Multiple Tinnitus Tones and Reactive Tones: Prognosis and Etiology?

[FGG]

I'm writing this on behalf of someone who wants to know if others suffer from this but doesn't have the mental or emotional energy to start the thread themselves and asked me if I would.

Is there anyone here who has about a dozen tinnitus tones and multiple reactive tones on top of this (reactive in terms of showing up in response to external sounds, i.e. a hiss that appears over certain sounds, for example)?

They feel like they are the only one who has this many tones and though none of them are at severe loudness the amount of them is overwhelming.

If anyone has this, can you weigh in on if they got better or worse and/or what your etiologies are/were?

Thanks.

 

[Marcuso22]

I definitely hear hissing and wavering high frequency tones at same time in both ears. The intensity changes between my dosages of medication & my right ear reacts with a more dominant mid to high frequency tone whenever the fridge motor is on.

 

[FGG]

I definitely hear hissing and wavering high frequency tones at same time in both ears. The intensity changes between my dosages of medication & my right ear reacts with a more dominant mid to high frequency tone whenever the fridge motor is on.

What medication are you on?

 

[Amaranta]

I have two or three different sounds in each ear, normally there is one that dominates the others, and it changes constantly.

I also hear something like a squeak over certain sounds (hairdryer, fan, shower...) and when I walk around. This one is more in my head, like over me. Sometimes it is still on if I am quiet and sitting, but never (so far, I hope it does not stays with me...) when I am lying in bed.

This thing started two months ago and it has only gotten worse so far.
I have no idea why, doctor and ENT don't know either.

@FGG I see yours started last year... Has it improved since? Or did the sounds add over time?

 

[BigNick]

I had several sounds in the first few months along with reactivity.

Two years on I have two sounds.

Isobel Anderson's video on YouTube might provide some encouragement.

 

[Marcuso22]

What medication are you on?

I'm taking Xanax twice a day; 0.5 mg during day and 1.0 mg before bedtime.

 

[FGG]

I have two or three different sounds in each ear, normally there is one that dominates the others, and it changes constantly.

I also hear something like a squeak over certain sounds (hairdryer, fan, shower...) and when I walk around. This one is more in my head, like over me. Sometimes it is still on if I am quiet and sitting, but never (so far, I hope it does not stays with me...) when I am lying in bed.

This thing started two months ago and it has only gotten worse so far.
I have no idea why, doctor and ENT don't know either.

@FGG I see yours started last year... Has it improved since? Or did the sounds add over time?

This post is not about my particular case. I have two main tones (crickets and a high pitched pure tone) and a much quieter 3rd pure tone lower in frequency than my main pure tone.

I had a lot of the reactivity over certain sounds for about maybe 8 or 9 months before it improved. My biggest issues are with actual hearing at this point and severe music distortion.

I don't want to derail this particular thread to talk about my particular case though but I can say that my reactivity at least did get better.

 

[FGG]

I had several sounds in the first few months along with reactivity.

Two years on I have two sounds.

Isobel Anderson's video on YouTube might provide some encouragement.

Thanks, I will pass that along. What was your cause?

 

[Orions Pain]

I have several baseline tones, and several reactive tones on top of that. Acoustic trauma.

 

[DebInAustralia]

Thread:

Anyone Else Have More Than Just One Reactive Tinnitus Sound?

 

[dan]

I have a shit load of tones/sounds a few at very severe levels.
I'm also the gold medalist at the TinnOlympics 2020.

 

[Michael Leigh]

I'm writing this on behalf of someone who wants to know if others suffer from this but doesn't have the mental or emotional energy to start the thread themselves and asked me if I would.

Is there anyone here who has about a dozen tinnitus tones and multiple reactive tones on top of this (reactive in terms of showing up in response to external sounds, i.e. a hiss that appears over certain sounds, for example)?

They feel like they are the only one who has this many tones and though none of them are at severe loudness the amount of them is overwhelming.

If anyone has this, can you weigh in on if they got better or worse and/or what your etiologies are/were?

Thanks.

I have experienced multiple tinnitus tones and describe mine as a cacophony of sounds that were extremely distressing. I have written about this in my post: My experience with tinnitus, on my started threads. This began in 2008 after a second noise trauma and lasted a period of four years and took me to the brink many times. TRT helped, a treatment that I previously had but my recovery was a slow and arduous one. Requiring medication, counselling and learning to restructure my life in order to keep stress to a minimum. This wasn't an easy process and something I had to constantly work at.

I am sorry to hear about the distress your friend is going through. I will assume the person you have written about wants their tinnitus to improve? Therefore, it is important to find out what has caused the tinnitus to become so distressing as there's usually a reason. If the tinnitus is caused by an underlying medical condition then I advise seeing an ENT doctor. If it's noise induced, I recommend seeing an Audiologist that specialises in tinnitus management.

Michael

 

[BigNick]

Thanks, I will pass that along. What was your cause?

Hearing loss due to years of loud headphone use but I had a virus when it started, was also taking Trazodone for a few months prior. The day it started I accidentally set off my burglar alarm.

Lenire reduced the number of sounds (I think).

 

[weab00]

My tinnitus oscillates & fluctuates lots after a setback or spike. Otherwise it's pretty consistent. Probably have around 4 tones on a good day and 9 tones on a bad one.

 

[Keith Handy]

Three main components:

• Highest, the buzzy cicadas that go away when it's quiet.
• Just below that, a high but gentler hiss like air escaping a small hole, sometimes pulses in time with external sound.
  
• Below the other two, a high tone that only comes in sometimes, and seems to react to stress more than sound—this one is more in the left, and can be modulated by rubbing behind my jaw. Also it flares up for a few seconds if I yawn.

The extent to which they bother me is compounded when they are mixed.

Because of how quickly they respond to sound, it's not enjoyable to listen to my favorite music. But I can walk by a speaker where music is playing somewhere and think "that sounds good" for a brief moment.

If this clears up, even 50%, I promise to never bad-mouth contemporary R&B ever again. I didn't realize how good I had it.

 

[MBH]

I have multiple crickets, static, and hiss. It also moves up and down. Mine is caused by major stress.

 

[Keith Handy]

After my last reply, it got weirder, especially in the lower ranges. I have what some people refer to as the "wind tunnel effect", which I previously referred to as PVC pipe or lightsaber effect... random non-pitched sounds all resonating at a certain pitch. I've been tracking the pitch of that effect, and it was hitting 100 Hz and 150 Hz, now about 235 Hz for some reason. And I notice this same kind of effect is actually happening in some higher frequencies, like around 3 kHz or 4 kHz, audible when any continuous noise is sounding, creating a tuned emphasis or tea kettle whistle that overlays the sound. And I've heard some deep bass rumbling (also reactive) that didn't last too long but could come back. Something is odd about how I never hear, say, 100 Hz and 150 Hz at the same time, or 150 Hz and 235 Hz, like it's one beast but it has shifted position.

Crazier still, I have some palinacousis going on with short loops of irritatingly stupid music. My most optimistic take on this is that I've had this brain noise going on under the hood all my life and it's only audible now because of all of the gain compensation. I mean, the brain doesn't just build a looper pedal out of the blue, right? And here's the weird thing about those loops... I can modify them somewhat. With conscious intent, I can "push" notes a little higher or lower, and sometimes they will stick in the "pushed" position as the loop repeats.

I could add musical tinnitus to this as well, though I've only had a few episodes of that and not in the past several days... could clearly hear a guy singing in the bathroom fan, was checking everywhere to see if it was a neighbor's stereo, but as soon as I turned off the fan the singing was gone. Similarly have heard guitar solos and organ music in fans and other noisy machines. Again, optimistic take is that this is a thing our brains do naturally in white noise under certain conditions, and I'm just in a condition that amplifies it.

 

[Keith Handy]

@FGG, have you been in touch with this person since writing this post?

 

[GBB]

I had several sounds in the first few months along with reactivity.

Two years on I have two sounds.

Isobel Anderson's video on YouTube might provide some encouragement.

How long before your reactivity went down? 8 months in I'm still highly reactive to pink noise for example.

 

[BigNick]

It was very slow and gradual. I'm 2.5 years into tinnitus now, and I've had the most improvement in the last few weeks.

This includes both tinnitus and reactivity. I'd recommend the Will Sedley sound therapy.

See the thread in the Research News section.

 

[FGG]

@FGG, have you been in touch with this person since writing this post?

Yes. No change in their condition, unfortunately.

@BigNick, can you tell us more about the sound therapy?

 

[RonnieThailand]

This includes both tinnitus and reactivity. I'd recommend the Will Sedley sound therapy.
See the thread in the Research News section.

In that thread Dr. Sedley said:

Regarding comfortable volume and the potential for tinnitus exacerbation: I did not mention this in the previous description, but we screen potential volunteers for noise exacerbation by asking if they have a history of their tinnitus being made worse by moderate or loud sound exposure, and advise against taking part where this has been a feature.

So this would not be an option for anyone with reactive tinnitus I imagine, right? Am I misinterpreting this?

 

[Matchbox]

@FGG, have you been in touch with this person since writing this post?

How did your tinnitus start? Sounds exactly like my situation.

 

[Matchbox]

After my last reply, it got weirder, especially in the lower ranges. I have what some people refer to as the "wind tunnel effect", which I previously referred to as PVC pipe or lightsaber effect... random non-pitched sounds all resonating at a certain pitch. I've been tracking the pitch of that effect, and it was hitting 100 Hz and 150 Hz, now about 235 Hz for some reason. And I notice this same kind of effect is actually happening in some higher frequencies, like around 3 kHz or 4 kHz, audible when any continuous noise is sounding, creating a tuned emphasis or tea kettle whistle that overlays the sound. And I've heard some deep bass rumbling (also reactive) that didn't last too long but could come back. Something is odd about how I never hear, say, 100 Hz and 150 Hz at the same time, or 150 Hz and 235 Hz, like it's one beast but it has shifted position.

Crazier still, I have some palinacousis going on with short loops of irritatingly stupid music. My most optimistic take on this is that I've had this brain noise going on under the hood all my life and it's only audible now because of all of the gain compensation. I mean, the brain doesn't just build a looper pedal out of the blue, right? And here's the weird thing about those loops... I can modify them somewhat. With conscious intent, I can "push" notes a little higher or lower, and sometimes they will stick in the "pushed" position as the loop repeats.

I could add musical tinnitus to this as well, though I've only had a few episodes of that and not in the past several days... could clearly hear a guy singing in the bathroom fan, was checking everywhere to see if it was a neighbor's stereo, but as soon as I turned off the fan the singing was gone. Similarly have heard guitar solos and organ music in fans and other noisy machines. Again, optimistic take is that this is a thing our brains do naturally in white noise under certain conditions, and I'm just in a condition that amplifies it.

This could've been written by me.

Any shakeup? Was your only exposure ever noise?

When I hear train crossing bells or hearing test tones... well... they keep going when they stop. Most notably in white / masking noises. I also have ungodly "chattery" sounds in the morning or drones in both ears... and when I yawn I get a TWANNNG that is pretty loud and sets off more noises. TWANG is in both ears, who knows which will go off, but only yawning generally and only when I've laid down for a long period of time (exclusively in the morning on waking the most while in bed still).

 

[Keith Handy]

Any shakeup? Was your only exposure ever noise?

Extremely high stress over an extended time likely contributed to it.