Tinnitus !

[oldred]

I have been curious about all the "amazing" treatments advertised. They sound too good to be true, I guess they must be. I tell my wife I can hear her just fine as long as I can see her lips move. The boy sometimes talks without moving his lips much so That is sometimes a problem.

I too have been plagued with this affliction for years and I can assure you that unfortunately nothing can be done for it (at this point in time anyway) except for using a more pleasant sound to drown it out. This cursed affliction is a Quack Doctor's and scam artist's dream! There is no end to the continuing stream of miracle "cures" and treatments out there that do absolutely nothing except separate you from your money! My audiologist and I just recently had a discussion about this very thing while I was being tested for new hearing aids, he explained that the only way any of these "treatments" could work is if they could somehow regrow the damaged nerves and that just ain't gonna happen, not yet anyway and when/if it does that breakthrough will affect far more than just auditory nerves and will be headline news -you will not hear it first in some Quack's/scamer's sales pitch. Bottom line is save your money and protect what hearing you have left and experiment with different more pleasant sounds to drown it out if it gets too bothersome. Those digital hearing aids with the White noise feature can make this curse MUCH less bothersome and help you to hear almost normally to boot. My Tinnitus seemed to disappear for me unless I think about it and if I turn off my hearing aids the ringing bothers me far worse than the loss of hearing, those digital aids don't cure or even really reduce the ringing but they DEFINITELY make it a lot easier to live with.

[Beagle333]

Got it.
'Sounds like a billion crickets/cicadas that get louder and softer in waves and it never stops. I live back in the swamp and when I go outside at night, I can never tell if it's them or me that I hear.

[edler7]

Had it most of my life. A constant, high pitched tone in both ears. I've learned to live with it- the only time I notice it is when it decreases and I don't hear it as much.

I have high frequency loss on both sides, right is worse than left.

[Grmps]

Gee thanks for reminding me
I've had it so long I can usually ignore/not think about it until someone or something brings it up.
Like the others, bad ears since childhood 6 or 7 operations, then firearms and power tools.
CPAP helps white noise it at night

[bangerjim]

There will be a couple of new generation with hearing damage/loss due to loud concerts and ear buds from MP3 players.

I was sitting in a waiting room last week and this stupid teenager (Quick - hire a teenager while they still know everything!) kid had an iPhone with earbuds. I could hear FROM HIS EARS (!) the music 5 feet away where I was sitting!!!!!!. Young-uns today are going to pay the BIG price. Not like so may of our generations(s) that served in the military under fire and the like.....working in noisy environments B4 OSHA.

I feel sorry for those kids. They can prevent hearing loss very easily, but they gotta' have their tunes on & cranked up all the time.

banger

[Preacher Jim]

After reading this I realize these Jack hammers in my ears are not normal.

[gwpercle]

I asked my doctor about it , he has it also , so far there is no real cure. He warned me not to spend a bunch of money on amazing miracle magazine ad cures...they don't work.
Dr. said a very high fever when young will also cause it later in life . That's how both my doctor and brother got theirs. Brother had Spinal Meningitis and was in a coma with high fever for a week.
His is worse than mine and I'm the shooter.
Actually I don't mind the humming ...it drowns out the pesky voices in my head that keep telling me to do things they know my wife's not going to like me doing....those guys are trouble makers with a capital T .
Gary

[oldred]

Gee thanks for reminding me

LOL' I had exactly the same thought when I first saw this thread and now I have had to put up with the annoyance all day!!!

Just joking of course but, just like right now, every time I get reminded of it I am pestered by that dang noise for hours unless I get my (feeble) mind on something else.

Something I have noticed before in discussions of this subject, and it's being clearly displayed here by the replies, is that apparently most folks hear a different sound than others, just read all the differing descriptions of what this affliction sounds like to different people. Seems as if the descriptions are so varied that it can't be the same sound for everyone.

[RU shooter]

Actually I don't mind the humming ...it drowns out the pesky voices in my head that keep telling me to do things they know my wife's not going to like me doing....those guys are trouble makers with a capital T .
Gary

Lol best reply yet Gary! Thanks for my morning laugh ...... least I'm not the only one who hears those voices too...

[beemer]

I ask my wife if she could hear the ringing in my ears, does get loud when things are quiet. I too have learned to ignore it most of the time.

I have ran woodworking machinery most of my life and of course firearms and bikes.

My wife bought me a set of Bluetooth headphones so we could watch movies together. She does get tired of repeating everything but I keep telling her she starts talking before I start listening.

[gbrown]

Mine came from using a radial arm saw cutting tough plywood. Left ear closer to and turned to saw. Really never noticed it til Army did hearing test in 1999. Ran me thru a lot of tests---MRI's, scopes thru nostrils into throat, etc. Dropped me to a Cat 2. 1st test I ever failed on physicals. Saw lots of younger members fail them--probably loud music with headphones. I remember 1 at Houston induction center--me in my 40s and 3 younger (20s). They failed, I passed. Just a steady high pitch whine in the left ear to compensate for higher tone loss. That's what the EENT specialist told me at Ft. Hood. Tone you hear is the decibel level that you suffered damage to. As the man said, "Grin and bear it." Nothing I've heard of to help it.

[mold maker]

With age comes a softer voice and when my wife faces the other direction and softly talks, all I hear is muffeled murmer. Why does she always face me and speak loudly while calling me deaf?

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Going on 10 years now with the cicadas in my head some days are good some bad

[JoeJames]

I've had ringing in my ears all my life. Hearing loss was discovered when I took my military physical in 1969, which got me denied. I've had the ringing for so long that I have to stop and pay attention to even notice it anymore. I tried $3500 hearing aids and they didn't help me at all so I got a partial refund for them. I intend to just play the cards that I have been dealt.....I'll just live with it.

Huh, I had my Army physical in 1971, and I was not denied. May have been because when I was asked about why I had the massive high frquency hearing loss, I said "Well, I've been shooting since I was ten, did not know about hearing protection until I was on the college rifle team, and by then it was way too late". They seemed to like the shooting part. I passed. Huh? Tinnitus - to me it sounds like an orchard full of Cicadas on mid summer evening.

[gwpercle]

Lol best reply yet Gary! Thanks for my morning laugh ...... least I'm not the only one who hears those voices too...

Do they get you in trouble too !!!

[Plate plinker]

I would be curious what happens to tinnitus sufferers when they get a ?cochlear? Implant?

[RU shooter]

Do they get you in trouble too !!!

Sometimes ! When I don't try to reason with them Lol
This has been a good topic and I see I'm far from alone and now throughly depressed that now I just have to suck it up and deal with it the rest of my life ! Hahaha

[camp]

Ugh, I get it every now and then from working in the data centers, mine is a high pitch ringing that just doesn't go away. I'm religious with ear muffs now...

Same here, high pitch ringing, and always wear earplugs in the data centers

[cwlongshot]

Its kinda ironic... when yago shooting and put in the plugs or ear phones... the darn whistle gets louder....

I agree I'll handle the hearing loss fine... just take this **** whistle away. its like a bad joke... I mean we cannot hear well, we need quiet environments to "hear" others speaking with us. Noisy environments make it near impossible to "hear" a conversation...BUT, make the tinnitus far more bearable...

Reading the descriptions of the noise we hear I think its a lil' different for each of us. Mine came from a instantaneous & extremely high, and piercing sound from a explosion. the Tinnitus I hear, is a loud constant tone, like a piercing whistle that never stops. Not like cicadas or crickets at all. Maybe loss from lower tones produce different "tonned" tinnitus? Curious... Again, sorry so many are effected....

CW

[OldBearHair]

Aircraft sheetmetal rivet guns w/ insufficient protection. Like others here, didn't hear it until I began reading the post. Trying to describe the sound it is something like Whing-Whing-Whing. Sorta like roller coastering. Can't hear crickets at all and can just barely hear tree frogs. I am lucky I suppose, because most of the time I am able to ignore and don't hear it. I have hunting ear muffs and with them on sitting in a tree stand I hear everything again. Then I hear something walking on the leaves coming towards me.............then begin to hear my heartbeat.........