Is Your Tinnitus High or Low-Frequency? What Was the Cause?

[Louise77]

Does everyone with a pure tone type tinnitus (ringing/whistle etc) know their frequency?

Mine is two tone at 1100 Hz and 1550 Hz. This is considered low (less than 8 kHz).

What's your frequency and what was the cause of your tinnitus do you think?

Is there a connection between the cause and the frequency of the tinnitus?

 

[Boy Helios]

high is better than low.

high freq tinnitus loss is prob due to high freq hearing loss

 

[Atlantis]

high is better than low.

How so? Isn't low frequency tinnitus easier to mask?

 

[Boy Helios]

a lower one would be more instrusive since it's within the practical hearing range

if tinnitus is above 8 to 10k it's easier to mask IMO

 

[joepad]

Mine is a high pitch and constant. I mask it when on the computer with a you tube audio. Works well for me. Search in you tube this phrase. Tinnitus relief, relaxation, study and meditation. White noise. Weird thing with mine (but good), it stops around 5:30 p.m. every day. No problem from then and when sleeping. As soon as I wake, it starts again. Have had it over 1 year, but this is the pattern now for the last 2 weeks.

 

[noisebox]

Mine is a high pitch and constant. I mask it when on the computer with a you tube audio. Works well for me. Search in you tube this phrase. Tinnitus relief, relaxation, study and meditation. White noise. Weird thing with mine (but good), it stops around 5:30 p.m. every day. No problem from then and when sleeping. As soon as I wake, it starts again. Have had it over 1 year, but this is the pattern now for the last 2 weeks.

I wish mine would stop at 5.30. Mine is weird and changeable. Loud hiss quiet hiss. One ear, both ears. Can nearly stop in bed when totally relaxed. Changes all day long

 

[Reinier]

high is better than low.

Not in perception I believe. Perhaps because this is subjective it can be personal. I find my tinnitus of 9.5 kHz very intrusive and "prefer" a lower frequency of half this 9.5 kHz.
My tinnitus and hyperacusis is exactly were most of my hearing damage shows in an audiogram. The explosion that caused the damage was an extremely high pitched explosion. I strongly feel there is a connection between tinnitus frequency and where your hearing loss/damage is located.
I know from personal experience that this is fact in my case. It makes sense to me too.
It could be that no loss is visible in your audiogram and yet I think that the damage is in that area. Just to small to see on a rudimentary audiogram.

 

[Boy Helios]

the audiograms are a joke that they have. they only go up to 8K or so.

humans can hear up to 20, most probably to 14-15.

I still have high frequency loss above 10K, but the audiogram now says I'm perfectly healed from sudden hearing loss.

I'm hopeful that I can gain most of my 10K frequencies back. I would put up with some Tinnitus rather than have holes in my hearing.

 

[Reinier]

the audiograms are a joke that they have. they only go up to 8K or so.

And not only that. No indication is given why many people have diminished hearing capacity in noisy environments after noise trauma. It could be a perfect audiogram and yet people have to ask other people to repeat all the time.
My left ear shows a good (not perfect) audiogram. Yet my hearing is distorted (ever so slightly, but distorted never the less). This was not the case before the noise incident.

 

[Boy Helios]

yes it's not just about straight up hearing levels.. it's also about speech discrimination and discrimination through noise.

I would say even noise induced tinnitus/hyperacusis can be cured if you start treatment early. intervene before your body adjusts to the new normal. people need to be PROACTIVE

 

[joepad]

I wish mine would stop at 5.30. Mine is weird and changeable. Loud hiss quiet hiss. One ear, both ears. Can nearly stop in bed when totally relaxed. Changes all day long

Even though mine is not there when I sleep, I always put music on at very low volume to mask it if it does start. I'm also going to try taking some French Maritime Pine Bark Extract. A friend of mine works in a health food store and has such bad tinnitus that he had to get hearing devices tuned to his tinnitus frequency to mask it. He is a musician and loud music caused his problem. He suggested trying the pine bark extract. It is supposed to increase circulation and is an antioxidant. Takes about 30 days to start working. When I get the bottle, I'll report after one month if it helps.

 

[Reinier]

I would say even noise induced tinnitus/hyperacusis can be cured if you start treatment early

I am not at all convinced anything will repair the damage. Yet, with interest I keep following the different LLLT posts.
I wonder if there is a lot of difference between noise induced loss or loss induced due to ototoxicity or a virus. It is all hair cells and neurons that get destroyed.

 

[Boy Helios]

the hair cells prob don't die immediately after a noise event. there is prob a window of around 1-2 weeks where you can save it with roids or something else. Further study is needed, but i'm guessing they don't die the instant you hear a loud sound. they get severely flattened and may be resuscitated

 

[Boy Helios]

when you get a threshold shift the hairs are flattened. get too many threshold shifts and the loss becomes permanent. it's like walking across a patch of grass repeatedly. if you walk a few times they get flattened, but they come back up.

walk all the time and they get flattened and die.

what i'm talking about is even ones that are near death can be revived with prompt therapy, but this doesnt' seem to be supported by the medical establishment.

 

[Alue]

Even though mine is not there when I sleep, I always put music on at very low volume to mask it if it does start. I'm also going to try taking some French Maritime Pine Bark Extract. A friend of mine works in a health food store and has such bad tinnitus that he had to get hearing devices tuned to his tinnitus frequency to mask it. He is a musician and loud music caused his problem. He suggested trying the pine bark extract. It is supposed to increase circulation and is an antioxidant. Takes about 30 days to start working. When I get the bottle, I'll report after one month if it helps.

That's the problem with very high pitched tinnitus, you can't get hearing aids tuned around 15 kHz tinnitus to mask it. If it's loud enough like mine it is next to impossible to mask.

 

[Alue]

the hair cells prob don't die immediately after a noise event. there is prob a window of around 1-2 weeks where you can save it with roids or something else. Further study is needed, but i'm guessing they don't die the instant you hear a loud sound. they get severely flattened and may be resuscitated

That entirely depends on the severity of the event. Sometimes it can be instant other times it can be days, weeks, even months later.

Also depends if it's cumulative damage or a one time event.

 

[Boy Helios]

^ probably. but for most cases it's probably related to headphones, concerts or the disco. in these cases I do believe you can salvage your ears with steroids /supplements.

 

[Boy Helios]

i see a lot of people with cleared up tinnitus in China. this is because they start treatment on the DAY OF ONSET.
they get tinnitus, they go to the doc, they get the meds and hyperbaric.

in the US you have to schedule this and that, talk to your insurance , blah blah blah.. the doc prob won't even prescribe you the meds like roids for noise induced hearing loss.

 

[Boy Helios]

my audiogram result in China came out in 10 min. the test took 20 min. boom. they said sudden hearing loss. 1 hr. later I was in ER with a lidocaine shot + Ginaton + vicepotene through IV. I got the steroids right away too. Within 2 days my hearing loss recovered by at least 50%. truly amazing.

if your T ringing is getting higher in pitch it's probably a good sign. it's a sign that your ears are recovering.

in hearing recovery, the low tones come back first, and slowly the high tones hopefully. Right now I'm doing all I can to get the 10K + high tones back.

I am starting acupuncture on Tuesday. I am doing anything I can within the first month to get rid of T and restore full hearing. the thing is I think the gingko, vincopetene through IV has improved my hearing on my right ear as well.

Hyperbaric has cured by hyperacusis for sure. Sounds are no longer distorted.

The best course of action is combination therapy.

 

[I who love music]

Does everyone with a pure tone type tinnitus (ringing/whistle etc) know their frequency?

Mine is two tone at 1100 Hz and 1550 Hz. This is considered low (less than 8 kHz).

What's your frequency and what was the cause of your tinnitus do you think?

Is there a connection between the cause and the frequency of the tinnitus?

Can I ask you this?
I'm not being anything but inquisitive.
In the battle against tinnitus, why would this matter?

 

[valeri]

How so? Isn't low frequency tinnitus easier to mask?

While it may be easier to mask it's hell on earth!
If you read low frequency t thread you will notice that all of those people who experience low and high frequency habituate high frequency much easier.
LFT also comes as a feeling not just a sound so you feel your whole head vibrating, shaking with the sound!
I'm cursed

 

[Nucleo]

I would say even noise induced tinnitus/hyperacusis can be cured if you start treatment early. intervene before your body adjusts to the new normal. people need to be PROACTIVE

Yeah well there isn't much you can do. You can take steroids IMMEDIATELY after a hearing incident and it seems to be a hit or miss. Then there is AM-101 which is still in the clinical trial stage. You can be proactive all you want but those are realistically your only medical options.

 

[Reinier]

While it may be easier to mask it's hell on earth!
If you read low frequency t thread you will notice that all of those people who experience low and high frequency habituate high frequency much easier.

I don't want to get into a debate which is worse. This is subjective. The neurostimulator therapy I am doing at the moment pushes the tinnitus down in frequency (approximately from 9.5kHz to 4-5 kHz). For me personally, I find this less intrusive/tiring. The 9.5 kHz frequency feels more "sharp" and feels like physically compressing my brains. But again. This is personal. I have now way of knowing how someone else experiences his or her tinnitus. I have experienced both high and lower and "prefer" the lower. But it also could be that we need to define high and low? High being anything above a few kHz? Low being 100 Hz?

 

[valeri]

I don't want to get into a debate which is worse. This is subjective. The neurostimulator therapy I am doing at the moment pushes the tinnitus down in frequency (approximately from 9.5kHz to 4-5 kHz). For me personally, I find this less intrusive/tiring. The 9.5 kHz frequency feels more "sharp" and feels like physically compressing my brains. But again. This is personal. I have now way of knowing how someone else experiences his or her tinnitus. I have experienced both high and lower and "prefer" the lower. But it also could be that we need to define high and low? High being anything above a few kHz? Low being 100 Hz?

Maybe I missed the point but I don't think we are talking about let's say high pitched eeeeeeee sound as high and the same sound but less intrusive.
I have low frequency drone, engine noise that occupies my whole head.
As I sad this noise can be masked bit easier but it's a nightmare to have.
Every single person so far who has high pitched and drone said that drone is more problematic.
Tinnitus in general is horrible!

 

[Reinier]

I have low frequency drone, engine noise that occupies my whole head.

This I Imagen can be very intrusive. That is why we should not debate which is worse.
People that do not experience tinnitus, that will not go away, will have difficulty understanding what impact this has on somebody's life. People that do have this affliction are on this forum and will understand so much better.
I too sometimes have this very low frequency. So I believe I know what impact this could have.

Maybe I missed the point but I don't think we are talking about let's say high pitched eeeeeeee sound as high and the same sound but less intrusive.

It is very well possible I missed the point. I regard my 9.5 kHz as very high. Some people experience even higher.
And for me 4-5 kHz is low in comparison with the 9.5 kHz. But yes, the frequency you mentioned is perhaps 100 Hz or lower. Like I mentioned earlier: we need to define low or high first.

 

[Jensmiles]

I have only just realized my symptoms of feeling like my head is vibrating and buzzing but with basically no auditory is possibly a form of tinnitus. I've had random high-freq tinnitus since my whole dizzy, sound sensitivity, neck pain, we-dont-yet-know thing started in Nov of last year. But it this low rumble, vibration sensation that made me desperate to take any medication they'd give me. It was constant and debilitating. I initially described it to doctors and family like the vibration of a tuning fork but my whole head was the tuning fork and there was no tone or sound just the sensation of vibrating. Now its more like a rumble - I've noticed that certain sounds in movies, like the artificial gravity craft Hermes in The Martian makes the same rumble sound as my head. And one of our ceiling fans seems almost identical.

How do you determine the kHz of your specific tinnitus?

My hearing has been tested to death and is near perfect, in fact it is too sensitive via the nerves (where they test the frequencies the nerve bundle behind the ear structure).

 

[joepad]

I have to report that so far since taking the French Maritime Pine Bark Extract for 1 week, the volume of my tinnitus has been lower and also not as frequent. I take one capsule per day. A bottle of 180 capsules is only $11 on Amazon, so it is inexpensive. Hoping it continues to be less intrusive.

 

[Fretux]

this is my tone (super annoying). talking about high and low, I would assume that this is very high!? cause was noise and stress...

 

[Owen]

I suffer from both high (greater than 8k) and sometimes low (lower than 1k) and personally, I find the high pitched more intrusive, as the world around me does not mask it. Oddly, it comes and goes anyway, so sometimes, no matter how hard I try to listen for it, it isn't present. Occasionally though - and I guess this is habituation at its best - my brain does seem to just filter out completely, but when I start to think about it again, it re-appears.

However, what I think some people on here are referring to when they say there whole head feels like it is vibrating is broad spectrum tinnitus (my name for it, I don't think it is a classification) - which unluckily for me, but luckily for the debate, I have also had, although this has not been present for several months, so I'm hoping that this part at least has gone (famous last words, I'll probably have again it within the next 24 hours).

As such, I totally agree that broad spectrum tinnitus is far, far worse. No matter what you do or where you are, you cannot ignore it. It just fills the entire of your auditory system with multiple tones, making it very difficult to follow conversations or distract yourself from it.

This is, of course, just my opinion.

 

[linearb]

a lower one would be more instrusive since it's within the practical hearing range

if tinnitus is above 8 to 10k it's easier to mask IMO

speak for yourself, man. I have some tones below 8k that I barely even think about. The 14-15 khz whines are the ones that bother me, when I am bothered by this.