Hi, I Am New and Need Help

[JSNC348]

Hello everyone, I am my tinnitus is has taken on new characteristics and so it is driving me nuts.

A little background - I have a severe sensorineural hearing loss in both ears. Over ten years ago, I started getting the tinnitus but the hearing aids always helped with masking it so it never bothered me to much. I had a kind of spike in my mid 20s and was able to calm it down after a few trips to the ENT who gave me nasel sprays to help calm it down.

Now I am in my mid 30s and my Tinnitus did a completely unexpected turn on May 4th. Okay so I got a ringing in my left ear which I thought would be temporary but I noticed it would pop back up every time I spoke. Well, I figured it would passed. But then I noticed that sounds in that ear started to sound "tinny" or like they were mixed with a "buzzing" sound. At first I thought it was my hearing aid but when I switched the units (I have the behind the ear model) I noticed the sound was still present in my left ear. So it was not the hearing aid. And I also noticed that I heard the sounds when my hearing aids were out although they were not as pronounced because I obviously hear less without them.

So my tinnitus so it seems is doing the opposites. Sounds seem to trigger it. I could be riding in a car and the sound of the motor will mix with buzzing. I can be listening to classical music and the notes are accompanied with buzzing. It is like when you listen to something on bad speakers..

I have not made an appointment with an ENT yet because I wonder if I should change to one who specializes in ear disorders. The one I have now specializes in throat disorders. It seems that every time I saw the ENT, I would get nose sprays. I know that the nasal passages do affect tinnitus but I am wondering if there is any home remedies I should try.

I don't like this "triggered" or "Reactive" type of tinnitus. Am I stuck with this new thing forever. Is there a way to just tune it out?

 

[michaelbio]

This is so odd you bring this up. For about a week I started getting this tinny/glassy sound in my left ear. It usually happens if I talk loudly, move around, and certain other sounds. TV or music doesn't really bother it. I wasn't sure if I am experience some hyperacusis because of increased sound sensitivity or reactive tinnitus.

 

[JSNC348]

I really hate this and hope it subsides because I can't listen to anything without hearing a glassy type sound in my left ear. I hear it whenever I am listening to TV, Radio, music you name it.

 

[michaelbio]

I did have this once before. For a weeks and eventually it did go away. I think mine happened once we I slept with a fan on and it blowing in my ear, and recently driving with the top down and cold air hitting my ear. I am sure yours will subside

 

[JSNC348]

Thanks guys. I am just trying to figure out what caused it. I was listening to a lot of stuff with headphones prior to going to bed and maybe the excessive listening got to my left ear.

I am hoping it subsides. I am doing better today though dealing with it than I was yesterday. I got really frustrated the last couple days because I couldn't enjoy listening to my new CD because I was hearing extra "stuff" in my left ear.

 

[billie48]

welcome to the forum. The 'glassy' quality to sounds is the exact term I used to describe my T & H. It feels cracking and brittle. My T was already ultra high pitch dog whistle, like a dentist drill with 10 times the pitch. But H put a cruel spin on this because before H I could at least turn the sounds of heavy rain or even shower to help mask T. But H made this so difficult because the louder the masking, the more piercing the H became. Yes, it was like a 'sound reactive T'. But for most people including myself, the H just faded over time, within the year it started. So don't get too anxious about it. It will most likely fade away over time. God bless.

 

[JSNC348]

It seems to be more tolerable now but you said it right when things sound crackling. Usually tinnitus is at it's worst in the silence which is true for my right ear but in my left the high while/ring sound chimes in with every sound I here. The only thing that can drown it out is my two parrots seen in my profile pictures. I was listening to piano music earlier and everything sounds weird on the left side with the added sounds.