda:
If this was just a one-time thing, you might find that your hearing comes back and the tinnitus goes away on its own–unless your ears just absorbed too much racket. You can only wait and see. The more you expose your ears to loud sounds, the less chances your ears have of getting away scott free.
I wish you well.
Neil
Hi again it has been 4-5 weeks bow since i heard started hearing i am a gamer as well as a drummer and i have been wearing a headset for the past two weeks mid volume to help mask it. It can flare up from time to time but it can go quiet but it mostly flares up when in really tired. At school yesterday i found it really frustrating in drama it was loud and it flared up and in lessons which are quiet it was really loud but when i wear my headset it covers. And it feels like I have hearing loss in loud places such as drama i could would have to ask my classmates to repeat that so on. What im saying even if do have hearing loss will my i be able to get of this and can still wear the headset on low volume i never have on loud but the hardest thing of all not being able to play the drums or having a bus come past or truck and having definitely become permanent.
Hi Sean:
Tinnitus can flare up when you are tired or stressed. So when you’re really tired you should be in bed sleeping and let your tinnitus die down. When you get over-tired you may hear what sounds like a frieght-train about to burst through the wall and run you down. It’s scary. But hitting the sack solves it.
If you are around loud sounds that cause you tinnitus to flare up, that means those sounds are too loud for you and you should be wearing ear protection.
There is no way to know whether your tinnitus will go away or not if you have hearing loss. Most people with hearing loss have tinnitus accompany it–but the tinnitus does not have to bother you. It’s not important whether your tinnitus goes away or not, but whether you learn how to successfully deal with it so it is not a problem for you even though it is there.
As I’ve said before, you have to always protect your ears from loud sounds. You don’t have to quit your drums or gaming–just keep the sound down, or wear ear protectors when the sound is over 80 or 85 dB.
Regards
Neil
Thank you for your answer Dr. Neil. Nevertheless, I am in so mucho pain in the ear, like burning, it comes and go. And the fullness sensation also with the tinnitus. But the tests didn’t show damage, that makes me think if I have had any damage at all?
Hi Giselle:
You never said anything about pain and burning. Tell me more about this.
The feeling of fulness can be from one of two things as I see it. First, you have a middle ear problem that has caused fluid build-up in your middle ear. A tympanogram should tell you right away if this is the case. Since you said everything showed normal, I assume your tympanogram was normal.
The other reason for a feeling of fulness is hearing loss. Your ear feels stuffed up or plugged because your brain can’t hear the sounds it once heard so gives you this feeling of your ear being blocked.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil: Thank you for your concern. Well, I also took the tympanogram exam and it was also ok, it didn’t show anything wrong. But, I still have pain like burning that comes and go, and fullnes feeling. That’s why I can’t understand why the exams didn’t show anything.
Regards.
Dr. Neil, my doubt is that if all the exams were normal, what could I have, if they didn’t show hearing loss?
Hi so I’ve been sick for 12 days on the 6 day I got an ear ache on my right ear then i put water in my ear because it felf blocked the next day an ear infection then started taking antibiotics on the 9th day got the ringing in my ear and hasnt gone away since then I’m on 3rd day if straight ringing.. Will this go away??
Hi Sarah:
I can’t say whether your tinnitus will go away or not. I’d need much more details about your episode. For example, if you had a viral infection that got into your inner ears it could cause the tinnitus (and other ear damage too). In addition, most antibiotics can cause tinnitus. And if you had a middle ear infection (your middle ear fills with fluid), this fluid can give you a temporary conductive hearing loss and tinnitus could accompany this loss.
So there are three possibilities. The first two possibilities could cause temporary or permanent tinnitus, while the third possibility typically causes temporary tinnitus.
Only time will tell whether you tinnitus ultimately proves to be temporary or permanent. Even if it is permanent, it may reduce in volume so you are not bothered by it.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
I’ve had mild tinnitus for 20 years. Too many rock concerts in my 20s. I’ve habituated well. I’ve used hearing protection since in ANY environment marginally loud. 12 days ago I went to an indoor blues concert, with my 22dB NNR plugs in. Have noticed an increase in ringing since. I am anxious by nature and sleep is definitely off. Went today to an ENT (Otolaryngologist) who pulled out big chunks of cerumen from both ears. Hearing test showed loss of up to around 15 percent but no more at around 3 kHz. Doc said hearing not too bad up to 8 kHz and that between the cerumen and ear plugs I probably had around 30dB of attenuation during the concert. Concluded that it was unlikely the noise getting to my ears could have caused much trauma. He closed by saying that my brain was likely focused on the T the past week because of the wax impaction and associated loss of ambient sounds, plus stress, and that I’d likely drop back to baseline T level in a few days or week. Thoughts?
Hi Mike:
I tend to agree with your ENT. I think your tinnitus will drop back to its old level WHEN you stop thinking about your tinnitus. But if you keep worrying about it, It can tend to get louder even though there is no extra noise present.
Regards
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil-I came across your site and have found your insight and comments very helpful and encouraging. I got T in my right ear about six weeks ago, due to a concussion from playing hockey. The first two weeks were unbearable with the sound very piercing/high-pitched etc. Things have seemingly improved over the last two weeks or so, with the T still “there” but it is not as piercing/loud etc. That said, my main question is this: Tinntus is often cited as a post-concussion symptom. That said, have you heard or know of others that got T through a concussion, and if so, do you know how long they had it for? I have read/heard it can be 3-6 months or longer. If it is longer or does not go away, I can deal with it as I do think I am improving (or at least dealing with it better of late anyhow) but it would be great to learn more about concussion-related tinnitus. -Thanks! JB
Hi Dr. Neil,
I woke up on 10/30/13 with a hissing in my left ear/head area. I remember having it before for a few minutes on two ocassions but it went away. Now it’s permanent. I am 61 and have a high frequency hearing loss in my left ear but my ent said I am not a candidate for a hearing aid to relieve the tinnitus and that it is something that I am doing that is causing the T along with the HF loss. He actually said that I am the problem. I went to an audiologist who said that they can’t intervene until I have ‘scans’ meaning MRI or Cat. The audiologist said my exam was not thorough enough seeing as I have unilateral tinnitus. I think I got T because within two years my husband had cancer and we lost our business in hurricane sandy. I have always been anxious but the anxiety during that time was terrible. Now I feel I have a ruined life. Anyway, my question is this: my audiologist based her opinion on something she called ‘compliance’ of my left eardrum. She said it’s vibrating too fast. Is that something that can be fixed or will I still have T? Also, could the audiologist suspect a brain tumor?I am now seeing a CBT and another ENT next week. My GP gave me some med to get my anxiety under control and I am now sleeping and not too badly nervous. I have not missed work during the entire four months and I force myself to go out to family functions.
Thanks for sharing your opinion Doctor Neil. You’ve got a fabulous resource here. I’ve learned a lot!
Cheers,
Dr. Mike (PhD – earth science)
Honestly I do not know if anything went in or if the infection was in the inner ear I myself had someone look in my ear n snap a photo and saw the infection so figured it was just in my outer ear so went from there still till this second the ringing still there even louder so it’s time to head to the doctor and find out if the inner ear is damaged.. Pretty freaked out about this thought it would go away but nothing. But Dr.Neil thank you for the information you gave me it really did help.
Hello Doc. Neil
I have this ringing since the bug enter my ear.
I don’t know if my eardrum has been damage or the insect goes inside the inner ear..
I don’t really listen to very loud music.
Honestly my house is very boring(Very Silent)
And I also avoid Shouting at my ear or Listening to But. I’m confused that they say this ringing will be your life. And my head hurts every time I tried to sleep. That’s why I need MentolRelieft to sleep.
Is there a way to recover my Tinnitus or it this just an temporary because insect go to my ear. By the way. Tomorrow I go to ENT clinic for Check Ups.
(Bad Grammar.)
PS. It’s been 3 days since my right ear start ringing..
Hello again Dr. Neil,
Here’s a few additional observations and info you may find interesting. I’ve noticed in the past several days that if I turn my head to either the left OR the right, my tinnitus increases considerably in my left ear only. Today I went for run. Noticed with every footfall, the ringing pulsed. As for history, I have been told I am a teeth grinder at night. Dentists always mention this to me. Last year this time I lost the mouthpiece I’ve worn at night for almost 10 years. Haven’t used one since. Lastly, I experienced a modest whiplash injury skiing around 8 years ago. I wake up with a stiff neck about once a year, most recently 3-4 weeks ago. I’ve read a few posts here on somatic tinnitus and TMJ. Suspect a consult with a neurologist and/or chiropractor is in order. Can’t help but wondering about the relative influence now of past noise exposure, ongoing neuromuscular issues, and recent anxiety.
Dr. Mike
Hello Dr. Neil.
Today ENT check my Ear. then they found Flem that block my Tube. So that’s why I can hear tinnitus.. But I hope this make me feel better..
Dr Neil,
I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to reply to my post (your reply 219). Things seem to have improved a bit, but that may well be because I am becoming accustomed to matters. Certainly the whistling is still noticeable when it’s quiet. I have, however, tried to stay away from loud noises and avoid headphones wherever possible.
Thanks again,
Pete
Hello Again Doc.Neil
Today It’s kinda bothering me now because in past 2 days. My Ringing became quite low. but yestterday at my school. Some Tricycle has a loud noise and I protect my ear till I arrived at the school.
My left ear became bothering me because I hear it ringig.(I don’t know if I’m over Protected or It just my Imagination)
By the way. ENT check me last time. My eustachian tube is blocked. I think this ringing is just temporary..
What do you think Doc. Neil?
Hi again Doc. Neil.
Today I notice that my Left ear is start ringing..
I don’t know why. But I suspect that yesterday at the tricycle. I hear a very loud noise. And I don’t know if my left ear got affected to that noise..
By the way. This day, I always spit my saliva because my Mucus always bothering me..
Sorry for many messages. I tell you more..
Regards
Keidar
Hi Dr Neil
I have recently noticed tinnitus in both of my ears which, along with the other constant noise where I live, affects my sleep at night.
I have been very stressed and anxious for many and varied reasons recently (as well as on and off for many years), which I am, of course, trying to attend to. I also work 1-2 days a week in a bar where I am exposed to loud music for up to about 4 hours, longer still if I decide to go for a drink elsewhere afterward. I should also say I have been working (and socialising) in such environments for 7 years.
Presumably, you recommend ear protection whilst at work and attending to the issues causing stress and anxiety, but do you think I need to avoid work until the tinnitus subsides, or perhaps that it is permanent?
On top of all that, my hearing still seems to be very sensitive, I’m a very light sleeper and often struggle to sleep due to the sound of ny neighbour’s talking at a normal volume. Because of this I wear earplugs (earpeace) at night as and play natural sounds to drown out the sounds of my locality- could this make it worse?
Thanks
Beth
Hi Beth:
As you know, stress and tinnitus often go together, so getting your stress under control also helps keep your tinnitus under control.
All the noise you’ve exposed your ears to over the past 7 years is also taking its toll. You need to wear ear protectors when you are in noisy venues. Just the cheap foam ones for a few bucks from any drugstore will do the job. Your ears will thank you for wearing them.
If you are wearing ear protectors while in the noisy venues, I don’t see that you need to quit your job, unless the job is also causing an inordinate amount of stress.
I don’t have a clue whether your tinnitus is permanent or not. You’ve certainly exposed your ears to enough racket that it could prove to be permanent. In any case, if you do not form any emotional attachment to your tinnitus, I think you have a good chance of your tinnitus never being a problem–just being “there”, but not causing you distress from it.
Wearing ear plugs at night could be a problem. It is so easy to overprotect your ears in relatively quiet situations and then your brain turns up its internal volume control and your ears become even more sensitive. I think a better approach is to play your natural sounds to give your brain something real to listen to so it doesn’t feel it needs to turn up the volume. And these sounds will help mask any other sounds coming into your bedroom.
Are you sure you are hearing real neighbors talking, and not hearing phantom talking? The two can be very hard to tell apart. The difference is that one is real and the other is all in your head–yet you blame the poor neighbors as though they were talking too loud. This happens more than people realize. This is not a psychiatric problem, but is a benign thing–called Musical Ear Syndrome. Listening to real sounds (your natural sounds) is a good treatment for it as well.
Regards
Neil
i have a problem in my left ear that continuously sounds(non-stop) like beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep since 12years…i am getting irritation…please solve my problem with your valuable advices
Dr. Neil,
I have been going to the gym since Dec. 2013. On March 7, 2014 I noticed about half way through the class that the sound was too loud. I felt a crackle in my left ear and almost immediately after the class I noticed almost immediately with pressure. Now I have continuous ringing in my left ear. I went to my GP who said my left ear looked alil red. She prescrbed me antibiotic ear drops wbich i did not take bc it was very costly. The name of the drops start with a C. I still have dimished hearing slightly in my right ear and cracking but the left ear ringing is driving me crazy. I’m a 41 year old woman, never had depression but now I’m deeply depressed. I can’t eat or sleep!!! I just can’t believe that me trying to do the right thing and lose weight by goeing to aerobics classes has caused all this trauma. Please tell me will the ringing go away? Its almost been 2 wks so I’m losing hope fast. HELP
Hi dr.Neil
Sorry for my English. I’m a medical student. I got my tinnitus after 5 hours in a loud night club with live music about 3 months ago. My ear started ringing after I went out I hurry saw a doctor the day after. They gave me serc and vitb1 6 12. My tinnitus went away after 4 day but unfortunately it came back about a week after that it made me crazy. I also got the hyperacusis which terrible I can’t stand loud noise or even an ordinary noise like the teacher speak with the microphone, door bang, the song in the restaurant, car break etc. I think every time I hear the noice which I think it too loud for me for a period of time it make my tinnitus worse even the noise isn’t, too London for the others. What should I do about it. Can my tinnitus get better ?now I hear it when I put my ear on the pillow or in a very quiet room . My hyperacusis is a nightmare. I’m now study in the pediatric department. When the kid scream I feel like an explosion. My doctor said it will get better by time? But I didn’t see any improvement.Will my condition can get any better? it almost 3 month now. I still take gingo and the vitamin. My last audio gram is normal. Thk you so much
Hi Tabby:
As a medical student, you should know that exposing your ears to loud sounds is just asking for trouble. You need to wear ear protectors if you are in loud venues.
As you have unfortunately found out, tinnitus is bad enough, but hyperacusis (also commonly the result of exposing your ears to excessive sound) can be even worse. Now your ears are supersensitive so that you perceive normal sounds as being much too loud and often hurting. In actual fact, these normal sounds do not hurt your ears, but you perceive them as hurting and making your tinnitus worse.
The “cure” is a slow process. Your doctor is right–it should get better in time–but it can be a LONG time, but you have to do your part too. You now have to protect your ears from louder sounds as your ears heal–so you need to wear ear protectors so everyday sounds don’t “blow the top of your head off”. But at the same time, you walk a very fine line. If you overprotect your ears, your hyperacusis will get even worse. Your ears NEED sounds for proper operation and to heal from the hyperacusis–so NEVER wear ear protectors unless the sounds are too loud and are beginning to hurt. You need to slowly (emphasis on the slowly) permit your ears to hear louder and louder NORMAL sounds. As you do this, your collapsed dynamic range will begin to expand again and over time your ears will (hopefully) return to normal.
This may take 2 or 3 years or more. Don’t expect instant results. But things will continue to improve if you do the above. If you expose your ears to loud sounds (maybe a baby unexpectedly screams in your ear) you will suffer a setback and your hyperacusis will become worse again–ditto for your tinnitus–but just accept it and continue on with the program and you will continue to improve. It will just take that much longer.
With tinnitus, you need to learn to ignore it–treat it as some unimportant background sound–and focus on what you are doing–your studies, etc–and in time it will begin to fade into the background and not bother you so much. You will find that typically your hyperacusis and tinnitus will improve hand in hand.
I can’t stress enough that going to loud venues without adequate ear protection is just plain stupid. You might have fun for a few hours–but then you have to pay the piper for the next few years or longer. It is just not worth it! I’m saying this to others reading this that think it will never happen to them. It happened to Tabby–it can happen to you too. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Regards
Neil
I’m not sure when you will get back to this site Dr. Neil because you help is truly needed. I’m having bad thoughts just thinking about this lasting forever. When you return please look at my issue of possible hearing loss and tinnitus from loud music in my aerobics class. Thanking you in advance.
I’ve got sound sensitivity and high pitch tinnitus after going to a night club with rock band. Now it’s almost 3 months without any improvement and a little setback for the sound sensitivity. I try to avoid loud noise by wear an ear plug while I walk in a noisy street or in the big department store. But in soMe situation I can’t avoid an unpredictable loud noise like car horn or a baby scream near by and it make a setback for me. Do I have a chance that my tolerance will be back to normal that I can enjoy my life at the restaurant or go to the movie sometimes , but I will not go to the night club once again for sure. Do I have the hope and how long usually I will see the improvement or do I will got this condition permanently please help! Have you ever seen someone that can go back and live normal live. Thank you so much
Hi Tom:
You are doing the right thing by wearing ear protection in louder places. But those sudden loud sounds when you don’t expect them and thus are not wearing ear protection can get you. If your hands are not “full”, clap your hands over your ears as fast as you can to limit the exposure to the loud sound until it stops or you can get to a quiet place. Yes, it will set you back, but this setback does not have to be permanent.
I can’t predict the future, but if you slowly and surely work towards decreasing your sound sensitivity, it can happen. Whether you can get back to your old normal or not, I don’t know, but you can keep improving. It is just a long, slow process for many people.
The trick is to proctect your ears when you need to, but to never overprotect them, or you can make the situation worse. In order to get over your sound sensitivity, you have to slowly expose your ears to louder sounds and as you are able to bear them, to still louder sounds. (By louder sounds, I’m meaning everyday normal sounds, not LOUD sounds.) Over time you should be able to lower your sound sensitivity. Don’t expect miracles in a week or a month. It could happen, but be prepared for the long haul–2 or 3 years or more. Generally, these things take time.
At the same time, don’t focus on your tinnitus and sound sensitivity and dwell on it, or have negative emotions/feelings towards it, or you can make it worse just doing that. Instead, focus on the loves of your life and enjoy life again–just being careful about exposing your ears to sounds louder than you can comfortably stand at whatever stage of the recovery program you’re at at that time.
Regards
Neil
Hi dr. I had a really bad cold for almost two weeks I didnt take any medicine becuase I was pregnant. The cold clearedafter the cold cleared iI started getting rining in my left ear. I went to a ENT and he said it was my eustachian tube that was blocked. I went again and he did a hearing test and said iI had some hearing loss in my left ear. But i also feel its full and itchy my question is will the tinnitus go ?
Thanks
Maria
Hi Maria:
IF your tinnitus is caused by a clogged Eustachian tube/middle ear, then, as the gunk drains out, your hearing should come back and your tinnitus should go away. Ditto for that feeling of fulness.
Your audiogram should show an air-bone gap if this is the case. This means that your hearing loss is conductive and not sensorineural. You only stated you have a hearing loss, so I don’t know if this is the case or not.
If you have a sensorineural hearing loss, then that is a different matter and your hearing loss will be permanent and thus most likely will be your tinnitus. So let’s hope your hearing loss is conductive. Give things time (a month or two or so) and you should be back to normal.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr.Neil,
I went shooting rifles at an outdoor range 4 days ago. 6rounds without earplugs and then 12 with. That evening i the stuffy full ear feeling and tinnitus (very loud) has not subsided. I also have the broken speaker effect when people talk to me. How long do you think I will have the broken speaker sounds, hyperacusis I believe this is called? Ive only shot firearms once before. I am very concerned this is permanent. What do you think?
-d
Hi Darryl:
It is certainly possible that you have caused some permanent damage to your ears, but I think you’ll find that over time your tinnitus will go away or at least be greatly reduced in volume and that your hearing will return to normal or near normal. You have to give your ears time to heal from the acoustic trauma to which you exposed them. This could easily take a couple of months. During this time, make sure you protect them from loud sounds or you’ll just prolong the healing period.
The broken speaker effect is not hyperacusis. Hyperacusis is where normal sounds are now much too loud for you. Noise damage can certainly cause hyperacusis too. I’d just call it distorted hearing rather than hyperacusis. However, tinnitus, distorted hearing, muffled hearing and hyperacusis are often part and parcel of severe noise damage.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr.Neil,
Back in January 2014 I had a lumbar puncture due to a headache I’ve never experienced before. A couple of days after the tap I developed tinnitus on my left ear. At the time I was experiencing spinal headaches therefore I got a blood patch done which helped with my spinal headaches. At first I thought I had an ear infection because my ear felt full but no pain. Since then my ear continues to ring. Is it possible that I may have csf leak still?
Hi Joe:
I’m no expert in this area at all so can’t give you a good answer. However, I’d think your tinnitus is related to the lumbar puncture as csf circulates in your inner ears too.
Regards
Neil
Dear Dr. Neil.
The day before yesterday I went with some friends to test out their 12 gauge riffle which I’ve never done before or fired a fire arm before and none of us wore protective gear not thinking as we live out in the country. Anyways, one of my friends fired one round and the noise was loud. After that my friends sort of pressured me into firing the fire arm. I did so and the bang was extremely loud. As soon as the gun was fired I felt a rush of wind from the sound wave push into my right ear. Both ears were ringing but the right one seemed worse as it was the ear on the side where the fire arm was fired. At first right after the gun was fired both ears were ringing and my friends voices seemed sort of muffled. There was and is no pain at all luckily.The muffling cleared up over a few minutes and the ringing started to die down. Now a couple of days later My left ear is now completely normal but my right ear however has a slight low ringing or hum to it now. Its a low tone in my right ear that I hear in a quiet room. I don’t think it was as loud as it was before. But the tone in my right ear gets temporarily louder when I yawn, hiccup or stretch. I’ve read some of your earlier comments about the lowering of the tone and how it could be “healing” so I guess that’s what’s happening right? I was scared at first that maybe it could’ve been permanent and that the tone will never diminish from the low tone to absolutely gone becoming normal. I also read in your comments earlier about focusing on other things such as hobbies, activities and sounds as focusing on it causes stress levels to rise making it BE or SEEM worse than it actually is as so much attention to one small thing becomes big worries making it bigger than it is. My inquiry is, will the slight low toned hum leave over time from my right ear over time judging from my situation or does it sound like a permanent case to you? I know different people going through many different levels of ear trauma can deliver different results for all of those different people. It just depends on the person I am assuming. Throughout this all I have learned a valuable lesson which is not to take the care of my hearing lightly and will try to be more careful in the future due to this experience.
Thank you ever so much!
Sammy
Hi Sammy:
I’m like you–only ever fired a 12 gauge shotgun once–and also like you, without ear protection. That experience was enough. Boy are those things LOUD. In fact, a shotgun blast is about 165 dB–loud enough to cause instantaneous hearing damage.
The proof of it is that you had instant tinnitus and muffled hearing (what is known as a temporary threshold shift). Fortunately, your hearing came back (at least most of it although you may have lost some hair cells, but not enough to notice with this one incident. However, it you were to continue to use a shotgun without ear protection, each of those “little bits” would soon add up to a significant permanent hearing loss.
Give you ears a few more days to heal and hopefully your residual tinnitus will fade away. I can’t promise you it will fade away totally, but if you learn to ignore it, it will not bother you, even if you do hear it in quiet place. Also, protect your ears from louder sounds for the next two weeks as well.
Regards
Neil
hello doctor,
I am a Marine engineer and I work in ships and i am only 22 this is the first time i joined the ship, after about a month suddenly one day a constant sound started in my left ear and now its the fifth day but still its the same and I have no pain in my ear and I can only hear the sound in my ear when everything around me is silent, here we have lot of machineries which make lot of noise, but we also use ear muffs at the same time, I am very much worried about my condition I would request you to kindly help me out from this situation.
Hi Rohit:
Assuming that your tinnitus is from the noise exposure you are receiving, then it would appear that either you are not wearing ear protectors all the time you should be wearing them, or the protection factor is not strong enough. If that is the case, then wearing foam ear protectors in addition to your ear muff protectors should do the trick.
You could also cause tinnitus if you overprotect your ears by wearing ear protectors when you do not need them and thus starving your ears for sound.
The easy way to tell is if the sound level is higher than 80 or 85 dB, then you need to wear ear protectors, and if it is less than 80 dB, then you should NOT wear ear protectors.
If you don’t have a sound meter, you can download sound meter apps for your smart phone and after you calibrate it, you can tell quite accurately what the sound level around you is. Two such apps for the iPhone are “SoundMeter” and “SPL Meter”.
On the other hand, your tinnitus may be caused from other causes–taking ototoxic drugs for example. But if you suspect excess sound is the culprit, that is what I’d do.
Regards
Neil
Good evening doctor,
I am very much thankful for your reply at the same time I really appreciate for the pain that you have taken in giving me reply I’m presently onboard a merchant vessel and dont have a doctor nor any ear drops available and it would take nearly 10 days to reach our next port your advice meant a lot to me sir.
but i’m afraid whether I should continue going to machinary spaces or not and yes you are right sir I even used the ear muffs when not required as just it became a habit of always wearing them, It would be very great of you if you kindly tell me whether the continous sound in my ears will stay forever or fade away with time.
Thanking you sir,
Rohit.
Hi Rohit:
You need to do your job–just wear double ear protectors if it is excessively noisy, and one set if it is moderately noisy. When the sound level is below 80 dB, you don’t need ear protectors at all.
The tinnitus may be permanent, especially if you are anxious and obsess over it. If you totally and completely ignore it and don’t worry about it, then there is a good chance it will fade into the background and not bother you–even if it doesn’t go away.
Regards
Neil
Hello,
Two days ago I went to a rockconcert where a few artists performed. I forgot to bring me my earplugs. I go to a lot of shows and more often than not I forget to bring my earplugs. Because of this I always get the buzzing noise, but it never takes this long to recover. It’s been almost two days and it seems like it hasn’t reduced. Could this still be normal or should I go to a doctor? I got a busy schedule so I can’t visit my doctor anytime soon. Thanks in advance.
Hi Mark:
There’s nothing a medical doctor can do about your tinnitus except tell you to learn to live with it. The truth is, if you expose your ears to excessive sounds, sooner or later you have to pay the piper as you are now finding out.
If you want to avoid making your tinnitus worse, in the future you NEED to protect your ears when in noisy situations.
To help yourself now, you could try taking NAC and other things that help your ears. Read my articles at http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/vitamins-a-c-e-combined-with-magnesium-help-prevent-noise-induced-hearing-loss.php and http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/loud-music-and-hearing-loss.php and if you so choose, try those supplements I mention.
Also, and this is very important, you need to learn now how to ignore your tinnitus and not form any negative feelings about it–e.g. anxiety, anger, annoyance, etc. and let it tend to fade into the background.
When you do all the above, maybe, just maybe, your tinnitus will fade away. But the next time you don’t protect your ears in noisy venues, it will probably come back with a vengeance. You have been warned.
Regards
Neil
Good evening doctor,
I work in a very noisy places and about from 9 days there is a continous sound in my left ear, I am very much afraid that I may be deaf, the noise which i can hear is of very low volume and can only be heard in silence, I need to take an AUDIOMETRY TEST for every 6 months as a requirement for my job, I am very much worries whether i will be able to get through the next AUDIOMETRY TEST.
It has become a very big question of my life doctor all my carrer is at stake…please help me out doctor.
Hi Vinay:
You don’t say whether you wear ear protectors or not. If you are not wearing ear protectors around loud noise you are just asking for hearing loss and tinnitus and distorted hearing and hyperacusis. Your ears can only take so much punishment from loud sounds before permanent damage occurs. That is the first thing you need to do.
There is no reason you should fear the audiometry testing. It just tells whether you are damaging your ears or not. And as I said, the solution is to wear hearing protection whenever you are in noisy areas. Noisy is defined as anything above 80 to 85 dB.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil.
It’s been two months since I got my Tinnitus.
I don’t know if My Eustachian Tube is Dried up or not. I remember the day when I got my Tinnitus. Something Pop into my right Ear. After 2 days. My tinnitus start ringing. I got checked up by the ENT and he said that my Tube is blocked.After two months,Tinnitus still exist.
I don’t know if this a permanent or not. But this night. My Left ear is starts to ring. I don’t expose my EARS to loud noise. I don’t go to Concert or any events.
Thanks In Advance.
Hi Keidar:
If you have a middle ear infection, or have colds or allergies, your middle ear and associated Eustachian tube can become filled with “gunk” which blocks some sound and the result is that you can get tinnitus. When the condition goes away and your middle ear and Eustachian tube drain so that air exchange takes place normally again, then your hearing comes back and the tinnitus usually goes away.
If a virus gets into your inner ear, it can also cause hearing loss and tinnitus (and balance problems too), but this is different from middle ear problems. Middle ear problems are typically temporary, whereas inner ear problems tend to be permanent. Middle ear problems can take up to 3 months to clear up unless you have a chronic condition for some reason. But your doctor should be able to treat those.
Regards
Neil
Good evening doctor,
As you have advised me not to wear ear protectors when not necessary, I am following your advise from the day you have given and now i feel like the sound in my left ear has reduced.
and doctor on 9th of this month I will be reaching a port in Australia, would you advise me to make a visit to any shore (ENT) doctor.
with regards,
ROHIT
Hi Rohit:
If your problem is just that loud sounds in the engine room have caused you to hear tinnitus, then as I see it, wearing adequate ear protection is all you need to do. You can go to a doctor if you so choose, but don’t expect him to do much because there is really nothing medically he can do for you. He will probably tell you the same things I have–protect your ears and learn to live with it. If you suspect you are losing some hearing, then it would be a good idea to have your hearing tested. That way you have a base line so you can compare it to future hearing tests.
Regards
Neil
Thank you Dr. Neil.
Past few days my Tinnitus become Quiter than the last time. I think this is the sign the my Eustachian Tube is Dried up..
I’ll let you know if I become fully Recovered.
Thanks Again..
Dear Dr. Neil,
Firstly thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.
On April 30th, I noticed a slight “beep..beep beep…beeep” sound in my left ear. I kept thinking it was a fan or something. But realized it was following me. I put my finger in my ear and could hear it pretty loudly – like a Morse code beeping.
Several things could have caused it, I think. In April, I had a virus at two different times with fever and chills. My sinuses and ears felt a little plugged up. I also took ibuprofen to help with the aches, but had taken it before with no problems. (I’ve since read where it can cause tinnitus.) And the last thing that might have contributed to my beeping is that these past few weeks my 4 yr old son has taken to squealing with happiness or anger. But one time he did it right in my ear and it hurt for quite a while…However the ringing didn’t start right after that.
I went to our family doctor and he checked, but no infection. Said he could see some fluid on my ears and prescribed Zyrtec. He said that should clear it up and not to worry. But I AM worried because I haven’t slept in the past 5 nights and am getting anxious. (Not good I know.) Is there any hope for me? Or is this permanent? Seems like going to an ENT has been a waste for many people. Should I wait and see if it’s still ringing/beeping in a month? Or go right away to an ENT? So anxious. Thanks so much for any suggestions.
Hi Kelan:
Like you say, several things could have caused your tinnitus. I agree that the virus could have been the culprit, so too could have been the Ibuprofen and the loud noise of your boy screaming in your ear.
Since your ear didn’t start ringing right away after the screaming episode, I don’t think it was this. Besides, I’d expect that your ear would have been sensitive to sound as well. You don’t mention this so maybe this wasn’t the cause.
You’ve taken Ibuprofen before without problems, so unless you took a higher dose than you’ve taken before, I’d think this is probably not the cause either.
That leaves you with the virus and congestion as the most likely culprit. If so, as your ear drains and thus relieves the congestion, I’d expect the tinnitus to fade away. You need to give it time.
In the meantime, you need to quit worrying about this new sound in your ears. The more you worry about it, the louder and more intrusive it will become. So learn to ignore it totally by focusing on the loves of your life. If you don’t do this, you could make the tinnitus permanent, whereas otherwise it would have faded away in time.
As for going to an ENT, what do you expect him to say/do? Your GP already gave you a prescription to clear up your congestion. I’d give it time to work. Ear congestion can take up to two or more months to drain away–depending on how bad it is. Apart from that, there is basically nothing MEDICALLY that a doctor can do for your tinnitus, so he’ll tell you to “learn to live with it”, charge you the big bucks and send you home. If it was me, in this case, I’d save my money.
Regards
Neil
Thank you so much, Dr. Neil. I will do as you suggest and just give it time. Meanwhile, I’m relieved to report that I got some sleep last night by listening to pink noise on my iPhone at the lowest setting and taking half a Unisom. This helped me to relax and drown out the beeping.
I really appreciate your responding so quickly. You’ve helped me so much.
good evening doctor,
According to your advice I started practicing all the safeties as you have suggested to me and now exactly aftetr 16 days the sound in my ears has totally gone but at the same time I am afraid doctor that it may come back what woyld you suggest me to do doctor, i have been to an ENT in AUSTRALIA and he has told that your ear drum is good and better I organise an audiogram after 6 months after i reach INDIA(hometown), will the tinnitus goes and comes or what i dont understand doctor please suggest me sir.
regards,
ROHIT
Hi Rohit:
You did what I suggested and your tinnitus went away. Why are you afraid it will come back if you continue to do what I suggested?
Your tinnitus appeared to be the result of exposing your ears to loud noise, and/or overprotecting your ears from normal sounds. If you continue to protect your ears when around loud sounds and not wear ear protection when you don’t need to, there is no reason for your tinnitus to come back.
If you worry your tinnitus may come back, the worry alone could cause more tinnitus. So get on with your life and be happy you no longer have tinnitus.
Regards
Neil
Thank you very much doctor,
For your kind support, this page is very helpful for all the people like me who are/had being suffering from tinnitus.
thank you once again for such unconditional support that you are providing to humanity.
regards,
ROHIT.
Hi Dr Neil,
I have had noise induced tinnitus for almost 2 years now, I’m having root canal treatment in a few days because of a tooth abcess and I’m unsure if I should wear earplugs or not?….I heard that wearing earplugs will increase the bone conduction noise of drill from the “occlusion effect”, internal noises sound louder when you block the ear canals, but without earplugs i worry about the external drill noise, I’m going to ask the dentist to do the drilling in 10 second bursts, 10 second breaks and so on.
Does wearing earplugs actually increase the drilling noise from bone conduction (noise can’t escape) or does it only sound louder?
My tinnitus has permanently got worse once already from a loud impact noise and I’m nervous about making thinks worse again.
Thank you for your help,
Mick.
Hi Mick:
Good question. I’ve never come across this question before and don’t know the definitive answer. My gut feeling is that wearing earplugs only makes sounds seem louder via bone conduction–not that they are actually louder.
But one thing you didn’t mention is that there are two drills dentists use–the high-speed drill and the low-speed drill. In my experience, the high-speed drill doesn’t produce near the amount of bone conduction as does the low speed drill. Thus, wearing earplugs when the dentist uses the high-speed drill should be beneficial as it will block out much of the sounds from the high-speed drill (as the air-conduction component is greater than the bone-conduction component). When he is using the low-speed drill, I think the bone-conduction component is much greater than the air-conduction component, so wearing earplugs may not work.
What kind of tinnitus do you have? If it is high-pitched tinnitus, then wearing earplugs will help cut down the racket of the high-speed drill that probably would affect your existing tinnitus.
If your tinnitus is low-pitched, then the low-speed drill probably would tend to aggravate it.
At least that is how I see it.
Regards
Neil
Thanks for your reply Dr Neil,
My tinnitus is a hissing noise so I guess its high pitched tinnitus. I’m not sure which drill the dentist will use but I will feel more comfortable wearing earplugs, it makes sense that the noise via bone conduction only sounds louder with earplugs, its doesn’t actually increase the noise.
I have worn earplugs while cutting my hair with clippers and that produced quite a loud occlusion effect (especially the back of the ear) and that hasn’t had an affect on my tinnitus, so it shouldn’t be too bad at the dentists tomorrow (touch wood).
Thanks again Dr Neil,
Regards,
Mick.
Hi @Dr Neil
3 days ago, I was passing by the street and some people were launching some fire works, one went the wrong direction and blew up about one metre / two meters from me, and the left part of my head. I was very lucky it didnt struck me i guess, but anyway, i got my left hearing in a bit of a shock. I am a Dj and requently go to nighclubs to work and have fun, and, although i now have my care, using when needed ear plugs, i didn’t have this care 8 or 7 years ago. I remember going out of night clubs or concerts worse than I was when this happened. However , I don’t recall how long this feeling was gone, and worried a bit if it can be permanent. I don’t feel any high or medium frequency ringing, I only feel as if my left ear was with wax on it. Howerver I did some heaphone test and aparrentely i can ear both the same, and specially the high frequencies seem to be matched. For instance, when i talk, I feel its not the same, I feel a dull impression in the left ear, but from the outside I seem to ear right, alhoutgh there’s like a shock feeling, Could this mean something? Can it be still the “shock” feeling? Thanks Dr
Hi Jonn:
Exposing your ears to loud sounds such as the errant fireworks can cause sounds to sound flat–the result of a temporary threshold shift (temporary hearing loss). Each time this occurs, you probably lose a few more of your precious hair cells and the hearing that goes with them. Ditto for all the DJing you’ve done in noisy venues without wearing ear protection.
Now, since there are fewer hair cells working, each additional noise exposure seems to result in more problems than you had several years ago. Thus, you NEED to ALWAYS protect your ears from loud sounds.
I think you still have some temporary (or perhaps permanent) hearing loss giving you that flat feeling. Hopefully, it will go away, but don’t count on it–given the amount of abuse your ears have absorbed in the past.
Regards
Neil
Hi..im writing from New Zealand. Four days ago in the middle of the night I woke with a high pitched constant noise in my right ear. I struggled to go back to sleep and only finally fell asleep at 6am ( not long before I had to get up up for work) by watching television to drown out the squeal…the noise continued all day ..and again I was up in the middle of the night with the television.
I went to the doctor that afternoon and she said I didn’t have an ear infection but that inside both ears look a bit ” dull” . I have a lot of allergies , like hayfever so I sneeze/blow my nose a lot and for the few days before the noise started
( but not on that day) I had been sneezing heaps.
The doctor prescribed antihistimes and a nasal spray to help with my allergies and amoxicillin incase I do have an infection since the eardrum was dull.
I haven’t listened to loud music for many years , im 39.
Could all my sneezing/nose blowing have caused this and will the annoying noise go away ???
Im a person who has always needed total quiet to sleep so the last 2 days have relied on sleeping pills…if I don’t sleep im one very grumpy mother/kindergarten teacher !
Regards, Kim
Hi Kim:
Were you on any medications in the days before your tinnitus began? Also, did you have any viral activity in your body prior to this–colds, flu, herpes, shingles, etc., etc.?
I don’t think the sneezing and blowing your nose caused it directly, but perhaps if the blowing clogged up your Eustachian tubes, you’d have some degree of conductive hearing loss and that might have resulted in the tinnitus.
Has there been any improvement in the past few days?
Regards
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil,
I am 43 and have had tinnitus for 2 months now after a loud concert. I have some mild hearing loss in the 6K-8Khz range. My ENT says she can inject my ears with steroids and that might help (oral steroids did not help.) I am considering this. What are the chances this could actually lessen or alleviate the tinnitus at this point?
Also, the past few days my tinnitus has changed. Instead of a constant, high-pitched tone, it oscillates in volume slightly, about every second. What does this mean?
Thank you!
Hi Chris:
Since oral steroids didn’t help and now two months has passed, I’d be VERY surprised if the intratympanic steroids will make any difference at this point. To me it would be a waste of time and money.
If your tinnitus is changing, this could be a good sign–that it is trying to fade away. I don’t take this as something bad. The more you ignore your tinnitus and focus on other things, the more likely that your tinnitus will fade into the background.
Regards
Neil
Good evening doctor,
I have been suferring with tinnitus from last one month and the sound has reduced considerably after 15 days of tinnitus but I continously work in very noisy environment and I use ear plugs also but i am very much afraid that i may be loosing my hearing…though I am suffering with tinnitus I do not feel any type of hearing loss…when in a noisy environment I do not hear my tinnitus but when i plug in my ear plugs into my ears the sound gets louder is it a good sign or should I try any other way to protect my ears…but when I am in normal environment like at home,park or other places outside I do not hear this sound at all…sometimes its there and sometimes not I am totally confused doctor plese suggest me on my problem.
regards,
VINAY
Hi Vinay:
When you plug in your ear protectors, you say your tinnitus seems to get louder. This could just be from the ear protectors cutting out much of the background sounds that are masking your tinnitus, thus letting it “stand out” more–and to you it seems to be louder. I doubt it is actually louder. Rather, you are more aware of it because of the lack of other sounds.
Wear your ear protectors when in noisy environments and take them off as soon as you leave such environments. You NEVER want to overprotect your ears or you can make your tinnitus worse.
I don’t see anything wrong with what is happening. You generally seem to be doing the right things. Learn to ignore your tinnitus so it doesn’t get worse as focusing on your tinnitus tends to make it worse.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
About 3 months ago I noticed Tinnitus in both ears. Its was a week after my Fathers death and many years of stress caring for him. I also care for my multiply handicapped son and tend to be a person that suffers from anxiety. My son is very loud and I must confess I did block him out with ear buds at times.
I have been a group Fitness instructor for 30 years and have also exposed myself to loud music through the years. I went to the ENT he did all the necessary blood work and hearing tests and told me I have very slight hearing loss in left ear. I am 49 so I wasnt to surprised. He sent me home with advice to take Lipo flavoniods and good luck. I quickly spiraled into depression and anxiety, I took a leave from work because I am worried about the continued loud music even with ear protection and that has made me sad also. I have seen a Psychiatrist who prescribed Xanax for sleep and that helps. I am hesitant to take SSRI’s as I also have TMJ and they elevate my jaw clenching. The Xanax has improved my sleep as has a white noise machine. I have ordered a Widex Dream Device from a Hearing center here in town but it hasn’t come in yet. I also was thinking of trying acupuncture and someone told me a course of oral steroids might help. I find the calmer I am the Tinnitus is less, but still willing to try anything to help better this. What are your feelings on acupuncture, The Widex and the oral steroid?
Hi Jeanne:
Anxiety and chronic stress can certainly cause tinnitus or make existing tinnitus worse. Compounding this was exposing your ears to loud sounds over the years.
Why is it that you exposed your ears to loud sounds as the fitness instructor? You were in control. You could have turned the music down to a reasonable level. It is NOT a requirement of exercise that you have to listen to loud music (or any music at all for that matter). This is just a CHOICE (and not a wise one to be sure).
Depression is common when you see yourself as the victim. Then taking drugs doesn’t help matters in the long run as it doesn’t treat the underlying problem–it just puts a temporary bandaid on it, but never resolves the issue. Thus when you try to get off the drugs the original problem is still there, plus a host of new ones cause by drug side effects. Not the way to go in my opinion.
It’s much better to take control of your life and do the right things to get your tinnitus under control. One thing is to turn the music down. Another is to wear appropriate ear protectors if the noise is too loud.
As you noted, as you calm yourself down, your tinnitus calms down too. So you know what to do. Work at “hanging loose”. Drugs are not the way to do this (maybe for a short time–a week or two in the beginning). Learn how to relax–find out what works best for you.
Now, to answer you questions. First, I’ve not heard success stories of acupuncture and tinnitus, so I don’t hold out too much hope for this. But if it works for you, go for it. Second, I can’t see how steroids are going to help your tinnitus. I think you were given bad advice here. The Widex Dream hearing aids can produce Zen music that can help you relax and forget about your tinnitus. It is an expensive solution, but if it works for you, great. You could get the same results by listening to similar kinds of good music–have in playing softly on your stereo or on your computer or MP3 player/phone/iPod, etc. JUst keep the music in the background. It’s not supposed to overpower your tinnitus, but give you something to focus on so you learn to ignore your tinnitus (and then hopefully, it will fade into the background and not be a problem for you.
Regards
Neil
My ear was pretty good at 26. I was able to hear high pitched sounds that younger people usually does not… until I went to a Metallica live performance. After that I had a permanent and loud hiss sound even in complete silence. After a couple of months I went to the doctor and said that my audition was normal with loss of high frecuencies. That annoying hiss sound stayed there for a three years or so and finally went away. No hiss sound being in silence at all. I was able to hear perfectly and happily again for five years, until I bought studio headphones (Superlux HD668). In less than 10 hours of total use in a month or so I have now the same tinnitus problem. I don´t know what healed my ear before, but I think that was due to avoiding high noises, concerts, headphones, eating enough vitamines and also trying to forget the problem, not focusing it all the time. I hope I get better soon.
Hi Ramz:
Exposing your ears to really loud sounds such as you get at heavy rock concerts is a good way to almost guarantee that you permanently damage your ears to some degree. The damage is cumulative. Each time you expose your ears to loud sounds, you do more damage whether you realize it or not. What that means is that in the eventually the damage becomes apparent and by then it is often too late to do anything about it.
There is nothing inherently wrong with listening to earphones, earbuds, headphones, etc. AS LONG AS you keep the volume to a non-damaging level. At present, that assumes that no sounds exceed 80 dB. Thus the average level will be well below that, probably about 55 to 65 dB–approximately the same level at which we normally talk.
The rule of thumb is that you should listen to all music at the same level as you talk. Then you won’t have to worry about damaging your ears. But so many people today act stupidly and crank up the volume so they can get the “musical experience” and thus at the same time, they set themselves up for the “ringing experience” (tinnitus) and the “deafness experience” (hearing loss) among other things.
I assume you had your headphone level set much too high that caused your ears to ring again. When your ear ring, that is an indication that they were exposed to levels MUCH too loud.
I thina you are correct in your assumptions as to what let your tinnitus go away last time. You need to continue to do the same with an emphasis on keeping the music down to speech levels and hopefully you’ll never have to worry about tinnitus any more.
Regards
Neil
Hello, Dr. Neill, thanks for your answer.
I am always very cautious with the music volume. I have use the headphones very litte at a really low intensity, but the problem with many latest studio headphones is that the enhance the low-end bass and high-end highs. I didn’t know that before I bought them. When someone hears this kind of headphones at a low volume is not conscius that there at a lot of noise at a very high pith that cannot almost be heard but gives the feeling of clarity in the music. That is how the manufacturers tricks us with low prices and exceptional sound. That high noises are really enhanced (more dBs than the rest of frecuencies) and even being carefull many people’s ears can be damaged. I’ve looked for this kind of info and I have found the following page that explains better than me the effects of some of the top headphones in the market: http://www.policymic.com/articles/90361/what-beats-by-dre-are-actually-doing-to-your-ears
Thanks for this forum, it is very useful for the people, like me, that suffer this condition.
Regards.
Hello doctor. my left ear started to hum after the use of wax cones. my symptoms are ringing in ears that are filled up when I blow my nose, nose always congested.
What could it be?
Hi Francesco:
Ear cones (ear candling) does not work. I’ve written about it before. You can read this article on Ear Candling here.
More likely, the hum (tinnitus) you hear is a result of your ears being clogged up. When the “gunK” in your middle ear and Eustachian tubes drains out, the tinnitus will likely go away. This gunk is also why your ears pop so much when you swallow.
Your real problem is that you are congested all the time. You need to address that and your ear symptoms should clear up on their own.
Regards
Neil
my ears are popping when I swallow. sometimes so strong that even people outside feel it.
thank you, Doctor. but according to her. knowing the limits telematics. because they are congested ‘. I purulent postnasal mucus every morning. I also left eardrum twitching in the presence of certain sounds. For example, typing with the small buttons on the keyboard. its spasms of the tympanum.
I am 14 years old and I went to a shooting range yesterday. I accidentally had my ear protection off when someone shot. It was only one shot but now my right ear has been ringing for over 24 hours. Will It go away?
Hi Jordan:
How’s your ear doing now? Has the ringing gone away and everything is back to normal?
Regards
Neil
Things now sound different in my right ear when compared to the left one also.
Hi Jordan:
That is to be expected in cases of loud noise trauma. But it should go away too as your ear “heals”.
Regards
Neil
Dr. Neil, about a week ago I was driving my forklift with a fan blowing on my face for about an hour. After I got off I could hear ringing and ear felt blocked or unclear in my left ear. I went to the ENT 2 days later and they said it was tinnitus and that my ear was fine. They have me medicine for my sinus. 3 days later my left ear went almost deaf for about 12 hours until it came back. Right now my left ear still sounds unclear but when loud noises come around it flares up my tinnitus. Since I wear hearing aids do you think I should not wear the left hearing aid for a few days or week to see if it clams down the tinnitus?
Thanks
Frans
Hi Frans:
Were you wearing your hearing aids while you were driving the forklift? Obviously, the sound was too loud for you and you suffered a bit of a temporary threshold shift as well as tinnitus.
Were your sinuses clogged at that time? Did you have a cold? What drug did he prescribe for your sinuses?
You can try not wearing your hearing aid and see how it feels, or better yet, you could just turn the volume on it down a bit for a few days and see how that works. You don’t want your tinnitus to react to louder normal sounds, just loud sounds that typically cause tinnitus in the first place.
Regards
Neil
Ive been suffering for 6 months. I have basically seen every doctor (General physician, ENT, Oral surgeon, Neurologist) all of which said there is “nothing” we can do, but “manage” it using medication. They performed MRIs, cat-scans of head, jaw and neck regions and all was clear. Also, ENT did sounds tests, and I have perfect hearing.
So I spent nearly 6 months, trying to figure out how can I lower the frequency of the pitch or remove it entirely! There has gotta be away!! I don’t believe I should suffer like this every day! Doctors were telling me to go on diazapam, which is an anti-anxiety med, but I didn’t suffer from this, so decided against it. Tried physical therapy, acupunture, exercise, diet changes (reduce caffeine alchohol) nothing helped.
I spent 4 months reading the literature, and finally came to the conclusion that I do need medication. Read some reports that Gabapentin (neurotonin), which is a prescribed drug that targets the GABA receptors. Gapapentin works by increasing GABA receptor excitation in the brain. These GABA receptors slow the firing of new action potentials and excitability of nerves. Thus, given that Gabapentin binds to the these GABA receptors, it basically slows the excitation of these nerve firings in the brain.
Gabapentin was originally developed to treat epilepsy, and currently is also used to relieve neuropathic pain. It is recommended as a first line agent for the treatment of neuropathic pain arising from diabetic neuropathy, post-herpetic neuralgia, and central neuropathic pain.
Anyways, that being said, I went to the neurologist and said prescribe me Gabapentin. I have read pretty much every article and the general consensus was that that gapentin in some patients resolved the tinnitus completely or lowered the pitch.
My tinnitus is nearly gone! Well, really, I still hear it but sounds like it is 50 miles away in my brain. Now I’m really careful of taking this med. I take it twice a week, because I don’t want to mess with natural processes going on in my head. Also, when I first took it, it made my tinnitus worse. The pressure I felt in my ears was so severe (like I was underwater) for the first couple of hours. However, the next day, my tinnitus barely noticeable.
I have taken only 8 pills in 1 month (2 per week). I gotta say I finally have peace in my head. I must let you know that people suffering from tinnitus with permanent hearing loss, may not work, but may lower the frequency. Have a list of papers about this with mixed results. Google gabapentin fact sheet from the American tinnitus Association website. You will see the results
I’m a PhD in vascular surgery, just to include credibility.
Best
Hi Marc:
Thanks for your report about Gabapentin. I like that you are using the minimalist approach–taking as few pills as possible to get the result you need. When you do this, you certainly reduce the risk of unwanted side effects. Glad it worked for you. Maybe this report will help others that might want to try the same and see if it helps their tinnitus.
Regards
Neil
Dr.Neil,
I have recently been exposed to a 1k feedback loop in my studio at a very high spl (I believe around 85 to 100 dbspl) I was around a foot away from the speaker when a friend changed a setting on my audio interface and caused it to abruptly send out a feedback loop straight into my right ear. I froze in panic exposing my ear for around 3 seconds until I turned down the volume knob. This caused my ear to go to a temporary threshold shift making my right ear sound dull and very fatigued. My ear today (24 hrs later) still feels somewhat fatigued probably like a 2-3 on a scale from 1-10 but with no pain nor ringing (tinnitus). I am an aspiring audio engineer where my ears are my career and my tools of the trade. I do go out to night clubs but I wear -15db attenuating earplugs all the time. Although I still feel a bit muffled and I am wondering if this is something serious that I should have checked out by a ENT doctor or should I let my ear heal for a few more days before going to have it checked out?. How long should I not listen to music as this is my daily job in order to train my ears to become professional? Also do you think this was enough exposure or spl to rupture the ear drum?
Please write back when you have a chance Id greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
Louis
Hi Louis:
A three second exposure to a sound between 85 and 100 dB should not cause any permanent harm to your ears. I’d expect your ears to return to normal shortly. I don’t see any reason to go to an ENT at this point.
You don’t have to stop listening to music, just keep the volume down. If you keep the music to about the same level as normal speech (50 to 60 dB or so), you can listen to your music as long as you like without hurting your ears more.
Regards
Neil
Hi Neil, yes I was wearing my hearing aid at the time.
Before this tinnitus happen my sinus was stuffed up a bit.
The Dr. gave me a prescription of Qnasl a nasal spray which has been working really well.
The ringing isn’t so bad right now. I can hear almost at full strength today. The sounds still aren’t as clear as before this started.
I’m going to lower the volume on my aids at work when it gets too loud. Right now in a quiet room I don’t have any problems. Only when it is noisy it’s hard to hear.
It is still going on. My mom is a nurse so she took me in and looked into my ear, she saw nothing wrong. We double checked with another person and she saw nothing wrong also and said it should go away in about two weeks. In two days it will have been two weeks, and it is still happening.
Hi Jordan:
There is no guarantee that you ears will quit ringing in two weeks. Some do of course. But for others it takes longer–maybe a month or two. And for others it never goes away. I think which class you fall into has a lot to do with your emotional make-up. If you just forget about your ears ringing and get on with your life, you’ll find it goes away MUCH sooner than if you keep thinking about it. And if you worry about it, and keep obsessing about it, it can take on a life of its own and never go away.
I sense you are worrying about your tinnitus–and this is bad. You need to focus on other things and treat your tinnitus as though it were a totally useless noise, such as the noise your fridge makes when running. You don’t constantly think about the fridge noise. In fact, you so ignore it that if I asked you if your fridge is running right now, you’d have to stop and particularly listen for it because your limbic system has filtered out that sound because you don’t listen to it.
Treat your tinnitus the same way and try not to think of it for 2 months. Then evaluate how loud and intrusive it is then compared to today. I think you’ll be pleased with your progress.
Regards
Neil
Hello sir,My self jatin and I am suffering from tinnitus since last 2 month.The doctor adviced me to take lincoln tinnex tablet for a month I got no relief so I have changed ENT doctor now another doctor adviced me to take ginko biloba 40,virtiron forte(cinnarizine IP tablets),trintal 400 (pentoxify),Inositol capsule(juvener),In silence the volume of ring use to increse what should I do and will my tinnitus ever go….
On June 27 I watched the new Transformers 4 movie at a movie theater in the mall. The movie to me was a bit louder than I was used to but not so loud that I would have to cover my ears. After I finished watching the movie which was 3 hours long, I noticed that everything I was hearing was quiter than normal, even my voice when I was talking to my friends. The next day I noticed tinnitus in my ears that was pretty loud. I have always had tinnitus but it usually comes and goes and isn’t very loud. My hearing returned to normal the same day (June 28th). It has been a week since the movie and 6 days since the ringing started. I do not listen to loud music or go to really loud places because I dislike loud noises. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: At school during fire drills I cover my ears because the sirens are considerably loud, while the rest of the people in my school do not cover their ears. The tinnitus ever since June 28 is continuous and does not come and go. Also I am going swimming tomorrow morning, do you think it would affect my tinnitus?
Dear Dr Neil
I been checking all your advise regard about tinnitus . In my case a was silly to clean ear all way deep on ears, so I got infection according with my Specialist on ears. He recommend this antibiotic which the name is. Neomy6cin-Polymyxin HC. I loss both hearing for a week. Then on the 3rd day. With the medication a bounce back 99%. Do I have chance to get 100%.??? I also did the excercise you advised to other people about the massage with finger and really work very well… Sorry for my broken English .
I forgot to tell you that due to my 10 days lack of sleep. I took medication on the first day of my treatment with antibiotic , next day I was 100%. But like I said I have tremendous headache . I took ibuprofen 200 mg . Then 15 minutes later I got the worst sound on both ears. Took me 24 hours to get 99% on my second time. I realize that Ibuprofen was in fact a problem. I hope this information also give some hope and help other people…. Thank you so much for your dedication to all of us… And GOD bless you.
Regards
J Falzarano
Hi James:
I’ve been cleaning my ears every day for decodes without problems so it can be done without causing infections. Perhaps you had an infection and cleaning just made it worse. In any case, I sure wouldn’t use Neomycin on my ears. It is very ototoxic and can cause massive hearing loss. For infections in the ear canal I’d use non-ototoxic things such as hyprogen peroxide or vinegar or colloidal silver.
I hear from a lot of people that get tinnitus after taking Ibuprofen. So it is a good drug to stay away from.
Regards
Neil
Dear Dr. Neal. I forgot to tell you that due to my 10 days lack of sleep. I took medication on the first day of my treatment with antibiotic , next day I was 100%. But like I said I have tremendous headache . I took ibuprofen 200 mg . Then 15 minutes later I got the worst sound on both ears. Took me 24 hours to get 99% on my second time. I realize that Ibuprofen was in fact a problem. By the way I misspell the medication I taken. The name is : NEOMYCIN – POLYMYXIN-HC. I hope this information also give some hope and help other people…. Thank you so much for your dedication to all of us… And GOD bless you.
Dear Dr. Neil
This was actually my first portion of my post
I been checking all the post and al advise that you give to everyone on regard of tinnitus .
In my case I was cleaning my ears all way deep, duo itching on my ears which was very silly Everything start low noise progressive during 3 days. I have some pain; then pain when away but not the noise. When I went to Dr. Specialist on ears. Told me that, I have a minor infection on one ears. I was concern, because I hear noise from both ears and I was skeptical of the infection. Because Was not strong pain. I took a overdose of Ibuprofen 200 mg 3 pills for any headaches. For the last 6 moths
Another factor against me, was my blood pressure was a little be high, also I suffer from thyroid so, I was thinking and asking myself which one those provoke my tinnitus . I don’t go to concert or work on louder environment or listen music at all. On my 2nd day of using the antibiotic drops I bounce back 100% . Due to my lack of sleep on the end of 2nd day at night I decide to take ibuprofen 200 mg . Then, the noise went really BAD. I have to wait and Past 24 hours to get back to 99% . So I decide to stop completely the ibuprofen. I’m now not 100%. Another thing help very much was to do relax and do the advise that you recommend on relax and get anxious I will be able get 100%again ????
I put the palms of my hands over my ears
The fingers are on the back of the head. The middle fingers point towards each other and are on the base of the skull just above the point where the skull ends. Now lift the index fingers and place them on top of the middle fingers and then snap the index fingers off the middle fingers so that they beat the skull like a drum. In fact, with your hands covering your ears, the sound may be quite loud and may indeed sound like the beating of a drum.
I get this info on the internet and work pretty good for me. I feel to fragile still. I would we able get 100%. Sorry for my pour English . And again, Thank you again for your advice .
My regards
J Falzarano
Dear
Dr. Neil. Thank you so much for your advice.. This is my 5th day using this antibiotic . Do you think I have chance to bounc back. I will stop today then. You mention about St John wort. That will help me? There availble on whole food stores? For example on the 3th I was awfull due to Iboprufen, like I said before. On 4th wich yesterday I was 99% . Today I fell little behind I will say 50%. An getting right now at 60 %. What that means to you?
Dear Dr Neil.
I want to let you know, that I bough in Whole Food stores,the St. John wort in drops.(30 to 40 drops on small amount of cup of water – daily) also I got the SOVEREIGN SILVER. The dropper- top bio-active silver hydrosol (10ppm).
My question is this ……….when I can start using the St John wort,since I was in antibiotic????? I don’t know if I can do it right away ???. and the sovereign silver as well…if I can put on my ears right away too??. I’m also drinking complex-B with herb and also my DR prescribe me , Melatonin 1 MG for bedtime. Which I discontinue , because according with use instruction on melatonin, can’t use for more than 5 days consecutive. I read one of the comments from a PhD Dr. Marc, on your blog ; that mention GABAPENTIN- (GABA) to reduce the volume of noise. That it’s very interesting. if there’s not more choices than accept our condition; That will be one hope we can’t give up and I Agree with Dr. Marc… We shouldn’t live just accepting the horrible noise and mask it… With sounds.. But reduce it to a minimal if possible .What do you think about (GABA)…Doc? Can I use it as well too???
Anyway, I don’t understand why my DR prescribe me the —NEOMYCIN— knowing that I have already a condition of ear ringing & buzzing . You may know the answer better than me. We’ll I will try not to hurt myself thinking too hard and getting the best way to treat my condition and using the right tools and accept whatever comes to me . I will try also, to NOT give up and get better solution for my problem without getting anxious .
Last question Doc ……..Do I have at least any chance to comeback to normal again? ???? Since when I get 100 % I fell like nothing ever happens in my ears …Thank you for you reply And GOD bless you again…. Right now the noise on my ears going down at least 40%….. One day I do 100% next day 40% then comeback to a 100% …… Very tormenting. I will pray for everyone affected by this bad condition in this blog and hope that, at last We all can find a better way to reduce the noise…but Ignore the sound is not easy to accomplish , special if noise is too high…. at least we need to try to suffer the minimum possible.
PS: I recognize that I took my good Heath for granted. Now, I know better.
Hoping that is not too late…….
J Falzarano.
Grazie mille
Hi James:
You can start the St. John’s Wort at any time since it has nothing to do with the Nieomycin. It won’t affect it.
You can also use the silver right away. Again, it doesn’t have anything to do with the Neomycin.
As for the Gabapentin, you’d need a doctor’s prescription to use it. I’m not one for taking drugs at all, but if you want to try it for yourself, that is up to you. Just don’t stay on it for more than a couple of weeks if you do.
Doctors prescribe Neomycin because they have been brainwashed into thinking it doesn’t cause all the harmful side effects it does. They think such side effects, if they ever occur, are very rare–and this is just not true.
If your tinnitus is fluctuating from 40% to 100% and down again, I take that as a good sign. If it stayed at 100% (bad), that would be a bad sign. I never said it was easy to ignore the sound, (it’s not), but it is necessary to do so if you don’t want your tinnitus to control your life.
Regards
Neil
Dr Neil, I have had tinnitus since 1994. I had a sinus operation two years ago. I woke up and said my left ear was blocked. It was blocked on and off for the next year. For the last ten months, it has been blocked. My hearing has gone downhill with every hearing test and the tinnitus is so loud. I miss so much with people speaking and when there is noise, I have no hope. I have been told there is nothing I can do about the loss of hearing and I am wondering to get another opinion or not. Does hearing ever come back?
Hi Rosemary:
If you had a sinus operation and had resulting hearing loss, the first thing I’d want to know is whether your hearing loss is sensorineural or conductive. Typically, doctors can do things to “fix” conductive losses, but basically there is nothing they can do for sensorineural hearing losses.
If you have a conductive loss, and it is corrected, then you may find your tinnitus goes away or at least becomes less. So that is the first thing I’d do–find out if there is a conductive component to your hearing loss and have that looked after.
Typically, if you have a sensorineural hearing loss, hearing does not come back because the hair cells die–and that’s permanent. However, there are cases when the hair cells (or other inner ear structures) are “blocked” from working properly resulting in hearing loss. In these cases, when the “blockage” is removed, the hearing returns. An example of this would be a heavy metal (or other toxin) blocking an ion gate so a sound signal can’t be sent to the brain. If you undergo chealation for the heavy metal and it is removed from your body, the ion gates are then “unblocked” and hearing can return to normal. So there are instances where hearing can return.
Regards
Neil
Dear Dr Neil
This part was write on 7-714
Today ….my day was quiet, compare with others days. the previous night I got that “eeee” annoying sound like a electric fields ; then shifted to a very low sound of
Cicada ” or cricket” sound. I wonder if this noise means that it will go away ….for once at all. But I just need to forget and continue my long endurance and not making false hopes in my mind ….. Sometime I feel alone, especial in the night when the sound is so strong or weak , and everybody at home go to sleep quietly.
What to expect tonight is a big question “?”…. and again, I will need to be strong, to go with my life and accept this terrible noise. Now at least I got an appointment with the ENT on Friday , since I told him, that; Neomycin give me the sides effects on Saturday . (Vomit, strong ringing ..)
I know that , maybe at the appointment , I will hear just from my ENT. “Is too early to determine your case”. So far I’m doing 59% free noise…
This I write on — 7-8-14
Dr Neil… I want to share with you and everyone in this blog ,how I’m doing at this point. because I want to give some hope to my self and to any person with T even if I’m not yet a 100% free noise ; and let it know to anyone that comes in this blog to read, ask and get some sort of emotional support like I do.
I wake up in the morning with very low noise and with a headache
since I got not much option anymore to take pain killers to stop it . how to battle the pain ???? I ask Because, any of this medication increase the tinnitus as you know . But I manage to put ice on top of my head and control the pain. I Went to work with 4 hours of sleep … Then . I feel the minimum noise from my T . I can’t believe it …Then I went to work . I’m very skeptical and that doesn’t help.. in fact by the time I arrive at work I got completely silent sanity 100%-no noise. this is lasting until this moment that came back to 78% no noise . So far I’m still Ok. But scare…..which don’t want to go back to the beginning of my T .I admit that I am scarecrow right now . This whole thing start on June 24. Until today July 8.This experience is taken me to another level of being more humble…..to understand others suffering of being on the same situation you have experience the same . well … I Still don’t know… if I will stay that way…… (Without Noise) permanently in the near future, But I will try to stay healthy. Sorry if I offend you by saying on the : “mask the noise it’s not enough.”…. But I read in every article; I don’t say it … because of you. And I understand that has been say, because we need to manage this condition and find a way to survive with tinnitus .
I do feel now more than never to committed to helps other with tinnitus, and I will do.
You save me , from my own ignorance of using the medications and not reading the side effects… You Give me a good advise. And I listen to you. I always will be graceful for that. I get much better went I stop the med.
Right now I’m 95% (free-noise )for more than 10 hours. Like ….. never before , and I don’t know, how long is going to last ????? I hope it will be more than few days …. Because permanent tinnitus can emerge quickly and ruthlessly ………and tinnitus definitely leaves a lasting memory for those who’ve got it for a week or more and then it goes away…. I’m not yet there myself… I heard that VITAMIN- D also make T worse that’s true????
My last question doc….. How I can stop my headaches without taken drugs like, ibuprofen , Advil , aspirin?? Can I take Tylenol ???? .. Anyway On July 11- Friday . I got an appointment with my ENT. To do a hearing test. Thanks again for your replay to me on the T , which give me peace of mind
….. And again sorry for my BAD English
JFalzarano ????
Dr. Neil
Hi. I just went to my ENT appointment . I ask me how I was doing?. And I told him not great, but really compare with other people, I guess I’ m great and lucky. Por example. Yesterday I was horrible high pitch sound. Bur of course. I’ been not sleep for 3 days.
I got problem with getting to sleep . A notice when I don’t sleep, my T increase 100%.
Last night I went to sleep really tired and with headache again. But I manage again to fell to sleep. 3 hours then I have to fight again and sleep from 5:00 to 8:00. Due to the strong noise. I wake up today with less than 1% of noise. That tells me if I dong to sleep I will have a comeback tinnitus . So now I know that I can probably better look a way to do something to get tired and go to when I got the sleep and not wait for later . According with Dr. My infection went away. and everything look good. He told me not to take St John Wort. He want me to be only on Melatonin 1 mg and B- complex. I’m scheduled for audiogram/tympani gram- test.i don’t think that my rearing is affect at all. I just curious to know why I get the noise as soon I lay to sleep. Right now in instant moment I got like “eeee”noise so far that I feel cure 100% . What do you think about that ??? Another question is true that St. John Wort can trigger high blood pressure and migraine ?
If you don’t mind to let me know I will appreciate for your reply…….. There’s and chance to be defenetely or at least 99%??? Do you think Tylenol also in not good with tinnitus ???
My regards
Hi Dr. Neil,
I’ve been a tinnitus sufferer off and on for 3 years now. I always listened to loud music and never noticed any detrimental effects. Then I went through a period of intense anxiety about 3 years ago and that’s when I noticed the tinnitus starting.
As I slowly got my anxiety under control I noticed that I could block out the tinnitus to the point that I didn’t notice it anymore. If I listened for it I could still hear it but I learned to block it out to the point that it no longer affected my life.
After that success, I watched a movie yesterday on TV and turned the sound up really loud because it was an action/thriller. Yes I know that was very stupid of me but I honestly thought I had beaten the tinnitus. Since then it has returned with a vengeance. Both ears are emitting a loud, high-pitched squeal that is driving me nuts! Usually when I have a flare-up it goes away in about a day, but not this time 🙁
Logic tells me that my TV was turned up loud but not loud enough to cause hearing damage. I’m praying that the tinnitus returning is psycho-somatic and not permanent. Of course as you probably can tell, I’m freaking out here!
My question is this: my ears are totally blocked with wax according to my doctor and need to be cleaned out. She suggested a chemical ear wax removal kit but I’m afraid that will make my tinnitus worse.
What is a safe way to clean out my ears? I have read about a natural ear wax removal kit that only contains olive oil. Is that safer to use than the chemical varieties? How about the flushing syringe. Can that make tinnitus symptoms worse?
Any guidance or reassurance you can give me would be greatly appreciated! Is there any chance that there someday might be a cure for this maddening condition or are we all hoping in vain?
Hi Jeff:
Once you damage your ears and cause tinnitus, think of your ears as more sensitive to more damage in the future. Thus, listening to loud sounds–even though it doesn’t result in tinnitus to other people–may now cause further tinnitus, or louder tinnitus. So you have to keep this in mind and protect your ears from loud sounds.
You did the right things in the past to control your tinnitus. You’ll have to do the same again and hope it fades away, but there are no guarantees. You’ll have to give it time.
To remove ear wax safely, you have to be gentle, especially with the syringing method, and the wax picking method. Yanking on a piece of wax can pull your eardrum out and simulate a loud sound (which can make your tinnitus worse). So can using too much force in syringing. But when done properly, they are both safe methods.
You can try softening the wax with olive oil or baby oil. I’d choose that instead of chemical concoctions–but that’s me.
Some doctors like the wax softened up before they try to syringe it out–and I agree with this.
The best “cure” for tinnitus is prevention. If you protect your ears from loud sounds, don’t take ototoxic drugs and live a healthy lifestyle, the chances of your getting tinnitus is pretty slim. But people want to have their cake and eat it too–and it just doesn’t work that way.
Who knows what advances there will be in tinnitus management in the future? I’m not holding my breath for a perfect cure though, because they are looking mostly for a drug solution and that will just give rise to other side effects.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
Thank you for your response. The thing that I have trouble understanding is why there isn’t more public awareness about tinnitus. This is no laughing matter. It’s a devastating, debilitating condition. Yet, I had never even heard of tinnitus before I started researching my symptoms online.
Even now, when I try to discuss my condition with friends/family/co-workers, 90% of the time I just get blank stares. And yet I read about what a common condition this is!
I know you said the best cure is prevention but it seems like we only learn this after the fact, when it’s too late. That’s the part I find the most frustrating. We’re warned about the dangers of smoking. We’re warned about alcohol. We’re warned about obesity. We’re warned about not exercising. We’re warned about unsafe sexual practices. But nobody warned me about this. I would have gladly lowered the volume on my earphones if I had only known that this could happen to me!
Reading online about all the things that can damage your hearing is unbelievable. How are you supposed to live? Who doesn’t go to bars? Who doesn’t go to restaurants? Who doesn’t go to movie theatres? Who doesn’t go to concerts? Who doesn’t mow their lawn? Yet all of these things can lead to hearing loss and tinnitus???
There really needs to be more awareness so prevention is an option before you develop this infuriating condition.
And the worse part is, no matter where I turn for comfort or help, the answer is always the same. Deal with it because nothing can be done. At least when I had strep throat the doctor could do something to help me. But not this time.
I understand this isn’t life-threatening but it severely impacts the quality of life. If someone had only warned me about this, I would have taken preventative measures.
Anyway I’m sorry about the rant. I just needed to get this off my chest! Thank you for the advice and I’ll try to get through each day while dreaming of a cure.
I know it won’t be easy but I supposed I don’t have any choice.
Hi Jeff:
There are various agencies that try to promote protecting your ears from loud sounds and tinnitus awareness. Unfortunately, it is mostly a case of “shutting the gate after the horse has escaped”–just as in your case. You were not aware of tinnitus because you didn’t have any cause to be–so even if you saw a public awareness ad, you probably so totally ignored it that you can’t even remember even seeing one. We are so constantly bombarded with ads that we cease seeing them.
Unfortunately, conditions pertaining to ears are not considered very important in the grand scheme of things in the medical field. Thus hearing loss and tinnitus get the short end of the stick in public awareness. For example, they warn about heart problems and liver problems and kidney problems that can result from taking medications, but how often do you read warning about ear problems from taking drugs? Not too often.
However, when you go to look for information on tinnitus and the dangers of loud sounds on your ears, there is no end of information about it readily available on the Internet (as you have found). For example, I’ve written about 90 articles on tinnitus and my book on tinnitus is in its 6th edition now.
Unfortunately, few people read these articles unless they are now suffering from tinnitus. This is just human nature at work.
It’s not true that nothing can be done. What is true is that there is no magic pill you can take to make it go away. You have to be actively involved in dealing with your tinnitus because it is a psychosomatic condition–and only you can control your “psychic” and this takes work.
So the basic choice you have is either to deal with it or not deal with it. You don’t have the choice of having it or not–at least not any more.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
I’ve had tinnitus for 15 years. 4 1/2 years ago it got drastically worse and my Musical Ear Syndrome started. The past year I’ve developed a sensitivity to loud and high pitch sounds, along with what one ENT calls tensor tympani syndrome. I have a 50% hearing loss, most of it recently. After starting with Effexor I got T, and it got drastically worse after I discontinued it. I was wondering why no Doctor of any kind didn’t inform me about Effexor side effects, such as T and ototoxicity? Why would it get drastically worse after stopping the SSRI? I haven’t taken any drugs in past 2 1/2 years except for an occasionally Xanax for sleep or OTC meds. I wear earplugs all the time, even using blow dryer, vacuum , etc. My hearing is still getting worse and so is my T and H. Can lack of sound make T or hearing worse? Can we hear thru our skulls? ( I work in a loud mill for 27 years, and wear ear plugs even in quiet areas). I also started EMDR treatment for my anxiety, has any one got relief for their T, MES, H or tensor tympani from this or any other treatment? How can I prevent more T sounds from coming or hearing loss?? Thank you, Julie
Hi Julie:
I’m not surprised that when your tinnitus got worse you also got MES. What happened 4.5 years ago–was that when you started on the Effexor?
Venlafaxine (Effexor) is not a SSRI, but a SNRI which is somewhat similar to an SSRI. Side effects of Effexor include hearing loss, hyperacusis (sensitivity to sound), tinnitus, ear pain, a raft of different balance problems and ear infections. So your hearing loss, tinnitus and hyperacusis could be caused by the Effexor.
One reason your tinnitus may have gotten worse from stopping the Effexor is because these drugs basically mess up your brain so when you stop taking one all of a sudden, your brain can’t function properly and one result can be tinnitus. You need to taper off such drugs slowly–perhaps tapering down 1% a day for 100 days or even slower.
Why did your ENT say you have tensor tympani syndrome? You haven’t mentioned anything that would indicate you have this condition.
What OTC meds have you been taking? Numbers of them are ototoxic.
Now let’s address your hyperacusis. Certainly the Effexor could be partly to blame, but I think you are making it worse by wearing ear plugs all the time. When you wear ear plugs in relatively quiet situations, your brain is deprived of normal sounds (and moreso since you have a significant hearing loss). When this happens, your auditory system turns up its internal volume control to try to hear some sounds. And this makes all sounds correspondingly louder. The more you wear the ear plugs, the more sensitive you get to sounds as the internal volume is constantly being turned up.
You so ALWAYS wear ear plugs when sounds are above 90 dB or so, and you should NEVER wear ear plugs when sounds are less than 80 dB. There is a fine line you need to tread between protecting your ears from loud sounds, and overprotecting your ears from quieter sounds. You need to change your habits regarding ear plugs before it is too late and you can’t even stand very quiet sounds.
And yes, you can hear through your skull. It attenuates the sound by about 30 dB or so. That is why ear protectors only go up to about 30 dB. After that, the sounds go through your skull so you don’t gain any more protection. You could wear 60 dB ear plugs, but they wouldn’t help you much more than 30 dB ones do because of bone conduction.
Anxiety can make your tinnitus worse, and certainly won’t help your hyperacusis either, nor your MES. So you doing well to be actively working on getting your anxiety under control.
I wish you well.
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil, about a year and a half ago I went out shooting guns with friends and didn’t use ear protection. ever since then i could hear a high pitched buzzing but after a few day it died down and i almost never noticed it. About 20 days ago I went to drag race track with friends. I didn’t bring ear protection and my tinnitus has been louder now. I guess my main question is how long does it take the ear to heal from temporary damage from loud noises and could my tinnitus die down again like before? Thanks so much for your time.
-Jason
Hi Jason:
First, you NEED to remember to take ear protection with you when you are going to loud events. Your ears will only stand so much punishment before you will have permanent problems such as hearing loss and tinnitus.
You want to know how long it will take your ears to heal from temporary damage. What makes you think there is only temporary damage? In actual fact, you are causing damage each time–some of it temporary and some of it permanent. Did you get that? Each time you abuse your ears with loud sounds, more permanent damage occurs. The temporary damage typically heals in a few days to a month or more, but you may notice more and more effects of the permanent damage such as not hearing in the high frequencies like you did before, and having your tinnitus becoming louder and more intrusive and NEVER going away.
Unless you love being “deaf” and having loud, annoying tinnitus for the rest of your life, the time to act is now. ALWAYS protect your ears from loud sounds as the effects of loud noise is cumulative.
Regards
Neil
hello,
I have a hearing loss in both ears since i was born, i also wear hearing aids for each ear, well one night ago i was listening to my music loudly, like i do every day im so used to it, but that time i wasnt wearing headphones at all and when i got up i could hear a constant beeping in my right ear sounding like when a microwave signals the meal is heated but its a little more drawn out, and it hasn’t gone away, it is starting to make me not be able to sleep. last night i got no sleep, i don’t know why i still have the ringing, i think i might have nor-apathy in my right ear wear its like a low buzzing i the left ear but it happens once in a while so it doesn’t bother me and it always lasts fro 3 seconds or less. i have never had this annoying beeping in my right ear nor any kind of beeping or buzzing noise in my right ear and listening to music always helps me relax and hlep me fall asleep, plz help!
Hi Tasha:
There is nothing wrong with listening to music. Good music can help you relax and fall asleep. However, there is everything wrong with listening to music too loud. That causes permanent damage that insidiously creeps up on you over the years. When you listen to music, it should be at about the same volume as you hear people talking. If you are listening to music substantially louder, then you are asking for trouble.
And when listening to music to fall asleep, you don’t even need it that loud as there are no competing sounds to partially mask it.
What you are hearing with the beeping and buzzing, etc is tinnitus. Tinnitus is a sure sign that you are damaging your ears, and have damaged your ears. The tinnitus is only going to get louder and more intrusive the more you listen to loud sounds. You need to protect your ears from loud sounds from now on–unless you love listening to annoying tinnitus day and night.
Besides protecting your ears from loud sounds–and that means any sounds that are substantially louder than people talking (80 dB is the limit), you need to give your ears a rest so they can heal any temporary damage. This could take up to 3 months or so. You also need to learn to ignore the tinnitus sounds you have now. The more you focus on them, the worse they will get.
Regards
Neil
hello doctor Neil,
Hope you are doing great…
Sir I started having the rining sound in my ears from past 4 months and now all of a sudden my left ear went almost deaf for about a second and then it returned back to normal I mean to tinnitus stage…I am very much afraid that whether this is the sign of loosing my hearing…
and in these 4 months i havent exposed my ears to loud noises sir.
Eagerly waiting for your valuble reply sir.
VINAY.
Hi Vinay:
What happened 4 months ago that caused your tinnitus to start? Did you begin taking any drugs or medications or increase the dose on an existing medication? Having your ear suddenly go deaf is not a good sign, so tracking down the cause will help you know how to treat it.
Regards
Neil
Hello Dr Neil. My Dad was diagnosed with Tinnitus 4 weeks ago. I was very concerned and researched online to find him some relief. What happened is I developed Tinnitus myself. I heard a high pitched sound in the car one day and latched onto it. Now it plays all the time in my left ear. I dont and never have exposed my ears to loud sounds. Do you think if I try and minimize my attention on this sound that it may go away based on how it started?
Thanks
Robert
Hi Robert:
I’m wondering if your tinnitus began due to your anxiety over your dad developing tinnitus. Focusing on it only made it worse. Totally ignoring it is a good plan in any case. Hopefully it will go away.
Regards
Neil
i have problem with left year since 5 years. now i cont sleep 1 hour what i want to do please suggest me my no.09030925478
Dear Dr Neil. I was wondering about the dentist. You could spend a year habituating to Tinnitus and have it settle down only to go to the dentist and have it flair up again due to the incredibly loud noise of the drills they use. Do you have a solution for dental treatment on patients with Tinnitus? Is there a solution?
Thanks
Robert
Hi Robert:
For some people dentists drills are too loud and make their tinnitus worse. They never bother my tinnitus so it is not a given that it will make your tinnitus worse.
One way to try to prevent tinnitus from dental drills is to do as Jack Vernon suggested. Barry Keate wrote, “Dr. Jack Vernon, of the Tinnitus Center at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), states that the best way to avoid hearing loss and tinnitus is to ask the dentist to drill in short spurts. Drill for five seconds then stop for ten seconds, drill for five seconds and stop for ten seconds, and so on. “The exacerbation of tinnitus by sound is a time-intensity function and by reducing the time of each drilling episode, the degree to which this kind of insult will influence the ears is also reduced.” ”
If you are worried about drilling making your tinnitus worse, this is what I would do.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr.Neil
I have tinnitus about a week now due to loud music exposure. I went to see an ENT and they said my hearing is fine. But the ringing won’t stop, I can’t sleep at night due to this. It’s taking a toll on me. The ENT specialist recommended arches tinnitus formula to relief the tinnitus. Do you know anything about this? Do you recommend me taking it? Are there any medications you recommend? Also, do you think this will go away? I am praying it will go away…
Hi Sue:
You just HAVE to protect your ears when around loud sounds such as loud music. You are just asking for trouble if you don’t. Your ears only stand so much abuse and then they give up and you end up with tinnitus and other ear problems such as hearing loss and hyperacusis.
Arches Tinnitus Formula works for some people so I’d try it and see. There is nothing in it that is going to hurt your ears. You have to give it time–take it for a month, or better yet, three months.
Whether your tinnitus goes away or not depends on several things. If this was the first time you exposed your ears to loud sounds, you may have a better chance of it going away than if you’ve exposed your ears to loud sounds a number of times in the past.
Also, much depends on your emotional attitude towards your tinnitus. If you worry about it, it may never go away and indeed, get worse. However, if you totally ignore it and for no negative emotional attachment to it, you may find it fades away and doesn’t bother you.
There are no medications approved for tinnitus–and I wouldn’t recommend them anyway as there are always side effects. That is why I like herbals such as Arches Tinnitus Formula.
Regards
Neil
Thank you Dr.Neil.
I read that zinc may also help decrease tinnitus symptom, should I start taking zinc supplements?
Hi Sue:
You can certainly try zinc. If you are low on it, you may notice a difference. Just don’t take more than about 30 mg of zinc a day. Too much can be a bad thing.
Regards
Neil
Hi dr neil
I born deaf. But im 30 now.. I wonder whats costing buzzing my right ear? I play computer games with a headphones only my right ear . I only put headphone on top my hearing aid.. But my right ear feels like buzzing . I had it for 7 month it stops few times but should i keep my hearing aid out or what should i do?
Acually i see my specalist he said my hair cells are fine. But what costing feels like dizzing sound. Almost like buzzing.
Hi Dr Neil.
I think I may have permanent tinnitus? I first experienced ringing in my ears after I left a new nightclub about 6months ago. This was the first time I had ever experienced this and it lasted 3-4days since then every time I go on a night out or to a gig which I do very often I experience tinnitus and this time I’ve had it for 2 weeks straight and still have it now.
I have no emotional stress or anything, I think it’s simply just noise induced but I don’t understand how all same people I go to these places with at the most only experience rining that very same night. What do I do? Stop going out socialising and ruin my current life? Or ruin my future life?
I have bought earplugs for future because I do have a lot of gigs coming up but I dont think I can put up with the rining any longer. It’s really only noticeable in quiet places but when it is noticeable its very loud and I dwell on it. I’m even thinking about it all day so even in louder places I can start to begin hearing it in the background.
Dr. Neil,
I’ve had tinnitus since age 13. I’m now 67, and it’s getting much worse. When I play piano, I use 30db earplugs. I know you said not to, but when I use 15 the tinnitus gets much worse. Measured dB levels are below 75 and average around 70 with my electric piano. Also it gets worse when I sleep on my right side. My TMJ condyles are OK in a CT scan. Massaging my neck and TMJ area helps sometimes. Any suggestions on earplug use in my case? Thank you.
David
I forgot to mention that the tinnitus gets worse even with the 30db earplugs, but not as bad as with the 15. It subsides usually in a few hours to normal (loud) levels.
David
Hi dr
my symptoms started about two weeks ago. All of sudden gearing loss filling fullness in left ear. Went to er they cleaned my ear but they said there is wax buildup on my ear drum. The ringing is bad. Feels like my head has weird sensations too. My eye twinches and sometimes a headache in back of head where all this is going on on same side. I do gave anxiety problems and panic as well. Can u help? I’m 32 yrs old.
Hi Crystal:
There is no way I can help you given the few details you have given. I’d need to know much more about your situation. Email me privately at neil at hearinglosshelp dot com and give me as much background as you know about your ears and I’ll try to help you. I’ll have a bunch of questions I’ll need you to answer.
Regards
Neil
And I’m freaking out extremely now. Done been to the er 4 times. Nothing is changing. Cant go to a doctors have no insurance. And people telling me its something bad like a tumor. I freak out and pabic and go back to the er. My bp been running high but drops back to normal after a few mins. Please help.
Hello Dr. Neil,
I have always been able to notice that my left ear had a greater range of hearing, being able to hear higher pitched noises. I did get diagnosed with tinnitus at a younger age (14-15) but it never really bothered me, i slept fine and got used to it so that i rarely noticed it at all! I’m not sure why this was, I was always a healthy sleeper and it didn’t seem to impede me in life..
The weekend just gone i went to a reunion party that was on both the Friday and Saturday night. I went home relatively early on the Friday with no changes to my hearing at all other than a feeling of a ‘muffled/ringing’ sensation that went away within an hour or so.
On the Saturday i had stayed in there for much longer, probably 5 hours or so and the music was quite loud. Again, i left with the same sensation and went to sleep. However the morning after i still had a persistent feeling of a ‘blocked ear’ or muffled sensation (hearing felt dull/clogged ear/water in ear) sort of sensation. This now only seems to be definable in my left ear, 30 hours later.
I very rarely go to music events that are loud and do not regularly experience such sensations..
It is quite worrying now as my hearing seems dull and nowhere near as ‘full’ or to have the same range of sounds! is this temporary? Baring in mind i have noticed improvement over the last 30 hours. Is this something you have come across before?
Thank you,
Kind Regards
Hi Olly:
When you get that blocked feeling, muffled sensation, feeling of fullness or however you want to describe it, you are experiencing what is technically called a temporary threshold shift due to exposing your ears to loud sounds. This is just a fancy way of saying you now have a temporary (hopefully) hearing loss.
Typically, this seems to go away in a few minutes to a few hours to a few days depending on how long you exposed your ears to the loud sounds and the volume of the sounds themselves. As you have found, with the passing of time, your ears are recovering–at least to some degree. This is good.
At the same time, you may have also caused some degree of permanent damage to you hearing. This will never go away. Since this hearing loss often occurs in the high frequencies, often you are not aware of it right away. But the more you expose your ears to loud sounds, the more damage occurs, and eventually you become aware of it. At this point it is much to late to do anything about it.
That is why you NEED to protect your ears if you are going into loud venues. Otherwise, sooner or later, you’ll have to pay the piper–and in this case it means having hearing loss and tinnitus and also probably distorted hearing and sound sensitivities as well.
You can avoid all this grief by protecting your ears at all times. It may be too late now to avoid any damage that has occurred, but you can prevent more damage in the future by wearing ear protectors when the volume of the sound is more than about 85 dB.
This is your wake up call. Either wear ear protectors when in places with loud sounds, or get out. Those are your choices.
Regards
Neil
Dr.Neil, i have been reading your responses and it sounds to me u know your stuff.I was told to wean myself of effexor in 2 weeks time by a doctor. I had been on it for 4 months approx. Not knowing how dangerous these drugs are and that it takes months and not weeks i did just that. I ended up in the emergency room at the hospital because i couldnt stop throwing up for 3 days. I was very ill for about 6 weeks and then noticed this pulsating noise in both my ears and i could no longer sleep well at night. The two came together. I have this swooshing sound in my head 24 hours a day, and after going to the sleep clinic, the results being that i woke 60times in 6hrs of sleep. Since going off the medication i have not had one full night of sleep and not one moments peace from the noise in my head. Prior to this i have never had problems sleeping. How do i fix this and can I? Do i go back on the effexor for a while and get weaned of it properly, will that help. I dont know what to do, iam at my wits end. Help.
Hi Krystyna:
Getting off Venlafaxine (Effexor) is very difficult for some people. Tapering off in just two weeks is MUCH too fast. A more reasonable time frame would have been 10 months or so.
You have two options. Stick it out and wait for the side effects to go away. This could take a year or more, but you have already gone 7 months so you should be about half way through the process.
The other option is to go back on the Effexor–get yourself stabilized on it–and then begin your a very slow taper over 300 days or so. You’ll be able to tell whether you are going too fast by the reappearance of side effects.
You need to decide which way to go.
If you choose to go back on and then taper off, I strongly suggest you follow one of two methods of tapering.
Either follow what “Sweettooth” did as explained at http://www.drugs.com/forum/featured-drugs/tapering-how-effexor-method-1-a-32337.html, or use the following method.
To do this you need the tablet kind of pills. Get a mortar and pestle and a 100 ml beaker. Each day pulverize your daily dose in the mortar, then dissolve this in exactly 100 ml of water. When it is fully dissolved, you pour out precisely 1 ml of and drink the other 99 ml. Do this for 3 days. Then on the fourth day pour out 2 ml and drink the rest. Do this for 3 days, then pour out 3 ml and drink the 97 ml remaining. Continue doing this for 300 days and you’ll be off the drug. This will give you a taper rate of 1/3 of 1% per day which should be slow enough to avoid side effects. If at any time it appears too fast–stop at that level until you stabilize–then continue the taper. This is what Dr. Heather Ashton recommends.
Now, to address your pulsating noise–the swooshing sounds you hear. This is a kind of tinnitus. You don’t say whether this swooshing sound is in unison with your heartbeat or not. Particularly note whether it is or not. If it is, you have developed a type of tinnitus called pulsatile tinnitus. This has something to do with your vascular system and generally can be treated by doctors. If it is not in unison with your heartbeat, then you have another kind of tinnitus.
Let me know what kind you have and I’ll try to help you.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr, Neil i forgot to mention that this has been going on since May of this year. I have been waiting month after month for things to get better. It has been 7 months. Thank You for any suggestions.
Hi Dr Neil, thank you so much for getting back to me, i have been living a nightmare. My tinnitus is the pulsatile and af
ter going for a hearing test and a doppler test which came back ok, the ear specialist told me it would go away as soon as i sorted out my sleeping. The two came together from the withdrawal process. I need to know if my two problems will ever go away. Is there truly some way that my brain will compute sleep again. If you were in this situation which would u do. Iam beside myself and dont know what the better choice would be. Is there any garantees that by sticking it out that my tinnitus and sleep deprivation will go away?
Hi Dr Neil.
I am 45 yrs old man from Iraq. I lived with tinnitus since 1995 ,it increases over years, Now I wish if there away to remove my hearing totally if that will stop the noise in my both ears. I cannot live with it anymore.I am serious is there any kind of surgery to remove the hearing entirely? I read much about tinnitus in the internet and it seems no way to stop it.
Hi Abubasil:
In the past, doctors cut the auditory nerve to try to stop intractable tinnitus. This leaves the person permanently and totally deaf in that ear. If you had it done in both ears, you’d never hear another sound as long as you live.
Unfortunately, when the doctors cut the auditory nerve, they were shocked that in at least half the cases, the tinnitus did not change at all, or got even worse. It was then that they began to realize that although tinnitus can be an “ear” problem, it ALWAYS has something to do with the brain.
Thus, I would NOT recommend having this surgery. You have a good chance of making your tinnitus worse on top of being totally deaf.
Much better to work on retraining your brain to ignore your tinnitus so it doesn’t bother you. One such program that has a track record of about 80% success is the Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT). I suggest you look into it. This program can take up to 3 years to get your tinnitus under control so it is not a quick fix, but it works for most people that stay with the program. You don’t have to wait 3 years for any results–you will see them as the months pass–your tinnitus bothering you less and less.
Another program that also has a high rate of success is Neuromonics. It typically takes about 18 months so is faster than TRT.
I’d try one of these programs and work to get your tinnitus under control.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr neil,
Earlier today I was using a hammer drill on and off for a few minutes at a time.. I have tinnitus in my right ear.. it only feels stuffy if I fool with the ear (plugging it repeatadly, etc)… otherwise my hearing seems fine. ..is this likely a temporary loss? I don’t make a habit of loud noise or music..so this was definately a ‘one off’ Event… regardless of the outcome I have definitely learned my lesson.. I’ll never do anything like this again……
Hi Doug:
Hammer drills produce high-impact noise that can certainly make your tinnitus worse and maybe cause a temporary threshold shift (temporary hearing loss). I would say typically that your threshold shift will be temporary as well as any increased tinnitus. But each time you do something like this, you move yourself closer and closer to the time where it will become permanent. That is why you should always protect your ears when around loud sounds–particularly impart sounds.
Just to show you, when I used to drive 5″ or 6″ spikes with a 2½ pound baby sledgehammer, even ONE good whack at a nail-head would give me instant worse tinnitus if I was not wearing ear protectors. And I always wear ear protectors when using skill saws or hammer drills, etc. I want to preserve the little hearing I have (and don’t want to make my tinnitus worse either).
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your response. After causing myself a sleepless night of panic, the ringing is gone after about 36 hours ! My hearing seems fine as well…lesson learned, I bought 2 forms of hearing protection to be worn at the same time. I’ll never do something so careless again. I was LUCKY
Sir I was exposed to a loud dj in my college for more than 8 hours and tinnitus is still ringing in my ears after a long sleep in night will it gets off me or not. What must I do
Hi Shekar:
It’s a bit late to do much now. What you SHOULD have done is either left the loud venue when you realized just how loud it was going to be, or worn ear plugs.
Once you have tinnitus, there are a few things you can do. One is to protect your ears from loud sounds to give your ears a chance to “heal” and this will also help prevent your tinnitus from getting worse in the future.
Another thing to do is to learn to ignore your tinnitus by focusing on the loves of your life. The more you focus on your tinnitus, the worse it becomes.
A third thing you might want to try is taking the herbal Ginkgo biloba. This may help you if you take it in a strong enough dose. The only place I know that makes Ginkgo with the correct level of standardized ingredients is Arches Tinnitus formula. You can get it online at http://www.tinnitusformula.com/store . There are no guarantees it will work for you, but it may be worth a try.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
After 3 months , I think the the tinnitus got betteri hardly it However for some reason this may be stupid I have slight less hearing in my left than my right ear and I seem to have glue ear I think its due to pressure in my ear because whenever I try to blow out my ears I hear a crackling noise in my ear and somestimes I blow it OK and I can slightly hear better In my left ear? And BTW sometimes when im sleeping I can hear a high pitched hissing/squealing sound from my phone charger because when I get close to it I can hear it louder but no one else can hear it in my family . help plz ASAp
Hi Khalid:
Glue ear is in your ear canal. If your ear canals are clear, you don’t have glue ear. When you say you can hear crackling when you blow out your ears, that tells me you have congestion in your middle ears because your Eustachian tubes are clogged, possibly from a middle ear infection or allergies.
When the congestion goes away your Eustachian tubes should drain and the crackling sounds should go away (and whatever degree of conductive hearing loss this congestion has caused should go away too and your hearing return to normal). This could take a few weeks to 2 or 3 months.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr u believe I have tinnitus I am so scared because I just found out not sure if this is true but I read that you could become deaf from this is it true I’m only 14 I’ve been crying my eyes out I would really appreciate some help and advice
Hi Robert:
You can put your mind at rest. Tinnitus does NOT cause hearing loss. It’s more the other way around–hearing loss can, and very often does, result in tinnitus.
The most common cause of tinnitus apart from hearing loss is exposing your ears to loud sounds–typically listening to music too loud for too long. (And this also can cause hearing loss.)
Another common cause of tinnitus is many of the prescription and other drugs out there.
What brought on your tinnitus?
Cordially,
Neil
Dr thank you but I’m still scared I don’t want to have this it causes so much stress i don’t know wat to do with myself it keeps me up at night I’ve lost my appetite and still haven’t stopped crying I’m so depressed and I’m never usually I haven’t told my parents yet I’ve been to scared Do you have any more advice plz and thank you in advance
Hi Dr.Neil, if prescription drugs causes tinnitus is it possible that it could go away. I have had tinnitus now for 10 months. The last three weeks it has gone away for an hour or just several minutes. I also noticed that i dont hear it in one ear or the other it seems to be one or the other ear and most of the time both ears. Sometimes it gets really loud and other times i hardly hear it. This has been daily now for 3 weeks. Could it be that it may go away? or is it wishful thinking on my part. Iam using a mp3 player which i use to distract myself from the noise in my ears. I have the ocean crashing with the seagulls in the background playing. Do you think that this may be helping in the difference in the tinnitus?
Krystana mine does that too so dr Neil does it mean if could be going away mine is like on schedule I notice it for like an hour-hour and a half then gone till like 6:30-7
hi doctor, i have ringing ears after flu my symptoms are muscle pain, cough, fever. after 1 day when going to sleep i hear a buzzing on my ears so i did go to sleep and ignore it, when i woke up i didn’t hear it anymore but when the night come suddenly it appears again, the next morning i went to the EENT in the city and then he told me i have ear fungal infection. he gave me antibiotics and anti bacterial and fungal infection eardrops. im suffering from ringing ears now for 1 week, by the way the doctor told me that it will go away but it will take time. i want to know if this will go away on its own. i am planning to see him again tommorow. god bless to all i will pray for all of us suffering from this. sorry for my bad english
Hi Doctor Neil, my tinnitus was caused by effexor. I was weaned off the drug in too little time frame. As i wrote Feb 11, 2015 my tinnitus has been changing. A week ago i was having back spasms from an old injury. I have been taking naproxen 500mg, and apo-cyclobenzaprine 10 mg, i have noticed a huge change in my tinnitus. It goes away for longer periods. I was wondering if when i am done my prescription if i should go back on the effexor and wean off it properly this time to see if it takes the tinnitus away completely. It will a year in may that i got my tinnitus. It will be a year in 5 weeks that i was taken off the effexor. I would really appreciate some feed back on this matter for i dont know what the right thing to do is.
thank you.
Hi Krystyna:
How long were you on the Effexor? Your description above doesn’t make sense to me. The way I read the above, you were taken off it 2 weeks before you began it! I think you meant you began it TWO years ago in May. That would mean you were on it just under a year. Is that correct?
Since you have been off the Effexor for close to a year now, I really wonder whether going back on and then tapering slowly will do anything for your tinnitus. My gut feeling is that it won’t help.
I think you’d be better off learning to effectively deal with your tinnitus by focusing on the loves of your life and thus ignoring your tinnitus by default. Since your tinnitus is going away for longer and longer periods of time, I’m hopeful that in time your tinnitus will only appear occasionally and not really bother you.
Cordially,
Neil
I wonder if my case is any different…. About 2 years ago I had a really bad cold. On the third day I had high pitched ringing in my ears. It’s was unbearable. After about a week, it went from an 8/10 to about a 5. I also noticed my ears were continually itchy and I thought it was ear hair growing and rubing inside the canal. My big mistake: I plucked this hair. After reading up, it looks like I may have damaged myself. How long does it take for this hair to grow back? Does it ever? Ears are still itchy and my tinnitus affects me at night mostly. I sleep with a fan to try to help. But I get mad when trying to sleep and cannot achieve REM as much as I should. Lack of sleep seems to worsen it.
I’m actually having s panic attack right now over this… I can’t sleep.. The ringing in my left ear is really bad tonight. I fear I will never be ok. It’s been 2 years and I saw two specialists and they said “sorry nothing can be done”. As for foods that contribute – I have maybe 1 cup of coffee in the morning (often I don’t have any). Sugar seems to be in everything we touch now… I rarely have a beer or wine… When I play my music it’s with an acoustic guitar. I’m freaking out… Mad and scared at the same time. Every article days to remain calm and deal with it; but that’s not easy to do.
What about those hearing aids I heard of that generate a noise on a frequency that cancels out the frequency I’m hearing? Or did I imagine this?
Hi Doug:
Tinnitus varies from day to day in some people. Thus you can have good days and bad days. You are freaking yourself out by focusing on the bad days, and not on the good days. Also, your two specialists were wrong when they said nothing could be done. Maybe THEY can’t do anything, but there is lots that can be done–but by you–not them. You need to take charge of your tinnitus–not let it control you like you are doing at the moment.
The articles are right–you need to remain calm and deal with your tinnitus. I never said it was easy to do–but it is NECESSARY if you want to bring your tinnitus under your control (at least in measure).
Yes, there are hearing aids that have tinnitus programs built in. Some generate white noise, some pink noise, some zen music, some other music and so on.
If your tinnitus is a constant tone–then you can try the gizmos where you generate an exact replica of the sound you are hearing–and feed it back into your ears 180 degrees out of phase. The theory is that it then exactly cancels out your tinnitus and you hear nothing. Blessed quietness! I don’t know which, if any, hearing aid manufacturers are producing hearing aids with this feature.
But even listening to tinnitus sounds at the frequency of your tinnitus can produce residual inhibition. What happens is you listen to your tinnitus at the exact frequency of your tinnitus for a few minutes–then turn it off and you find your tinnitus has stopped completely. Wonderful silence. It works for some people and not for others. It also only works for a limited time–maybe a few seconds to a few minutes, but some people find it lasts much longer than that.
There is a new APP out that lets you tune you cell phone to your tinnitus frequency and then listen and see whether it will produce residual inhibition for your tinnitus. The APP is only $1.99 and is called WHIST – Tinnitus Relief. It is only for iPhones and iPads.
The blurb reads, “WHIST is designed to help tinnitus sufferers find and create the sounds that work best to mask or suppress their tinnitus.”
This may be something you want to try out as it it far cheaper than any hearing aids. If you find it works well for you, you may choose to use it, or find hearing aids that do much the same thing as wearing hearing aids would be more convenient for long-term wearing–assuming it works for you.
You can find out more about WHIST at http://www.whisttinnitus.com
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for the response – I know everyone appreciates it. I think I have figured something out. About 2 years ago I had strep throat and the doctor put me on antibiotics my tenitus shot up. It took a long time to go from an 8/10 down to about a 3/10. I’m sick now and the doc put me on similar antibiotics and WHAM I’m hit with this. So I stopped taking the meds and hopefully it will abate a bit, but how long will it take? If I could see some light at the end of the tunnel then I may be able to deal with it better.
I have in fact tried that app you mentioned along with about 3 others. Unfortunately, it did not help. But I will try again tonight.
Hi Doug:
Which antibiotics are you on now? Almost all the antibiotics can cause tinnitus to spike. Let me know and I might have a clue how long you might expect your tinnitus to be elevated. And if it is the same antibiotic as last time, it may take just as long to go away as it did last time.
Cordially,
Neil
Well right now I’ve taken myself off all antibiotics. I’ve cut out all sugar, all coffee any stimulant. It was Cipromycin which initially ramped up the tinnitus and clarithromycin was the latest one I was on.
The ringing in my left ear is much louder than the ringing in my right; which is why I thought there must be some sort of damage to the hairs in the cochlea. Can antibiotics cause this sort of damage?
Thanks again!
Hello Dr,
I know reading through all this would definitely provide some answers but I am so weak & tired & anxious… I need to just ask away! If you’re kind enough to answer I do apologize for making you repeat yourself.
A week ago I came down with a nasty head cold which I am still recovering from. I’m in my 30’s and never ever experienced anything like this before! On the 2nd day of the cold my ears began clogging up (left first and more) and by the next day they were both completely blocked! Intense pressure, sharp/short loud ringing, occasional shooting pain, hearing loss, headaches, very mild nasal congestion and sore throat. I took pseudoephedrine (60mg/3x) for a few days. They stayed like this for 4 days. I couldn’t even perform the valsalva maneuver! Then I blew my nose one night and air got trapped (I heard it squeeze in) and I was physically in pain, it felt like an expanded balloon, like my left eardrum would burst! I began yawning and swallowing frantically but it would leave… I forced myself to go back to sleep and when I got up it wasn’t as painful… slowly, for the the past couple of days, it’s improved a little. I can now after so many days (occasionally) successfully pop my ears, which brings some relief… could I have done it excessively?? I can now hear a little better but still muffled and the fullness and pressure never go away, even after popping…
Problem now is for the past 36 hours I’m experiencing the most maddening constant tinnitus that kept me up all night crying 🙁 I had to call in sick and I’m just sitting here panicking, reading that it could be permanent… I have an appointment with the ENT tomorrow… help?!
I kept reading and now I feel hopeless and in despair
I guess I should also add that, in the past 48 hours, I’ve taken 6 doses of mefenamic acid (500mg) for my primary dysmenorrhea. I thought it was totally unrelated and now I can’t stop crying.
I don’t think i can live with this tinnitus for the rest of my life!
Thank you and sorry for the rant.
Hi Ana:
Take heart. You probably don’t have to live with the tinnitus for the rest of your life. From what you have told me, you have a middle ear infection that has caused a temporary conductive hearing loss. When your ears unclog as the “gunk” drains out of your middle ears via you Eustachian tubes, your hearing should return to normal, and when that happens your tinnitus should also fade away.
When you do the Valsalva maneuver you are forcing air into your middle ears via your Eustachian tubes. If your ears are already full of gunk, then you bulge your eardrum out and that hurts. I wouldn’t do it any more–instead let the gunk drain out on its own. As soon as your Eustachian tubes are open even a bit, normal swallowing will let air in.
Note that Mefenamic Acid can cause tinnitus in some people. It is possible that the combination of reduced hearing from your cold and the Mefenamic acid you are taking are working together to make your tinnitus worse. (From what you said, I’m assuming that you’ve taken Mefenamic acid from time to time in the past without any tinnitus appearing, correct?) Maybe laying off the Mefenamic acid for a bit might help reduce your tinnitus. You can try it and see.
If it were me, I’d just be patient and wait until your ears naturally clear. This could take a week or two to a month or two. Then your hearing should return to normal and hopefully, your tinnitus will also disappear.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr. Neil,
My 17 year old grandson screamed in my ear about six weeks ago. Since then I’ve had tinnutus, daily headaches, pressure in that ear, sensitivity to noise, and facial pressure. My ENT diagnosed my condition as acoustic trauma. I do not appear to have any hearing loss, based on audiometry. About a week ago another ENT packed my ear with an antibiotic ointment in order to “give my ear a rest.” Since then my tinnitus is worse (louder and constant instead of intermittent).
I am worried about two things: (1)Are facial pressure and headaches common with acoustic trauma? (2) Is packing the affected ear a common therapy for acoustic trauma. Thanks!
Hi Martin:
Your ENT is right–that sure sounds like acoustic trauma.
Here is what Audiologist, Myriam Westcott, wrote, “An acoustic incident is any sound that is perceived as threatening, usually a sudden/unexpected/loud sound heard near the ear. The sound is rarely loud enough or present for long enough to cause a noise induced hearing loss. Examples include explosions, telephone faults, scream in the ear. ”
I don’t see why you needed an antibiotic in your ear canal–you have acoustic trauma, not an ear infection. I’ll bet the antibiotic is responsible for your increased tinnitus. Personally, I would not have allowed that, and would take it out.
Yes, your ear needs a rest from louder sounds for a few weeks, but in my opinion, the way to do this is to avoid places where louder sounds occur, and if you have to be in a louder environment, simply wear foam ear protectors that you can get at any drugstore.
Note: you do not want to overprotect your ears or you will make your sensitivity to sound even worse. You ears want to hear sounds–just not loud ones at this time. So only wear the ear protectors when you are around louder sounds and take them out the rest of the time.
Now to answer your questions. Regarding facial pressure and headaches:
Audiology online reported that people exposed to acoustic shock trauma “experienced a range of physiological symptoms including pain (81%), tinnitus (50%), vestibular disturbance (48%) and hyperacusis (38%). Headaches and sensations of numbness, burning, tingling, blocking, pressure or fullness, echo or hollow feelings in the ear were also frequently reported.” (http://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/acoustic-shock-injury-real-or-1172 ).
MWyriam, the Audiologist mentioned above also wrote, “Pain was the most frequent symptom, reported by 95%. Of these, 81% reported ear pain, 11% pain in the neck or jaw, and 7% facial pain. Tinnitus was reported by 50%, usually accompanied by other symptoms, but in 6% it was the only symptom. Loss of balance was reported by 48%. The most distressing and durable symptom tended to be hyperacusis, reported by 32%.
Other symptoms reported included headaches (32%), facial numbness (9%), a burning feeling in the ear or face (5%), tingling (3%), a feeling of pressure or fullness in the ear (11%), an echo, or hollow feeling in the ear (18.4%) and muffled/distorted hearing (18.4%).”
So you can see that your symptoms are consistent with what you experienced.
Regarding your second question about packing your ear–I’ve never heard of that as such. But as I mentioned above, wearing foam ear protectors when around louder sounds is important. And using an antibiotic where no infection is present is just plain stupid because of the side effects of antibiotics on our ears.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you very much Dr. Neil. I’ll try and wash it out (the ENT who put it in said that water will speed up its removal).
Hi Dr Neil,
About 7 weeks ago, I developed what was irregular clicking in my right ear. It would start and stop at random times. Sometimes it would click a couple times, other times it would do an almost rapid-fire click and stop. This can last anywhere from a couple seconds to up to a minute. About a day or two after this appeared, my ear started to get a low buzzing sound that remained constant and always continues. The only time it would stop would be during that brief instant when a click occurs. I can’t say confidently that it actually did stop or if my brain just lost focus on it and focused on the click.
As the days progressed, the clicking and buzzing stayed the same. However the past 3 weeks, the clicking has for the most part subsided, but may make an appearance for a couple seconds and then be done for the day. Clicking appears to be most noticed when I lay down for bed or right after I wake up. The buzzing is still there, but it can be louder on some days and lower on others. Now I have those “bad” days where the buzz will turn into a ring or a combination of the two. Lately, I’ve started to just ignore it and it does seem to be slowly getting quieter over time.
My ENT did do a hearing check and found that I had a hearing loss in my right ear and suggested it is because of that. He also did an MRI to verify that I didn’t have Acoustic Neroma, which I don’t. Googling ‘ear clicking’ will show that the first result as “Irregular Ear Clicking or Vibration Noise”. The author said that in most cases what I am experiencing is not tinnitus, but Tensor Tympani or Stapedius Muscle spasms. It sounds very much like what I am experiencing.
Do you think that this could be causing my clicking/buzzing? I have tried taking magnesium supplements as suggested, and since my clicking has gone down quite a bit as mentioned… I’m just not sure if that is enough to say it is possibly that?
Thank you for your time.
Hi Matthew:
I agree that the clicking sounds are most likely Tensor Tympani problems. Did you read my article on the subject at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/do-i-have-tonic-tensor-tympani-syndrome-ttts/ ? It may give you more information on this subject.
After you have read it, if you still have questions, let me know.
Cordially,
Neil
I’ve touched my ear with a cotton swab but it wasn’t deep in my ears now I have tinnitus but i only notice it when im in a quiet room also I have pounding in my head but I can hear perfectly fine and I don’t know if I have blockage or not. I’m showing no signs of going deaf or hearing loss. My tinnitus is white noise and the pounding in my head is like a headache but it doesn’t hurt. I’m only 13 and I’m terrified I damaged my ears, I don’t know what’s wrong.
Hi Katie:
It’s likely that you pushed some wax down against your eardrum with the cotton swab–resulting in the pounding feeling. The solution is simple. Go to any doctor or audiologist and have them check your ears out to see if there is any wax in your ear canals, and if so, have them take it out.
You shouldn’t use cotton swabs in your ear canals unless you know you are starting with clean ear canals so you don’t push wax further down. Then you need to do it every day to keep them clean. Since you aren’t hard of hearing and don’t wear hearing aids that can push wax down your ear canals, you shouldn’t have wax build-up like we do. Thus, you shouldn’t need to use cotton swabs in your ears.
Your white noise tinnitus may be totally unrelated, but you just noticed it now due to your heightened anxiety.
Go to your doctor or audiologist and get your ears checked out first. You want to know the source of the pounding and get it taken care of now.
Cordially,
Neil
What if I leave it in to long.
Hi Katie:
Assuming it is just wax and nothing more, leaving it in won’t hurt you, but you’ll continue to have the symptoms you already have, and if more wax accumulates, your hearing will decrease and your tinnitus get louder as a result.
Cordially,
Neil
And can it go away without treatment?
Hi Katie:
Wax normally works its way out because you have hairs facing out that propel the wax towards the ear canal opening.
However, these hairs only extend about half way down your ear canal. If you have pushed this wax beyond this point, there is no mechanism to make the wax move–so it basically just sits there forever unless you have a medical professional take it out.
Cordially,
Neil
One last question, does it cost money to go to an audiologist
Hi Katie:
Yes, audiologists charge, just like all medical professionals do.
If you have medical insurance, your best bet would be to go to your family doctor.
Cordially,
Neil
I took a bubble bath and dunked my head in the water now in my right ear when I gulp I hear crackling and I do have a cold but this happened today also i can hear fine and showing any signs of any loss I may have wax buildup but im not sure
Hi Maria:
I think the crackling sound you hear is highly unlikely from dunking your head in the water, but from mucus and gunk getting sucked up into your Eustachian tubes. When you swallow, your Eustachian tube momentarily opens to let air pressure equalize and the air pushing around the mucous makes the crackling sound. When your cold goes away and the gunk drains from your Eustachian tubes, the crackling will also go away.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil:
After having lived in my home for 25 years, over two years ago, a neighboring foam factory (300 m. away) was noticed to become noisy including a high frequencies, possibly due to vacuum pumps. After exposure to this noise for 2 weeks my ears, and my girlfriends would ring, however subside when away. Neither of us had ever noticed ringing ears before. When she would be at her home, it would take several days to clear, similar for me when away. Many other visitors could not notice this high pitch, however some would. Eventually after months, the Ministry determined the factory exceeded noise dBA levels and required abatement measures. Although quieter, the high frequency portion remained and we were told it could not be found.
I have had my hearing tested, which showed 15 dB loss (4k-8k) in one ear, MRI showing no problem, however the ring continues most notably when home. When away the ringing subsides but is still present intermittently, particularly when awakening. I continue to live and work in my home, and the ringing is variable, but now a norm. My girlfriend says she still experiences this when visiting.
As some hear this and others do not, can this be considered tinnitus? My home is generally quiet, (30dB or less). To what extent do actual environmental noises contribute to tinnitus. Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to get away from this for more than a week or to move.
Thank you and we look forward to your reply.
Paul
Hi Paul:
I’m thinking that you are not really hearing an factory high-frequency sounds, but that you both have tinnitus.
This is because you are 1000 feet away from the factory and high-frequency sounds do not travel through air well. They quickly attenuate. Thus, at 1000 feet they would be typically very faint.
Furthermore, the ministry could not detect these sounds that you report hearing even with all their fancy high-frequency testing equipment. This further leads me to believe you are hearing tinnitus, not real sounds.
Another factor is that you have lived there for 25 years already, so I assume you are 50+ years old now. As you age, you typically lose your high-frequency hearing. Your audiogram only measured up to 8000, whereas normal human ears hear up to 20,000 Hz. You are at the age where you typically start losing your high-frequency hearing and it starts way up at 20,000 Hz and works down.
You may not notice that you’re not hearing these high-pitched sounds, but the neurons in your brain that are responsible for processing those frequencies do. Now they have nothing to do and thus they begin to get into mischief and produce their own sounds that you hear as high-frequency tinnitus.
Furthermore, many of the people you talk to do not hear these high-pitched sounds, but some do. I suspect that the few that do already have tinnitus themselves. When you mention the high-frequency sound emanating from the factory, the power of suggestion works and they hear their tinnitus at that point.
In case you didn’t know it, tinnitus doesn’t have to be constant. It can come and go. This is very often true, especially when you’re starting on tinnitus. That is why I believe you hear it. Sometimes, and other times you don’t. When you are in a different location you may have other sound inputs that and other things that you’re focusing on so that you’re not aware of your tinnitus.
Many people with tinnitus become habituated to it. This means that even though it is there, they’re not aware of it until something causes them to specifically focus on their tinnitus and sure enough, there it is. But when they’re focused on other things, they are no longer aware they have tinnitus. This could be your experience and your girlfriends too.
Does this make sense to you?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil:
Thank you for your quick reply.
We too had difficulty explaining this acoustically given the distance, however when this first started, the noise could be localized (follow your ears) , and its intensity increased with nearness to the source. The tinnitus like ring frequency can be heard in the videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHb2SEBu_TI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90GKTsc1x0A
Even using ear plugs and ear muffs offered little relief.
And with continued exposure the tinnitus conditions worsen. My girlfriend who is quite younger than I, experiences this only here. Also, those with the youngest ears (under 25) heard it best. It lead me to question weather this was not more like the “mosquito device ” affect for crowd control of youth.
Since some abatement efforts where made the intensity is not as extreme, however, it is still most notable only here.
At its onset, after a one week holiday away, the ringing nearly completely subsided by the 6th day, but upon return it came back, and noticeable immediately. Someday we may get a chance for an extended holiday, longer than one week to see if things improve.
Your insight has been helpful, however we remain baffled.
Thank you,
Paul
Hi Paul:
I listened to both Utube videos and I couldn’t hear any high-frequency sounds–and with my rare hearing loss, that is the sounds I hear best. What I heard was lots of low-frequency noise and some mid-frequency noise.
Maybe your perception of what you call high-frequency sounds to me is really just mid-frequency sounds.
The lower the frequency of the sound, the further and easier those sounds travel through air.
You say that using ear plugs doesn’t help. And if it were real sounds causing your tinnitus, as soon as you put the plugs it it should greatly reduce the volume of the sound down to well below ear-damaging levels and thus should not cause tinnitus.
I agree that if the youngest people (presumably with the best high-frequency hearing) could hear it and older people don’t, then it very well could be a true high-frequency sound–like the sound emitted by old TVs due to the fly-back transformer that operated up at 15,734 HZ. I used to be able to hear that sound when walking down the street and could tell every house that had their TV on (with all the doors and windows shut)–and that was not a very loud sound to begin with.
It is possible that if you can hear this high-frequency sound, then your brain creates a tinnitus sound of the same frequency. I’m not saying its impossible.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
I was wondering what your thoughts are on the AM-101 trials. I’ve had my tinnitus for 3 and a half weeks now due to loud headphone exposure. I won’t be able to see an ENT until mid January but I’m fully expecting to get the ‘learn to live with it’ treatment.
One of the clinics conducting the AM 101-trials is within driving distance of me and I’m torn on whether or not to try it.
My biggest fear is who knows what could happen when an experimental drug is injected into your inner ear. Of course the company has to protect itself so all you read from them is how so many people have lowered or have been cured of their tinnitus. I was just wondering if I would get some opinions from someone not associated with the company.
Hi Charles:
If I were in your shoes, I’d be reluctant to be in a drug trial because you don’t know what side effects will pop up–maybe months later. In many recently released drugs, even after the drug is approved by the FDA, MOST of the serious side effects still had not been identified. That only comes later when millions of people start taking the drug–and by then it is too late. I choose NOT to be a guinea pig.
Second, you don’t have a clue whether this trial will help you or not. In fact, you have a 50% chance of being in the placebo group–so you won’t get any help. That much you know. And even if you take the AM-101 there is no guarantees it will work at all for you. Here is a quote on this trial, “There is no guarantee that a study participant will receive the AM-101 rather than the placebo, nor is it certain whether AM-101 will actually produce the desired effect.” And it may produce undesired effects–they should have added that to the above. So your chances of getting help are less than 50% to start with, and your chances of having a negative side effect are unknown, but its certainly not 0%.
If you want to be safe, you’ll wait until this drug has been on the market for a minimum of 7 years. By then most of the side effects will have been identified and you’ll have a track record of how well it works and what the side effect risks are.
What you should have done as soon as you realized you had hurt your ears from loud sounds was to take various supplements including high doses of N-acetyl-cysteine. But it is too late for that now.
There are a good number of tinnitus treatments that work–none for all people–but each works for some people. You should investigate them.
I’m currently updating my book on tinnitus (working on the 7th edition) to add in the latest on tinnitus research into treatments that work. It should be out by the end of January.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you very much for your reply Dr. Neil.
I’m truly heartbroken now that it has been a month and the sounds have actually gotten louder. It’s the most depressing thing I’ve ever felt knowing that at the relatively young age of 30 I’ll never experience peace again.
Anyway, if you had the time I would greatly appreciate if you would give me your opinion on one more thing.
Knowing my tinnitus was caused by sound abuse what are your thoughts on going to things like movie theaters in the future? Even with earplugs and earmuffs I’m deathly afraid if causing further damage. I’ve heard two schools of thought of the subject. One side says don’t let this condition end your life and to still (responsibly) enjoy the things you once did. The other side says you are just tempting fate, even with the protection there is a real possibility of creating more damage.
I was just wondering what your thoughts were.
Thank you.
Hi Charles:
Taking that attitude will only make your tinnitus get worse and worse. You’ve heard the expression, “Don’t cry over spilt milk.” What’s done is done. Now you have to learn how to successfully live with your tinnitus in the future.
You can CHOOSE to be depressed and worry about it, or you can CHOOSE to not let it affect the rest of your life. The choice is up to you.
If you choose to not let it bother you, then you need to focus on other things and by doing so, totally ignore your tinnitus. When you do this, over time it will become less and less intrusive and fade into the background. Then hours will go by without your even being aware you have tinnitus. It works for me and it can work for you too.
Now to answer your questions. First, if you are “deathly afraid of causing further damage”, that fear is going to make habituating to your tinnitus most difficult. You need to realize that tinnitus is NOT a threat to your well-being–just a meaningless background sound like the sounds your fridge makes. You don’t obsess over them–you just ignore them and you are seldom conscious that your fridge is even running. Treat your tinnitus the same way and the same thing will happen.
You can go to any places you want. You just have to protect your ears from louder sounds. Now, if the venue is SO loud that even ear protectors aren’t enough, then you shouldn’t go to them. So if you are wearing ear protectors with a factor of 30, then venues up to 100 dB or so should not cause further ear problems. If it is higher than that, I’d just stay away.
If you find your tinnitus goes up, even with ear protectors on, then you need to get away from the racket. That’s a good rule of thumb to follow.
Also, your ears are “bruised” and it takes some months for this bruising” to go away. One month is not enough. So give it time. Your ears should calm down some by 6 months–especially if you do everything I suggested above.
Now, get on with your life. Live you life in spite of your tinnitus. Just protect your ears from louder sounds when you need to and avoid really loud sounds. I’ve had tinnitus for more than 60 years now–and I don’t let my tinnitus interfere with my enjoyment of life. You can do the same if you so choose.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Neil,
I’d value your opinion on this one: 5 days ago some kids threw a petard right next to me. It instantly caused me to panic and I developed my usual feeling of “ear fullness”, increased sensitivity to sounds (hyperacusis) and a spike in Tinnitus. I am not sure how and if the petard was loud: panic (with tears and heightened anxiety) always sets in on occasions like these and I am unable to evaluate the situation clearly. There were other people nearby and noone seemed phased by the sound of the petard. In the same way, I am not sure if the increase in tinnitus, sensitivity and fullness aren’t more down to my anxiety (and Tensor Tympani Syndrome) than an actual acoustic trauma. As a long term sufferer of both Tinnitus and Hyperacusis, these symptoms are not new to me.
I had waited for 2 days before I went to the emergency service to have my ears checked. Fortunately, both my ears and my hearing are normal. The doctor however prescribed corticosteroids anyway: 6mg deflazacort for 5 days. I was too scared to take them straightaway, so I didn’t, hoping that my ears would calm down on their own, but it has been 5 days now and I am not getting better. I don’t know what to do. I don’t like the idea of taking corticosteroids – they carry a lot of unpleasant side effects and my health is already compromised as it is. I suffer from health anxiety and drugs increase that anxiety – but so does the idea of not doing the right thing for my ears. Also, I believe my anxiety and long term experience of chronic pain has caused me to develop a syndrome of Central Sensitisation, a neurological condition which actually makes my body signal pain without underlying pathology and also react negatively to medical treatments and medications. What a mess I am in!
What I am trying to ask is: do you think I SHOULD take this 5 day course of corticosteroids just in case they could help my tinnitus to calm down after the petard sound or is it too late and the chance it will help me is extremely small compared to the risks they carry?
Hi Paula:
If it were me, I would NOT take the corticosteroids as I don’t think their possible benefits would overcome their negative side effects. You decide what is right for you. As you say, the negative side effects really affect you. I don’t see how steroids are going to help calm down your brain and get your anxiety under control.
You need to work on getting your anxiety issues under control as they are affecting not only your ears, but other parts of your body. This is a “brain” issue and it takes time for your brain to reprogram itself. You need to work with a skilled therapist in order to make this happen.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Dr. Neil,
Thank you so much for being such a great help to all fellow sufferers.
I would be very grateful if you could help me out with my question.
My tinnitus just seems to have started a few days back for no particular reason, I don’t recall having any exposure to loud noise. All I can remember is that I had a slight pain in my ear last week which lasted for about an hour. My hearing seems to be completely normal (though I need to get this checked out). Now the good part is that I don’t hear my tinnitus until i close my ears either with ear plugs or fingers or while sleeping with the affected ear (right ear) pressed against the pillow. You can say that my tinnitus only occurs when i close my ears by some means. Now what are the chances this might go away? should I take a course of steroids? would it eventually become worse, that I start hearing this sound through the normal course of my activities rather than just when my ear is closed. Also, it might be worth mentioning that I had a bout of vertigo 3 year back which they said was caused by a virus attack. That seems to have become better now though.
Once again thank you so much for taking the time.
Kind regards,
Hi Vas:
Tinnitus can come from a number of causes. Noise exposure is one. But drugs is another common one. So is stress, anxiety or depression. And then there are all sorts of physical causes in your head and neck. And of course viruses can cause problems too.
Since you tinnitus is so quiet you can’t hear it over regular sounds, that is great. This means it doesn’t bother you most of the time.
However, you don’t want to keep checking for it by blocking out other sounds. The more you do this the worse your tinnitus tends to get. Instead, you should totally and completely ignore your tinnitus and get on with your life and hopefully, your tinnitus will just fade away and not be a problem for you.
Personally, I wouldn’t take steroids or any other drugs for it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil
I went to a club for the first time of my life last week. After coming back from the club, I felt that something is blocking my ears, same goes to my friends. Being a newbie, I was very concerned with my hearing, and I asked my friends how long will it last, and they said it’ll go away after you wake up from your sleep, and so it did. But then I noticed that I’m hearing a faint hissing/static sound on my right ear whenever I’m in a quiet room and when I’m about to sleep. Will the faint ringing sound go away with time?
Hi Elle:
The faint ringing sound is tinnitus. Typically, it will go away in time, but there are no guarantees. The more you expose your ears to loud sounds, the less likely it will be to go away. So, in the future, if you go clubbing, make sure you wear ear protectors.
The best way to let your tinnitus fade away is to totally ignore it. Treat it as the noise your fridge makes–a totally unimportant sound that you typically ignore. If you treat your tinnitus the same as you treat fridge noise, it won’t bother you any more than your fridge does.
However, if you keep listening for it and worry about it, your tinnitus will continue to get louder and more intrusive–and you certainly don’t want that to happen.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
I would appreciate your advice. I am 24 years old and for about 6 months I had a faint ringing noise in my ear which I would only notice if I was to concentrate in complete silence. It didn’t bother me as it was very low pitched. After a while my ears started to pop more than usual especially while swallowing, hearing a loud noise or even rubbing my finger across my ear.
Then almost 2 months ago my tinnitus had become very loud that I found it extremely difficult to sleep at night. This has given me anxiety and effected my relationships and studies. As far as I can remember I don’t think I experienced any loud noise exposure. I’ve been told by the doctor that I had hard wax which I would need to use olive oil drops for. I used them for about a week and each time the oil was in my ear the tinnitus was extremely louder and when I turned my head to let the oil come out the sound decreased. The wax is now all cleared up however the ringing is still there.
A few days ago my right ear felt full and I felt as if my hearing wasn’t clear. I had used olive oil drops thinking it was a build up of wax again. After this i experienced very bad pain for hours and my tinnitus had increased in sound. The next morning the pain had gone but the ear still felt blocked with much louder ringing. Something that worried me was that anything I heard was repeated in my right ear like an echo. I went to see the nurse the same day and she said she thinks there is fluid behind my eardrum. Both my ears seem blocked now with louder tinnitus than before. I’m not sure if it is really due to fluid, how can I know for sure? Will my hearing go back to normal? Both my ears feel blocked which has decreased my hearing. If it is due to fluid what can i do to get rid of it? I am taking no medication at the moment and constantly blowing my nose hoping my ears will unclog so I can hear properly again. Is there anything you recommend I can take.
Kind Regards,
Sonia
Hi Sonia:
It’s always a bad idea to strain to listen to your tinnitus. This just makes it worse.
What happened two months ago that made your tinnitus get worse? That is probably the key to understanding what you are going through now. Did you have a cold or virus? And currently, do you have a cold or active virus?
I’d suggest you go to an audiologist and have a complete audiological evaluation. This will tell you whether you have a hearing loss, how bad it is and more importantly, whether it is in your middle ear (conductive hearing loss) due to being all clogged up, or whether it is in your inner ear (sensorineural hearing loss). If you have a conductive loss, then unless your middle ear is infected, you just wait a few weeks while the fluid drains out and your hearing should return to normal.
If you have a sensorineural hearing loss, it can also give you that “blocked” feeling, but this is a psychological feeling because your brain isn’t hearing sounds like it used to–so it reasons that your ears MUST be blocked or it would hear, wouldn’t it?
If you have a sensorineural hearing loss, then you probably need hearing aids. Wearing them will make the blocked feeling go away eventually as your brain hears sounds again.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
I wonder if ototoxicity induced tinnitus can be temporary? 2.5 weeks ago while being slightly ill, I went out and (after about 8 months break) took 150mg of MDMA, few hours later (for the first time ever) 25mg of Viagra. A couple of hours later I got a massive headache, also had headaches and flu-like symptoms for a few days afterwards and tinnitus kicked in 3 or 4 days after the incident… I’m otherwise healthy, don’t use any medications or recreational drugs… I’ve been extremely anxious since that weekend and wonder whether it’s chemicals or just stress that caused this… Is it possible ototoxicity induced tinnitus would appear 3-4 after this foolish and unfortunate drug ingestion? Sometimes it’s barely noticeable, other times it’s a terribly loud high-pitched noise… I feel terrible if it happened because of this very poor choice of mine…
I’d appreciate any help.
Thank you.
Hi Mike:
For sure. Just because you get tinnitus from taking a drug doesn’t mean it will be permanent. Many times it is not permanent and goes away in a few days to a couple of weeks after you stop taking the drug. Unfortunately, sometimes it is permanent. Since you don’t know ahead of time, is is wise to be wary of drugs associated with tinnitus.
Viagra (Sildenafil) can cause hearing loss and tinnitus. If the hearing loss is permanent, then the accompanying tinnitus may also be permanent. I’m sure it can cause tinnitus without any noticeable hearing loss.
Tinnitus from drugs does not have to appear right away. It may occur in minutes after taking a drug, or begin hours or days or weeks or even months later.
I have not heard that MDMA is associated with tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your super-quick response. I don’t think I have any hearing loss… I’ve learnt my lesson and now I’ll do anything that would support healing and recovery… Took up yoga, quit alcohol, coffee and processed food – and the question is, if you don’t mind answering: are there any supplements that could reverse ototoxicity or speed up healing? I stocked up on turmeric, spirulina, magnesium, b vitamins, zinc, ginkgo, manuka honey… Just doing what I can.
Btw. Here’s an interesting theory saying that tinnitus associated with permanent hearing loss can also back off completely with explanation how it works, if you’d like to watch it (makes sense to me as a non-medical person…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOoqiYNFBN0
Thank you!
Hi Mike:
Once you have lost hearing from drugs, and 30 days or more have passed, there is not much you can do to reverse hearing loss and other side effects IF the hair cells (or other supporting cells) have died. So what you do is take supplements to keep your ears as healthy as possible–like what you mentioned you are now doing.
I watched that video on youtube, but I don’t agree with the guy that the hair cells are “damaged”. Typically, they die. However, what he was saying about neural plasticity and such like was basically correct. So the way to get tinnitus under control depends on your emotional makeup and how you think of your tinnitus. You need to remain totally emotionally neutral towards your tinnitus–and not consider it a threat to your well being in any way. Then your tinnitus can habituate and fade into the background.
Cordially,
Neil
So about a week ago, I had a cold. I took some over the counter medicine to cure it, and it naturally went away. 4 days ago, I began to develop this ringing in my right ear. I went to the doctor and she told me that I had otitis media, or ear infection. I was prescribed with amoxicillin for 10 days (which I am currently still on). The ringing is mostly present when I go to bed and I have trouble sleeping. Do you think this is permanent? How long should the ringing continue after my ear infection has cleared up? Any advice on how to sleep better? (I already use a fan, but I still wake up a few times during the night) Thanks in advance
-William
Hi William:
Your tinnitus may be from several causes. First, the OTC medication you took may have caused your tinnitus. Second, the Amoxicillin may have caused your tinnitus. Third, your tinnitus may have accompanied the hearing loss your got from your ears being clogged up. If your tinnitus was drug-induced, it may go away a couple of weeks after you stop taking the drugs, or it may persist for months or become permanent.
Tinnitus because of hearing loss should last as long as the hearing loss. So when your ears clear up and your hearing returns, you should expect your tinnitus to fade away.
If having a fan running in your bedroom helps you sleep, that’s a good coping strategy. If you find you need to calm down a bit so you can sleep better, you could try taking the herbal Valerian. It works for numbers of people and doesn’t leave you tired the next day.
Cordially,
Neil
Hey I have been experiencing a constant buzzing in my right in for the past 3 days I am really worried as I work in a busy nursery with crying babies could this be the cause and could it be permanent
I went to the gp she looked in my ear and said they are full of wax and to soften the wax and come back for them syringing which I am worried that could make it worse
I don’t know what to think I’m just worried I’m stuck with this noise forever now
Hi Fee:
The buzzing sound you are hearing is called tinnitus. There are many causes of tinnitus. One of them is wax in your ears. Another is exposing your ears to loud sounds (like crying babies if they are close enough to your ears).
So the first thing to do is get the wax out of your ears. This could be all it takes for your tinnitus to go away. There is nothing wrong with the doctor syringing out your ears–but it has to be done carefully–keep the pressure down and slowly increase the pressure. Where the damage comes in is when the doctor suddenly squeezes on the syringe and the burst of water hits the ear drug and deflects it just as a loud sound would do. The effect is the same as a sudden loud sound.
I’ve had doctors that syringed my ears properly and also a rough one–and I never went back to that doctor.
When your ear canals are clean and if the tinnitus persists, then you know the problem is not related to wax.
The next likely culprit is exposing your ears to loud sounds, or taking one of the hundreds of drugs that are associated with tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi,
I am 27 years old and have suffered from tinnitus since i was about 17 or so. Since being pregnant with my 2nd child 4 years ago my tinnitus got worse and much louder and i had great difficulty sleeping. After a while it went back to its normal level which often would still affect me and i would have to sleep with lots of distractions. Since about 2013/2014 i have had about 3-4 episodes of a different kind in my left ear. It gets louder and sometimes when really bad noises that are normally calming like being in the shower is excruciating and hurt my ear as it is so loud and amplified. I cannot sleep at all when this occurs, and a sleeping tablet gives me about 2 hours sleep before i wake again. The first time i experienced this it lasted almost 3 weeks!! another time it lasted 2 days…
I was reffered to the ENT who was a little concerned that this flare only happens in one ear and not both like my tinnitus is always in. He sent me for an MRI which came back all clear, and i was then referred to the Audiologist who performed an extensive hearing test. It turns out i have hearing better than a newborn as i can hear frequencies that no one should be able to hear, and my tolerance was far below the ‘normal’ person as i cannot cope with loud noises or music.
I find it very frustrating that there is no explanation or reason for getting tinnitus as it is clearly not hearing loss related, and i get very anxious when i have an episode with my left ear as i do not know when or if it will go away.
Also i cannot use music and sound distractions to help me get through the day or sleep like i do with louder tinnitus, when i have the episodes as any noise that is louder than barely audible is too much..
Do you have any explanation as to what these episodes are, as they appear for no real reason, and i fear one day it will stay for good which i could not deal with 🙁
Thank you ,
Jas.
Hi Jas:
I’m surprised that your audiologist didn’t recognize what you have. They should know a lot about this condition.
First, you have hearing better than normal. You said you heard in frequencies you shouldn’t be able to hear. I doubt you really meant that as audiologists don’t test in the very high frequencies that people with normal hearing hear. They typically only test to 8,000 Hz although normal hearing goes up to around 20,000 Hz.
What I think you meant is that you can hear SOFTER sounds than normal. In other words, on your audiogram, you hear sounds ABOVE the 0 dB line. So your hearing may go to -10 or -20 dB. (Minus levels are above the 0 dB line and positive numbers are below it–just backwards to the way you would think it should be.)
One of the problems with hearing very faint sounds like you can is that you can sometimes hear the random firings of the neurons in your ears and auditory system and you hear this as tinnitus.
The second thing you have is a collapsed dynamic range. Your dynamic range is the range in dB from the softest sound you can hear to the loudest sound you can stand. In your case, the problem is that you cannot stand sounds that are even moderately loud. People with normal hearing can stand sounds up to 110 dB to 120 dB. I’ll bet your test results showed you could only stand sounds to maybe 70 dB or so if that loud.
Taken together, what you have is hyperacusis.
I’m going to guess that you are a particularly high-strung and anxious person. Is that correct? When this happens, your body is in fight or flight mode. In that state, your hearing actually becomes more acute as evidenced by your hearing above the 0 dB line.
So there are two things you need to work on. First, get your anxiety under control. I’d suggest you go to a counselor that can help you work though your anxiety issues. You don’t want to go to someone that basically just drugs you. That is not the real answer. Drugs will just make you a zombie and when you go off the drugs your anxiety will still be there. You need to look for a permanent solution and a good anxiety counselor should be able to help you greatly in that respect.
Second, if I were you, I’d find a good “Tinnitus and Hyperacusis” center and undergo their treatment for your hyperacusis. Realize that both of these treatments are long term–they may take you 2 or 3 years to get back on an even keel–but the results will be worth it.
Cordially,
Neil
I was involved in a motor vehicle accident and received a bad concussion and tinnitus. I’ve had the tinnitus for about five years now. Will it ever go away?
Hi Bill:
Typically, if you have tinnitus for 5 years, you could say it’s most likely permanent. Sometimes if there is something that is causing your tinnitus, removing the cause can let your tinnitus go away. For example, if your neck is “out” because of the car accident, it can cause tinnitus, and getting your neck back in proper alignment may let your tinnitus go away. You have even odds if this is your situation.
However, if you hold negative thoughts towards your tinnitus, your limbic system can get a hold of it, and the result is that you will not habituate to your tinnitus (so it will not fade into the background). Thus it is important to totally ignore your tinnitus by focusing on the loves of your life.
If I were you, and knowing what I know about things, the first thing I’d do is go to an upper cervical spine chiropractor and have them put my top to neck vertebrae in alignment. (They were very likely knocked out of proper alignment by the car accident. That may be all it takes. As I said, you have even odds ofo that happening IF your limbic system isn’t involved.
To find an upper cervical specialist go to http://www.upcspine.com/ , then click on “Practitioners” in the menu bar and choose North America and then your state (I’m assuming you are in the USA) and you’ll see a list of the upper cervical spine chiropractors in your state. Each chiropractor has a 10 – 15 line listing. Near the bottom of each listing is a line called “Upper Cervical Approach/Technique Used:” and following that is one of about 10 different techniques. I’m particularly partial to the “Blair Method” so if you can find a Blair chiropractor within reasonable driving distance (a couple hundred miles) that would be my first choice. But the others are also good. Pick someone that has 15 or 20 years experience, not a “newly-minted” upper cervical specialist, as they don’t have the depth of experience your situation may require.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
I recently just acquired anxiety a few days before the month of March was up this year (2016). I’m 30 years old. It has been extremely severe to the point of me crying everyday for the month of April and having panic/anxiety attacks every single day multiple times a day even when I am sleeping.
I went to a concert with my BF 4/13/2016 and my BF was wearing ear plugs and I was not. He said the music was loud but I did not really notice since I was a bit intoxicated. I had no ringing even after that fact, until about a week after when I was suffering an attack. We have always went to EDM concerts for years but never directly by the speakers, were more so in the stands or in the far back.
I quit drinking all together and healing my ears as I believe it stems from my anxiety and my body being in fight mode 24/7. I continuously feel like Im in fight mode because I do not feel like myself from the anxiety. My stomach us always churning because it’s anxious. I recently taken up Yoga and started meditating.
I went to an Audiologist and she advised that I had perfect hearing and that I had Tinnitus. I kind of figured that already going into the apt since I researched it. Mind you, I am not taking medication for my Anxiety and started seeing a Psychiatrist for my issues that I had growing up as a child/teen, as of the end of April.
I’m keeping a positive attitude through it all and I know one day the Tinnitus will go away once I get my anxiety under control. I pray to god every single day. I did see that you had mentioned in a previous post that if you have Tinnitus for more then 6 months then it becomes permanent. Is this statement true? I’ve read that it could take months/year to go away if it even does. But that is in most severe cases.
Side note: I’ve since have been sleeping with an app that has white noise which has helped me tremendously. I mean my ringing is not to loud but when I am in a quiet place I can def notice it so I just forget about it or turn something on to mask it. I do not let it affect me.
I have always had sensitive ears since I could remember. As a child I had a lot of ear aches but as soon and my mother always took me to the doctor for treatment. I cannot even remember when I last had an ear infection.
Also, when I fly I have to wear protective ear plugs because the pressure in my ears hurt so bad that I feel it in my neck. But the popping normally goes away after about an hour or so but never got any ringing from that.
Hope you have some good advice! Any information is helpful! Thank you.
Hi Dominique:
Your tinnitus is quite likely from exposing your ears to excessive noise at the concerts you have attended and compounded by your anxiety issues. You are wise to see a counselor regarding your anxiety. A much better approach than taking drugs.
What I said about tinnitus is that if you get tinnitus from something and it persists for 6 months, then it likely will prove to be permanent UNLESS you do something positive about your tinnitus. However, you can take control of your tinnitus at any time and work to reduce its hold on you.
You are already doing some good things–counseling for example, and using white noise to mask your tinnitus when it is quiet. You can gain much more help from my latest edition of my tinnitus book, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus–Here’s How”. You can get it at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr,
I was wondering within my situation that Tinnitus can be temporary? I was at a club on 06/04/2016 around 11pm and I was only in the club for a good 3-4 hours, I know that I’ve been exposed to loud music but I’m on day 2 now with ringing in my ears. I can’t sleep, I’ve had a fan on next to me and I’ve tried to play some soothing music to help me sleep but it doesn’t help. It gets louder over the night, since it’s complete silence, but since I’m on day 2 I can hear a low pitch tone as a beep. And mind you this was my first time at the club and I was next to a speaker and I didn’t notice my hearing changing until a few hours in to the event. I’ve gone to major festivals before but I was never exposed to ringing in my ears since I’m never close to speakers , but this is my first time experiencing it. I’m 21 years old and I’m really scared, I’ve done my research on what tinnitus is, what can be the causes to it, and how incurable it can be. I also know that my cochlea has been effected by it. But as soon as I woke up this morning I used a few drops of hydrogen peroxide to put in my ear to see if it would have to do with ear wax, but right now I’m staying calm , but it’s really bother some. I’ve also heard about temporary threshold shift. But I don’t really know if it is temporary… Have you talked with anyone that had tinnitus for a short period of time and it fading away? Please respond.
Hi Danny:
There is no way to predict whether your tinnitus and hearing loss is going to be temporary or permanent. Typically, the longer you expose your ears to loud sounds, and the more often you do this, the more likely it is that your tinnitus will prove to be permanent. That is why you have to protect your ears BEFORE this happens–not worry about the results when it is too late to do anything about it.
For lots of people the tinnitus fades away in a couple of hours to a couple of days and their hearing returns. But most often this happens if it is your first time, not after attending loud venues a good number of times like you seem to have done.
I’d suggest you give your ears a rest from loud sounds for a couple of months and see what happens. At the same time, if you worry about your tinnitus, it will just get worse. So focus on the loves of your life and thus totally ignore your tinnitus and maybe it will fade into the background over time.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you doc, so far I woke up today and I barely noticed the tinnitus , I can tell it was going away, especially with last night , I heard it a little bit and it didn’t seem to bother me when I was falling asleep. So thank you for the advice.
hello Dr,
I’m 27 and have tinnitus in both my ears 3 years back by getting infection in my ear. My infection is due to water drained in ear, a day after i pour water in both nose and blown my nose. then i got pain and consulted ENT. My audiologist found my left ear hearing loss is 19db and right 24 db. As worrying increase tinnitus,I’m coping with it. i try to habituate it. But i fear if my tinnitus go louder than 50db when i age become older in my 50’s or 60s and later.
Also when I age i lose more hair cells which in turn increase the loudness of the tinnitus.
Now itself I prepare not to expose myself to louder sounds. I want to how fast the increase in decibels of hearing loss with my age.
Please advise what could protect my existing hair cells even when i age.
What will be hearing loss in decibels when i reach my age 50 and 60 and later on.
Hi Thiru:
I wouldn’t worry about your tinnitus getting louder as you age. It may, or it may not. In any case, if you habituate to your tinnitus, it won’t bother you. I’ve had tinnitus for more than 60 years now and I wouldn’t say it is any worse now than it was decades ago–just different. But because I think about tinnitus so much–like right now answering you–my tinnitus is now much louder than it was a few minutes ago. The good news is that it will fade to its old level in a few minutes when I turn my attention to something else. So don’t fear tinnitus as you get older. You’ll be able to deal with it–just like you can now.
There are three things I’d recommend you focus on if you want to protect your ears as you get older. First, as you know, you need to protect your ears from loud sounds–just don’t overprotect them or it will just make things worse. You ears always want to be able to hear sounds–just not too loud. Keep the average volume to less than 80 dB (and some recommend that it be 70 dB) and you should be just fine.
Second, avoid ototoxic drugs. Since 80 to 90% of drugs can be ototoxic, that means building a healthy lifestyle so youe don’t have to take any drugs. Use alternate medicine–herbals, chiropractic, naturopathic, etc–treatments if you need help with your health as much as possible.
Third, maintain a healthy lifestyle throughout your life.
There is no way to predict what YOUR hearing loss will be at any age in the future. There are AVERAGE graphs, but yours may differ from the average. If you follow the above, it may be much better than average. If you don’t, it may be much worse than average.
Here’s the AVERAGE curve. Up to 1000 Hz, hearing will be in the normal range (down to 25 dB or so). Then hearing loss will increase by frequency. For example, at 8000 HZ hearing loss could be down to 40 dB at age 60; down to 60 dB by age 70; and down to 80 dB at age 80. You can interpolate the other figures between 1000 and 8000 Hz for each age decade.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks Dr Neil,
I would also be curious to know if I can go for cochlear implant in future which would make no ringing at all instead of hearing aid with sound generators. Then my daily sleep will also unaffected by any noise inside my ears. Comparatively even if dont get better hearing than before because of cochlear implant, I can perceive the silence. Is it possible?
I never object habituation will not help, Tinnitus affects me when i go to bed. In future when it goes loud, even ceiling fan will also fail to mask unfortunately. If I hear from you about the possibility I feel happy to accept the feasibility.
Hi Thiru:
First, you are not eligible for a cochlear implant as your hearing is much too good at the present time. If you loss most of your hearing in the future, then a CI may be a possibility.
Many people with tinnitus find that when they wear their CI, their tinnitus fades away, but it may come back when they take their CI off to go to bed. So getting a CI doesn’t get rid of tinnitus completely. But for many, it certainly helps them deal with their tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello doctor,
I am suffering from insomnia, also I wake up during mid night and early morning around 4.30am. After wake up can not get back to sleep which affects my daily routine.
I kindly request you to advise particularly how to modify the brain activity during sleep. I never able to sleep single sided is another problem. As the ear blocked in pillow the loudness become high. Is it possible to alter the brain plasticity by eliminating tinnitus by controlling the mind.
Dear Dr. Neil,
Back in 2015 I had SSHNL, with Tinnitus. After quick intervention, and several weeks later (4-6), my hearing came back slowly, and now my tinnitus is pretty much gone. I only hear it once in a blue moon, which is great. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago, the same feeling started happening in my other ear. I went to my ENT, and he put me on meds quickly then had my hearing test done. No hearing loss. My affected ear was hearing less than my “good” ear, but it was all in normal ranges. However, my ear feels full and I have tinnitus. Again this is all the other ear. My hearing does feel muffled, however no ear wax, no obstructions, and hearing is fine per my ENT. I really just want to know what is causing this to happen to me, not only once – but twice. Any ideas? Also, do you think since meds worked last time, they will again? What are the chances? Thank you in advance.
Hi Katie:
Yes, there is a good chance that since the steroids worked the first time, they will work again.
What caused your SSHL–did your doctor hazard a guess? My top choices would be a virus attacking your inner ear, the side effects of a drug you are taking, or autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED).
If you had an active virus last time and now, (in the two weeks or so preceding the eSSHL) then that would be my best guess.
If you had no cold, flu, or virus of any kind, then it was probably not due to a virus. So I’d look at any medications you are taking. There are many drugs that can cause hearing loss. You can email me and I’ll tell you any you are taking are known to cause hearing loss (assuming you are taking any medications).
If that is not the cause, do you have any immune system diseases in your body? If so, then it could be AIED. Typically, AIED occurs with other immune system diseases, but not always.
Did you have any balance issues with either episode?
The more I know about your situation, the better chance I have of helping you.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Dr. Neil,
I have tinnitus and mild high-pitched hearing loss. When I play the piano, the tinnitus gets louder, and it returns to the previous level when I stop.
I wear ear plugs when I play; so although the volume is less, the same effect occurs.
Am I hurting my ears by playing the piano? My hearing loss is slightly worse in the R ear.
Thank you for your reply.
Elenuté Nicola
Hi Elenute:
No, you shouldn’t be hurting your ears. The piano doesn’t make that much volume that it is ear damaging. I’m assuming you are not really pounding away, nor are using an electric piano with the volume turned way up.
Why is it that you wear ear plugs when you play the piano? I can see experimenting to see if they help with the tinnitus, but not as a normal practice.
Does your tinnitus get louder when you are exposed to other louder sounds? If not, why just the piano?
If your tinnitus reacts to other louder sounds, then you have a form of tinnitus called reactive tinnitus.
Let me know.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr,
I have tinnitus, and read the below somewhere “Decibels are measured logarithmically. This means that as decibel intensity increases by units of 10, each increase is 10 times the lower figure. Thus, 20 decibels is 10 times the intensity of 10 decibels, and 30 decibels is 100 times as intense as 10 decibels.”
Is it mean my tinnitus volume go high as 10 times which i hear now in the increase of hearing loss of 10db. This makes me panic. How do understand this. Please help
Hello Doctor,
I’ve suffered from ringing in my ears now since Feb. 4th, 2003, I’ve mostly delt with it best I can, but about two weeks ago, some guy that I used to talk about it with at the swimming pool, I used to go to every night, when the ringing first developed. ( I went every night for the background noise ) and talked with folks hoping they had good news for me. Many said they had ringing but it eventually went away, one guy said he had it 8 years, then one morning he woke up and it was gone. It gave me hope.
I haven’t been to the pool maybe in about 8 years, since the last time I seen this guy. Well, he came into my shop and ask me how I was doing, he asked if I still had the ringing, and I said yes, he was surprised. Anyhow, he eventually left, but now, since I talked with him, the ringing is more noticable than it has been in years, and it’s driving me a bit nuts. Now I just want it to be gone, and am writing to you, to see with the progress being made with this horrible thing, that if you had anything for me to make it go away, I would be all ears so to speak.
Mine came about after about a month of one thing after another, antibotics wrongly prescribed for a cold, which turned into a worse set of issues, sleeping issues, major stress from traveling with my mother to her brothers funeral, missing a flight and not sleeping that night, and the subsequent night, then stressing about needing sleep, getting sleeping pills from the same a hole doctor that wrongly prescribed antibotics for a common cold, (that started the downfall). Then, I develped bells palsy, then same doctor prescribed Prenesone, then that went for a month or so, different sleeping pills, nothing worked, wearing eye patch through Christmas and New Years, and then on Jan 15, riding an ambulance to deal with an emergency appendectomy.
After getting out of the hospital, I talked with a neighbor chiropractor for advice, he gave me some Magnesium power to help with the gut chemistry, but then did this horrible neck adjustment, that whipped my head one way then the other when on my back. About a week or so later on Feb. 4 2003, I went for a long missed jog, and then that night my ears started ringing about 5pm.
So, all that and I still have it, after all these years.
I’ve delt with it pretty good, and like you say so many times to others, you have to learn to tune it out, and I’ve done that over the last 13+ years, but now it seems louder and more noticable and it’s been hard the last two weeks to not notice it.
It’s very depressing, somehow I have to try and ignore, but it’s very noticeable, it makes me mad, maybe just bad choices with medical so called professionals.
I’m struggling tuning it out now, and to think I was doing such a good job of it the last 10 years or so.
Your advice is helping so many, too bad you can’t be on the doctor Phil show or something, so many more millions can maybe prevent this from happening in the first place, rather than after the fact.
Do you think at this point the Ginko Bilobo 100 day trial will work, or how about N-Acetyl-Cystenine you mentioned above.
I want it to stop!
It does help to be around others and be busy, but I’m alone quiet a lot as well.
Also, what is the longest time you’ve heard of someone having this, and it spontaneously disappears for ever, like I mentioned some guy at the pool I used to go to, said 8 years. It gave me hope then, and I and no doubt others can sure use some now.
Thank you so much for what you do,
Horseshoe Bill
Hi Bill:
As you know, the more you think about your tinnitus, the louder and more intrusive it becomes. So you have to learn to ignore it by focusing on the loves of your life (like you have been doing as much as you can). That certainly helpsh, but it doesn’t address the underlying cause of tinnitus.
I’m sure your chiropractor neighbor didn’t help matters by the way he treated your neck. If it was me, I’d go to an upper cervical spine chiropractor (these guys are very gentle) and make sure your C1 and C2 vertebrae are properly aligned. That would be the first step. Once you know that your neck vertebrae and muscles are properly balanced, if you still have problems, then trying other things shouldn’t hurt.
For example, trying Arches Tinnitus Formula won’t hurt and has a good chance of helping you. There are no guarantees of course as no course of tinnitus treatment helps everyone.
I doubt that taking NAC will help at this point. It is something to take within a week of an event causing tinnitus. I don’t believe it will be effective months later.
Can’t answer your question about tinnitus disappearing forever. This is not a common situation for people with chronic tinnitus. Rather than expect a miracle (which do happen from time to time) is to work on habituating to your tinnitus so it no longer bothers you and you go for hours without even being aware you have tinnitus.
Since I am answering your (and other people’s) questions about tinnitus, my tinnitus has flared up. But before I started, I wasn’t aware I had my tinnitus. Now it is loud. The good news is that since I am so habituated to my tinnitus, as soon as I turn to something else, very quickly (in a matter of maybe 5 minutes or so) my tinnitus will drop back to its old level and I may not be aware of it for some more hours.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Neil,
Thanks for answering my questions, I just read them now….I figured you were swamped with messages and wouldn’t get back so soon.
Sorry, my letter got you noticing again. I habituated myself over the last 13 years, but now 3 weeks or so, I can hear it all the time. I work a retail shop and tell myself I’ll get back there, but it is always so noticeable. It makes me angry that I had it under control, and now it’s like starting all over.
I never thought of seeing a spinal professional. I don’t seem to have any problems thank God, with any other body issues, aside from normal aging stuff like needing reading glasses now almost 2 years. Oh, by the way I’m 55.
Do you think I need to see a spinal guy still if I haven’t had other spinal issues?
Do you think this drastic neck adjustment could have started it? Or could it have been sleeping pills, prednisone and all the stress with apendectomy surgery?
I’ve been reading all the posts and answers, your a saint for helping all these folks. Like I mentioned before, you need to be on a Dr. Phil program, it will help so many and your books can get out there even faster to those that need help and HOPE!
Thank you so much,
Bill Becht
Horseshoe Coins & Antiques
Blaine, Wash.
Hello again Neil,
I just spoke with a local physical therapist, he mentioned that a couple of his patients that had permanant Tinnitus had relief and some where it went away by using a Russian electronic tool called a Scenar.
I used it a couple months ago for Ceidica in my back and it seemed to help that. He also mentioned this fellow named Zephalloid has a blog about this.
Have you ever heard of this treatment and would you recommend to at least try it?
Thanks again,
Bill Becht
Just letting you know I tried the unit, with no results.
:o(
Stay strong everyone, and do your best to focus on other things and stay busy. Stay hopeful.
Hi Dr. Bauman,
My husband suffers from hearing the outside pool motor from the neighbors behind us. Also the air conditioners are an extreme noise to him and there are issues with their noise to the average ear. He has struggled with this noise all summer and unfortunately we have 2 pools behind us and when the motors are on all night , it about sends him crazy with a lack of sleep. He also takes a continuous amt. of strong meds to deal with chronic leg pain since 2009.
He is going on 72 years of age. In spite of his pain, and now this issue with background noise of the pool motors, he is active as much as is possible. It has more recently affected his ability to be patient and his anger is increased as he feels no one knows how difficult this is for him. He is normally a very pleasant and witty man and one who is easy to have fun with.
I would love to be able to help him if there was something that could be done. His hearing is good so this is frustrating to him and me in dealing with the ramifications.
It’s relieving that we experience 4 seasons here in Canada , so thankfully we do not need to suffer the whole year. He is so very aware of any background noise though to a point now that it could be anything, and he hears it so acutely that he is checking where it comes from in the house or out.
Thank-you for your help. It is consoling to know someone understands this issue as well as you do.
I read many of the comments but could not get through them all.
Frustrated wife. Marj.
Hi Marj:
My first question is do you hear the pool motors and other sounds your husband hears, and at the same time he hears them? If he puts a pillow over his ears, are the sounds just as loud? If the answer to the first question is “no” and to the second question is “yes”, then he is not actually hearing real sounds. What he is hearing are phantom sounds that sound real to him. In this case, I suspect he has Musical Ear Syndrome. This is common in older people and has nothing to do with mental health whatsoever.
If the answer to the first question is “yes” and the second one “no”, then he is hearing real sounds and his problem most likely is hyperacusis.
Let me know which situation is his and I’ll try to help him.
Cordially,
Neil
I am 12 years old and have had ringing in my ears for as long as i remember and i want to fix it
Hi Sofia:
I can’t help you with that little bit of information. You need to go to an audiologist that also specializes in tinnitus and have your hearing and tinnitus evaluated. That would be the first step.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Neil,
I suffer from Tinnitus since 12 months now. It all started with too loud music in a nightclub, I remember my hearing was muffled for a day or so as well. However it went back to normal, but the Tinnitus stayed. It’s on both sides and changed it’s pitch and volume intensity from month to month.. but it’s still there. I have done various audio-grams – they all don’t show any hearing loss. I have done speech-in-noise tests came out fine as well. What I am wondering is, did the temporary hearing loss serve as trigger for the Tinnitus and now my brain is still producing the phantom sound although my hearing is back to normal again? Do you think if there is still any realistic chance of a recovery? I protect my ears very well now and I feel like even though I am having it for a long time now it still keeps improving, but just veery slowly.
Thank you very much.
Emilia
Hi Emilia:
You could be right about the temporary hearing loss being the tinnitus trigger, but more likely, then tinnitus is the result of the loud noise apart from hearing loss. However, you could still have had significant hearing loss in the high frequencies. Normal testing only goes to 8,000 Hz, but human hearing goes to around 20,000 Hz. Thus you could have (and likely do have) significant hearing loss in the frequencies between 8 and 20 kHz, and because they did not test your hearing up there, they give you a clean bill of health and say your hearing is all normal. But your brain knows it can’t hear up there and those neurons are “idle” and thus get into mischief and cause your tinnitus.
One of the best ways to deal with your tinnitus is to ignore it by focusing on other things and let your tinnitus slowly continue to fade into the background where it will no longer bother you. This takes time but is an effective strategy–and is the strategy I’ve used for the past number of decades to keep my tinnitus under control.
Cordially,
Neil
HI Neil
I read with interest your comments and advice you have given to people on this forum. Its so valuable.
I am a 36 year old man, i went to some nightclubs in my teens and early 20’s but not a huge number.
My position is that on Saturday night (19th November), i went to a reunion, where they played loud music. I did not notice the ringing in my ears until the morning, where it was so loud i was screaming to get it out of my head.
Since then i still have the ringing sound between my ears, during quiet times and during normal daytime activities and a feeling that my ears are blocked, along with sporadic pain in both ears, alongside a loss of hearing.
Can you advise your opinion and what should be my next steps.
Many thanks
Warren
Hi Warren:
I’d suggest you read a couple of my articles on noise-induced hearing loss and then do what you think appropriate.
The two articles are:
http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/vitamins-a-c-e-combined-with-magnesium-help-prevent-noise-induced-hearing-loss/
http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/loud-music-and-hearing-loss/
Cordially,
Neil
HI Warren
How are your ears? I experienced a similar scenario. I’m left with a hiss for the past 3 weeks.
Regards
Socrates
hello i have had some traumatic events happened around death and love the last months, and a lot of movement with airplanes and so on. and have now a tinnitus. I have a lot of cognitive dissonance and ptsd, resulting with very strong ringing in the ears. .. i expect that calm moments will let it wear off eventually? i wonder if it will ever go away. ..?
Hi Sophie:
Only time will tell if your tinnitus ever goes away. However, you have a lot of control over your tinnitus and how it affects you. You need to get your stress and the rest of your life under control first. Then you can learn to ignore your tinnitus and let it fade into the background where it will not be a problem.
On the other hand, if you focus on it and obsess over it, your tinnitus will tend to get worse and worse.
Cordially,
Neil
Good day Neil
I was at a club a few weeks when suddenly the following night when I slept, I woke up to a low level hiss.
I went to two ENT’s did all the tests, my hearing is perfectly fine.
It’s been 3 weeks and the low level hiss is still there. Should I expect this to go away after a while? I could hear all the freqeuencies. The one ENT explained to me that there are some frequencies we hear that can’t be measured, and maybe those have been affected?
Thanks for your reply.
Socrates
Hi Socrates:
It’s not that some frequencies can’t be measured–they can. It’s just that they choose NOT to measure them as they feel it is a waste of time and is unnecessary. There are audiometers that can test your hearing to the highest frequencies you can hear, but few audiologists have them. They opt for ones that just test to 8000 Hz, although you can hear up to around 20,000 Hz.
If you damage your hearing in those higher frequencies, they don’t know unless they test that high, so they give you a clean bill of health hearing-wise–but your brain knows and thus you may get high frequency tinnitus as a result.
The tinnitus may or may not go away, but the may thing is to just ignore it and treat it as a usless environmental sound such as the sounds your fridge makes (which you totally ignore). Do the same with your tinnitus and it will not bother you and indeed, many hours may go by without your being aware you have tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your prompt response. Thankfully it is a low level hiss. I’m pretty sure it was induced by noise.
However around the same period, I started smoking e-cigarattes. This bought on a clogged ear sensation. I already had some hickups last year with my Eustachians tubes that cleared up. Apparently the Propylene Glycol in the vaping liquid is ototoxic. (I stopped smoking this at once) Only smoked it for 3 days, the third day being the heaviest I had smoked in the evening when i had gone out.
I also have crackling sometimes in my tubes. I think its all somehow connected. Will just let it be I suppose. Either my tubes are inflamed from the vaping giving me these symptoms that loud music exacerbated!
Nevertheless once again thank you for your time, have a great 2017!
I got an ear infection about a week and a half ago . I noticed something wasn’t right when I couldn’t hear very good out of my ear and I then noticed that my ear canal was swollen shut ..I went to the dr she told me that I had some pretty bad infection and gave me some pills and ear drops well I started taking those and a few days after that I noticed a loud pitch ringing in my ear it was so bad I couldn’t sleep it got better for a couple of days now it’s right back as bad as it was I went to the local urgent care a couple days ago cause my dr wasn’t in and the ringing was driving me crazy he told me I still had some infection or fluid on my eardrum and gave me sudafed to dry it up I took them like I was supposed to but I still hear the ringing and it’s louder then ever …
Hi Alisha:
Many drugs including antibiotics can cause tinnitus. So can hearing loss. So your tinnitus may be from the drugs you took to get rid of the ear infection and/or the hearing loss from the result of your ear canal being swollen shut.
Which drugs did you take? You have to be specific so I can help you.
Cordially,
Neil
I don’t really remember but I I hope that’s not the cause but if so will my ringing go away .. And if that’s not the cause what about the ear infection can’t he ringing go away when the infection does
I’m so very scared about this I can’t sleep or eat or even think straight I hope it goes away I can’t cope with it
The pill was bactrim
I went back to the dr Thursday and he told me I still had fluid in my ear and that it was causing the ringing …he said it was normal for that to happen and he put me on antibotic amoxicillin clav and a steroid methylprednlsolone for seven days the ringing has went down a lot and I’m hoping that is a good sight and after the fluid drains that everything will go back to normal but if not looks like it’s back to the dr ..
Dr. Bauman,
I am a 50 year old male and about 2 weeks ago I was in a skiing accident and bruised my ribs. My doctor prescribed Tramadol at night and 800 mg of Ibuprofen every 8 hours during the day. Prior to this, I would take 400-600mg of Ibuprofen periodically as needed, but certainly not excessively over a long period of time. About 2 days after starting the combination of Tramadol and Ibuprofen I developed hissing in my ears. It started in both ears but is now mostly only in my left ear. I have been off the medicine for about 3 days now but the hissing has continued. It seems to be lessening slightly but that is hard to gage. I have taken your advice to simply ignore it which, while hard, definitely seems to help. I just went to an EMT who gave me a hearing test and found mild hearing loss in my left ear, with my only real trouble being with high frequency sounds. His overall view is that this Tinnatus will likely get much better with time (and possibly go away). Do you agree or have any other thoughts or advice? Given the proximity to the ski accident and me taking the Tramadol and 800 mg of Ibuprofen to the start of the hissing it seems likely that that is the cause. But I suppose I cant totally discount that it is being caused by the mild hearing loss instead — although I wonder if this type of mild hearing loss which I obviously was unknowingly living with for some time could be the cause of Tinnitus. Many thanks in advance for your time and thoughts.
Hi Phil:
Tramadol is unlikely to give you tinnitus, whereas Ibuprofen is VERY likely to give you tinnitus. I hear from more people getting tinnitus from taking Ibuprofen and almost any other drug.
Tinnitus from Ibuprofen can be permanent or temporary. It can get better with time–but you have to be a part of this process by continuing to ignore your tinnitus and not having bad thoughts about it being a threat to your well-being in any way.
You are right that high-frequency hearing loss can result in tinnitus, but in your case, since you didn’t have it before the accident, I’d put the blame on the Ibuprofen. Note that taking Ibuprofen regularly can also result in hearing loss.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Doctor,
On the 24th, I caught a cold from my family members. From then on, I was taking one dose of Dayquil and Nyquil each day and night, no more than that, only to cope because in the first few days, I had a very sore throat and a couple nights a low grade fever. But also, I couldn’t sleep without help for my nasal congestion, which brings me to how my tinnitus started.
7 nights ago I was frustrated in bed from not being able to breathe, pinched my nose and breathed in deep in an attempt to clear my breathing. My right ear popped, seemed to become blocked up and this ringing started up immediately. After the first three days of this, I put a few drops of hydrogen peroxide inside for 10 minutes, thinking the problem was caused by wax (I’ve only done this two other times in my life when an ear was stopped up so it’s not a regular thing), but there was no wax build-up turned out, and the ringing persisted.
I stopped taking the cold medicine a few days ago after reading up on how them masking cold symptoms likely just makes colds last longer, and also that some pills can be considered risks for tinnitus. I didn’t go to the doctor because I seem to be recovering day by day from the cold, though still nasal congestion and a cough, some post-nasal drip in the morning…and this infernal ringing, which is the worst of it all. It’s constant, high-pitched and loud; I can still hear it under TV. I’ve since been able to pop the affected ear by consciously willing the muscles to do so (though this only works in both ears when I’m sitting up; in bed if I try, I can only get the unaffected ear to do it), yet it still seems blocked in a way because the popping sound is very much more “in my head” than the other ear, like a louder internal volume. When I yawn, the popping that results comes about like an eventual opening sound on that side, like it took a process to do so. I also hear the ear popping and cracking just on its own from time to time, which I’m not hearing from the other one.
My family keeps telling me the ringing will go away when all my cold symptoms are gone, because my passages must still be swelled up. I’m not being optimistic because I don’t want to be let down. Still, others are saying to go to the doctor to try to get amoxicillin but I see it as a waste since this seems to be merely a cold that’s solving itself rather than progressing into any infection that would need antibiotics. I don’t think it’s an ear infection because there’s no pain accompanying it, but what is your opinion? Should I be trying for antibiotics or trying to wait this out?
Thank you for your time, not just on me but all the other sufferers you’ve taken the time to answer on your page.
Hi Venus:
My personal choice would be to wait it out. All antibiotics are ototoxic to some degree and may ultimately make things worse. There is always that risk.
It takes time for the “gunk” in your middle ear and Eustachian tubes to drain out. Once it clears, your hearing should be better and your tinnitus should fade away. Depending on how thick the “gunk” is, this could take from a week to 2 or 3 months.
I don’t really think the Dayquil, etc. caused your tinnitus although there is a slim chance it did.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr Neil,
I experienced a high level of anxiety that lasted 2 months. I am normally not an anxious person but was faced with a possible cancer diagnosis. Turned out to be negative for cancer but took a long time to figure that out between doctors and tests etc. My anxiety was off the charts. I noticed my ears feeling full in the first month. Sinus’s started draining. I have never had sinus issues in my life (Im 50 yrs old). I have never had an ear infection before in my life either. I used anithistamines for the sinus’s prescribed by my doctor, and flonase naal spray. Nothing seems to clear the clogged ears. when I swallow I hear them open but they dont seem to stay open. Its like they are stuck with mucus? Finally went to and ENT about a week after I noticed a ringing in the ears. He prescribed me an antibiotic and prednisone. Did an exam and said that I have a polyp in my nasal passage. Ears are still full and occasionally have pressure that I notice throughout the day.
I had a hearing test done that day and the audiologist said that I have a very slight hearing loss in my left ear that the cochlear hair is damaged and that is what is causing the tinnitus. She said the tinnitus will never go away. I have just been told this 4 days ago so Im still trying to process this. I do not listen to loud music, cant remember the last time I went to a loud concert, I think it was James Taylor, not exactly loud. Anyway, my quetion is this, it seems odd that this came about during a sinus issue and anxiety at the same time. Can it be related to those two things or is it strictly from the hearing loss? Can we have hearing loss w/out tinnitus? And can this go away for me now that the anxiety is coming way down for me. Although I have to admit this diagnosis is causing me anxiety. I also have taken ibuprofen during the sinus thing for my headaches. Only two a day not even every day. Did that cause the tinnitus? Also, I have taken wellbutrin for depresson for probably 25 yrs… is that a cause for the damage of cochlear hair?
Fortunately its manageable right now its a high pitch tone and I dont notice it normally until nighttime and trying to sleep is becoming quite difficult. Trying not to obsess about it as well. I will be traveling via airplane next week and hope that this doesnt make matters worse for the tinnitus. Any insight and advise is appreciated.
Hi Lori:
I’m curious about your sinus problems since you never had any before. Do you have any allergies? If so, that may be one factor. But extreme stress can certainly mess up your body and shoot down your immune system so things that would not bother you otherwise can gain a foothold.
Also, stress tightens up the muscles in your face, neck and shoulders and this could pull your top two vertebrae out of proper alignment. This, in turn can pinch your 5th (trigeminal) cranial nerve. This nerve among other things, controls your Eustachian tube so it no longer functions normally and that could account for the feelings of pressure in your ears.
It is possible that your tinnitus is related to your slight hearing loss since tinnitus almost always accompanies hearing loss. Furthermore, audiologists only test to 8,000 Hz, but human hearing goes up to 20,000 Hz. Thus, you may have massive hearing loss in those untested high frequencies that could also cause the tinnitus.
And yes, you can have tinnitus without hearing loss, and hearing loss without noticeable tinnitus.
Ibuprofen can also cause tinnitus. I hear from many people that get tinnitus from taking even just one 800 mg Ibuprofen tablet.
Bupropion (Wellbutrin) can be quite ototoxic and can cause both tinnitus and hearing loss.
As you can see, there are a number of factors that my be responsible for your hearing loss and tinnitus as well as your ear pressure problems. Getting your stress level down is important to be sure.
If you are flying and your ears feel congested, taking a decongestant before taking off and again a half hour or so before beginning descending helps numbers of people avoid pain from the congestion.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Doctor,
What do You think- I have ringing in my right ear after MRI 3T scan, since 11 days. Is there a chance it will go? All the best, Daniel
Hi Daniel:
Hard to say. I wouldn’t have expected you to have tinnitus from an MRI if you were wearing ear protectors. Whether your tinnitus becomes permanent or fades away is mostly up to you. If you learn to completely ignore your tinnitus and instead focus on the loves of your life, rather that always checking to see if it is still there and how loud it is, you have a good chance that your tinnitus will not bother you and will fade into the background. The worst thing you can do is focus on your tinnitus and get upset over it.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks for your answer, dear Doctor! I would not expect this situation too- they told me there was 120dB inside and I had headphones with NRR 30dB so it should be ok, right? I am so terrified, I am a professional musician and have now feeling my live is ruined. Is it true it can go totally away till 3 months? I take prednison now, 100mg, prescribed here in Zurich. All the best and thank You for your words so much…
Hi Daniel:
You would think that 90 dB would not cause your tinnitus, but everyone is different and this is not the first time you have exposed your ears to louder sounds. Thus, your ears may have a lower tolerance for loud sounds and the result is tinnitus.
There is no sure way of knowing whether your tinnitus will go away shortly, in three months, or ever. The best thing to do is always protect your ears when around louder sounds, and learn to ignore your tinnitus by focusing on the loves of your life and hopefully, your tinnitus will fade into the background in time.
Note: in order for this to happen, you must NOT think of tinnitus as being a threat to your well-being in any way, shape or form. Rather, think of it as a unimportant, meaningless background sound that you can safely ignore.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
For the past 4 months have been hearing a pulsing whooshing sound in my left ear, sometimes accompanied by a second pulsing tonal sound that sounds like a cricket (insect). The sounds completely disappear sometimes when I swim underwater and if I close my mouth and nose and blow air outward. When I did a hearing test there was a dip in my hearing at 8K to 45, other frequencies from 250 to 4K were at 20. Please diagnose and help me treat this tinnitus. Thank you, Megha
Hi Megha:
The first thing I’d want to know is whether this pulsing whooshing sound is exactly in time with your heartbeat or not? If it is then you have what is called pulsatile tinnitus.typically a good vascular surgeon or doctor can treat this kind of tinnitus because it is often due to high blood pressure or clogging of your arteries in your neck or head near your ears.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Dr. Bauman,
Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, the whooshing sound is in time with my heartbeat. If I run fast or do jumping jacks then my heart beat increases and so the timing of the whooshing sound. I’ll get it checked by a vascular surgeon. I also wanted your opinion on the dip in my hearing at the 8k mark which is at the 55 db level – is there anyway I can bring that up to normal?
Thank you again,
Best,
Megha
Hi Megha:
What you call a dip at 8000 Hz, is very likely the beginning of high-frequency hearing loss. You see, audiologists typically only test your hearing to 8000 Hz. However, your hearing really goes up to about 20,000 Hz. Since they don’t test above 8000 Hz, you don’t know how bad your hearing is in those high frequencies.
As we age, typically are hearing starts dropping at the very highest frequency we can hear, and then keeps working down the frequency spectrum until finally it reaches 8000 Hz where it appears on an audiogram as a dip at that frequency.
The truth is, you probably have very significant high-frequency hearing loss between 8000 and 20,000 Hz. This goes by the fancy name of presbycusis, which is just hearing loss due to aging.
This kind of hearing loss is almost certainly permanent. if you are around age 50 or more, this kind of hearing loss is very, very common. There is basically nothing you can do to improve it, apart from wearing hearing aids.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor,
I’m a 17y/o and I’ve got a ringing in my ears last year in November. I just woke up with a loud ringing in my ears that day but since then it has gotten a lot quieter. I was just wondering what my chances are of it going away since I’m very young to have this condition.
Thanks
Hi Otniel:
You seldom get tinnitus for no reason. The most likely causes are exposing your ears to loud sounds and taking drugs that damage your ears (ototoxic drugs). Did either of these apply to you?
Since your tinnitus dropped a lot in volume, that is a very good sign. However, it may not go away completely, but it may remain at a low level. If it stays at a low lewel, just ignore it and let it remain there. Don’t let it bother you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil
I have intermittent Tinnitus, it will go away for days at a time and then return with a vengeance. I find it often is gone in the mornings but after a few hours it returns. I have seen an audiologist and i have some hearing loss in the higher frequencies.
I guess my question is – will it ever go away? It goes for 3 or 4 days ( sometimes less sometimes more) and then it dissapears – sometimes for a few hours or for a few days.
I often get a sense of “pressure in my ears and it feels like the sound originates in my head, sometimes it seems to cause me fatigue and a sense of euphoria.
It makes me upset as I hate it, and when it goes away for a few days at a time I often hope Im cured, but then it returns. I guess I have no choice but to live with it, but I have to hope that one day it will go away.
Do you have any experience with cyclical tinnitus? Have you eve heard of anything like what I have?
Thanks for your thoughts,
Chris
Hi Chris:
When you have intermittent tinnitus such as you have, you need to look for the cause/pattern that brings it on.
For example, if your tinnitus goes overnight and then comes back after you have been up a few hours, the likely cause is your neck is out of proper alignment. When you lay down, the weight of your head is off your neck and things relax and your tinnitus goes away. When you get up the weight of your head can compress nerves in your neck that result in tinnitus. Going to an upper cervical spine chiropractor can often fix this kind of tinnitus.
You can also watch for patterns of tinnitus in relation to the foods and medications you take. You may find that when you eat certain foods or condiments you get tinnitus after. Avoiding those in the future can relieve you of this source of tinnitus.
The same thing can happen with a number of drugs. For example, say you take Ibuprofen for some muscle pain and you find you have tinnitus for some hours or days afterwards. When the effects of the Ibuprofen wear off and your body returns to normal, you tinnitus goes away. If you see such a pattern, you know which drug(s) to stay away from.
Tinnitus can also be related to stress, anxiety and depression. So see whether the day your tinnitus comes on (or the previous day) is related to higher stress/anxiety days.
So there are some suggestions relating to cyclical tinnitus. Look for whatever it is in your case. Once you discover the triggering factors, you are well along on the way to knowing how to fix them and thus hopefully eliminate your tinnitus for good.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks so much for your input!
I really appreciate it – time to put on my investigators hat!
Chris
My husband pounded a hammer on a crowbar while I was close to it 3 days ago. My ears buzz now when I speak or when I am spoken to and normal sounds are now very loud. Will this go away with time? Is there any medical help for this?
Hi Peggy:
What you have experienced is noise trauma which has resulted in hyperacusis. Typically, this will go away in the coming months–it may not be fast–but it typically will go away. Two things you want to do. First, protect your ears from loud sounds in the meantime to give your auditory system time to heal. Second, don’t focus on your hyperacusis and be fearful of it. Rather, ignore it as much as possible.
One more thing. Don’t overprotect your ears or you can make the hyperacusis worse.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Doctor Neil.
I see that there’s quite a lot of comments here, and i was wondering if you could bother to answer one more? I would really appreciate your professional opinion. Here’s the thing. I used a device that produces ultrasonic sound-waves on my face, and this in purpose of removing dirt & blackheads. It is what the product is designed to do (Product called “Wonder Sonic”). But after just 2 times of using it, my right ear started ringing and has not stopped yet ( it has been about 2 days so far). It does not ring too loud, but the sound however is very distinguishable since it’s very high pitched. And i’m scared that this is permanent. I know that you wrote to wait some time to see if it sticks around, but based on the info i have given you… What are your expectations concerning this?
In the matter of recovery, do you think that wearing an earplug would be beneficial? (Even if one isn’t exposed to significantly loud sounds)
Regards
Alexander
Hi Alexander:
Some people are very sensitive to ultrasonic treatments and this can certainly cause tinnitus and other ear problems such as hearing loss and hyperacusis. For a lot more on this, read my article on “Ultrasonic Tooth Cleaning and Tinnitus” at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/ultrasonic-tooth-cleaning-and-tinnitus/ . Be sure to also read all the comments below this article. They will give you a good idea of what to expect.
I suggest you do not use ultrasonic devices on your face, head or teeth in the future or you could make your tinnitus much worse.
As I have said many times, you have to wait and see. Give your ears/body time to “recover”. And don’t use the ultrasound again so you don’t make the situation worse. I think you have a good chance that the tinnitus will go away, or at least, not bother you.
But this is predicated on your not obsessing with your tinnitus. If you worry about it, it can take on a life of its own and thus never go away. So the best thing to do is focus on other things and let it fade into the background.
In your case, wearing ear plugs would be a bad idea, unless you are around particularly loud sounds. Wearing ear plugs when there are only normal level sounds around you can make things worse and you certainly don’t want to do that.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for the useful info. And It’s funny how the “Wonder Sonic” is claimed to be completely safe, since it could be catastrophic to some. I already ditched it after those 2 days of use. And i will ditch the earplugs too. I have used earplugs for perhaps 2-3 hours of usage in total since i got this ringing. But i’m assuming that’s not enough to do any significant damage. Thank you for your response. Much appreciated!.
Regards
Alexander
Just a quick followup question! :).
Since no sounds would be harmful to recovery, would something like “White Noise” be beneficial? And if so, how much of it and how loud should it be?
Regards
Alexander
Hi Alexander:
The purpose of white noise, or pink noise, or any other sounds is to do three things. First, reduce the contrast between your tinnitus and quiet surroundings so you are not so aware of your tinnitus. Second, the white noise, etc. gives your ears some real sounds to listen to so they don’t manufacture their own sounds so much. And third, as you learn to ignore the white noise (since it is a useless sound), at the same time you learn to ignore your tinnitus (which is another useless sound).
Listen to white noise as often as you need to whenever your tinnitus bothers you. Often that is when you are trying to go to sleep.
How loud? It doesn’t have to be loud at all. Just enough so you can hear it and partially mask your tinnitus so it doesn’t bother you. It could be at quite a low volume for some people, and much louder for others–depending on how intrusive your tinnitus is.
Cordially,
Neil
I see. Alright then. I will use White Noise if i find my tinnitus bothersome then.
Thanks again for the info Doctor Bauman.
Regards
Alexander
Hello Doctor Bauman.
I am the same Alexander that wrote to you 2 months ago (The last person who left a comment here).
And my tinnitus has not yet disappeared. It has been reduced. But it’s still there. Since 2 months has passed, should i be worried that i’m stuck with this for life?. I’ll give you some details about it so it might be easier for you to judge the matter. The ringing is around 14-18kHz (which makes it very distinguishable even though it’s not too loud)(And yes, i can actually hear 18kHz). And it sounds like it’s around 40 dB (Although the loudness somewhat varies). The ringing is also inconsistent. I perceive it to be whimsical. And it usually gets louder throughout the day. And if i’m not mistaking, it’s better some days and worse other days.
Your help would again be much appreciated.
Regards
Alexander
EDIT to clarify : It sounds as if it’s around 40 dB “At it’s worst” it doesn’t escalate from that point.
Sometimes when i wake up i don’t even notice it, but after a couple of hours or so, it gets more or less noticeable, and usually gets a bit worse throughout the day
Hi Alexander:
The best thing you can do about your tinnitus is to totally and completely ignore it, and let it fade into the background.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Alexander:
It’s hard to say but you may have your tinnitus for life. But at the same time, you do not have to let it bother you. You have some better days and worse days. This is normal. The trick is to have more and more better days. This may happen naturally as time goes by. But you can help this along by not worrying about your tinnitus. As much as you can, completely ignore it and focus on the loves of your life. This will hasten it fading into the background.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks for your response.
And don’t worry.
I have well noted your advice to let it fade into the background. And i’m doing the very best i can when it comes to that.
But at the same time, it is quite noticeable. And i also come to think about it since i’m trying to establish a solid expectation of what the end-result will be. Could you at least tell me for about how long it could take “at most” to completely heal a tinnitus? And also, is there anything i could do to help it? Besides from doing my best ignoring it and staying away from too loud sounds. Like… Coffee? Vitamin C? B Vitamins?
And Merry Christmas, Doctor Bauman.
Thanks for all your help.
// Alexander
Hi,
I have been suffering from loaud ringing in mh head scince thursday night, so about 48 hourse ago. I was wonderng if I could have tinnitus. I was in the cold all wednesday afyternoon i the snow on a walk for 4 hours, could thi sof started the ringing when it was a day before the ringing started?
From,
Emma
Hi Emma:
It sounds like you have tinnitus. How is it doing now? Has it gone away? If not, let me know.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, my name is Jason and I have had mild Tinnitus for 7 months now from a single gunshot. My left ear plug was pulled out almost all the way by the butt of my rifle when I shot as they were together on a string. Although my ent said I had mild hearing loss of 17 db at the 6000 hrz range, It wavers and almost goes away to the point of non existence almost everyday. There is also a tone that I can never hear unless I plug my ears and even then it takes a few minutes to find It. I use have used ear protection for everything remotely loud in the past and after being so care full this accident happened. I has gotten quieter over the months though. My question is this…I know these things are likely permanent but I have e-mail a few people that had a similar incident and both of their tinnitus went away after 2 1/2 and 3 years. Is this even possible when we have hearing loss after such a long period. I’m not holding my breath but I personally have woken twice and the T was gone fore awhile. How is it there T left after so long? I also feel like my ear fades in and out once and awhile…like it “shifts” for a couple seconds. Recovery unlikel, but possible?
Hi Jason:
Your tinnitus can slowly get less and less until you are not even aware of it for some hours at a time although it is still there if you listen for it.
Since it disappears sometimes, that is a good sign that it may go away more often and also for longer periods until it disappears altogether. That is what you can hope for.
Whether it does that or not depends a lot on how you consider your tinnitus. If you think about it and worry about it, then it is unlikely to ever go away. However, if you forget about it, and treat it as a totally meaningless, useless sound, then you have a good chance of it going away or fading into the background where it won’t bother you at all.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you.I have been trying to let it go but it is hard not to relive a mistake like that. I was just trying to pin down if the ENT’s that. I saw and people I heard from were telling the truth. One Dr. said it can’t go away with hearing loss and one said it can…Tinnitus is a terribly confusing ailment.
Hi Jason:
You need to forgive yourself and then move on and forget about it. You’ve learned from your experience. So don’t dwell on it.
One reason tinnitus seems so confusing is that there is not just one kind of tinnitus like most people suppose–there are several kinds of tinnitus. Thus, you need to do the appropriate treatment for each kind of tinnitus.
Since tinnitus almost always accompanies hearing loss, as long as you have hearing loss, you’ll have tinnitus. But even though you have tinnitus, it can fade into the background so you seldom are even aware of it–which means essentially that it has gone away most of the time. So both of your doctors can be “mostly right” no matter which way they choose.
Tinnitus from just noise exposure can fade away in time if you totally ignore it. But, if you keep worrying about it, it will NEVER go away and can get worse and worse. This is because tinnitus is intimately associated with your limbic (emotional) system.. This means that how you deal with your tinnitus largely determines whether it goes away or stays.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman, I recently used neomycin ear drops for an enflamed ear canal and ear infection and developed tinnitus. The ENT removed a large amount of impacted eczema from my eardrum and told me the drops could not have gotten into my inner ear as my eardrum was not perforated. My hearing test and ear pressure tests all came back as normal. Do you think the drops caused my tinnitus or perhaps it was from the earlier ear infection? Thanks
Hi Kevin:
First, I disagree with your doctor that ear drops cannot damage your ears because they cannot get though an intact eardrum. They can and do get to your inner ear by being adsorbed through the skin of your ear canal. I’ve heard from numbers of people what have taken ear drops and had ototoxic problems as a result.
Thus, your tinnitus could be a result of taking the Neomycin ear drops. For example, the Neomycin could have caused a high-frequency hearing loss for which they didn’t test. They only test up to 8000 Hz and hearing normally goes up to around 20,000 Hz. Thus, if you have a significant hearing loss “up there”, it won’t show on your audiogram so they give you a clean bill of health–but your brain knows better–and tinnitus is one result. So it could be that the Neomycin caused a high-frequency hearing loss that resulted in tinnitus.
If you didn’t have tinnitus before you took the Neomycin, then I don’t believe that tinnitus was the result of a previous ear infection.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman,
Thank you for your insights on this page so far.
I have a question that I haven’t been able to find the answer to online yet.
I’ve seen conflicting and inconclusive results about the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) on tinnitus. In Australia doctors only seem to allow treatment if it is accompanied with sudden hearing loss – not for tinnitus coupled with hyperacusis.
I’m doing all the things you recommend on your website (including listening to a TRT audio-clip from Youtube that is so far helping), but I’m mindful that HBOT is apparently only effective when implemented within the first 3 months of symptoms.
Do you have any insights on this? Does HBOT according to your experience help tinnitus and/or hyperacusis or does it only help sudden hearing loss, and why would this be the case?
Thanks,
Shirley
Hi Shirley:
I’m certainly not an expert in the use of hyperbaric oxygen. Here in the USA they almost never use it for ear problems so I haven’t heard from many people that have tried it. I think it is only effective if taken soon after the incident. The longer you wait, the less effective it is.
So after a couple of weeks or a month, I don’t think it is very effective. After that you need to treat tinnitus and hyperacusis with the long term treatments that are slow and (reasonably) sure as you basically have to reprogram your brain and that takes time.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
I’ve had mild constant bilateral tinnitus for the past four years. I attribute this not using hearing protection when attending concerts when I was younger.
Two days ago I was exposed to loud noises (gunshots) while at a shooting range. This is not something I am accustomed to doing, and I did wear ear plugs. I felt like the earplugs were reducing the sound.
After leaving the range, I noticed a significant increase in my tinnitus. It has not returned to the previous baseline for more than two days. Note that my previous baseline was very consistent over the past four years.
Based on the foregoing, what is the prognosis for the tinnitus going back to its previous baseline, and how long should I give it before accepting that this might be the new baseline?
Thanks,
Charles
Hi Charles:
It’s always hard to say what will happen. It may go back to your old baseline in a couple of days to a couple of weeks, or it may not. A lot depends on your emotional mindset. If you worry that it will affect the quality of your life in the future, then it will probably remain where it is. However, if you ignore it and focus on other things, hopefully it will slowly fade to its old level and not bother you. Don’t put a time limit on it, or else you will always be checking to see if it is going away, and that just keeps it going and going. Treat it as though it wasn’t there and focus on the loves of your life.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Dr Bauman for this article and all the questions answered over the last 10 years! I have been dealing with pulsatile tinnitus for over 11 years because of a couple of concerts I once attended. Your answers and article have really been insightful and I really appreciate you taking the time to still respond to peoples questions. Glad I found this page!
Hello Doc, my name is Alex I have 45db in 4k hz hearing loss, I had an ear infection approx 6 or 7 months ago, white spots in my throat, and difficulty swallowing, Doc recommended amoxicillin tablets, and everything was great after a couple of days, then one night about 6 weeks ago I notice a “electricity sound” like ringing in the ear and I google it, ofc i got stress, anxiety, depression ever since then, I did an hearing test and it shows I had 45db in 4k hz hearing loss is just 1 frequency but is a deep notch, so I dont know if this is permanent, or if this will go away, i also don’t know the exact cause of my hearing loss, I did MRI all clean, I didnt knew about my hearing loss until I google it and got depress ever since I search that ringing I’ve been having it worse, I’ve been 6 weeks using my phone to try and figure out what could have cause my hearing loss and whether it will stay or heal? I also developed hyperacusis after I googled it, and dizziness as well, I’m trying to connect my vestibular problems with that amoxicillin I took months ago maybe a year, I can’t figure out what could be the cause? I also have sensation of fullness in the ears even the right ear which is perfectly fine, i also had a misalign atlas C1 upper cervical bone, and i did a precise adjustment in an upper cervical doctor, anything from you anything will give me peace, can you please respond to my comment.. it was my birthday yesterday and I didnt even enjoy it, all those symptoms are affecting me daily, I dont know if the hyperacusis will go away or if the fullness in the ear will go away i dont know anything other then the 45db hearing loss at 4k hz, I also work in trailer shop were I use air hammer and other equipments, thank you!
Hi Alex:
A 45 dB loss at 4 kHz is a pretty significant “noise notch”. That comes from exposing your ears to loud sounds–probably the air hammer and other noisy equipment you use at work. Hearing loss due to noise is typically permanent. Obviously, when you are around such equipment, you should be wearing ear protectors. You’d better start doing so or you will just make your hearing worse as the noise notch widens and deepens.
Letting yourself be stressed, anxious and depressed isn’t the way to go. That’s just wimping out. Now that you know what you did wrong, protect your ears in the future from loud sounds and move on. This isn’t the end of your life. So quit beating yourself up. Learn from it and move on.
I doubt your dizziness and tinnitus, etc. are the result of taking the Amoxicillin. It could be, but I doubt it.
Noise trauma can result in hyperacusis, tinnitus and ear fullness. Another reason to protect your ears in the future. But be careful not to overprotect your ears or you can make your hyperacusis worse. So–wear ear protectors when it is noisy and take them off as soon as you are out of the noise.
It’s good that you went to a upper cervical chiropractor and got your C1 and C2 properly aligned. You may have to go back several times before the adjustment “holds”. That is normal.
Cordially,
Neil
Can my dizziness be a symptom of my stress, depression anxiety, etc…? Can the muscles of my neck healing be the cause for the pressure in my ears, and jaw? Why I lost so much hearing in one frequency without noticing it until I google it and got depress? All of this are the questions that dont let me sleep at night, and if a doctor like yourself can help me will bring so much peace to my heart, I’m sorry to bother you I tho I was not clear enough on my previous comment, can’t keep my brain straight or my thoughts! Thank you doc.
Hi Alex:
There are a lot of causes of dizziness. The most common is taking any of the hundreds of prescription drugs that cause dizziness. It could also be from your neck being out.
If you have problems getting your depression under control, consider taking the herbal St. John’s Wort. It is not ototoxic, is available without a prescription at many drug stores, health food stores or On-line.
A number of studies have shown that it works as well as, or better, than prescription drugs for mild to moderate cases of depression.
If you choose to get it, just be sure it says on the bottle “standardized” and then give what it is standardized to. You want something that says, “standardized to 0.3% (or up to 0.7%) hypericin” which is the active ingredient.
Cordially,
Neil
Ok thanks allot doc, that could be my problem I’m beating myself up for this and is causing me hard time to live happy like any other person I have 2 kids one 6 months old and one 4yrs old, and I really want to be happy and give them joy I just can’t seem to go over this problem, when I go to bed I use a metal fan for white noise, but that is making my Tinnitus go to the roof, do you know a good way to sleep if this noises are causing my T to go up, how you move on with this Tinnitus, I have hyperacusis some notices are loud even if they are harmless, is this going to quit after a while? I’m sorry to bother you Doc but I really need the info cuz I’m going crazy with all this, I ignore my thing for a while but is hard to do so.. as soon as a noise comes i focus on that noise, even my kids when they are playing seems to irritate me which makes me cry then because I love them so much! This is sad and hurting me inside:-(
Hi Alex:
If the fan is causing your tinnitus to get worse, don’t use it. Try other things and see what works for you. Some people play environmental sounds like rain falling, or waves on the beach or forest night sounds. Some people play fractal music. Others play real music. Or try pink noise.
What you are trying to do is twofold. First, reduce the contrast between your tinnitus and silence so it doesn’t seem as loud which makes it easier to deal with. Second, to partially mask your tinnitus and give you something real to listen to.
If you really have hyperacusis, you typically want to treat it first and often the tinnitus will take care of itself in the process.
I’m not unsympathetic to your situation. The last time I visited my grandkids, their shrieking caused me to have hyperacusis. I’ve had to stay away from them and give my ears a rest. It took about 3 weeks for my ears to settle down again. Now my ears are back to their normal–which means I have a severe–close to profound hearing loss and constant tinnitus. But I choose not to let my tinnitus bother me even though it is there. I can’t always ignore it because like right now, I am focusing on tinnitus as I write this–one of the hazards of helping people with tinnitus when you have tinnitus yourself–it makes it flare up. But the good news is that within five minutes of finishing this reply, I’l go on to something else and I’ll not even be aware I have tinnitus. That’s how habituated I am to my tinnitus. This is what you want to do too–and you can do it if you put your mind to it.
Cordially,
Neil
Another question I had is I had ringing in the ears only at night when I went to bed, never had hyperacusis or anything like that and one day i google and as soon as i found what the problem was all when down hill? You think if I can calm myself and let this be I be able to get the way I was, and not suffer from hyperacusis anymore?
I get stressed and anxious just of thinking about my condition, another question which may sound a little crazy but do you have any faith on that magic drug “fx 322” that is in clinical trial? Do you think that people like me in a young age may one day have those silent night one day? Thanks doc you are such a wonderful person for keeping such a forum like this for people that can’t find comfort. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Hi Alex:
Quit thinking about your condition. Focus your energies on the loves of your life. You are only making matters worse by keeping on obsessing about your ears. There’s lots more to life than worrying about your ears.
As for drug fx 322, I wouldn’t even think of it for at least 10 years. It isn’t out yet and may never be. Even if the FDA approves it, you still want to wait another 7 years to see what side effects will show up that have not shown up at the time of approval.
In case you aren’t aware of it, MOST side effects of new drugs have NOT shown up at the time of their release. That means you are the guinea pig. If you wait 7 years, most of the side effects will have shown up, and if the drug proves to be harmful, it will have been yanked from the market by then. Think of VIOX–40,000 people died before they yanked it. You don’t want to be one of them.
Besides, this drug is for hearing loss, not for tinnitus.
You can get your tinnitus under control now. You don’t have to wait for the mythical “one day”, but you will have to work at it, not keep lamenting on your situation and obsessing over it. You would do well to get my book, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus” and follow what it says, particularly chapter 16. You can get it at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/ .
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Alex:
The answer is Yes.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you so much Doc, you are helping so many people just by the use of this forums people like myself and many others, I have a really hard fight inside my head, dizziness, ears, neck, and anxiety it seems never ending, I hope one day I can find happiness and get back to who I was, sometimes i feel like someone is pulling my ears down, even my right side which is good. Is frustrating :-/ thank you doc once again!!
Doc, for the hyperacusis can the ear feel full even on my good ear, could the hyperacusis go away completely with time? Or should I worry about it? Is a sensation of someone pulling my ears down, I read a comment on another forum that someone had the same feeling but I can’t describe it. If I pull my ears up they feel normal for a bit, and is not constant sometimes I feel that sometimes I dont, and I have 4 wisdom tooth that have no room, I need extraction, but I’m so afraid of that drill damaging my ears. They are painfully at times but I’m just afraid of more damage to my ears? Should get them removed? Thank you thank you thank you!
And I read about hyperacusis and recruitment, my problem seems to be recruitment, I’m so scared.. is this recruitment ever going to change or something 🙁
Hi Alex:
What makes you think you have recruitment and not hyperacusis?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Alex:
If you are having 4 wisdom teeth extracted, you don’t have to worry about drilling. They just basically yank them out. There’s no sound involved.
Cordially,
Neil
Reason for my believe of recruitment is because sometimes when a spoon or some metal object falls down it seems a little bit to loud it dont hurt my ears but is somewhat uncomfortable, another thing is watching tv dont bother me but is so hard to listen to it or music is hard to listen to, so I’m concern and think i may be scared of sounds that can cause more harm to my ears or my hearing is being amplified that why i can’t understand music or tv? And the wisdom tooth need surgery to be removed, so most like there be drilling? Thanks again Doc.. you have such a wonderful soul!
Hi Alex:
You probably do have some degree of hyperacusis, but you are also developing misophonia as a result of worrying about sounds. This can progress to phonophobia where you actually fear sounds because you think they will hurt you.
So you need to change your attitude and nip this in the bud before it causes you real problems. You need to realize that normal sounds will NOT hurt your ears, even though they sound louder than normal to you.
So quit worrying about everyday sounds, just be sure to wear ear protectors when the sound levels are way up–like around jackhammers, and loud machinery, etc.
Cordially,
Neil
If I do have recruitment or hyperacusis, how i should treat it? Is hard for me to notice which sounds are harmful which ones are not, so i have a phone app but can’t seem to go past 85 db even with air hammer at work, I did calibrate it so when I talk at 3ft is around 60-65 db but still so I dont know what cause my hearing problem is like a myster, Ent I went to was so unhelpful didnt even tried to figure what was going on or any kind of treatment other then deal with it?
Hi Alex:
There are a number of sound level apps for phones. I must have 6 or more on my phone. Some are much more accurate than others. So try a few and see which ones agree with each other. They are probably more in the ball park.
Jackhammers are definitely noisier than 85 dB–more in the range of 110 to 130 dB. depending on the kind of jackhammer and how close you are to it.
Cordially,
Neil
Doc I’m sorry to bother you so much but I’m a little worried here, and can’t figure out what is causing this, I’ve been dizzy, lightheaded, for about 20 days, non-stop could that be the noise notch? Or is it because my anxiety? I used to go for walks and I’m seeing a counselor, but even when I relax my dizziness is still there, and then my dizziness may be causing more anxiety, is like 25 days with all this symptoms, I’m also taking some herbal supplements like Ginkgo Biloba, fish oil, etc.. is a mix of herbal supplements “for tinnitus”, could that be a reason for my dizziness? Thank you doc tremendously from my heart!
Hi Alex:
I really don’t know what your dizziness is from. If you suspect it is from anxiety, you may be right. Nothing jumps out at me as to the cause.
Cordially,
Neil
Well today I was dumb enough to play pink noise “treat my hyperacusis” at 79db according to my sound app, but the microphone is right next to my speaker on my phone and I accidentally fall asleep for 7 hours with that noise loud, I probably messed my hearing even more 🙁 stupid things I do! For all of you reading don’t do it.
Doctor, I’m so sorry for bothering you so much, I got the results of my MRI and is shows I have Chiari type 0, I also noticed today that my ringing in the ear switch to the right side, I have hearing loss on my left side but not on my right side, why I have this ringing loud in the right side for 10 seconds and then disappears? Is chiari type 0 something to worry about, is it linked with my ear problems? Could that be the cause for my ringing, I never noticed my ringing to switch sides.. I’m scared and i would kindly appreciate any help at this point, once again my apologies for bothering you 🙁
Hi Alex:
Chiari (pronounced KEY-are-ee) is basically a “hernia” of the brain into the spinal column. Type 0 doesn’t show any herniation so some doctors don’t consider it Chiari at all. From what I can gather, Type 0 may result in some degree of blockage of cerebrospinal fluid in your spinal column. I doubt that is affecting your ears, because you’ve probably had Chiari syndrome most of your life and your ear problems just began relatively recently. So, unless you find something to the contrary, I’d basically ignore it as there isn’t much you can do for it anyway.
Tinnitus switches sides whenever it feels like it. Sometimes my tinnitus is in one ear, sometimes the other, most often in both and sometimes just inside my head without reference to either ear. That’s just the way it is. So don’t worry about it. As I’ve said before, worrying about it just makes tinnitus worse.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Alex:
You NEVER want to play your pink noise that loud. It’s not necessary to treat your hyperacusis. More in the range of 50 to 65 dB would be more reasonable.
And you don’t want any loud sounds playing into your ears when you fall asleep as you don’t realize you are damaging your ears until you wake up.
But live and learn.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor,
I had some dental work done (root canal = temporary filling). I left it a while to go back for the permanent filling.
In that time I started getting a blocked feeling in my ears, then one morning a ringing in my ear.
Ihave since had the permanent filling, and it has been about two weeks, but the ringing (tinnitus) persist.
Is this likely to be permanent?
Hi Rob:
It’s hard to say whether you tinnitus will be permanent. Was your dental work on upper molars or other teeth. Since upper molars are close to your inner ears, sometimes dental work results in tinnitus. It could be from the antibiotics they give you too. Only time will tell whether your tinnitus will be permanent or not. If it is from inflammation, then you’d think it would fade away as tissues get back to normal. If it was from antibiotics in could be permanent depending on which antibiotic you took.
I’ve never had any problems with root canals causing my tinnitus to increase. Hopefully, it will fade away in time.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi doctor,
I had consistently been listening to music on earphones for 8 years on a daily basis. For a month now, I have been experiencing tinnitus once/twice a week for only 3-5 seconds. I have completely stopped using earphones and always carry ear protectors around in areas of loud noise. the past two attacks I’ve had have been only for 1-2 seconds and by the time I press my ear to make sure of the attack, it has already subsided. I got checked for hearing loss and I do not have loss in either ear. my eardrum and auditory nerve are also fine. since I’m a vegetarian, my ENT has suggested me vitamin and protein tablets for a month. he says I do not have anything to worry about. all I’m scared of is this tinnitus becoming constant but I have been taking care of my ears since past few attacks. what do you think of it fading over time? the attacks are currently intermittent and not debilitating
Hi Abhi:
Listening to music via earphones doesn’t have to be bad IF you kept the volume down to about the same level as you would hear people talking. The problem comes when you listen to music at higher levels than that–and I suspect that is what you did.
The result is typically tinnitus and hearing loss–whether hidden or obvious.
Even though your hearing test gave you a clean bill of health, I’ll bet you still have hearing loss–most likely in the high frequencies above 8,000 Hz where they don’t test, but your brain neurons know, and so it could result in tinnitus. And the other area I’ll bet they didn’t test was for hidden hearing loss where the synapses in the spiral ganglion in your inner ear are damaged. This too, may be the cause of your tinnitus.
If the hair cells or spiral ganglion cells die, then you’ll have permanent hearing loss (whether they detect it or not) and consequently tinnitus may accompany it.
In the future, you need to protect your ears from loud sounds (like you are now doing), just don’t wear ear protectors when you don’t really need them or you could develop hyperacusis (and you don’t want that).
Furthermore, don’t focus on your tinnitus. When you do that, you can make your tinnitus more and more intrusive and noticeable. It is much better to take care of your ears and ignore your tinnitus by focusing on the loves of your life. This gives your limbic system permission to let your tinnitus fade into the background and not bother you. This is what you want to happen.
Cordially,
Neil
the pure tone audiometry test said “hearing normal sensitivity in both ears”. that aside, if I continue to take care of my ears, is it still possible for it to become constant? I have also been diagnosed with TMJ in the right side of the jaw. even so, no pain accompanies my TMJ, it is just the clicking. my right ear seems to heat up often as well.
Hi Abhi:
If you continue to take care of your ears, you can HOPE that your tinnitus will not get worse or become constant, but there are no guarantees. But it is the best thing to do to improve your chances it will not become a problem.
Short bursts of tinnitus of only a few seconds don’t seem to be the usual kind of tinnitus if you have noise damage. Rather, it seems more likely related to body movements. For example, if you turn your head all the way left or right and your tinnitus gets louder for a second or so, or if you clench your teeth and the same thing happens, then you know you have a form of somatic (body) tinnitus. This kind could be caused by TMJ for example.
Cordially,
Neil
thank you doctor! is there any form of exercise that could help with this kind of tinnitus? my therapy for TMJ won’t begin until next year and I am avoiding loud sounds nonetheless because of my history with headphones. perhaps yoga or meditation?
Hi Abhi:
I still say the best therapy is some low level sound to help you mask your tinnitus so that it doesn’t bother you so much. Meditation works for some people, so if you want to try it feel free to do so. I outline many of the things that you can do in my tinnitus book. See which ones work for you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello doctor,
any comments on this?
https://www.sciencealert.com/white-noise-doing-something-bad-to-brain-study-suggests-tinnitus-hearing-loss-plasticity-neural
Hi Tony:
Interesting article. My first thought is that they were doing these studies on animals that did NOT have tinnitus. So they gave the animals a tinnitus-like sound to listen to and found that it reorganized their brains. In humans that ALREADY HAVE tinnitus, we use white noise to reorganize their brains to habituate to the tinnitus. So in the animals, the brain reorganization is seen as bad, but in humans with tinnitus, this is exactly what we want.
I wouldn’t be a all surprised if they put white noise generators on humans that do not have tinnitus, the results would be as bad as for the animals. The same could apply to people who wore white noise generators to habituate to their tinnitus, then when they had their tinnitus under control, continued to wear the sound generators when they were no longer needed.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you very much for your thoughts. The reason why I’m asking this is that I have been using white noise generators in both of my ears for about a week and my tinnitus seems to be spiking. I have also been sleeping with pink noise playing on my iPad for about six months now. I’ve had severe tinnitus and hyperacusis in both ears for about five years now (combination of viral infection + multiple expores to loud MRIs for long periods of time without proper hearing protection). My ears had recovered fairly well until a bad exposure to loud sound about a year ago. Really took my T and H to a new level. Now been protecting my ears in excessively loud environments, playing pink noise at night and using vagus nerve stimulation quite regularily. Had white noise generators in both ears for about a week (very moderate volume) and T and H spiking. Just tired ears or something else maybe?
Hi Toni:
You seem to have your sound generators set too high. Turn them down to where they don’t cause your tinnitus to spike or your hyperacusis to kick in. Do you set the volume, or do you have to have an audiologist set it? Some set it too loud, and you need to insist they turn it down. Some have an attitude of they “know it all”, and have thereby caused worse problems in the people they were supposedly helping. It’s your ears, so you have the final say.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor,
Not sure if I’m finding this too late, but I really need some help.
Im 16 years old and for the past month, I’ve been experiencing tinnitus in my left ear. For some background (sorry it’s sort of long), I also experienced tinnitus for about 2 weeks back in April. When it started, I was listening to music louder than I should have during a good part (about 80%) and I felt what was almost an intense stabbing pain in only my left ear. Several days later, my hearing was sort of muffled but it gradually faded along with the ringing 2 weeks later. My parents and ENT said that it probably was not related to music since I’m so young but I was a little skeptical, so from then on I never went above the volume warning when listening to music with earbuds.
Fast forward about 2 1/2 months and my left ear gets muffled again. I got a little worried but didn’t panic because I figured it went away before, it will go away again. I stopped using earbuds completely because I didn’t want to aggravate it, but now it has been one month and it’s not showing any sign of going away.
I’ve been tested for pretty much everything. Had an MRI, tested for TMJ, perfect hearing test, etc etc. I take no medications, sleep great, and had no stress since it’s been summer break. My parents are saying over and over that it’s not hearing damage, but I don’t know at this point. If it was damage from headphones, wouldn’t it be in both ears? Also something to mention is that I have also been having ear pain along with it. Not as intense as that first stabbing pain back in April, but sudden throbs that show up with or without loud sounds.
I’m sorry this is so long to read but I really need some answers. Thank you
Hi Ramie:
This reply is pretty late so hope your ears are back to normal, but I’ll answer your questions anyway.
If you get stabbing pain when listening to loud music, I’d say that was related to the volume of the music no matter what the doctor/parents think. Being young is not relevant–the volume of the sound is what counts–and the length of time you exposed your ears to it.
When 2 1/2 months later you get the muffled feeling–were you listening to louder music then, or had you never listened to louder music since the pain episode?
You’d think that wearing earphones would treat both ears the same, so if it damaged one ear it would do the same for the other–but that is not necessarily true. There are reasons why one could be damaged more than the other one. For example, if you were listening to stereo sound, once sound track could have had a loud spike in it that the other one didn’t. Another possibility is that one ear was more sensitive to sound–perhaps because it was damaged previously and hadn’t fully recovered.
Ear trauma from loud noise can take a long time to recover from–a good number of months. But hopefully in time the pain will go away if you keep the sound down to a reasonable level.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi I have Tinnitus and today had to get MRI now hours later its loud and different sound. I’m so scared this permanent. Should I go to ER now can the Dr on call give me steroids or antibiotics to see if this sound come down? I was wearing rubber ear plugs but MRI is loud sounds for 30 mins. And I have some Hyperacusis.
I forgot to say I was so shook up after this MRI cause I was afraid it was going to do this I took a 2mg Valium.
Hi Connie:
I’d just calm down and see how things look in a day or two. If you were wearing ear protectors with a factor of 25 to 30, and they were seated properly, the MRI shouldn’t damage your ears and give you permanent tinnitus. If you just ignore your tinnitus and focus on the loves of your life, I think your tinnitus will fade away in a few days.
Cordially,
Neil