Tinnitus - what sounds do you have? And how many?

[mjf981]

I know I've been posting too much about tinnitus, but there hasn't been a thread like this recently, and it helps to know I'm not alone with my cacophony!

Mine:

Both ears - high pitched static (louder in the right ear)
Right ear - EEEEEE
Left ear - a deep 200hz hum/droning which also causes vibrations and echos/reverberations whenever I hear low frequency noise. It's truly horrible.

Pulsatile tinnitus which my GP said could be orthostatic tinnitus, whooshing in time with my heartbeat in my left ear but only when I turn my head, especially to the right, so if I need to listen to someone on my right side I have to turn my whole body as the sound is too loud and distracting. I’ve had it a few months now, definitely gets worse with stress. But I’ve just realised I haven’t heard it for a little while so hopefully it’s gone away for a bit!

I have an almost constant high pitched 'electrical' zinging sound. Occasionally interspersed with a low pitched hum (which I quite like if I'm honest).

It started after an ear infection from swimming years ago. I've learned to live with it.

The comment (on page 1 I think) about it being worse with a Crohns flare up is interesting because I have IBS and noticed the tinnitus is worse if I'm having a flare of that.

I can get momentary relief by doing humming bee breathing (a yoga thing) but I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse in the long run - the temporary silence is lovely but then I really notice the zzzzziiiinngggg when it returns.

Thought I had a new fresh hell of hearing impairment recently - what sounds like my alarm clock going off... turns our it was the extractor fan in the boiler flue squeaking

My weans are at the age of fighting about nothing, 13 year old boy and a near 11 year old girl, so my tumble dryer sound as soon as I wake up at 6.30 for my first coffee of the day can turn to ringing high pitched by 9am just sorting them for school🤯. They go to school and I chill out a bit and the tumble dryer is back 😫. Its a horrible affliction. Between that, restless legs, fibromyalgia and insomnia. Doing fucking great for 44 😁 🔫 😆 🤣

I googled what 200Hz sounds like as I wanted to know if that's the pitch I hear, mine is lower, at 100Hz, in my left ear. That's the continuous one I get and I am used to it, every day sounds drown it out, it's only when there's silence that I am aware of it. I have heard EEEEE but only in very short 5 second bursts and not very often thankfully. I've had tinnitus for 9 yrs.

Yet another EEEEEEEEEEEEE-er here. Started following an accident where I hit my head. Came on immediately after it. I saw a post on instagram recently saying you could stop it by cupping your ears hard for 30 seconds. I, of course, tried it and I couldn't believe it when it worked...for all of about 10 seconds before it came back. It was a wonderful 10 seconds though. It makes me really despondent to think that I'll live the rest of my life without hearing silence again.

A loud hum (around 800Hz) in my left ear, which becomes more of a buzz when stressed. Along with a high pitched EEEEE at about 8kHz, which is somewhat quieter. Using an electric toothbrush tends to cause the volume to ramp up for a while.

I just suffered another SSHL in my right ear a few days ago, so am expecting/fearing that Tinnitus will start there soon. I'm already getting what appears to be an extremely irritating rattling resonance when I hear certain frequencies.

Oh and I did briefly have pulsatile tinnitus, but fortunately it only lasted 3 days. I have an irregular hreartbeat, and I really didn't want to be forced to listen to that all the time!

I get the EEEE on both ears but it’s intermittent - comes and goes. Worse in right ear than left and noticeably waaaay worse after the first time I had Covid.

I also sometimes get a kind of ticking sound. Although haven’t had that lately.

Opps, I got my frequencies wrong, that should read:

A loud hum (around 100Hz) in my left ear, which becomes more of a buzz when stressed. Along with a high pitched EEEEE at about 8.8kHz, which is somewhat quieter.

BBC2 testcard noise. Both ears.

@SlowestHorse This??? Really??? I'd be quite happy with that

Bing Videos

Mine started a couple of weeks before Christmas. The hearing in my right ear suddenly became muffled and then the tinnitus started. I can hear it above the sound of the tv. I described it as a high pitched, continuous bag pipe drone. I have intermittent double vision/blurred vision along with it. My eyes also have episodes of wandering about - I can't control where they look - lasting a couple of minutes - also aware of it happening when I'm trying to get to sleep. Phantom smells - really strong cigarette smoke. Along with unsteadiness/disorientation when moving - just looking to the side too quickly makes me feel like I'm tipping up.

I don't know whether I'm having hallucinations as I can see objects in my peripheral vision moving and when I look again it's a crumb on the carpet or a tissue besides me or some other inanimate object, although when I expected movement towards me whilst sitting on the sofa yesterday to be 'unreal' it was actually a huge and very real spider hurtling towards me with intent

I had an urgent referral to hospital and was seen within two weeks which made my appointment just after Christmas Day. I've had two appointments with ENT now and waiting for a third in April. Also waiting for a head scan. I had my eyes tested by my optician who referred me to the eye clinic at the hospital and got an appointment for the following day. Had the appointment today - the consultant has referred me to neurologist. My eyes are healthy and not the cause of what's happening. So between ENT and Neurology I hope I get a diagnosis - can't bear to think about the tinnitus being permanent - I'm still struggling to get to sleep because I'm listening to it and it's discombobulating.

The double vision has built up to a daily occurrence (which can last all day) over time whilst the hearing loss and tinnitus happened instantly.

I'm exhausted by it - lack of sleep, trying to focus the blurred vision out, trying not to fall asleep during the day, trying to carry on as normal ....

I can zone out my husband droning on on the background but not the tinnitus

Well you have all made me feel a bit less alone. I feared it was just me who had a low drone and then high frequency static/EEEs - I thought I was extra unlucky. But it appears a fair few of us are in the same boat!

I must say the psychological effects are under appreciated. To go from silence to never ending noise is a real shock to the system.

Exact same for me including the ears! Thought my high frequency is possibly a touch lower than that.
How long have you had them? Are you habituated?
I'm sorry about your recent hearing loss :( Ears are so sensitive. I had no idea until this all kicked off.

Yup the high pitched EEEEE with fizzy white noise. After nights out or booze it is stronger but it’s pretty loud anyway. I don’t think about it and compulsively have sound on. Avoid silence where possible means I can just ignore it. Have had mine 35years ish so plenty of time to adapt.

35 years! I can't imagine. But I guess we have no other choice..
Do you still 'hear' it most of the day, or do you zone it out most of the time and forget about it?

I rarely give it a thought - when I do I get an audio book or music on. I find I have to listen through it to hear so while my hearing is officially ok I don’t always catch things first time if people mutter or there is background noise .

I was horrified when it appeared and still miss lying in bed listening to bird song but it has been fine over the longer term

Mine started when I woke up with severe hearing loss in my left ear back in 2020. I'd had previous episodes of hearing loss (in both left & right ears) which had always popped back to normal after a few weeks, so I assumed the 2020 episode would be the same, and foolishly didn't seek help. Big mistake!

It turned out to be be sensorineural hearing loss, and I've never recovered any hearing in that ear. The tinnitus started soon after, getting louder over time.

I've really not habituated very well, and ended up being sent to a tinnitus clinic.
They gave me a hearing aid for it which plays a surf-like masking sound, but it's not very effective. And it seems to me that it just adds yet another sound to the mix. They also gave me a loudpeaker device for use at night which plays various sounds (rain, surf, running water, thunderstorm etc.), to try and mask the tinnitus. Again I don't find it to be terribly effective.

It's extremely important to seek urgent help if you have sudden hearing loss as I did a few days ago. I managed to get referred to an ENT consultant who has put me on a hight dose of steroids for a week. Only 2 days in so far but it does seem to be working pretty well thank goodness. Should it fail, the next step is steroid injections through the eardrum, hopefully it won't come to that!

Oh thats terrible. I've heard that hearing loss can make the tinnitus louder and harder to mask, as you can't hear the sound of masking music as much. If you have no hearing at all, are you eligible for a cochlear implant? That might help with the tinnitus as well.

I'm sat in bed atm and can hear traffic, a fan and the TV on next door, and the hum is far and away louder than everything else. So you're definitely not alone. The joys!

I'm mostly deaf in my right ear after waking up like that almost 2 years ago - Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).

It came with the gift of permanent tinnitus.

99% of the time it's high pitched noise. Constant.
Then every now and again it literally sounds like someone has put popping candy into my ear for a minute or 2
Then back to high pitch.

I get the standard high pitched EEEEEE, more so in my right ear than my left I think. I only tend to notice it when I go to bed at night.

I do sometimes get pulsative tinitus in my left ear - I haven’t had an MRI or anything like that, is this something that I need?

I thought it was normal. I didn’t realise this what people mean when they talk about tinnitus, or that other people don’t have it. My hearing is very sensitive, but I generally know the difference between a real sound only I can hear and this 🤣

That's the same as mine, including the turning. I've had it almost a decade.

Constant high pitched eeee in my left ear. Recently it's been a high pitched tapping though.

Thanks, I do have slight hearing in the left ear (severe to moderate hearing loss), but I wouldn't like to manage with just that ear if the right ear were to fail (as it did a few days ago). Thank goodness for steroids!

I have been perusing the cochlear implant criteria here:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta566

just in case!