Sound Sensitivity Severely Impacting Tinnitus Levels

[Benjamin Greenberg]

Hi All,
Lately, I've been encountering some real problems with the interaction of sound sensitivity and my tinnitus. I've done a lot of interventions (TRT, Neuromonics, Soundcure), and take NAC and L-Taurine daily... eat a very healthy diet and practice yoga, meditation, qigong, tai chi.... and it still has gotten consistently worse through the years - 15 years now (I am 34 years old). It's gotten so bad to the point that I can't walk on city streets for fear of a car honking - if I hear that, my tinnitus sometimes becomes intolerable for days to come... not to mention being in restaurants, cafes, gatherings... basically, any place above 80dB for more than a few moments. For most of the time I've had the tinnitus I was able to use high quality ear plugs to protect myself, but in the past 2 years my T has gotten so bad that if I put them in, the sounds in my head are just excruciating. If anyone would have some insight, or even just wanted to share that they are having a similar experience I would much appreciate your support and/or feedback.
Thanks,
Ben

 

[The_Chum_12]

Hey, Ben.
I'm relatively new to T and H, and I give you credit for dealing with yours for so long. It's good that you have a career on which to focus. I'm not sure on what advise to give you since you've undergone so many treatments and, I'm guessing, have heard every trick in the book to help you cope. I see your conundrum of the pretty much unbearable volume of your T when you protect with plugging, and the potential danger of going without protection. What do you think were the causes, besides time, of your T's worsening? If there is anyway you can protect your ears and somehow deal with the "excruciating" level, perhaps that might be your best option.

I can somewhat relate to your experience. 75 db is my threshold for discomfort my right ear as well, and anything high pitched at that volume spikes mine for hours or days. My T started out at volume levels of 1/10 and 2/10 in left/right ears, but, in a matter of 4 short months, has increased to maxing out at 5/10 in the left and 7/10 in the right due to not protecting my ears properly. I can't even sit next to a fire in my home due to the high pitched hiss. Masking has never quite helped for me either.

That's my two cents. I hope you can continue to cope with this new volume or that it will quiet down back to where it was before. God bless.

-Chum

 

[Rhea]

Ben,

You situation mirrors mine almost exactly. I have noise induced t for around 10 years. Started out quite low but has increased year on year.

I now find it very upsetting to wear plugs as the t is so loud that blocking out background noise is ....well i would not be exaggerating to say the moment I put the plugs in and they expand and block out the environmental noise...my stomach turns at the intensity of the t noise.

My t has increased year on year despite the fact I have always protected my ears and had no loud long noise exposure since T - onset. This has lead me to believe that is must be the small exposures that have all accumulated to make my t worse (things like a child screaming, noisy shopping malls, a car horn beeping, the accidental dropped plate etc) So needless to say, as I have arrived at the conclusion that these mini noise exposure have made my t progressively worse, I now plug every time I leave the house but as I hate plugging due to t intensity I avoid going out and have stopped working etc....you can see where all this is going...I mean basically I am going to end up a complete recluse I guess if I carry on this way

They way I see it the choices are basically either 1. plug up and deal with the t, 2. become a recluses or 3. take a leap of faith and believe that short noise exposures will not make your t worse and begin to reduce your plugging.....this is for me the ideal scenario and I am planning on working on it soon...just very hard not to plug when you believe with all you heart and soul, and through previous experience, that any moderate noise makes you t worse.

This situation definitely sucks........