Mystery... Why Does My Tinnitus Go Away Some Days?

[jeannie]

i know there are some very smart people on this site ,so i have a question...... with tinnitus fluctuating and having for 3 years, why would it go down to a 0 on one day and back up the next day to a 7-8 if there is damage? i know this is how tinnitus is for alot of people and im not complaining ,and very lucky it does go down to a 0 at least in 1 ear for a day, but i wonder why? i would think if there is damage to both ears then the tinnitus would be there 24/7 and not go away on any days.... i know food and stress doesnt really affect mine... stress might have before i first got it but i have been totally stressed and it be like a 1-2 that particular day... doctors cant really have no clue... just a question i have often wondered.. thanks!

 

[markoana]

i know there are some very smart people on this site ,so i have a question...... with tinnitus fluctuating and having for 3 years, why would it go down to a 0 on one day and back up the next day to a 7-8 if there is damage? i know this is how tinnitus is for alot of people and im not complaining ,and very lucky it does go down to a 0 at least in 1 ear for a day, but i wonder why? i would think if there is damage to both ears then the tinnitus would be there 24/7 and not go away on any days.... i know food and stress doesnt really affect mine... stress might have before i first got it but i have been totally stressed and it be like a 1-2 that particular day... doctors cant really have no clue... just a question i have often wondered.. thanks!

@jeannie Interesting question, same i was asking myself... It could be good sign, but in other hand it makes habituation impossible mission. How to habituate to something that has changes so often, mine on daily base, from almost 0 to who knows, 5 lets say, probably more...
Very strange, and without answer.

 

[Hariz Nonis]

This is something I'm curious about too... Hopefully someone can answer this. At least it means our T doesn't always disturb us

 

[noisebox]

Me too, a total mystery. I don't alter the food really, sleep either. I don't have stress except t of course. For ladies maybe hormones can play a part, as they certainly fluctuate. But as you say it makes no sense if there was damage then why oh why would it alter.

 

[Ron Robles]

Hello has anybody really found some kind of relief from tinnitus at least something that lowers it

 

[I who love music]

Hello has anybody really found some kind of relief from tinnitus at least something that lowers it

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/

 

[Michael Leigh]

Jeannie, My tinnitus is variable too. Silent, mild, moderate or severe. My consultant and hearing therapist do not know the reason why. They have told me that they don't usually see people with my type of tinnitus. Michael.

 

[glynis]

My tinnitus is sever and constant high hiss in both ears but I get a low drone on top that comes and goes a lot for no reason and I don't think that one is due to Menieres but who knows ......lots of love glynis

 

[liquefact]

My two cents (maybe more),

My onset was 9 weeks ago and 5-6 days after the onset the ringing was gone to 0. It stayed like this for 2 weeks. And then i woke up with a different (lower freq) ringing in my right ear. After 1 week i went away as well. I enjoyed 0T for 3-4 days and after that i woke up with higher freq ringing in my both ears. It's still here and i guess here for good.

My guess is, the hearing is not a continuous function and there is some sort of a hearing threshold. If any impulse created by the ear is below the threshold, it's not registered as sound and you do not hear anything. If it exceeds the threshold, then you start hearing them. The brain increasing the gain because of no communication with ear for some particular frequencies is the major cause of T a we know.

I also think that this threshold is not stationary. It may be represented as a graph wrt frequencies. In normal people who has no T and/or H this threshold is fairly stable and linear. Whereas, for us it may be not linear and show some sharp down/up spikes. I tend to correlate these with Loudness Discomfort Level (LDL). For example, my LDL values are ~80 db for 1KHz and 4 KHz which is a clear indication of H.

So if i connect this hypothesis with my experience i can conclude as;
1. The times where i heard absolutely no T, the ringing was below the hearing threshold.
2. The increase/decrease of ringing after the onset is because of the hear/brain to find a stable new level for the hearing threshold. After some trials, the ear/brain decided to lower the threshold to be able to hear more of the damaged frequencies. The lower hearing threshold also means i'm more sensitive to any sound around these frequencies, hence H.

I hope, over time the threshold shall go up slowly as my hearing loss and the traumatic conditions diminishes. H becoming more manageable is not something rare AFAIK. To monitor these, i'm planning to have the followings periodically, like 2 every year;
1. Audiogram: Shows up nothing, if i believe this i have no hearing loss
2. Otoacoustic Emissions: Much more sensitive test, shows up ~25db the loss bw 6.7-9.5 KHz.
3. LDL: ~80db. Normal should be able to bear 120db for short time and sustain ~100 for 1 hour

Umut