I hear a hum and it's driving me round the twist

[MostlyCake]

What could it be? It's like a very low road / car noise and is intermittent. I hear it only when it's quiet and it's worse at night. My dh can't hear it so I think it's in my head - tinnitus? Blood pressure? I've been to the docs who said I have waxy ears (yuck) would this make a hum?

It's driving me nuts!!

Sounds like tinnitus. I'd see if you can get the wax under control, then go for a hearing test. (Private or NHS it would be free)
Loads of my family have suffered with tinnitus and it's one of the most frustrating things. An audiologist can advise you on things that may help

Well it's tinnitus most likely, but that just means ringing in the ears and could be caused by anything, it's like calling it 'pain in the leg' could be anything from pins and needles to gangrene!

Actually, I don't know what it is but if you take a paracetomal or two before bed, it can simmer down, as it lowers your body temperature. If that's the cause. Your body temp rises at night, so anything along those lines gets worse.

You could play some ambient music, very slowly like on Vol 2 on the CD player across the room, it takes your mind out of yourself. Avoid coffee, chocolate and any food that might wire you up a bit.

Yes, olive oil in the ears could help you de-wax.

Splutter! Avoid chocolate?!

It's worse at night but I can hear it now for example. I'll try the olive oil and see if things improve. It gets like I'm hyper aware of it and I can almost feel it in ears as well as hearing it. I can't explain it very well but it's tremendously annoying

Or eat more chocolate, but the Lindt quality stuff, not 'confectionary'.

My mum had this, drove her bonkers. It turned out to be electricity pulps and she could hear them more at night.

Could it be that you have ultra sensitive hearing? It sounds like you are picking up low frequency from somewhere like the Bristol hum. I don't know about low frequencies but I can hear high frequencies that I know some people can't, eg I can know if the TV is on if the sound is off and I am in another room, or if the washing machine is on. It can get really very annoying, especially when one of our laptops is plugged in and charging and the high frequency noise goes up and down/on and off. If it's that I think you'd need some sort of distracting 'white noise' when you're trying to go to sleep.

There are papers written on this subject - it's actually really interesting but must be very annoying for those who can hear it. I'm another high frequency 'sufferer' I can tell if things have been left plugged in even from other rooms.

paper on hum

That paper looks really interesting - I will read that later!

We once viewed a house that had an electricity pylon a few feet away. I don't know much on the subject of electro-magnetic radiation but you could FEEL that high frequency all around. I could never have lived there.

Oh I get this, DH can't hear anything so I think it's me. We don't live near any main roads or electricity sub stations. Also having the window open or closed makes no difference. It sort of sounds as if the house itself is humming. Drives me mad, keeps me awake. I have prowled around the house at night in the dark turning everything off including the router and the fridge and it seems to make not a jot of difference.

tinky - sounds like tinnitus . I have this ,it's a pain !

Hi ginger after a bit of googling I think you are right. Doesn't seem to be any real treatment for it though.

I know

Although ... I have an idea that tinnitus is caused by your brain/ear nerves/something in your body interpreting sound waves differently after some hearing loss .
So possibly if the hearing loss could be addressed /improved ,the tinnitus might reduce/go away .