I don't think I have tinnitus, or atleast the long form kind, I dont attend concerts or listen to loud music with headphones, my ears are healthy other than the fact I build up lots of earwax that clogs my hearing (might be a potential cause of this?) about 14 hours ago my right ear out of nowhere started ringing, it hasn't gotten any worse but it was easier to tone out during the day and now that it's night I can handle it, Im not sure if I can even sleep, any help or advice?

It's been around a month a two weeks since my acoustic trauma and a few days ago I started noticing a very faint ringing on my right ear aside from the one I have on the left. At first it thought it was the fridge or something, but when I press my ear directly into a pillow, I can clearly hear it.

Now it seems like I have two tone on both ears. For now it seems very faint, but even then i can periceive it as im writing this in a farily quiet room. I wasnt even exposed to anything particularly loud, it was so sudden :(

I dont know ​what to do. I'm getting slightly anxious again. Never thought i would get another tone specially without any external trigger. Advice? 😢

Previous Post :- https://www.reddit.com/r/tinnitus/s/pEq4GxiHac

So in my previous post I've also asked about the hearing loss and should i take the trympanic injection or not, pls suggest me what should i do

the doctor said i need 5 doses of trympanic injection in span of 15 days as the tinnitus is in my right ear, and i am also suffering from hearing loss like it's getting hard for me to understand speech properly

22M here

Long story short. My tinnitus became higher pitched 13 years ago.

8 years ago I developed my first new sound during an extremely stressful period of my life.

4 years ago I developed a second sound that goes like “wee woo wee woo.”

2 years ago this sound became reactive. I could hear it outside and any kind of white or grey noise would make it louder.

1 year ago my first sound became louder.

All of these sounds were in my right ear. Sometimes I thought that at least I was lucky to have my left ear completely silent. I couldn't even enjoy that thought for long.

Two days ago I developed a third sound in my left ear. It is another “wee woo wee woo” sound.

All these years I have visited ENT consultant and doctors multiple times. I have even tried chiropractic in case my neck was contributing to the tinnitus. Despite all of this I am constantly losing ground and that there is always something new every year waiting to make my life even more miserable.

I feel like life is pushing me toward something really bad. Things are getting progressively worse and I don't know what to expect next. I can't understand why this keeps happening to me or why there always seems to be something new. I honestly feel like life is trying to break me and I don't know how much more I can take.

Event :- 1st Oct i went to my college's freshers party and there was DJ and loud songs, i was near the DJ system and got ringing and muffled hearing like kind of hearing loss in both my ears, after 2 days of this the tinnitus went away but i still had the hearing issues, after few days the tinnitus came back again but in right ear only, i went to the ENT and did audiometry test, it was under normal hearing ranges, he gave me meds for 8 days and ask me to come back after it

Note :- i had cold, cough, sore throat, and clogged ears during the upper period...

Today :- i went for the follow up checked i still have hearing issues, 8 days are done and now the doctor is talking about to give me steroid injections in my ears, suspecting a hearing loss, the injection name is Dexamethasone... i have to take 5 injections in earIT'S BEEN 15 DAYS FROM THE EVENT i still have cold, headache and stuff tho but i am concerned should i take the injection or not

Doctor gave me three days of time to think and decide what i want to do, pls suggest me what should i do or will this injection will make my condition worse

I AM JUST 22 YEAR OLD MALE IDW GO DEAF AT THIS AGE PLS HELP ME, I AM SO ANXIOUS WHAT TO DO

What is the best ear protection. Had sudden low tone hearing loss and they want to do a MRI. I would like to he prepared and protected as much as possible.

Is there a life possible with this screaming in my head ? Do you guys work ? sleep ? go for daily activities ?

Hi everyone,
I’ve had “mild” tinnitus for almost 3 months, and yesterday I had a scare that has left me worried.
I was walking slowly past my bunk bed because I had left my iPhone 11 there. My head and right ear touched my phone, which suddenly started playing. It was on vibration mode, but the vibration was quite strong and the phone vibrated against the wooden bed. This lasted for about 2 seconds.
I don’t know how loud the vibration actually was, but it scared me because of my tinnitus.
Went to bed, slept and everything seemed normal, though my right ear felt a bit covered.
During most of the day I thought about this. Now, almost 24 hours later, my ears feel more blocked or covered. I can still hear relatively normal, but on my right ear everything feels somewhat a bit reduced.
There are a few other things I’ve noticed:
Some sounds seem painful or uncomfortable to hear, although this has already been happening for a while.
My ears keep popping, but this has also been happening for over a month.
Even when I speak at a normal volume, my ears, Specially the left, pop and feel more blocked.
The ringing now seems louder.
I’m really confused about what is happening. Could the vibration from the phone have caused some damage, or could this be related to ear pressure, Eustachian tube dysfunction, TTTS, stress, or something else?
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences or any advice. I’m quite anxious about this and worried that I might have made my tinnitus worse.
Thank you.

hi ! i had been using earplugs + headphones to block out sound, but i now have tinnitus. unsure if its temporary... i was playing white noise absolutely full volume bc it was quieter to me due to the earplugs, however apparently ive got an infection from wearing the plugs so much. the doctor thinks its probably that, but theyr not sure. anyways, i was doing this bc i have ptsd and it was helping me soso much with my recovery. completely changed my life in a matter of days. and now its all come crashing down bc of the tinnitus... i cant wear earplugs until im better and i now need to be way more careful with the volume of white noise

what r tinnitus friendly ways of blocking out external sound ? i have ear defenders, but theyr not enough on their own :(

​Hey everyone,

​I just started dealing with tinnitus about two months ago, and it has been absolutely debilitating.

​I recently went in and got the full audiologist workup—extended high-frequency tests, SiN (Speech in Noise), and DPOAE tests. The results showed a mild high-frequency hearing loss. Honestly, I attribute that to my lifestyle; between riding motorcycles and playing loud rock music, my ears have definitely taken a beating over the years.

​Here is what is driving me crazy, though. I have two friends who are a solid 10 years older than me and have lived the exact same loud lifestyle.

One of them literally played gigs in a bar six nights a week, standing right next to the drum kit with absolutely zero ear protection. Both of them? Completely fine. No ringing, no issues. Meanwhile, I'm stuck with this constant noise.

​It got me thinking about the underlying causes. I’ve noticed a lot of people struggling with depression on this sub, and it makes me wonder how much our overall physical and mental health impacts our ears. Specifically, I wonder if things like obesity play a major role. I am obese, whereas my two friends are not.

​There are just so many variables at play, and it’s incredibly frustrating trying to connect the dots. Has anyone else noticed a link between their tinnitus and weight or other health factors?

I'm wondering what strategies you have found to be most effective when you notice your tinnitus.

I've had it for about 10 years, in both ears, about 11k HZ, 55db.

I've categorized my responses in 3 groups:

• focus on something else
  • focus my hearing attention on other sounds:
    • similar frequencies, searching for sounds that are close. This includes generating sounds of similar frequencies (crickets, water, colored noise, ...). Sometimes breathing through my nose, or moving the sheets a bit (if I'm trying to fall asleep), to create sounds of similar frequencies
    • different frequencies, listen for other sounds, perhaps music, or background noises
  • focus my thinking on something else altogether, not hearing (eg. a person, a place, a goal, etc...)
  • do something else algother (eg. move, get up, stop thinking)
• focus on it
  • reflect on how it got there and what that teaches me about the world
  • wonder what you can do to get rid of it
  • reflect on what positives it has (eg. "hey look, I'm alive and I can tell")
  • wish it wasn't there (the worst!)
• focus on nothing
  • try to clear my mind from any thought, meditation style

What are your strategies?

Alright the title says it all. My tinnitus is pretty severe. I'd say it is a 6-7 of 10. It spike from a 3 to this level after getting Covid. I went nuts. Couldn't sleep. Immediate panick attacks when waking up in the morning. I admitted myself to hospital for a week.

Anyways since then I've dealt with drinking about a pint of Vokda every night the past 5 years. My liver is not good.

I avoided all benzos and anti depressants, but feel like I am left with no choice and need to start something.

Who has a similar situation as myself, and what did you do to deal with it

Hi, I'm interested if there's anyone who had the injection in both ears

Hello, i have observed that my PT is somehow linked to my menstrual cycle. Do you also get this? It s more intense durring certain periods. Also it gives me more anxiety.

Hello all. Im brand new here. Ive had T for 30 years. Havemanaged it very well. Last week about 7 days ago my T increased in volume out of nowhere. I have never had this happen in 30 years of having T. I also have had vestibular dysfuntion in my right ear for 6 years. I am now very concerned this is a tumor or something serious causing this . Any help greatly appreciated.

I injured my hearing due to improper use of ear protection when riding a motorcycle in the beginning of last summer. I went to bed one night laid down and was… holy shit what is that sound ?
For anyone who just got it, it definitely will get better. I can’t say that mine was by any means very loud. It’s hard to judge a subjective metric. At first I was freaking out. It was the only thing I could focus on. I would listen to masking sounds on Spotify almost 24/7 even while I was working.
I couldn’t sleep, I was always anxious it was unbearable for the first few weeks. It made me quit riding for a little bit I was so nervous to further injure my ears.
I’m not sure whether they have actually got quieter or I’m just more used to it now.
What helped me the most is the sounds that masked the specific frequency, and still today I sleep with some sound that helps. Crickets are my favorite. It is there still. I do notice it when I’m sick or in a very quiet room. Louder days at work tend to make it worse. But eventually you lay your head down to sleep one night and then you wake up not even having to think about it. It’s been a battle but I’m finally coping and understanding triggers and taking precautions to protect my ears !
Any advice or what I’ve learned please feel free to shoot me a dm. Hope this helps anyone.

I am also very aware of people of have serious cases. I wish the best for you to find help of some sort. I’m very grateful to overcome my own obstacles with tinnitus.

Last Sunday, while trying to clean the massive wax build up in my right year with a Q-tip, I managed to push it in even further thus clogging my ear completely. I could hear nothing from that ear and I rushed to a ENT where they medically cleaned my ear using vacuum.

My ear got unclogged post that and I could hear almost normally but after a few hours I notice I am having muffled hearing from my right ear and also tinnitus, with pressure being felt between the inner ear and the jaw while eating. I have been very frustrated since then.

EDIT: the microsuction procedure altogether was painful and i could feel a stinging pain in my ear canal during the process.

UPDATE: Had an appointment with another doc today. I have a pin-point perforation on my tympanic membrane. I was told it will get better in a week’s time. Lets hope for the best.

I am currently going trough a relapse with my thyroid autoimmune disease. I am sweating, my heart rate is trough the roof and I am fatigued. I have hand tremors and really bad mood swings. On top of that, I have a BPPV attack and I am crazy dizzy.

All of a sudden, tinnitus does not seem so bad. I wish I only had tinnitus (which is pretty loud).

I guess what I am saying is all about perspective. If you are now suffering from tinnitus, it is completely valid and I understand your pain and frustration. But just know there are other worse things out there and in most cases, hou can habituate.

Have a good day everyone, mine sucks and I just wanted to vent

I use the NIOSH sound meter free app for loudness checks. Does anyone know how accurate these are? I assume these apps use some type of algorithm to determine db level unlike a professional db meter.

My tinnitus was caused by microsuction in my left ear over 5 months ago. Due to this I developed 4 horrible tones and hyperacusis. It's an insidious procedure that should be banned. But right now I desperately need help managing 2 of these tones.

I have 2 stable ringings that I know I can habituate to, as I've been tracking their individual TFI (Tinnitus Functional Index) over time and these have gone down.

It's the unstable tones that are destroying me, especially because they change their frequency and tones throughout the day:

1. Left ear: sparkling tinnitus at over 15 dB and at about 12khz and reacts to the environment in real time. F.e if I go outside where it's louder, it increases its volume and if I put on my hearing protection, it goes back down to its 15 dB.
2. Right ear: very high-pitched reactive whooshes at around 13 khz - 15 khz and at over 15 dB. Sometimes it goes over to my left ear, but it's mainly in my right.

The tones mentioned are what cause my TFI score to be 96/100 and stay there. I'm so sorry if anyone has extremely loud T that's over 80 dB. Our reaction is also what makes it catastrophic. These tones are so unnatural and make me feel completely broken. I've always had issues with sensory gating and sensory overload.

A reference to what these tones sound like is this video from Treble Health that's called:

Tinnitus SILK - High Range Noise Masking for Relief: https://youtu.be/DJscKr4RV_4?t=11354

I have never been in such a situation: acoustic shock or trauma caused by a doctor/ENT and now I've been practically thrown away to rot while the perpetrator gets to live their life and I get seen as crazy. How could someone do this to another human?

It hurts so much because I see myself deteriorating in real time and I'm already sure I've developed some kind of mental illness due to tinnitus. It literally feels like I'll never get out of fight-or-flight mode. I've fallen into the abyss. My chest burns, I feel extremely weak and my heart physically burns. I've never hyperventilated before. I don't even know who I am anymore. I do nothing but cry all day and think of only one way out but I want to be strong for the ones I love, but I wish they could truly understand that I'm going through permanent pain every single second of my life. But I'm also completely terrified of nonexistence so I'm completely stuck.

I've been left homebound, mentally ill and to rot at the age of 25. I used to be so happy and so amazed at life: the fact that I was actually conscious in the universe, self aware, that I could move and enjoy almost anything; especially the little things. I don't do anything now, because I can't.

If you have catastrophic T, please help me. Anything helps. Even knowing that someone else has the same type of tones will help. Any tips, how long it took you to get used to them? Anything.

I use sound masking all day until I hit sensory overload. But it seems that masking is impossible.

It feels like I'm on my knees begging, I wouldn't even care about going through invasive brain surgery at this point if I knew it could at least quiet or silence the tones (which I already know doesn't exist atm).

Can anyone change the pitch of their tinnitus by opening/clenching the jaw and tilting your head/neck? Would love to see how many people suffer from somatic tinnitus like myself.

Well, I got my CT scan results yesterday. The good news is they figured out what’s causing my pulsatile tinnitus. No aneurysms or atherosclerosis or anything like that. Instead, if I’m understanding correctly, my left sigmoid dural venous sinus, the vein that drains blood from my brain, is just larger than normal, and my sigmoid plate, the bone that separates it from the rest of the head, has thinned somewhat (3mm). As a result, I can more easily hear the blood flowing behind my ear. It’s not dangerous — just annoying.

The bad news is they still have no idea what’s causing my regular tinnitus, so I just have to wait it out and hope it goes away. 😭

FUCK YOU TINNITUS FUCK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART YOU FUCKING STOLE MY LIFE I HAD DREAMS HOPES PASSIONS HOBBIES FRIENDS ROUTINES, NOW I CAN’T EVEN THINK PROPERLY MY LIFE HAS BECOME SO FUCKING MISERABLE I JUST WANT TO SH*T MYSELF

How do you remove your wax, and dry your ears after a shower?