Low Frequency Vibration

[Faite]

Hi all,

Forgive the fairly long first post but I'm hoping I can gain some sanity on what I've been experiencing recently that's causing a huge amount of distress.

Around the end of 2014, I suffered a week long panic attack that I couldn't shake and my GP eventually prescribed propranolol and sertraline. (I had one dose of the latter as I didn't really need them and overcome the troubles myself) However I blacked out from standing onto a hard floor and the following days developed a sporadic "hum" in my right ear. The odd sound, or swallowing would set it going but it would stop as quickly as it started. I overall learned to live with this as it wasn't too obtrusive.

Skip to approx a week ago and this incessant "hum" is more frequent, now being triggered by external noise such as a subwoofer or a door closing. The sound is very low frequency (around 75 Hz) but is enough to feel like my whole head is vibrating and if I allow it to continue I'll have a lightheaded dizziness episode. If I leave it to continue, I can no longer make out other sounds as it is fairly loud. My left ear appears fine, my right seems to be the cause of it. Swallowing, listening to bass, doors, typing on a keyboard, male voices etc will all trigger it and sometimes just touching my ear. It feels like it spasms inside and can sometimes trigger this noise. I get the odd shooting pain in both ears but my right is most affected. Feeling like it is full and my head feels like it has increased pressure. I've developed some kind of scratchy click on the right side jaw joint. Overall, I'm experiencing as if my jaw is too big for my head and like something is wanting to push the joints apart.

Thankfully I can get this "hum" to stop; opening my jaw, moving my jaw to the side, making another external noise, talking etc. but it just starts up as easily.

Both ears pop when I swallow but they have done this for as long as I can remember.

Travelling in a car will cause amounts of dizziness where I almost feel nauseous (when its at this point, my ear doesn't actually buzz as easily)

My GP is fairly dismissive of it all, advising I take Sudafed congestion tablets. I've been doing this and zero change.

Has anyone experienced similar? I may not have made much sense as I feel quite out of it.

Thank you.

 

[swc5150]

I had the exact same thing happen. Left ear, low-pitched hum that I could make go away by moving my jaw, etc. one day in 2014, it just wouldn't go away. It was loud, and really affected my well being. Went to an ENT, who naturally didn't/couldn't do anything for me. Fast forward 3 years, and it went away completely. I don't know how or why, but it's gone, and has been gone for well over a year. The only remnant is low bass can't make me hear a vibration/distortion sound. That only seems to happen when my bass player is sound checking, or a piped-out Harley rides by me, etc.

I think this type of T is what they're working on at the U of Minnesota and Michigan.

 

[Audiophile_bg]

@Faite , I also had this type of Tinnitus. Incredibly distressing. Mine didn't respond to any movements i made or sounds i heard, it was just constant.

@swc5150 , are they really working on this type of T? Awesome.

 

[icono_clast]

@Faite I know its been over a year since this post was written but I figured I'd give it a shot because...

I have literally the EXACT same thing going on as you described. Now that its been a year, have you had any changes. Has anything helped? Anything made it worse? I hope you're getting relief and would love to hear any info you've got since most ENTs seem to be worthless for this...

@swc5150 Thats awesome to hear your vibrating went away! Do you attribute it to anything? Do you think it was just the passing of time that did it or something else? Do you know where I can find info on the university research regarding this condition? Thanks!

 

[Faite]

I still have it. I'm not sure if I'm getting used to it or whatever. Some days are worse than others. I had brief relief after changing my bed (I had an old one and it was definitely due) - after sleeping in the new one, the first two days I didn't have any buzzing. But it came back on the third day. I'm currently pretty awful at the minute, a new high pitched constant ringing and dizziness along with the low freq. buzz that is triggered completely randomly.

With all that said, I think perhaps mine is related to a sedentary lifestyle, bad posture and maybe that fall I experienced some years back. I work in IT so spend a lot of time sat down looking at screens.

 

[Alan P]

I'll give this a shot to see if anyone's symptoms have subsided over the years.

I've been looking around the board to find anything that describes what I'm also experiencing. This is the closest.

I've had high pitch noise induced tinnitus for many years. Most recently after what should have been a safe sound exposure (earplugs, studio work), my head is vibrating constantly with a low rumble, light headedness, moments of dizziness. It's quite intrusive as it is more of a physical pounding sensation than sound. I don't hear the sound in my ears per se. feels like it's in the middle or back of my brain. Low frequency (bass) sound makes it much worse. Even a small kitchen speaker at low volumes.

The one major relief is when I sleep the vibration goes away. When I wake up, it's gone but gradually starts coming back 30 minutes after being up. By the end of the day it's brutal.

Anyone else have similar experience?

 

[aorelia]

I'll give this a shot to see if anyone's symptoms have subsided over the years.

I've been looking around the board to find anything that describes what I'm also experiencing. This is the closest.

I've had high pitch noise induced tinnitus for many years. Most recently after what should have been a safe sound exposure (earplugs, studio work), my head is vibrating constantly with a low rumble, light headedness, moments of dizziness. It's quite intrusive as it is more of a physical pounding sensation than sound. I don't hear the sound in my ears per se. feels like it's in the middle or back of my brain. Low frequency (bass) sound makes it much worse. Even a small kitchen speaker at low volumes.

The one major relief is when I sleep the vibration goes away. When I wake up, it's gone but gradually starts coming back 30 minutes after being up. By the end of the day it's brutal.

Anyone else have similar experience?

Sorry to revive, but I am experiencing this as well. I have had high pitched tinnitus for almost a year, but the last few months I have been noticing this horrible low hum that gets worse as the day goes on. Feels like it is in the back of my head and I cannot tell which ear it is from. When I plug my ears and hear my high pitched tinnitus, it sort of goes away.

 

[Alan P]

I love the idea of crowd sourcing information across the community to see if certain things have worked for others or what it could possibly be?

If anyone has any ideas for us please chime in. I've exhausted my google search queries at this point. Lol.

Mine started on September 27th, 2021 last year and has not gone away yet... If anything it's got more intense and fluctuates. Some days it's a 3, others it's a 6 and hard to concentrate. I went to get an MRI / CT scan to rule out anything major and it all come back fine. When it first came on I thought that it might've been stress related and would eventually chill out but unfortunately it hasn't. I also questioned whether it was in the world of tinnitus because it leaned more of a physical / sensation rather than sound oriented. The only thing that keeps me coming back to tinnitus (tinnitus neurons going haywire wild) was that it began after a noise exposure and a period of time where I was having funky tinnitus spikes.

So I guess it's kinda like sitting in an idling truck or the way a super low generator 'feels' rather than sounds... and it's fluctuating at all times not necessarily to a pulse or heartbeat but about as often... just not a steady rhythm. And it's way more of a sensation than a sound.

Anyone else in this boat? Let's share what has worked or if it has magically chilled out?