Hearing Loss and Tinnitus After Listening to Loud Music with In-Ear Headphones

Hello everyone, I am new here.

I'm writing this to share my story and seek help and advice from experienced people.

On the night of May 25th, I fell asleep after listening to music at high volume with in-ear headphones for about 10 minutes. When I woke up in the morning, I heard a loud ringing in my ear, unlike anything I had ever experienced. Instead of panicking, I decided to wait a few days, hoping it would go away on its own. When it didn't, after three days, I went to see my GP. She examined my ears, said there was earwax buildup, which could be causing the ringing, and prescribed olive oil drops.

After I started using the drops, my tinnitus reached its worst level. My ears, already clogged with earwax, became blocked entirely with the use of the oil, and I couldn't hear anything besides the ringing. One day, the ringing became so unbearable that I wandered around the house aimlessly and started crying. I even thought about ending my life. It was really, really loud and neither diminished nor paused for a moment.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, my girlfriend made an appointment with a private ENT specialist. I first went to a private hospital appointment and later to an NHS appointment. Both ENT doctors found no issues in the hearing tests and said I needed to get used to living with tinnitus, which might decrease over time.

I even asked the professor why he didn't apply steroid treatment despite the sensorineural hearing loss shown in the audiogram. He said that my loss wasn't significant enough to require any treatment and assured me that my tinnitus would improve over time.

Here are the results:





Although I've experienced terrible tinnitus and hyperacusis, my hyperacusis has significantly decreased compared to when it first started. My tinnitus is still very loud, but what concerns me most now is my hearing loss. I feel like I'm hearing everything as if behind glass. I can't hear low-volume sounds as I used to. My girlfriend and friends sometimes warn me for speaking too loudly. I have difficulty understanding people in noisy environments. The sounds in videos and movies I watch on the phone sound very different to me. I hear sounds in a "blurred" way. So, I really notice my hearing loss, which wasn't considered significant.

It's been almost two months since the incident started. Is it too late for hearing loss treatment in this case?

If anyone has had similar experiences and can share their knowledge, I would be very grateful, as I lived happily on my own, but now my life has become a torment.

Thank you.

 

How long did you use the olive oil for? And how many treatments per day?

Is your earwax still there?

Ears, if blocked, will make the tinnitus sound louder.

 

Too late for Prednisone.

Your hearing loss doesn't look that bad. It's considerably better than mine across those frequencies. They don't test above 8 kHz, but you may have more hearing loss at high frequencies, which wouldn't show unless you had an extended audiogram. Mine really drops off at over 8 kHz when testing with tone/sound generators. Be careful if you use those tone generators so that you don't cause further damage.

Protect your ears from additional trauma, and you could have a partial recovery over the following months.

 

I used it for about four days, but then it bothered me more, so I stopped using it. The ENT doctor at the private hospital cleaned my earwax about a month ago.

After the earwax was cleaned, my ears felt more comfortable, but it didn't make much difference to my hearing or tinnitus. As I mentioned before, even though my tinnitus is very severe, my main concern is with my hearing.

How much hearing loss do you have? Can you notice it in your daily life?

I am aware of it every day, morning and night, because I hear very differently than before, which makes me very upset. Tinnitus might be tolerable in the short or long term, but it doesn't come back once hearing loss occurs. I feel terrible.

 

How did he clear your earwax? What method?

 

Microsuction. It was quite loud, but I don't think it impacted my symptoms.

 

Hi,

I am sorry that you have to go through this. I had the same kind of distorted hearing as you describe. I called it "black-and-white hearing" or "hearing in 2D." I also experienced that everything seemed more silent than before. That improved over time, and strangely, I had massive improvements two or three times overnight. This means I woke up in the morning and realized that my hearing was better than the evening before.

It is crucial to protect your ears. After nine months, I had a major setback due to loud noise exposure, which made everything worse and made my tinnitus reactive, which it wasn't before. I was already too optimistic after my improvements.

Be patient, protect your hearing around loud noises, work out, eat healthy, and stay optimistic. You will likely improve.

All the best for you!

 

Thank you for the support, but it's well-known that hearing loss due to noise exposure is permanent. Even if a miracle happens, I'm doubtful about how much my hearing could actually improve.

The worst part is, despite everything I've been through, they didn't apply early treatments for me or treatments of any kind. I still hear sounds as muffled and can't hear low volumes. I don't believe my permanent hearing loss will ever go away, but humans can't live without hope. I just hope.

 

Yes, the hearing loss is permanent, unfortunately. I have a hearing loss of 50 dB at 6 and 8 kHz in both ears. Despite that, the distorted hearing gradually went away. It took nine months the first time. After that, I could hear quiet sounds again, like coffee dripping out of the coffee machine into the milk foam or my fingers tapping on my smartphone screen. When that happened, my tinnitus also improved.

Then, I assembled a wardrobe without hearing protection, and the hammering took me back to day one, especially regarding hyperacusis and tinnitus. My hearing threshold for quiet sounds rose again. That was at the end of February, and I am improving once more. Very slowly, but I am improving. What is really awful is the reactivity of the tinnitus because I cannot use sound therapy now, which helped me initially.

It was so bad overall (also with the hearing loss of 50 dB) that I was suicidal for months. I planned everything and saw myself hanging from a tree every night. These thoughts gave me relief. I even bought the rope already. But when it was time to take action, I got so afraid of taking my life that I decided to start therapy. And here I am. Life is still difficult, but there are some good days again. And these are worth fighting for. More good days will come.

Your distorted hearing will improve with high certainty. Give yourself one year. In that year, do everything beneficial to your hearing. Protect your hearing; it will never be as durable as before the noise trauma. You will improve, I am sure of that.

I received two rounds of steroid treatment, which improved my tinnitus and hearing for two days, but then it returned. So don't be sad about the missed treatment; nobody knows if it would have helped.

I also had sound therapy and hearing aids. There was one specific point of interest with the hearing aids. The audiologist performs a hearing test and then adjusts the hearing aids according to your hearing loss. Then you put the hearing aids in, and they conduct another hearing test through the hearing aids to show that you can hear now. Surprise: my hearing did not improve with the hearing aids as it should have. That showed me that some other mechanism besides my hair cells was blocking my hearing. That really improved over time. In my experience, dB in a hearing test does not directly correlate with hearing quality.

In my opinion, relaxation and good sleep have been important factors. For both, you need a positive mindset. Also, try some body relaxation techniques—yoga, stretching, whatever works for you.

I have to stop now; breakfast is ready

All the best to you!

Stoic

 

-30 to -45 dB from 1 kHz to 8 kHz, but it drops off even worse above 8 kHz. I notice the hearing loss in that I have trouble understanding more things said on TV or if someone is speaking too quietly. And I notice I don't hear the high frequencies in music anymore, like 12 kHz to 16 kHz. I've had some hearing loss going back years, so I don't think I've had too sudden of a change with it at any point. Most of the time, I'm not noticing the hearing loss, just the severe tinnitus, which I can hear over everything.

 

Despite not showing "too much loss" in my test results, my hearing is in really bad shape. I struggle to understand people in places with background noise. Even during a doctor's appointment, I have difficulty understanding what the doctor says.

My friends have started telling me that I'm speaking too loudly, which is ironic because I used to remind them to lower their voices. Even in quiet environments at night, I can sense the problem with my hearing. I even hear my own voice less clearly.

I know my condition won't get better, so I'm not experiencing panic attacks or anxiety. I feel like I don't want to exist anymore. I'm really angry about my luck in life.

The number of people who experience problems with headphones is extremely rare. Among them, those with tinnitus are even fewer, and within that group, those with hyperacusis are even rarer. Among those, the ones who suffer hearing loss are even more scarce, and those whose hearing loss became permanent due to delayed treatment are even fewer. In fact, in the past two months, I haven't come across anyone in a similar situation as mine.

I'm trying to find success stories of people in similar situations, but I haven't found anyone as unlucky as I am. I know the condition I have is not the worst or most painful disease in the world, but being in the minority of minorities within such a rare condition makes me really sad.

My aim here is not to be depressing and ruin anyone's mood. On the contrary, I want to highlight how lucky people with only tinnitus or without hearing loss actually are. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the world who experience tinnitus, and because it is temporary, they take the necessary precautions and continue their lives without problems. Life didn’t give me that second chance; it took my hearing at the age of 27.

Anyway, thank you once again.

 

You responded to my status, so I visited your profile and read your thread. I experienced my first acoustic trauma in 2016, which resulted in tinnitus in both ears and a similar hearing loss to yours (hearing only possible ranging from 25-30 dB at 6 kHz and 8 kHz). Unfortunately, I never imagined I would face a second acoustic trauma, but I am now dealing with that (you can read my thread). My symptoms are not exactly the same as in 2016. My main symptom is the same as yours, "hearing behind glass," with no new hearing loss, and the tinnitus in both ears remains the same.

In 2016, I also had this "hearing behind glass" perception combined with hyperacusis, but not as severely as now.

What I can tell you is that it will get better with time, believe me. After my first acoustic trauma in 2016, I was a mess for almost three and a half months. I had similar thoughts to yours. Tinnitus freaked me out, but the hearing loss didn't. A hearing loss of 25-30 dB at 6 kHz or 8 kHz is almost unnoticeable since these are high-frequency sounds. When a friend is talking to you, you won't recognize it. What you're describing as "hearing behind glass" (I'm also experiencing this right now combined with hyperacusis) is not due to your mild hearing loss at 6 kHz. From what I've read over the years, this seems to be a protective mechanism of your inner ear.

Your inner ear has a natural defense reaction to excessively loud sounds or overstress and reacts at some point with muscle spasms in the form of a blockage to protect itself (especially the inner ear). The result is a perception of "hearing behind glass or under a helmet." This blockage won't go away quickly. In 2016, it took three and a half months for my hearing perception and hyperacusis to improve. I remember listening to songs at low volume back then, and my hearing perception was totally different, which freaked me out.

The best things you can do are the following:

- Use earplugs from now on, not all the time, but most of the time (there are also invisible ones). Your ears need more rest than just your sleep. Don't protect your ears 24/7 with earplugs, but use them when you're out on the street or in noisy environments (cafes/restaurants, for example). If you injure your foot, you need to stop using it for a while to recover. It's the same with your ears; you need more silence during the day. I did this in 2016 and am doing it again now. You will also feel more relaxed when you use them because your ears can rest and process fewer sounds. Today, I was in a restaurant with my wife, and I had to put in my earplugs as soon as I arrived. Without them, there would have been no way for me to sit there (too much chaos for my ears right now).

- Work out every two days (for example, running or lifting weights). Increasing your metabolism and blood circulation improves your handling of the symptoms.

Hang in there, you are not alone! More patience is needed. I learned this the hard way in 2016 and was in the same position as you.

 

Hello @matt89, thank you for the detailed response. I hope you recover soon.

My situation is very different. Unfortunately, my days and nights have been consumed by these ear problems for the past two months. I have personally talked to hundreds of people on many local and international support groups. I think the number of people I have talked to exceeds 500. I have read many patient stories about successes and failures. As I said, I have been at the center of this issue for two months, but I have not yet found anyone experiencing the same situation as mine. For this reason, I cannot refer to any success stories.

Many people receive early-stage treatments; if they didn’t, maybe they would experience the same conditions as me. As someone who hasn’t received these treatments, I am not experiencing what they are.

My tinnitus is extremely loud. Very, very loud. It seems to me that what many people experience during their spike periods, I experience daily, and during my spike periods, it feels like there is no option but death. During spike periods, the tinnitus is so loud that I can hardly hear anything else, and it rings at a terrifying volume.

Thank you again for your response. What can we say? I wish the best for all of us.

Best regards.

 

Literally everyone thinks they have it the worst. I bet you will be back after six months or so saying you're doing much better, and everyone can habituate.

 

Oh, my friend, I wish things were as simple as you say for everyone. I try to stay strong every day. If anyone with "mild tinnitus" experienced what I have, they wouldn't be alive right now.

Unlike those fortunate enough to say, "I don't hear it here or there," I don't have that luxury. Even when I muster the strength to meet my girlfriend or friends—despite how difficult it is for me—I still hear it. The noise even throws me off balance when walking through the busiest parks in London.

You talk about people who are just the tip of the iceberg. I'm stuck at the very bottom of the Mariana Trench. Only I know what I'm going through. I'm not part of the lucky majority with tinnitus. I'm among the unlucky minority whose life has been completely turned upside down.

Yet, despite everything, I try to support and help other tinnitus sufferers and contribute to tinnitus research as a volunteer. I've even helped save lives, whether they realize it or not. In a local tinnitus group I founded, I urgently advised a guy who had experienced acoustic trauma and was told by doctors that nothing could be done about early treatments they needed to take seriously. After receiving those treatments, his symptoms significantly decreased, his hearing fully recovered, and he left the group with barely any tinnitus that would affect him for life. A man as old as my father, who had fought tinnitus for four years and had seen countless doctors with no solution, joined my group. He had never entered any tinnitus group or shared his problem with anyone. I helped him with acceptance. We talked for an hour, and he left the group with prayers.

In short, I couldn't do even a fraction for myself of what I did for others. Due to the decisions of doctors in the UK, I couldn't get the early treatments I requested, and I am now left with lifelong hearing loss, hyperacusis, and extremely loud tinnitus. I went through all this at the age of 27. Due to a surgery I had, the wound never closed, and I constantly had discharge, preventing me from working. Now, I'm permanently disabled because of my hearing problems. Moreover, I will need to undergo another surgery in two months unrelated to my hearing problems.

If there's anyone who could survive the situation you described, it certainly isn't me. I'm doing everything possible, but I'm not lucky. Let's hope we all become that person, but for me, there's no light at the end of the tunnel. My goal isn't to be pessimistic or negative, but to sincerely share my thoughts and experiences so that everyone understands what a curse this is.

 

Try contacting Hough Ear Institute. They were allowed to use an experimental drug on a severe case like yours, and they say his tinnitus is almost gone:

→ Oklahoma City researchers working on pill to help cure tinnitus

 

@Furetto, thank you for the advice, but I can barely spend time without masking sounds. Also, I don't live in the US.