How Many Decibels Do You Think Your Tinnitus Is?

Paulmanlike

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Apr 15, 2017
1,419
Tinnitus Since
2008
Cause of Tinnitus
Noise
As the title says, have a look at dB examples and report how many dB you perceive your tinnitus as.

One dB chart:

decibel-scale.jpg
 
Mine gets louder to whatever environment I am in. So it's audible over the shower, outside noises, my car, the vacuum, etc. I don't think it has a consistent dB.
 
Mine changes and gets louder if the background noise is louder - especially clanking cutlery.
I can easily hear it over TV, shower...so I guess 40- 50db.
It is what it is...:eek: Annoying but loves attention.
 
Mine the same as Tinker Bell and Kelvin's, gets louder as the sounds around me get louder, car, shower, highway noise, kids. basketball game at school, can hear it over all that shit, an easy 60 dB
 
guys if something doesn't mask it, it doesn't mean it's as loud. example - you can hear rustling leaves when you're having a conversation.

your tinnitus is highly unlikely to be 60db and up.
 
If all you good folks want to discuss loudness levels of tinnitus, then it might be a good idea to state if your measured tinnitus loudness is:
  1. based on dB
  2. or sensory level dB (dBSL).
 
guys if something doesn't mask it, it doesn't mean it's as loud. example - you can hear rustling leaves when you're having a conversation.

your tinnitus is highly unlikely to be 60db and up.
Very true. My daughter is talking right now and I can hear her and our air conditioning running but that does not mean our AC is 60 dB. When only the AC runs, it is around 40 dB in my house. The AC does not bump up in volume because someone is talking.

But one thing that I don't quite understand: I recently tried a hearing aid with Zen tones. In a quiet room, the audiologist set the tones right below my tinnitus. And then I left the audiologist and realized I could only hear the tones in quiter places. The grocery store, church, driving in my car, etc. no Zen tones but I could hear my tinnitus loud and clear. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't hear the Zen tones everywhere. Is it because tinnitus is "in the head" that I can hear it everywhere?
 
Tom cnyc is right, if you want to know what decibel your tinnitus is you have to have a audiologist do it.
 
I don't recommend using that chart to compare your T to, because the measurements related to the chart are based on a a particular distribution of the sound energy across the frequency bands, providing a softer, more pleasant aural stimulus.
For example, a floor fan is listed at 50 dB, and I find floor fans fairly soothing (I use them to sleep sometimes), but what I hear as T is nothing like that, even if it were to measure 50 dB. The screeching and piercing sound that my T has is much more intrusive than a floor fan.
This also explains why most T cases are in the low dB ranges (5-10 dB - ref: Shulman/Aran/Tonndorf/Feldman/Vernon) but can still be perceived as unexpectedly intrusive. T above those levels can be extremely intrusive, especially given the logarithmic nature of the decibel scale.
I'm talking dB SL btw, since that seems to be the most relevant unit for the patient's perception of sound volume independent from hearing loss.
 
I've never really thought about it in terms of dB, or been to an audiologist.

Only that it usually seems as loud as anything else, but doesn't prevent me from hearing anything. I have the TV volume lower than I usually listen to it and the tinnitus seems louder than it, but I can still hear the TV.

There are times when it's not as noticeable, mainly in the morning, and the more tired I get the louder it gets. It gets louder if I listen to music, but when I wake up the next day it's back to "normal".

The tone or sound can change, too, from a high-pitched whistle, to a combination of whistle/buzzing, to a wavering of that sound which I'm experiencing ATM.

It's always been in both ears though and for that I am thankful. I don't know how I'd handle it if it was only on one side.
 
I think it is difficult to know as the pitch of the tinnitus has a lot to do with it. It is best to gauge your tinnitus level against something which has a similar pitch. For example i can hear my tinnitus whilst I'm driving my car on motorway with radio on which may equate to over 70 decibels but my tinnitus won't be 70 decibels. The car noise is a lower pitch. If i listen to crickets or birds singing i can mask my tinnitus at a lower volume than 70 decibels because the pitch is close to my tinnitus.
 
Mine is that attention whore which could be heard even in 80dbs environments.
Dont know if I could hear it over 85dbs because I use earplugs when at those places but I wouldnt be surprised if so.
 
Just recently I went to an audiologist to check my hearing. My new yearly thing. He decided to check at what level it is masked since I said I've been having a hard time with it. Sometimes I really can't hear people, especially if they whisper to me.

It was between 60 to 70 dB on the chart he gave me. Though that's when it's mild, which it was and didn't amp up. He told me that was nothing and to get over it. (Though I did notice the paper he gave me says I'm between "Moderate-to-Severe" and "Severe" so . . . )

My hearing checked out great, except for my low range which I lost super young.
 
According to numerous tinnitus matching tests done by my audiologist, it's about 30db over sensory level. That's matching level, I have no idea what the masking level would be as I can hear it over just about everything.
 
25-30 decibel. i can hear it over sound machine, tv, conversation, people talking, tv.
I cant hear it when i am in the shower, before i did the caloric test which damaged my hearing further. I heard Tinnitus only in a quiet place and it sounded like electrical buzzing it was easily maskable.
 
I can't really tell. Nothing masks it except for the shower because it's really high-pitched, so I pretty much just hear it everywhere.
 

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