Noise-Induced Tinnitus Went Away Completely in 2010 (No Habituation)

[Greg Sacramento]

Vinnitus: I not sure about the connection between TMJ and acoustic trauma. It says that it could or could not - in an article titled: Tonic Tensor Tympani Syndrome in Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Patients: A Multi-Clinic Prevalence Study

It's in Noise and Health.

Sorry, I'm having problems with cut and paste.

I had tinnitus and then I was subject to more noise at the dentist - drilling. I grind my teeth at night. I have head aches, neck pain, ear aches, feeling of blocked ear, feeling of fluid at times in ears, teeth pain, mild sinus, plus hyperacusis once again. Maybe this is all TTTS or/and ASD.

So I'm I just trying to figure out the connections - so I might be able to get some treatment from the right professionals. I guess I'm sure where to start. ENT's are useless where I live. If I have TTTS, then I should not be wearing noise protection. So by travel is limited. I now have high pitch T and A heavy case of H.

 

[Houstontx]

Thanks for your reply @Vinnitus yes I see that even some people who have hearing loss don't always have the Tinnitus.. lucky them .. but to answer your question the Dexamethasone was administered thru a injection to the ear drum.. which I had to stay with my T ear facing up for about 20 min. It was given in 2 shots with 20 o 30 min in between each. I hope my T really disappears . Some days now it sounds like a hiss then sometimes it won't necessarily spike but it'll sound like a beep . But then I agin sometimes I won't hear it in a quiet room then I sorta look to hear it n I'll hear it. I know that's no good but I can't help it sometimes.. but I'm praying and hoping for the best. I tried listen to this YouTube video that goes from 20hz to 16khz and by 3kz-5khz it sounds sorta weird vibrations. But when I stop the video I swear I don't really hear the Tinnitus it'll just sound like a really low hiss even in a quiet closet .. so I hope hats a good sign I'm heading to recovery. God bless you and everyone on here..

 

[Dave Boltz]

Has anyone ever tried hearing aids? I tried a pair a few years ago and could not see any advantage to them so I returned them before my 30 day trail was up. I have another appt. again to see if anything has changed with the aids. They are pushing Widex with Zen sounds. I would appreciate if anyone has any info on these.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

Dave: I used the Widex Zen ear pieces when I first got T. I think that set me back.

http://www.hyperacusis.net/other-factors/acoustic-shock-disorder/

Within this article travel down to section titled:
ASD ASSESSMENT

 

[BuzzyBee]

Has anyone ever tried hearing aids? I tried a pair a few years ago and could not see any advantage to them so I returned them before my 30 day trail was up. I have another appt. again to see if anything has changed with the aids. They are pushing Widex with Zen sounds. I would appreciate if anyone has any info on these.

Hi Dave,
I'm in the same situation. I tried a cheaper hearing aid a while back, but didn't really use it as instructed for a variety of reasons. I think part of me thought the tinnitus would go away on its own and that I just wasn't quite ready for the hearing aid. Now almost a year in I'll be trying out a Widex Zen. I'm actually pretty excited about it, though a little hesitant because I'm worried the chimes will be more annoying than helpful or that I won't be able to tolerate having something in my ear. The fact is so many people have told me they've benefited from a hearing aid that in my case it just seemed foolish not to at least give it a try.

If you haven't already, I recommend reading the Hearing Aids thread in the treatments section. You'll get a lot of useful information and different perspective. I plan on posting my experience with the Zen as soon as I start using it.

 

[Ambassador]

I wear Phonak Audeo V90 T hearing aids with a tinnitus masker built in. I also can stream any sounds via bluetooth from my iPhone to my aids and have tried the Zen Chimes but found them a little intrusive. I would look for a hearing aid that allows streaming bluetooth so you can have endless possibilities to play notched white, pink, blue, music, chimes, nature sounds whatever. Sometimes I just stream a local radio station for just music. I would be lost without hearing aids, they are a big help for me.

 

[Michelle G]

Hello, I am 15 years old and have had tinnitus for almost 2 months now. I got it from a very loud concert. Over the months, the volume has decreased a lot but is still very much there. I also developed a constant feeling of ear fullness, jaw pain, popping, etc. Every doctor I have seen says that it is Eustachian tube dysfunction. I was put on a short course of prednisone and it really lowered my tinnitus for the first few days, but came back to its normal level soon after. The prednisone did not help reduce inflammation in my Eustachian tube. I went to the doctor yesterday begging for some answers as you don't just get ETD out of the blue. I asked about nerve damage, tmj, etc. but they all just say that my Eustachian tubes are blocked. I have read about a lot of people with ear fullness after an acoustic trauma and they did not have allergies nor sinus . My hearing test came out normal and so did my tympanogram, so they won't look into other factors that may be causing my suffering. Any advice on how you deal with this ear fullness would be great as it is taking over my life. I have had to cancel a concert, my birthday party, and maybe even a flight to visit my family because of this. My ears felt so blocked the other day that I could barely hear and my tinnitus was so loud and fluctuating. Could this be ttts or asd? Thank you and my prayers are with you all.

 

[Rick Brewer]

@Vinnitus
Hey Vinnie, it's good to be able to chat with you! I hope you'll keep us informed as your progress continues.

 

[Vinnitus]

Hello, I am 15 years old and have had tinnitus for almost 2 months now. I got it from a very loud concert. Over the months, the volume has decreased a lot but is still very much there. I also developed a constant feeling of ear fullness, jaw pain, popping, etc. Every doctor I have seen says that it is Eustachian tube dysfunction. I was put on a short course of prednisone and it really lowered my tinnitus for the first few days, but came back to its normal level soon after. The prednisone did not help reduce inflammation in my Eustachian tube. I went to the doctor yesterday begging for some answers as you don't just get ETD out of the blue. I asked about nerve damage, tmj, etc. but they all just say that my Eustachian tubes are blocked. I have read about a lot of people with ear fullness after an acoustic trauma and they did not have allergies nor sinus . My hearing test came out normal and so did my tympanogram, so they won't look into other factors that may be causing my suffering. Any advice on how you deal with this ear fullness would be great as it is taking over my life. I have had to cancel a concert, my birthday party, and maybe even a flight to visit my family because of this. My ears felt so blocked the other day that I could barely hear and my tinnitus was so loud and fluctuating. Could this be ttts or asd? Thank you and my prayers are with you all.

Hello Michelle G,

This will be a long one, even though I will try to be as summarised as possible...

I understand your concerns, but it is very hard (and not my job as I am no clinical doctor) to diagnose people over the internet. However, those symptoms you experience sound very familiar to mine and I am sure to a lot of people here. Yes, these symptoms might be caused by ASD or TTTS, although ASD for example is usually caused by short loud impulse noise (yet this might also happen during continuous other noise exposure, like sudden microphone feedback noise during a concert). Most likely however, you have acquired at least some hearing damage in the upper ultra high frequencies (>8kHz). Those frequencies aren't measured during a regular audiology evaluation and hence the audiogram can come out seemingly perfect while you still have hearing damage above 8kHz. In some ways, this is considered "normal", as we all lose some ultra-high frequency hearing during our lifetimes as we are all exposed to loud noises on a daily basis (except when you are located in a very quiet area). Such losses however might still give you Tinnitus (tinnitus above 8kHz). Next to that theres "hidden hearing loss", which is thought to be a potential reason for Tinnitus according to Liberman (2009). It is where synapses are disconnected from the hair cells in your inner-ear, causing a lack of input to the brain which doesn't show up on an audiogram as well. As you can see, there can be a lot of reasons for Tinnitus in the ear alone.

Going back to your diagnosis; eustachian tube dysfunction due to blocked tubes. If this is the case, I wonder if it is possible for your doctors to prescribe you a dexamethasone nasal spray, as this is supposed to reduce swelling and hence reduce the chance of eustachian tubes being blocked. Be sure to administer it in the right way; perpendicular to the face (at a 90 degree angle) as this is most likely to reach the eustachian tubes.

If it turns out to be NOT the eustachian tube, your Tinnitus and ear fullness might still reduce or even disappear over time. For me, it has reduced slightly over the timespan of months. It might even plateau for a while and reduce further after some time. So try not to despair. Even in the worst case where your Tinnitus decides to hang around, there is hope. There are a lot of exciting new potential treatments coming up in the following years as you can see in the "Research" section of this forum.

All the best!

 

[Vinnitus]

@Vinnitus
Hey Vinnie, it's good to be able to chat with you! I hope you'll keep us informed as your progress continues.

Thanks Rick, I will surely do so! I hope you will make good progress as well.

 

[Vinnitus]

Vinnitus: I not sure about the connection between TMJ and acoustic trauma. It says that it could or could not - in an article titled: Tonic Tensor Tympani Syndrome in Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Patients: A Multi-Clinic Prevalence Study

It's in Noise and Health.

Sorry, I'm having problems with cut and paste.

I had tinnitus and then I was subject to more noise at the dentist - drilling. I grind my teeth at night. I have head aches, neck pain, ear aches, feeling of blocked ear, feeling of fluid at times in ears, teeth pain, mild sinus, plus hyperacusis once again. Maybe this is all TTTS or/and ASD.

So I'm I just trying to figure out the connections - so I might be able to get some treatment from the right professionals. I guess I'm sure where to start. ENT's are useless where I live. If I have TTTS, then I should not be wearing noise protection. So by travel is limited. I now have high pitch T and A heavy case of H.

Hello Greg,

It indeed might be any of those things. Grinding your teeth is however a sign of (subconscious) stress. The insidious side of this kind of stress is that you might not consciously feel stressed (it has become your new "normal"), but when you are asleep and not noticing, it manifests as teeth grinding. Teeth grinding could lead to Tinnitus and possibly TMJ-issues as well. I would try to work on the stress levels first and go from there. This is one of the things you can actively do something about, contrary to noise-induced hearing loss (at least not at this moment in time).

I will look up the study you mentioned, but I am well aware that the connection of noise-induced hearing loss and TMJ is speculative. I just noticed that, for me, since the acoustic trauma a lot of TMJ-like symptoms started popping up as well. Of course, these might have been stress-related due to worry over the acoustic trauma itself.

All the best!

 

[Vic Adlard]

Hello all.My tinnitus started in 2013 after the loss of my mother and a long ride on a motorcycle with noisy exhausts.I think very foolish now,but what`s done cannot be undone.Mine has gone up and down in the four years I`ve had it I`ve been okay with it and then It`s got up and bit me again.The last period of "acceptance",relative peace or whatever ended two months ago and I appear to be in a "spike " again in which it periodically drives me nuts.I would like to ask if anyone else has experienced mild cold symptoms with it,ie blocked nose (especially on the left,where the t is worse) and a thick fuzzy head./borderline headache.This started after exposure (maybe coincidentally) to mould spores at work removing an old carpet.I just thought I may have contracted something from these spores to create these symptoms and exacerbate my tinnitus.But just wondered if it was due to the t.Any answers please? Oh and vinnitus- it may be that your recovery-good though it is- may be due to your age.I`m 58 and think it because of this it won`t repair itself.I remember going to concerts years ago and having temporary tinnitus. But it went away.I`d like to hear from any older people whose t has gone away.

 

[Applejuice]

Hello Greg,
It indeed might be any of those things. Grinding your teeth is however a sign of (subconscious) stress. The insidious side of this kind of stress is that you might not consciously feel stressed (it has become your new "normal"), but when you are asleep and not noticing, it manifests as teeth grinding. Teeth grinding could lead to Tinnitus and possibly TMJ-issues as well. I would try to work on the stress levels first and go from there. This is one of the things you can actively do something about, contrary to noise-induced hearing loss (at least not at this moment in time).

I will look up the study you mentioned, but I am well aware that the connection of noise-induced hearing loss and TMJ is speculative. I just noticed that, for me, since the acoustic trauma a lot of TMJ-like symptoms started popping up as well. Of course, these might have been stress-related due to worry over the acoustic trauma itself.

All the best!

Hm. I've been grinding my teeth for quite some time aswell and my jaw is a bit out of place whenever I open it and it cracks/pops when I close it. Does teeth grinding lead to permanent T or can it be reversible when you stop grinding?

I'm going to make an appointment at the dentist that is probably the smartest thing for me to do.

 

[Casper]

I will look up the study you mentioned, but I am well aware that the connection of noise-induced hearing loss and TMJ is speculative. I just noticed that, for me, since the acoustic trauma a lot of TMJ-like symptoms started popping up as well. Of course, these might have been stress-related due to worry over the acoustic trauma itself.
All the best!

Hey @Vinnitus, I also started experiencing TMJ and ETD-like symptoms after my acoustic trauma. This happened about three weeks after the initial exposure, about the same time I really started to worry that the tinnitus may be permanent. So in my case I'm not sure if it's the acoustic trauma that caused delayed symptoms, or if these symptoms came about because of the stress brought on by the acoustic trauma. It was also incredibly cold at the time (consistently around -10°C), which certainly didn't encourage recovery. I'm almost five months in now, and the ETD-like symptoms have improved (I'll have ear fullness a few times a week, instead of every day), but I still have bad jaw pain at times. The past two days have actually been really bad, whereas last week I almost didn't experience any jaw pain at all.

I'm afraid I don't have any real answers, but I wanted to share my experience with seemingly unrelated ear problems arising after an acoustic trauma.

I'm going to make an appointment at the dentist that is probably the smartest thing for me to do.

Hey @Applejuice, please let me know how the dentist goes for you. I think I may also be clenching my teeth in my sleep, and I wonder if this is contributing to my jaw pain. I'm due a visit at the dentist anyway, so perhaps I'll mention these other symptoms and see if I can learn anything.

 

[Applejuice]

Hey @Vinnitus, I also started experiencing TMJ and ETD-like symptoms after my acoustic trauma. This happened about three weeks after the initial exposure, about the same time I really started to worry that the tinnitus may be permanent. So in my case I'm not sure if it's the acoustic trauma that caused delayed symptoms, or if these symptoms came about because of the stress brought on by the acoustic trauma. It was also incredibly cold at the time (consistently around -10°C), which certainly didn't encourage recovery. I'm almost five months in now, and the ETD-like symptoms have improved (I'll have ear fullness a few times a week, instead of every day), but I still have bad jaw pain at times. The past two days have actually been really bad, whereas last week I almost didn't experience any jaw pain at all.

I'm afraid I don't have any real answers, but I wanted to share my experience with seemingly unrelated ear problems arising after an acoustic trauma.



Hey @Applejuice, please let me know how the dentist goes for you. I think I may also be clenching my teeth in my sleep, and I wonder if this is contributing to my jaw pain. I'm due a visit at the dentist anyway, so perhaps I'll mention these other symptoms and see if I can learn anything.

You can notice really easy, tooth decay, overdevelopped jaw muscles (look in the mirror, clench your teeth and see if there are a lot of muscles moving), jaw joint soreness and having difficulities opening your mouth wide.

Or have someone/something monitor you while you sleep.

 

[dpdx]

Vinny how is it now? has it improved any further?

 

[John Meyers]

My T level is exactly the same after 2 years and 2 months, however, I am able to cope with it better lately.

I've heard a few people say that 3 years is really the turning point so I'm looking forward to that.

I've tried every supplement but the things that seem to help the most are good diet, exercise, meditation, and occasional masking during the day (my basement dehumidifier works charms for me

Good luck and hang in there everyone!

 

[Fleegle]

This is my first hearing test. Which I don't really don't know how to read..

Looks like my chart.

 

[Houstontx]

Looks like my chart.

What's the cause of urs? And how's is ur T?

 

[Houstontx]

I been noticed that my left nostril seemed to be clogged like if I had a stuffy nose. This starated happening ever since I got sinusitis about a year ago. I'm more sensitive to allergies which I never had before. Idk if that's the reason my T which is in my left ear still lingering around. Could that be a reason ???? I don't hear it most of the time unless I look for it . They said noise induced hearing loss T doesn't go away but I beg to differ because there's been times I really won't hear it even in a quiet room. Some high frequency sounds still become distorted in my left T ear ,if the volume is too high but I think that's normal right?

 

[Fleegle]

What's the cause of urs? And how's is ur T?

I don't know the cause. I suspect it was from a cold/flu that never really got out of my head - but six months later I started noticing that there was this noise that wasn't really going away. Prob around 3 years now. Because I don't think it is damage as such, I think my hearing test is a result of T not the other way around. I have a bad test because I can't hear the tones because the T is too loud - not because I have damage and just can't hear.

But mine comes and goes. If it is ON when I wake up then it is ON for the day, if it is OFF when I wake then it is OFF for the day. And no guarantee either way on consecutive days. But my record is 9 days straight OFF and 10 days straight ON.

 

[Ehren M]

Hello Greg,

It indeed might be any of those things. Grinding your teeth is however a sign of (subconscious) stress. The insidious side of this kind of stress is that you might not consciously feel stressed (it has become your new "normal"), but when you are asleep and not noticing, it manifests as teeth grinding. Teeth grinding could lead to Tinnitus and possibly TMJ-issues as well. I would try to work on the stress levels first and go from there. This is one of the things you can actively do something about, contrary to noise-induced hearing loss (at least not at this moment in time).

I will look up the study you mentioned, but I am well aware that the connection of noise-induced hearing loss and TMJ is speculative. I just noticed that, for me, since the acoustic trauma a lot of TMJ-like symptoms started popping up as well. Of course, these might have been stress-related due to worry over the acoustic trauma itself.

All the best!

Hello @Vinnitus,

It's been quite some time since you last posted to this thread. I wanted to check in and see whether your symptoms eventually subsided and how you are doing.

All the best,

Ehren