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Jkph75 Perhaps I should have put a time frame on it, but my hearing was distorted for several weeks. Even now, 6 months on, I still have some distortion, but it is significantly less severe and most of the time I don't really notice it - I promise you though, it really was bad!
I personally think that it is caused by broad spectrum tinnitus (this is my naming convention), i.e. the brain is actually perceiving tinnitus at multiple frequencies. However, some are perceived as louder than others and these are the ones you notice more, possibly even masking the quieter ones. This could also mean that inputs could easily be stimulating at one frequency, but the brain is still perceiving inputs at another and getting inter-modulated frequencies - this is seen in RF electronics, so may also apply to hearing - this is speculation on my part, but the physics at least holds.
If you totally understood tinnitus, you would be considered a foremost authority on the subject. No-one and I mean no-one fully understands it. Anyway that claims to, understands far less than they thi9nk they do. If having it and talking to other people has taught me only thing, it is that every single person seems to experience it slightly differently. There are so many factors that affect it. These range from personality types, e.g., how you emotionally respond to situations, through to the exact nature of any physical damage, which maybe to the nerves, the blood vessels, or the auditory hairs, which in turn maybe permanent or temporary. Healing itself is also unpredictable. Sometimes you might cut yourself and the healing almost looks perfect, whilst at other times, you could scar quite badly from a similar cut - why would the healing of the auditory system be fundamentally different?
It is the unpredictability that makes it so scary to so many people - I include myself in this. I think the thing you have to give it more than anything is time. Even if it doesn't improve significantly in terms of any damage, the plasticity of the brain means that it will adapt.