So... Hearing Distortion... Anyone Else Have This?

[Ankie]

My tinnitus comes in cycles and when I have it, it is almost always accompanied by the distortion of certain, but not all, sounds. For instance, when I have loud tinnitus I can walk into a grocery store and the rumbling sound of the airconditioners and the freezers is amplified to me and rumbles loudly. Same with my car engine. I get a rattling/rumbling sound over the engine noise.

Does anyone else have this, and does anyone have any idea what causes this?

 

[Ankie]

No one? Okay that scares me.

 

[J M]

Some of my high-pitched hearing is damaged to the point it bothers my ears. Sounds like chicken frying in the pan, running water from the faucet, shower head sounds, etc.

My hearing has been damaged by meds, infection, and acoustic trauma.

 

[Ankie]

Do those sounds bother you all the time, or does it come and go?

 

[Karen]

Certain sounds bother my bad ear (right ear only) a lot. The pitch of the sound on my TV set really bothers me! And --- most of us would agree that when our tinnitus is really loud, it distorts any sounds as a result. Don't worry, Ankie; you're not alone!

 

[Ankie]

For me, it comes and goes, but when it distorts like that, I am absolutely mortified that I will lose my hearing in my only working ear The tinnitus and the distortion are annoying. The fear that this means I may go deaf paralyzes me. I am worried it might be a type of Meniere's , due to the come and go nature of the tinnitus with the accompanied distortion. I had a clear MRI and my hearing test was normal in August.

 

[J M]

Do those sounds bother you all the time, or does it come and go?

It usually bothers me all the time.

 

[just1morething]

For me, it comes and goes, but when it distorts like that, I am absolutely mortified that I will lose my hearing in my only working ear The tinnitus and the distortion are annoying. The fear that this means I may go deaf paralyzes me. I am worried it might be a type of Meniere's , due to the come and go nature of the tinnitus with the accompanied distortion. I had a clear MRI and my hearing test was normal in August.

Hi Ankie,
I too fear I could have some sort of Meniere's because sometimes mine goes away. I was looking into my neck causing my noise problems but it may be inner ear based. I have no vertigo though. Do you ? The last T doc was thinking I was maybe getting Meniere's and would give me ear perfusions if so. I am still confused on what I should do.

 

[Ankie]

I do not have vertigo, nor do I have hearing loss at this time.

 

[just1morething]

I do not have vertigo, nor do I have hearing loss at this time.

Sorry about my avatar change. The reason was to get another member to change theirs. Did you get all the tests done, ECOG,VNG,ABR, etc. ? I have a annoying hiss in my head right now.
Did you have SHL in one ear ?

 

[Ankie]

I had an EEG, a brain MRI, and a hearing test where they also tested my inner ear function, not sure what that test was called. Kaiser will not order any more testing. I was told to live with it.

I lost my hearing in my left ear as a child due to a head injury.

 

[just1morething]

Very sorry to hear about your left ear. Who is Kaiser ? If you have noise like me its very hard to live with. I am a guy, not to confuse you.

 

[Ankie]

Kaiser Permanente. It is an HMO type health insurance plan

 

[just1morething]

I never heard of that. Is your ear or head noises bad right now? Are you in the US?
I have Medica individual plan. How many ENT docs have you seen?

 

[Ankie]

I had another episode of tinnitus that got louder over the course of the day, complete with the rattly sounding distortion on some sounds. It was pretty bad. I went grocery shopping around 3 pm and the distortion in the grocery store was very loud (freezer humming etc) but then it also resolved very quickly once I got there. I just do not understand this "coming and going" aspect at all. I have not been allowed to see an ENT. Kaiser does not feel it is needed. I did get a phone consultation with one of the nurses from the "head and neck" clinic to discuss the tinnitus with her. When the problem initially began I had fluid behind my ear drum, according to my primary care doctor. That eventually resolved, but the fluctuating tinnitus has remained. The longest I have been noise free was one two week period. I get tinnitus every other day or so now. Sometimes I get 2 or 3 days off.

 

[just1morething]

I might have to go soon but could PM if you want. The 1-2 week noise free sounds very good. If I get a day off it seems to be rebooted upon awakening. I also had fluid in my ear from a airplane flight in 2008. Mine resolved also in about a month. I asked my primary to drain it but he said no.
I have been to many ENT docs and also a TMJ doc. I guess I am desperate and want it resolved or managed somehow.

Isn't yours bothering you enough to go out of network just for more opinions?

 

[Ankie]

PM would be fine, I will have to see how that works here LOL, I am still learning my way around the forum. I know what you mean by feeling desperate. I am a musician ....so losing my hearing would also mean losing music.

 

[just1morething]

Have you ever PMd here before? I was showed how the first or second day. Using the inbox on top and starting a conversation. My hissing sure is bad now.

 

[aurelientt]

When my T is bad it usually seems like the sound of electronics is amplified. Particularly computer fans for some reason. Could just be me obsessing, of course.

 

[mick]

I experience this same phenomena. I believe this is simply a form of hypercusis. To paraphrase in simplified form what I understand the explanation to be ...

In the absence of stimulation, or reduced stimulation, in certain frequencies the brain tells the inner ear to ramp up the signal for those frequencies and maybe surrounding frequencies. This causes causes certain sounds to be louder, distorted, and annoying, and may also make the tinnitus louder. I notice it a lot with music that I've listened many times over the years. Parts of the music sound really weird and not the same as I remember it before T. Since I have high frequency hearing loss, music with a lot of high frequency sounds sounds very garbled to me.

 

[Ankie]

Interesting. It might well be a form of hyperacusis. What puzzles me is that when I had my audiology appointment for my hearing test, I had no hearing loss in my working ear. She said that ear worked really well, even in the low frequencies, which is what I was most worried about.

 

[Ivan Cheung]

Hi guys, I have the exact symptoms as you have. Since two weeks ago I can hear high pitch echo or morse code-like tinnitus when I'm exposed to fan noise, running water tap, car engines. Music also sounds distorted just like from a broken earphone... The echo pitch and amplitude shifts from time to time, day to day.

I have tinnitus and hyperacusis since august last year. Three months ago my tinnitus and hyperacusis has somehow recovered (or reduced to a neglible level) but my tinnitus is back again this month.

Now I'm also fearing could that be meniere's disease as my symptoms come and go everyday and I (sorts of) experienced ear fullness and eardrum popping last week. I have no symptoms of serious vertigo though. Maybe a bit of dizziness due to lack of sleep and tiredness.

Just wondering have you guys got better with the distorted sound problems?

 

[Mflugge]

I have a lot in common with all of these comments. I have been going gradually deaf in my left ear for 12 years for reasons unknown, until recently. I had a benign tumor on my left cochlea removed in May, and am now completely deaf in that ear. I also have substantial low frequency hearing loss in my right ear. Tinnitus at all frequencies is constant, but the worst is the loud low frequency pounding on my left side, the deaf ear.

The worst part of this is that I'm a jazz pianist, and all music is distorted. Listening to recordings is impossible, and I can play gigs with a hearing aid, but the sound, in a word, sucks. I'm told it's classic Menieres and am doing the low sodium thing, but it doesn't seem to help. I've seen the best doctors, been to the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, etc.

This is not how I thought my life would turn out, but maybe it will improve in time. I have the utmost empathy for all of you who suffer with tinnitus, single-side-deafness, or hearing loss.

One question: I know people with Menieres and who have SSD, but they don't hear music as being distorted. Why do I??? I'd give anything to be able to hear music again.

 

[Per]

I had a clear MRI and my hearing test was normal in August.

Hi Ankie. If your hearing test was ok then it cant be a hearing loss? Have you done a test on the whole frequency band? Like over 8.000hz? I've read that they can test up to 22.000hz with the right equipment, someone can correct me if I'm wrong n this. Could there be some hyperacusis involved here that you haven't been diagnosed with? In my case alot of high pitched noises are extremely painful, also loud sounds in the mid-range. Like loud male voices. I'm having problems with voices being amplified in general after I got T&H.

Perhaps you should do an additional hearing test with an audiologist?

 

[hps]

any one else with distortion of sound and experience if it recovers with time

 

[JTP]

I used to have this sometimes for many years around loud percussive noises. It finally led to tinnitus. I don't know if it is still there because I avoid those noises now.

 

[Colin Phillips]

Hi -

I have had many of the symptoms that are described in this thread. The sound distortion was one of the symptoms and my audiologist said that it was due to low frequency hearing loss in my right ear. I have been diagnosed with atypical Menieres disease (cochlear hydrops) and amazingly I have found a way to control it. I am firmly convinced that my case is caused by a herpes virus infection in my inner ear - and all symptoms have been relieved with prescription anti viral medication. Here's more info:

http://www.menieres.org/forum/index.php/topic,37313.msg766746.html#msg766746

http://www.menieres.org/forum/index.php/topic,37314.msg766749.html#msg766749

Good luck all! I have been symptom free for over 6 weeks.

 

[I who love music]

Yes, I have 'harmonic' distortion continually in my bad ear which sounds like ... imagine trying to press one key on the piano, but missing and hitting 5 keys. I have this when there is a loud annoying machine type sound like you mentioned, and loud music. There's another type of distortion I've experienced twice in my life and it's truly frightening. It happened after being around very loud music. The next day all sounds in both ears sounded like it was coming through a kazoo, or a distortion pedal, or monster movie. Thank goodness that subsided. That sound has put me on guard and I have ear protectors everywhere I go. Good luck !!!

 

[Miked]

I just started with the distortion, broken speaker effect. Started right after the ENT cleaned wax from my ear. Has been two weeks so far and no relief. She has scheduled a head MRI, but claims no knowledge of such an issue. I expect she will find nothing in the MRI. I have had dome tinnitus fir a few years. Any inspiration?

 

[Lisa88]

Yes, I get distortion, a nasal buzzing sound over fans, air conditioners, traffic, running water etc. One of my t tones is that nasal sound. It competes with sounds around the same frequency. It does not distort over changing pitches such as music and talking though. Although it can react to a frequency on a particular scene on the tv, which I often mistake for suspense incidental music at inappropriate moments