So What Can We Do to Prevent Tinnitus from Getting Worse?

[nj78]

Hi,

I am a new T sufferer, I am 38 and my T is in my left ear only, mostly caused by high freq HL due to headphone usage (and possibly previous infection, since my HL is in one ear only, but didn't really notice it until the T).

My T is currently mostly mild, but after reading the forum here I am really afraid of it getting worse over time. So what can we actually realistically do to prevent the T from getting worse over time, or is this just something you have to live with? What is actually making the T worse? As long as I can take care of my ears should I be fine or can stress in my job/personal life also lead to a permanent worsening of the T?

I am thinking that I will try to protect my hearing (no music anymore, no loud places, earplugs wherever necessary), avoid any ototoxic mediaction, use precaution when flying (use Decongestant and Earplane plugs), and maybe ask my ENT for a retainer of steroids to take immediately just in case I am exposed to noise trauma or something else that causes the T to change and get significantly worse. Anything else I should be doing to prevent it from getting worse over time? Thanks

 

[VRZ78]

Hi,

Just use earplugs when you're around loud noises like at a party, concert or at the movies. Or when using power tools. Listening to music at normal volume at home will not make it worse.

Stop using the headphones though

 

[Pleasure_Paulie]

Also perhaps be careful what medication you use moving forward. Ask the doctor if it's ototoxic before getting the prescription.

 

[nj78]

Hi,

Stop using the headphones though

Yeah, believe me, no more music via headphones for me. Only using them for white noise now or Tonal Tinnitus Therapy.

 

[glynis]

Keep the sound set below your tinnitus sound for white noise etc...lots of love glynis

 

[Jomo]

Yeah, believe me, no more music via headphones for me. Only using them for white noise now or Tonal Tinnitus Therapy.

You misunderstood my friend...dont ever use them again for anything.

 

[Jason C]

Yup second that.

I sometimes use apple ear buds for listening to LBC at night, usually just in the right ear, a couple of nights ago I realised I couldn't hear the presenter over the ringing so I removed the ear bud and I had a lovely 2k solid tone in the right ear. Thankfully it faded after about 30 mins.

 

[lymebite]

Ask the doctor if it's ototoxic before getting the prescription.

This report gives comprehensive information on drug ototoxicity, including permanent vs. temporary, what kind of damage is possible, probabilities, etc.

http://www.europeanreview.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/956.pdf

 

[lolkas]

You misunderstood my friend...dont ever use them again for anything.

I think it depends, however - using good quality in ear monitors on very low for about 1h a day - wont do absolutely any damage to you. I listen to audio books on the train and works well, key here is to use hight quality in eear monitors which are different from your typical earbuds.

 

[Jason C]

I think it depends, however - using good quality in ear monitors on very low for about 1h a day - wont do absolutely any damage to you. I listen to audio books on the train and works well, key here is to use hight quality in eear monitors which are different from your typical earbuds.

What kind of in ear monitors?? Any links??

 

[Pleasure_Paulie]

You misunderstood my friend...dont ever use them again for anything.

That's completely incorrect. I've had 4 audiologist and 2 ents tell me otherwise. Many of the current therapies such as neuromonics use ear plugs also.

You can use ear phones, just on low volume ☺

 

[lolkas]

What kind of in ear monitors?? Any links??

You can start with Sure Se215 for instance

 

[Jacob83]

I never use headphones anymore. It's probably OK at low volumes, but personally I know after a couple songs I'd get lost in the music and that volume slider would keep going up

 

[Bobby B]

- like you wrote
1) keep a stock of prednisone at home for emergency cases. Expiry date is usually at least 3 years when kept in the fridge
Not hard to get just visit an ENT , tell them you just had trauma and press the button late in the audiogram at 4khz especially and they will give it to you.

2) carry ear muffs with you for emergency noise protection and general unnecessary noise such as noisy commute, public places etc. no time to put plugs in and out with dirty fingers ! muffs are better and you look a lot cooler too as a bonus point

3) regular treatment by light therapy .

LLLT is the only treatment that has a proven effect in restoring hair cells and nerve damage , , but mostly in the acute stage only - the week after trauma in rats.

In the past you needed expensive lasers or clinics for that but recently due to the availability of super high power near infrared LED at a very low price this type of treatment is very cheap - in fact even cheaper than buying ear muffs or steroids

 

[Bobby B]

 

[WildMan]

Don't ever wear headphones again. Same thing happened to me and I stopped using headphones.

 

[dgray]

This report gives comprehensive information on drug ototoxicity, including permanent vs. temporary, what kind of damage is possible, probabilities, etc.

http://www.europeanreview.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/956.pdf

Thank-you for this list

 

[Sebastians]

View attachment 11955

Romantic dinner for one?

 

[LadyDi]

Ah yes, the usual debate on headphones.

As @Pleasure_Paulie said: Every ENT and doctor and researcher I ever met said it was ok to use headphones. Sound therapies like Neuromonics, etc use headphones or ear buds. Its the volume, not the device.

But I would say: If you don't have the ability or discipline or discernment to keep your ear buds/headphones volume below that of your tinnitus, then yes, don't use these devices. This is why kids shouldn't use ear buds. Otherwise, you should be okay. But if you are using headphones at a proper level and notice it spikes your tinnitus, and that spike hangs around for a bit after you stop the headphone use, you might consider abstaining.

If you still are worried, don't use ear buds and stick to over-the-ear phones.

Also, whenever you are using ear buds or headphones, plug in the head phones and turn the sound/music device on BEFORE you place the phones/buds in your ears. DO NOT put the ear buds/phones on first and then turn on the device. Sometimes, the volume slider goes up automatically and you will get a big blast of sound.

 

[SilverSpiral]

View attachment 11955

What is the metal thing on the table next to the muffs?

 

[Alue]

Live the life of a hermit.

 

[Alue]

Romantic dinner for one?

It's never 'one'. With T and H, you're never truly alone.

 

[Bobby B]

Just a lunch time restaurant

In don't wear those unless it gets noisy depending on crowd, music etc

Dates are best done in a quiet car where you can talk and more

 

[Foncky]

Just a lunch time restaurant

In don't wear those unless it gets noisy depending on crowd, music etc

Dates are best done in a quiet car where you can talk and more

For the "more" part, I advise no airbags, you never know what can happen.

 

[bill 112]

Dates are best done in a quiet car where you can talk and more

By more,do you mean.....

 

[Krish230]

- like you wrote
1) keep a stock of prednisone at home for emergency cases. Expiry date is usually at least 3 years when kept in the fridge
Not hard to get just visit an ENT , tell them you just had trauma and press the button late in the audiogram at 4khz especially and they will give it to you.

2) carry ear muffs with you for emergency noise protection and general unnecessary noise such as noisy commute, public places etc. no time to put plugs in and out with dirty fingers ! muffs are better and you look a lot cooler too as a bonus point

3) regular treatment by light therapy .

LLLT is the only treatment that has a proven effect in restoring hair cells and nerve damage , , but mostly in the acute stage only - the week after trauma in rats.

In the past you needed expensive lasers or clinics for that but recently due to the availability of super high power near infrared LED at a very low price this type of treatment is very cheap - in fact even cheaper than buying ear muffs or steroids

I wore my Peltor X5a muffs to the cinema the other day and I felt so self-conscious...they're huge!! They stick out way more than conventional headphones do haha. I don't think I could ever wear those muffs at a restaurant for fear of looking ridiculous...though sometimes I really do need them!

 

[Bobby B]

the way I see it ..strangers don't care about me and so do I

For people close to me, they would/should like to see me getting better or at least not worse so if anything they are more than ok with the muffy look.

This being said I live in a very big, noisy city and no one cares there are enough weird people running around anyway, and what'ts more, most people seem to think that those are some fancy wireless heaphones.

Even the people at my office kept on saying that these must be expensive blue tooth headphones AFTER I told them I had ear/loud noise sensitivity issues.

I spent a lot of money buying pretty much every type of ear muffs from each brand, including two electronic noise cutting ones, and the smaller peltor x series, but in terms of noise reduction for this level of comfort nothing really compares to the x5a

 

[bill 112]

Mate of mine whose in the army here robbed me a pair of these the other day,a pair of military earmuffs that they use for live mortar fire training.

Sound reduction is just unbelieveable but the downside is they're extremely uncomfortable,they weigh two tonnes so it feels like a fat dog is sitting on your skull.

 

[linearb]

You misunderstood my friend...dont ever use them again for anything.

Yeah, I don't really think this is necessary, at least not for everyone. I have continued to use headphones cautiously but consistently; has not caused me any problems in the last two decades.

There is no reason to think that headphones are any more dangerous than any other sound with an identical sound pressure.

 

[Tom Cnyc]

my .02 is that the muffs are ridiculous unless you're ACTUALLY dealing with mortars. Good molded earplugs with 15db filters, which come in clear and are discreet are well documented to drop sound 10+ decibels at 90db. Wearing higher filters will do even more. You're highly unlikely to damage your hearing with them in. Below 80db you're safe to be around sound for over eight hours. Unless you're going to a 3 day festival, you'll be fine.

This site is helpful but it's also a bastion of paranoia. Carry plugs with you. Always. They weigh nothing. Wear them when necessary. Nobody will notice. If they do - they don't give a shit. I have worn mine for months in loud bars, and even in a rehearsal studio with my guitar running through a 50W amp and a live drummer (measured at 95 db). I'm constantly exposed to sound living in one of the loudest places on Earth and being reliant on the train.

In this time my H symptoms have all but disappeared and my T has faded to 10% of what it was. Over protection won't make you worse - that's nonsense - but over protection WILL make you crazy.

see graphs below.
http://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/making-the-case-for-custom-12959