thanks so much for your reply. i don't think you're being a debby downer at all (just realistic and i really appreciate that). i agree that it's probably a mute point. my reasoning for asking was that i'm not totally sure my T is from noise. yes... i used a chainsaw for hours without protection, but my T didn't start for 1-3 weeks (not sure exactly how long) after the noise exposure.
so basically... if i know there are other people (whom i thankfully now know to be present) with noise induced T that can manipulate their sound with jaw movements, i could go back to believing my T is noise induced. not sure if i'm making sense to you. maybe not. sorry.. thanks for your response though!
you say your T is noise induced... how did you get yours?
also... any thought on my T not starting directly after the noise exposure? i mean i know the chainsaw was terrible... i vividly remember it being so loud that my ears were burning and hurting and screaming while using it (can't believe i didn't stop and find some protection!).
I've got noise induced hearing loss in the higher range that accumulated over a lifetime. I had a lawn mowing business as a teen that I never wore hearing protection for. I also have been to a
ton of rock concerts since my teens. I've listened to music my whole life, at home, in the car, and sometimes with ear buds while jogging. I've also worked in noisy bars, loud warehouse loading docks and a cleaning business where I ran loud machinery all day long.
So basically it's impossible to pinpoint an exact moment when my ears were "pushed over the edge" so to speak. And that's one of the problems with this site -- too many people fixate on one loud event and blame that specific moment for giving them tinnitus. They completely ignore the fact that issues with the nerves in their ears may have been developing for a long time previous to that singular event. Truth is, almost none of us makes it to adulthood without being exposed numerous times to loud events.
(This fixation on one loud event is a type of neurosis we all go through. We want a specific moment to blame for the tinnitus. Being Twenty-first century animals we want "answers" so we can use them to endlessly self-flagellate ourselves over and over and over.
"Oh why did I go to see that punk band with my friends?!" "Oh why did I stand so close to the speakers at that rave?!" "Oh why did I not put a gag in Britney's mouth when I knew full well that she's a screamer in bed?!")
So, basically, yes, the wood chipping incident could have contributed to your tinnitus. But so could myriad other loud events in your life leading up to it. Maybe the wood chipper pushed your ear nerves over the edge. But if you had never run the wood chipper there is still a chance that some other loud event in your life would have done the exact same thing to you at some point. Quite simply you would encounter another loud event at some point in your life; most likely sooner rather than later.
Keep in mind that I'm not saying you shouldn't question your situation. I'm just saying you shouldn't let yourself get too mired in pointless neurotic loops. (We've all been there, myself included.) It sounds like you were on the way to habituating and I'd hate to see you block that progress.
Keep movin' forward, bro.
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