Poll: Noise-Induced Tinnitus: What Is the Sound of Your Tinnitus?
- Thread starter Tinniger
- Start date
Member
- Aug 9, 2017
- 68
- Tinnitus Since
- 07/2017
- Cause of Tinnitus
- One exposure on loud club
- May 24, 2017
- 1,622
- Tinnitus Since
- 05/2017 (H since 06/2017)
- Cause of Tinnitus
- long term noise exposure (headphones), maybe some stress.
Electric/laser sound, my dvd player makes a sound that is very similar to my T when it reads a dvd 
My tinnitus is a high pitched hissing sound which is quite common amongst people with tinnitus. It is bilateral and in the centre of my head. It is also variable in intensity. Complete silence, mild, moderate or severe.
ManagerHi!
Mine was a hissing sound, long before it became tonal. In fact, I was never really bothered by nor did I know that what I was hearing was tinnitus, not until it became tonal. Before it became tonal and constant, I was able to hear it only temporarily when yawning or clenching my teeth. Whatever hearing loss I had previously, my latest acoustic trauma made it worse. So I am pretty sure that my tinnitus was noise induced.
So there you have it, that's how it has progressed in my case. Hearing loss due to headphone overuse and loud music, followed by static noise, followed by somatic tonal tinnitus and fleeting tinnitus, followed by acoustic trauma, followed by constant tonal tinnitus.
My luck in this unlucky series of events is that my tinnitus is only mild. I hope it stays so and I try to preserve the hearing I have left. But it's not always easy when you are constantly exposed to noisy machinery as soon as you step out the house door.
What's worse is that you can damage your hearing inside your own home. Too much listening to music, game streams, gaming, television, radio, pods, vlogs, movies, streaming movies, talk shows, video calls, voice calls. Then you step out the door to get some sunlight and get to the school or a job, and of course you bring your phone and your "earins" and "airpods" with you, because it's much better to listen to music while you commute than to talk to strangers. It's a lifestyle that consumes us, and most of us don't stop for a second to think about it until it's too late. I know, because I have been there.
Do you have any measurable hearing loss? I see you listed smoke detector alarm as a possible cause. That could very much be what has caused your tinnitus. Assuming you have excluded other possibilities. Noise related tinnitus is most commonly caused by loud and sudden sounds. I know smoke alarms are very loud, and the sound they produce is like ear piercing. At least the ones I have had were like that. I would normally just listen to them for no more than a second, when testing them each year. Listening to them any longer than that would make my head explode. That's what it felt like, before I even had tinnitus. I no longer test them, and just pray and hope that I never have a fire at home, or at work.
When you get down to it, I think the character of the tinnitus will depend on things like what part of the hearing range is impaired and how severe it is. But it is more caused by nerve damage than hair cell damage, and by neural network changes at the brain level.
Mine was a hissing sound, long before it became tonal. In fact, I was never really bothered by nor did I know that what I was hearing was tinnitus, not until it became tonal. Before it became tonal and constant, I was able to hear it only temporarily when yawning or clenching my teeth. Whatever hearing loss I had previously, my latest acoustic trauma made it worse. So I am pretty sure that my tinnitus was noise induced.
So there you have it, that's how it has progressed in my case. Hearing loss due to headphone overuse and loud music, followed by static noise, followed by somatic tonal tinnitus and fleeting tinnitus, followed by acoustic trauma, followed by constant tonal tinnitus.
My luck in this unlucky series of events is that my tinnitus is only mild. I hope it stays so and I try to preserve the hearing I have left. But it's not always easy when you are constantly exposed to noisy machinery as soon as you step out the house door.
What's worse is that you can damage your hearing inside your own home. Too much listening to music, game streams, gaming, television, radio, pods, vlogs, movies, streaming movies, talk shows, video calls, voice calls. Then you step out the door to get some sunlight and get to the school or a job, and of course you bring your phone and your "earins" and "airpods" with you, because it's much better to listen to music while you commute than to talk to strangers. It's a lifestyle that consumes us, and most of us don't stop for a second to think about it until it's too late. I know, because I have been there.
Do you have any measurable hearing loss? I see you listed smoke detector alarm as a possible cause. That could very much be what has caused your tinnitus. Assuming you have excluded other possibilities. Noise related tinnitus is most commonly caused by loud and sudden sounds. I know smoke alarms are very loud, and the sound they produce is like ear piercing. At least the ones I have had were like that. I would normally just listen to them for no more than a second, when testing them each year. Listening to them any longer than that would make my head explode. That's what it felt like, before I even had tinnitus. I no longer test them, and just pray and hope that I never have a fire at home, or at work.
When you get down to it, I think the character of the tinnitus will depend on things like what part of the hearing range is impaired and how severe it is. But it is more caused by nerve damage than hair cell damage, and by neural network changes at the brain level.
- Aug 21, 2014
- 5,049
- Tinnitus Since
- 1999
- Cause of Tinnitus
- karma
With no attention paid to it, it tends to be a background hiss. Any amount of conscious interaction tends to turn it into more of a high pitched whine. So, in my case, it interacts very directly with cognitive skills and consciousness at a fundamental level which makes it pretty hard to answer this question. In general I'd say "sssss eeeeee chirp", a hiss and a CRT monitor whine and crickets all at once -- it is all of these things, yet none of them.
- Feb 5, 2017
- 787
- Tinnitus Since
- 2016
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Fluconazole
My repertoire:
1)A set of tones. One of them is my main tinnitus sound and it fluctuates. Can't count them cause it's a weird mix when I focus on it. I suppose 4 tones. The are not always present altogether.
2) a high pitch hissing which fluctuates a lot.
3) a Morse code part that is reactive.
4) a low frequency spaceship sound which is the worst. It literally "fills" my head.
5) my latest fax machine sound.
+ when I listen to music, white noise and certain sounds, I get those whistles. This is worse then the regular tinnitus and I wish I can get rid of it.
This forum is the only place where people actually could relate. I know nobody in person with these symptoms.
1)A set of tones. One of them is my main tinnitus sound and it fluctuates. Can't count them cause it's a weird mix when I focus on it. I suppose 4 tones. The are not always present altogether.
2) a high pitch hissing which fluctuates a lot.
3) a Morse code part that is reactive.
4) a low frequency spaceship sound which is the worst. It literally "fills" my head.
5) my latest fax machine sound.
+ when I listen to music, white noise and certain sounds, I get those whistles. This is worse then the regular tinnitus and I wish I can get rid of it.
This forum is the only place where people actually could relate. I know nobody in person with these symptoms.
- Feb 17, 2017
- 10,400
- Tinnitus Since
- February, 2017
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Acoustic Trauma
It is my understanding that as the body heals, it is often able to change tonal sound to hissing. My T began as a tonal sound, then changed to hissing, and then was back to a high pitched tone after a second acoustic trauma.22:4 for hissing. Maybe it is not true, that noise-induced tinnitus makes a tonal sound of xxxx kHz ??
I have multiple sounds, some tonal, some hissing/electrical, some clicks and pops, some constant and some intermittent, in varying degrees of loudness, in both ears. Always was an overachiever... 
OK, that outdoes me.
At least mine's not reactive. On the other hand, I used to get a low-pitched humming sound in both ears when I shook my head vigorously. That's disappeared since I started taking NR.- Feb 5, 2017
- 787
- Tinnitus Since
- 2016
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Fluconazole
NR?OK, that outdoes me.
Wow you're just another person with many many sounds. Nice to meet you
NR?
Wow you're just another person with many many sounds. Nice to meet you
NR is nicotinamide riboside, related to vitamin B3 and a precursor to NAD+ which is essential for cellular metabolism and which lessens as we age. There is a discussion about it in the Alternative Treatments section. It is apparently starting to reverse some of my hearing loss, as well as reducing the frequency of my migraines. I'm even giving it to a pet bird that has fatty liver disease. I hope that long term it will do something to improve my tinnitus as well - I guess maybe it is already is doing something since one of my sounds is gone.
Aren't all those sounds amazing? The only good thing is that I can count on it changing soon if it's being particularly obnoxious...
- Feb 5, 2017
- 787
- Tinnitus Since
- 2016
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Fluconazole
Thank you. I'll take a look on that thread.
Sometimes i can't believe that i have so much noise in my head. Apparently i lost the count. And if you imagine that it only begun as a slight ringing in my right ear. Is this ever gonna stop evolving?Aren't all those sounds amazing? The only good thing is that I can count on it changing soon if it's being particularly obnoxious...
That's exactly how mine started. I developed other, minor neurological complaints around the same time, so I suspect the real problem is in my brain and not in my ears. NR is supposed to be neuro-protective and it seems to be helping in that department, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Hiss is better as long as it is a mild hiss. I had a hiss and thought nothing of it. Tinnitus? What's tinnitus? That didn't even register as tinnitus for me. Until I got more damage and further degeneration of structures that were originally damaged in my ears. That's when it turned into tonal and I started to freak out when I realized I have tinnitus. But I am still lucky enough to have a mild form of it. So you can imagine I am taking better care of my ears now.
- Aug 29, 2015
- 7,069
- Tinnitus Since
- 2004
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Meniere's Disease
My tinnitus is a high pressure hiss with a additional drone on top.
Drives me insaign till I get my hearing aids in and show my ears who's the boss then I don't think about my tinnitus all day
Im my happy bubbly self again...
Love glynis
Drives me insaign till I get my hearing aids in and show my ears who's the boss then I don't think about my tinnitus all day
Im my happy bubbly self again...
Love glynis
- Feb 17, 2017
- 10,400
- Tinnitus Since
- February, 2017
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Acoustic Trauma
I got blasted by a sudden, very loud noise through my headphones, caused by faulty audio device. Acoustic trauma!
It was not much of a blast, not the kind of pressure wave you get from an explosive device detonation that raptures your ear drum. But it was a traumatic event nevertheless, and it is most definitely the cause of my tinnitus. Or the worsening of it I should say. I was into music a lot before that, so I had my share of noise exposure even before that.
The cause likely does not matter as much as where the damage lies. Is it high or low frequency hair cell damage? How much auditory nerve damage was sustained?32:9 for hissing!! Still surprising. Maybe it is not true, that noise-induced tinnitus makes a tonal sound of xxxx kHz ??
Noise-induced tinnitus is always high frequency hair cell damage. Low frequency tinnitus is typical at M. Meniere...
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