Changed Pitch After Many Years Without Changes?

[Art Vandalay]

I'm 35 years old and have had tinnitus all my life. For the most part, my tinnitus rarely changes. I'll get the occasional temporary change when I get a bad head cold and am congested, or when I'm stuck somewhere really loud for a while, but my T has always returned to its "normal" level after a few hours or a maybe a day or so. I've also had fleeting T happen every now and then (note that what I'm describing now with the changed pitch is not fleeting T).

For the past week, my right ear (I have T in both ears) has been frequently changing pitch. Overall, I *think* my T is a little louder and at a higher pitch too, HOWEVER, it's very possible that it just *seems* this way since I've been focusing hard on my T since noticing the pitch changing. Regardless of whether my T is actually louder or at a higher pitch, the changing in pitch, however, is definitely happening.

Has anyone ever had something similar happen? I've been trying to figure out potential causes of this, and my latest suspicion is that it may be the result of being seated near a loud speaker at a wedding last Sunday night. Although I've been in settings much louder than this in the past, and these past experiences haven't had any noticeable effect on my T, I'm wondering if this was a trigger for me.

Has anyone else had any similar experiences, i.e., your T changing after many, many years of remaining consistent, and if so, what caused it? Did your T eventually return to its "normal" level, and if so, how much time did it take?

 

[erik]

It is not unusual for your T to change even after years. My dad has had T for 35 years and says it changes every so often and then he notices it for a bit because of the change. I think the same would be for you. It changed and therefore it is different and your brain takes notice of this and focuses on it. In time, I think you will habituate again and it will fade into the background.

 

[Art Vandalay]

So I went to my ENT today, and he said that my right eustachian tube is inflamed, and that this is likely the cause of my wonky T in my right ear. So in my case, it may aggravated T may not have been noise induced, as I was suspecting. He said this could be the result of allergies, or could be linked to a nasty sinus infection that I had lingering in February and March. He gave me a 6 day course of methylprednisolone, an oral steroid. I'll report back here once I see if this helps at all.