Do Ultrasonic Products (Cleaners, Humidifiers, Nebulizers, ...) Affect Your Tinnitus?

[Jack Straw]

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well.

I wanted to get everyone's opinion and experience on Ultrasonic products such as cleaners, humidifiers, nebulizers, etc. Did you notice any effect on your tinnitus?

I may have to get an ultrasound soon on my neck, and it got me thinking about ultrasound and ultrasonic products in general. I then started finding articles like this:

Invisible ultrasound can be a cause of tinnitus

I thought it was interesting and wanted to see if anyone knew more about this topic.

 

[Jack Straw]

Shameful bump.

No one has experience with ultrasound products?!

 

[Joe Cuber]

I had to look up what an ultrasonic humidifier was, and it turns out I have one, this one:

GENIANI Portable Small Cool Mist Humidifiers 250ML - USB Desktop Humidifier for Plants, Office, Car, Baby Room with Auto Shut Off & Night Light - Quiet Mini Humidifier (White)

It's had no effect on my tinnitus (FYI, my tinnitus isn't noise-induced).

 

[Jack Straw]

I had to look up what an ultrasonic humidifier was, and it turns out I have one, this one:

GENIANI Portable Small Cool Mist Humidifiers 250ML - USB Desktop Humidifier for Plants, Office, Car, Baby Room with Auto Shut Off & Night Light - Quiet Mini Humidifier (White)

It's had no effect on my tinnitus (FYI, my tinnitus isn't noise-induced).

Thanks for letting me know. I would be curious as to how much dB these things actually produce. I assume if it is low, then it doesn't matter how low or high pitched the sound is.

 

[Joe Cuber]

Thanks for letting me know. I would be curious as to how much dB these things actually produce. I assume if it is low, then it doesn't matter how low or high pitched the sound is.

Another question is whether the frequencies these devices emit at are in the range that human ears can detect. Ultrasonic is supposed to be above 20 kHz?

 

[Jack Straw]

Another question is whether the frequencies these devices emit at are in the range that human ears can detect. Ultrasonic is supposed to be above 20 kHz?

Right. I think this is outside the range of human detection, but based on the articles it seems it could still potentially damage it.

 

[Jack Straw]

For anyone who said an ultrasonic product permanently worsened tinnitus, can you tell us what product you used?

 

[frischky]

Older thread... but new victim.

On holidays/work trip overseas, at the check-in desk they had a ultrasonic humidifier or something similar about 8 feet away from me. When I was directly beside it, I got blasted with high frequency static in my right ear, overall the sound in the lobby was not loud, but I am guessing the noise was somewhere around 12 kHz - 15 kHz, it was like standing beside a loud tweeter. I read if these are not maintained, mineral buildup can cause audible noise.

Best way I can describe it is a loud stereo system blaring white noise, but only the tweeters remained hooked up... I literally sat there frozen and took the piercing noise, until after about 5 minutes I asked they unplug it. Ever since my right ear has been jacked up bad... I travel with a bottle of steroids, but thought I would give it a few days first. I took some today (72 hours later) but afraid it might be too late to have any diminishing effect on the damage.

So, yes... these ultrasonic devices are dangerous, whether you can hear them or not.

 

[Jupiterman]

I travel with a bottle of steroids

Carrying steroids with you (I presume Prednisone) is a good idea. Mind if I ask where you got them from?

 

[frischky]

Carrying steroids with you (I presume Prednisone) is a good idea. Mind if I ask where you got them from?

Prescribed by my physician. Never know when or where some potential disaster is going to hit.

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

I responded "temporarily worsened." But I don't think I have any ultrasonic household products.

What I do react to is the so-called "ultrasonic" dental scalers that hygenists use. They're clearly not ultrasonic because patients can hear them -- directly through bone conduction, which is awful. I can tolerate them OK but every once in a while, they cause a temporary spike.

I now see "similar threads" below and will take a look at some of them.