New Tinnitus Sound: Sub 8 kHz, NOT Constant, and Only in the Left Ear — Opinions?

[cheaporiginal]

Hello everyone, first and foremost I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during these unprecedented times.

I am 24 years old and have had tinnitus probably my entire life. It was never bothersome because it was so low in volume and I honestly thought it was normal. Unfortunately, in December of 2019, my ignorance came back to bite me. I went to a club and stayed there for two hours. It was beyond loud, easily passing 100dB I'm sure. I had a threshold shift and ringing. The next day the threshold shift was gone but the ringing never went back down to baseline. I have been trying to cope.

2 days ago, I noticed an entirely new sound. My normal sound is very high pitch and constant in both ears. This new one has to be sub 8 kHz and the most alarming thing about it is that it is NOT constant and ONLY in my left ear. It comes in and out very rapidly. It flickers. It sounds like someone rubbing their index finger around a wine glass. It goes loud to quiet rapidly. I went to the urgent care and they told me I have an ear infection in this left ear. This is my third ear infection since December and also the third different antibiotic. What gives?

Have any of you ever experienced this type of tinnitus? The fading in and out very rapidly? Is this a new type of sound that is just getting started in my brain and is on the border of becoming full blown constant pure tone? I am barely getting used to my original tone and now I get this one. I haven't been exposed to any dangerously loud sounds? The only thing I do is play video games with a headset but the level does not exceed 70dB and is probably averaging 60dB most of the time. That is no where near enough to be considered dangerous.

Thank you for any replies that I may receive. I wish you all the best my fellow tinnitus sufferers.

 

[glynis]

People with existing tinnitus are more at risk if it's sound induced tinnitus.

Tinnitus can change sound and strength for a reason and for no reason.

Try to stay calm and don't listen out for it.

Your hearing could have dropped for a reason like wax or mucus so tinnitus could then be from your ear picking up your Carotid Artery.

Try to relax and try not emotionally react to it...

love Glynis

 

[Chrisakky]

Hmm glad I found this post. It seems I have very similar symptoms to you. I've had T since October 2017 (I'm not sure whether I had since childhood) which was investigated and the consensus of 2 ENTs is ETD. Much higher in the left but was in my right though that's reduced so I'm not sure if that one is still ringing.

About 3 weeks ago I developed that exact new tone. Hadn't found a way of describing it but as you say rim of a wine glass. This is very changeable for me also sometimes being very inconsistent, sometimes constant ooooooo sound sometimes gone. It usually goes when my normal tinnitus is very loud but recently I had quite a lot of instances where that was curiously the only sound I could pick out. It is maskable by most things so only annoys me bad at night. But seems to be very reactive to sound (matches certain other sounds instantly and then drops. Its volume is not made worse by other sounds).

I had loud sound exposure mid-march which sent my good ear ringing bad but that has subsided. So there was a gap of a month and a bit to this tone appearing. Not sure whether this could be a cause. Also had been wearing earplugs a lot so could be wax compaction causing ETD issues to be worse? Curiously it seems covering my ear seems to reduce it and hanging off my bed seems to stop it.

Recently Ive had some horrible congestion which I assume is the very high pollen count annoying my nose, stuffing it up and blocking my tubes so my usual T has been crazy past few days (Got an ENT appointment coming whenever they reopen) Nose seems to block instantly when I go into my hallway. I am getting some relief with sudafed and saline spray with has reduced my usual high pitch T down to a very low level. However , this has meant I can now hear I still have that tone.

Has yours cleared or had it improved? Anyone else got any ideas? Fun thing tinnitus is, enjoys surprises.