Culture Ignores Tinnitus

[Stanlex]

In real life, Bart would get permanent bilateral tinnitus of at least 9 different tones, one cicadas, one crickets, hissing, TTTS, ear fullness, hearing loss, severe hyperacusis and dysacusis. Yet nothing happens in the cartoon.

It is so pathetic that culture and general population acts like these things don't exist.

 

[Matchbox]

There should be posters up in gyms informing where earbuds are sold, and at venues about the importance of avoiding going there.

 

[martinberryhorse]

I've been watching the Blacklist with my parents. Every single episode the characters have gunshots going off next to their ears, massive explosions blowing around them, car crashes, head trauma etc...

Sometimes when they get blown up they play a tinnitus ringing sound but it always goes away... if only.

It would be so easy to just have a couple lines in there about how their ears are ringing.

 

[Stanlex]

I was thinking about it today and I maybe found a reason why society ignores these things.

Sometimes I really feel like that 99.9% of population can be exposed to loud noises and all they get at most is hearing loss. It feels like we are the 0.1% of unlucky people that have some genetic predisposition to generate all sort of ear problems. I can't believe that it is just the noise that creates tinnitus. Why there are many concerts etc. and 99% of people don't get any tinnitus. Maybe we have some weak gene that makes our cochleas super vulnerable to everything, and even if we protected our ears like crazy, tinnitus would be unavoidable.

Really. If you just think about it. Many many people work in heavy industries where they are exposed to super loud sounds everyday (I know they wear ear protection, but still), and they don't talk about having dysacusis from it. Also hundreds of millions of people wear headphones. Either for listening to music, or using it professionally. For example the people working as telephonists. They use it 8 hours a day for years perhaps. And they don't complain about hyperacusis. If loud concerts would cause hyperacusis, tinnitus etc, then people would gossip about it and wouldn't go to concerts.

So I think even if you think your tinnitus, hyperacusis or dysacusis is noise induced, then the noise maybe isn't the primary factor that caused it. I think that we have some internal health problem, that we might have been born with, or we acquired it by not having enough supplements etc. Perhaps our tensor tympani failed to protect our ears, from some reason.

What is my point is that a normal 'healthy' person can withstand whatever noise for any time and doesn't get severe permanent tinnitus. And that 99% people are like that. Therefore society doesn't even care about this. We are just 1% of unlucky people who got it.

Just look at me. Other people blast music for entire life and don't get anything, on the other hand, I just used headphones for low volume one time and got massive, unforgiving tinnitus that lasts till now.

I hope in the future the tinnitus will be researched better than now, and that the prevention will be better. Because I refuse to believe that solely noise exposure is the only factor when it comes to noise induced tinnitus.

 

[80PR]

More than 1 percent are unlucky people in this world. It is rather 2-3 percent. And I am sure a lot more people find their tinnitus very annoying. They just suffer in silence (or silence is not the right word here...)

And I am quite sure researchers have found genetic element to tinnitus too.

 

[Contrast]

Some people are exposed to very loud noise and get hearing loss and/or tinnitus but never noxacusis. No one even knows why some people get noxacusis and others don't. We don't know the genes responsible, what negative neuroplasticity is taking place in the brain or what parts of the cochlear nerve has to the damaged. Noxacusis is an enigma.

It is very confusing how some people have severe hearing loss from reckless gun firing but never had a hint of noxacusis.

 

[Tezcatlipoca]

Noxacusis is an enigma.

How would you define noxacusis?

 

[Contrast]

How would you define noxacusis?

Noise Induced Pain that occurs several weeks after the original noise trauma.

 

[Sentinel]

I didn't know what tinnitus was until I got it. And it's a personal hell I can't just shrug off like some do.

If I had known what tinnitus was before I got it, I would not have left home without earplugs and I would have been vigilant to the point of paranoia.

People need to know about it and understand what a bottomless pit of misery it has the capacity to be.

 

[Tanni]

The eponymous Archer has tinnitus and mentions it quite frequently, especially when someone fires a gun or makes a loud noise. He even mentioned that he has to sleep with a fan on.

Warning for sound.

 

[Stanlex]

Noise Induced Pain that occurs several weeks after the original noise trauma.

Several weeks after? OMG, I don't think I had any noise trauma prior to my onset, but still. I'm 8 weeks in. Can I still get this noxacusis? Like my life isn't hard enough today.

 

[Julien87]

Sometimes the people behind shows even have tinnitus themselves but just don't give a damn.

For example, in France we have a show whose host has tinnitus (he rarely mentions it and it's not commonly known). He hosts a game where people have to find missing lyrics of a song. And at some point in the game, one of the players has to go sit somewhere and wear headphones blasting music, so that they can't hear the answer given by their opponent.

You'd think that having tinnitus makes the host concerned about these kind of things, but no, he just doesn't care! That's crazy.

And what about the tinnitus "suffering" musicians who keep boasting about making loud music?

 

[Stanlex]

So I watched one episode of Futurama today where Fry would date Amy and there was a scene where Professor asked Fry Do I hear wedding bells? And Fry with Amy said No. The Professor would then proceed to touch his ears sighing. So it looks like even in year 3000 where the show is set in there is still no cure for tinnitus. LOL.

 

[GlennS]

The eponymous Archer has tinnitus and mentions it quite frequently, especially when someone fires a gun or makes a loud noise. He even mentioned that he has to sleep with a fan on.

Warning for sound.

Hence my avatar. I kinda like how it was handled in Archer. It was a joke but it acknowledged that tinnitus does indeed suck.

 

[Tanni]

Hence my avatar. I kinda like how it was handled in Archer. It was a joke but it acknowledged that tinnitus does indeed suck.

I've always loved your avatar! Great choice.

Yeah, they handle it in quite a sensitive way. Archer repeatedly tries to tell everyone how bad it is, but nobody takes him seriously. Just like in real life

 

[aot]

I will never forgive Edgar Wright for trying to make tinnitus "cool" in Baby Driver. It is simply an excuse for Baby to blast music (masking) and justify the film's soundtrack. Nothing more.

Take out the tinnitus and just have the music be a quirk, and absolutely nothing changes. It's like Wright read an article about it and decided to just add it to the script on a whim.

A shame, since it's otherwise a superb film.

It's my understanding that the most recent version of A Star Is Born handles tinnitus pretty well, though.