Strange Hearing Distortion/Dysacusis?

[HootOwl]

Hey, I still have distortion over specific frequencies. Like you I did a sweep and some frequencies, like 1816 Hz for example, are distorted, but like you, only at a very low level! If I increase the loudness level, it comes back normal.

I think we both did the same experiment and had the same results. My theory is that it's a specific hearing loss, and at a low loudness level only, few hair cells, the ones damaged, are transmitting, but at higher sound levels than the other hair cells that are involved and so the brain decides to hear the good tone, not the distorted one.

It got better in the sense that I don't hear any distortion anymore.

What helped me: magnesium and vitamin B + sleeping next to my kitchen which makes a lot of weird noise...

Do you recall how long the distortions lasted before you started to see improvement? And how long before they disappeared entirely? That's wonderful that it resolved for you! Gives me some more hope that myself and others will see similar results.

 

[Gabriel]

What would be a good dosage for the magnesium and b vitamin? Do you recommend sleeping in silence or using white or pink noise?

Normal dosage, meaning what is normally recommended. (so just follow the dosage on the box of pills you are taking).

I did see it go away with a weird sound from my kitchen, the sound my refrigirator made + some beeps. White noise trigger my tinnitus so I can't recommend it. And now I sleep in complete silence, and it's okay for me.

 

[Gabriel]

Do you recall how long the distortions lasted before you started to see improvement? And how long before they disappeared entirely? That's wonderful that it resolved for you! Gives me some more hope that myself and others will see similar results.

Hard to say, maybe 1 month? It all disappeared after this period where I was sleeping downstairs because of the heat of summer, next to my noisy kitchen, and I remember before or after, taking magnesium totally improved it.

I have had tinnitus for 1 year now, and magnesium + vitamin b is the only thing I am 100% sure have a good effect.

I tried several supplements, but didn't notice enough change from them.

 

[Auron]

whenever my fan is on I can hear some high pitch whistle/humming sound at the same time

I get this too, and it's really loud if I set my fan to medium, so I keep it at low or high. Dryer, vents, fridges and some music cause a loud whistle or humming. It's louder then the source sound, especially the dryer, I've had it for a few years and it is quiet, but now I hear a really loud humming coming from my dryer, so annoying.

Some noise that come from a distant can also have a beep or boop sound. I'm over 7 months in and it hasn't really got any better. I should mention that I could still hear the source sound but it's definitely put to the background by this distortion. What kind of damage does this indicate. HC? Nerves? Both? I've read people get better hearing and lots of things in general get better with time, even beyond 1 year. I hope I'm a fortunate one.

 

[Yuuls]

Hi, I'm new here, I've had tinnitus for almost 5 months as of writing this, and I mostly got used to it. However just recently I noticed something odd, my tinnitus seems to overlay certain frequencies with a beep. For example, some sounds on the TV/radio are just overlaid with this strange beep like sound, whenever my fan is on I can hear some high pitch whistle/humming sound at the same time in the ear facing towards it, and as soon as I go somewhere silent or cover my ears it goes away.

It's like my tinnitus is actively playing some distorted whistle sound over anything I try to mask it with, it doesn't seem to be in my head, since this goes away when I cover my ears or sit in silence. I noticed this when I first got tinnitus, but it went away, but a few days ago it returned.

Anyone else have something like this?

Hello,

Have had tinnitus for about two months now. I am so happy (use this term loosely) to have found out that what I've been experiencing has a name somewhat, and that I'm not alone in this.

I've noticed about 3 weeks ago now that the following noises
- The fan in my bathroom
- The fan I use for masking (small desk fan)
- My car on the freeway
- The sound of a freeway in a distance
- Fans at grocery stores (like the fridge section and whatnot)
- Certain music
- Blow dryers

Emit this annoying whining/droning sound. I know it's external because if I plug my ears or turn it off, the additional noise goes away. I wouldn't call it reactive tinnitus because it's not my usual tinnitus sound and it doesn't necessarily get louder with noise, the extra noise just pops up out of nowhere.

It appears in both ears and is worse some days than others.
It's honestly more annoying than my usual tinnitus at this point. I was sitting in my car listening to music today (quietly) and had to turn it off because the noise was literally irritating me so much.

I feel like it's been ongoing for several weeks now and it's been driving me insane.
I did feel like/kind of still feel like I have some hyperacusis - still not sure if it's my anxiety driving it or not - but I wonder if they're linked?

Anyways, just wanted to post here to let people know there is another person who is part of the club. The internet doesn't seem to have much info on this topic.

 

[Phat Tuna]

Hello,

Hello,

You are experiencing dysacusis (sound distortion). And it is indeed a form of hyperacusis (sound sensitivity).

 

[Yuuls]

You are experiencing dysacusis (sound distortion). And it is indeed a form of hyperacusis (sound sensitivity).

Hi there. Thanks for replying. I think I developed my hyperacusis about 3 weeks or so into having tinnitus. I was at home and my dad's voice sounded SO loud at breakfast, and he's not a loud person. Do you think the dysacusis will resolve with time, as hyperacusis does as well?

Any advice?

I've always had pretty sensitive ears I think. I remember a day at work where I was listening to a podcast with headphones and it was starting to irritate my ears. No pain, I just couldn't tolerate it for some reason. I'm also someone who has bad anxiety in general, so I wonder if that's exasperating the hyperacusis and dysacusis.

Also want to add that I spent a lot of time wearing noise cancelling headphones, and slept with ear plugs. Could those things add to the development of hyperacusis?

I gave up both 2 months ago when I developed tinnitus.

 

[Phat Tuna]

Do you think the dysacusis will resolve with time, as hyperacusis does as well?

They should. You'll just need to be careful around loud sounds to not reaggravate it. Rule I follow for now is anything over 75db, wear ear plugs. Anything over 85db, leave. You should not be there.

Anxiety does play a role, but it's not everything. Reducing anxiety will help a lot, but you will also need time to heal.

If you have money, could try low level laser therapy or hyperbaric oxygen therapy to speed up the healing. Though the efficacy of both is still up for debate.

I wouldn't think wearing earplugs at night would play much of a role, but I used to do the same before getting tinnitus, so who knows? Maybe. I actually sometimes wear them again at night, because wearing them actually causes my tinnitus to lower since I now have reactive tinnitus. But maybe abstaining would be better for me in the long run.

 

[Yuuls]

They should. You'll just need to be careful around loud sounds to not reaggravate it. Rule I follow for now is anything over 75db, wear ear plugs. Anything over 85db, leave. You should not be there.

Anxiety does play a role, but it's not everything. Reducing anxiety will help a lot, but you will also need time to heal.

If you have money, could try low level laser therapy or hyperbaric oxygen therapy to speed up the healing. Though the efficacy of both is still up for debate.

I wouldn't think wearing earplugs at night would play much of a role, but I used to do the same before getting tinnitus, so who knows? Maybe. I actually sometimes wear them again at night, because wearing them actually causes my tinnitus to lower since I now have reactive tinnitus. But maybe abstaining would be better for me in the long run.

Even with earplugs? What about random street noise? That stuff shouldn't hurt me if it's not a long exposure right? I live in a noisy place.

 

[Auron]

You are experiencing dysacusis (sound distortion). And it is indeed a form of hyperacusis (sound sensitivity).

I had hyperacusis resolve about 6 months or so ago. I still experience ringing, humming, and beeps from some noise sources. There's more to it than just hyperacusis. Although you are right in that when I had hyperacusis I did suffer from dysacusis. Hopefully this resolves for Yuuls.

 

[Phat Tuna]

Even with earplugs? What about random street noise? That stuff shouldn't hurt me if it's not a long exposure right? I live in a noisy place.

Street noise is fine. It is under 80db. Unless someone honks their horn near you or sirens go by. In which case just cover your ears. Or if there is loud construction, wear ear plugs

 

[Hotspur2931]

Hi, I'm new here, I've had tinnitus for almost 5 months as of writing this, and I mostly got used to it. However just recently I noticed something odd, my tinnitus seems to overlay certain frequencies with a beep. For example, some sounds on the TV/radio are just overlaid with this strange beep like sound, whenever my fan is on I can hear some high pitch whistle/humming sound at the same time in the ear facing towards it, and as soon as I go somewhere silent or cover my ears it goes away.

It's like my tinnitus is actively playing some distorted whistle sound over anything I try to mask it with, it doesn't seem to be in my head, since this goes away when I cover my ears or sit in silence. I noticed this when I first got tinnitus, but it went away, but a few days ago it returned.

Anyone else have something like this?

I had almost EXACTLY this. My T is a static but certain noises would get overlaid by a high tone. The wind in the trees was particularly bad, but at its worst I would get it with the kettle, dishwasher, washing machine, extractor fans, regular fans, food frying in the pan, my own pee in the toilet, running water, sound of my feet crunching on the grass, etc etc.

I was really overwhelmed and trying to find a word for it or a diagnosis, and someone said to me, "I think you're hypervigilant and have developed sound sensitivity". That really helped me. I could see that T had made me so jumpy and so hyperaware of every little sound.

I decided to just let go of it and try to ignore. I kept busy and surrounded myself with a variety of sounds so I wasn't fixated on any one sound. After that it calmed down pretty quickly. I kept saying to myself "maybe it's supposed to sound like that", and that REALLY helped.

Even I now I notice it every once in a while but it doesn't bother me in the slightest because I know I'll forget about it in a minute.

You'll be fine. It's normal to have all sorts of sound based insanity especially in the early months of T. It will definitely settle. Don't do anything crazy like overprotecting your ears or avoiding sounds more than you have to. Try to just carry on as normal (within reason). Best of luck to you and please don't stress - you're honestly doing fine.

Xxx

 

[Yuuls]

They should. You'll just need to be careful around loud sounds to not reaggravate it. Rule I follow for now is anything over 75db, wear ear plugs. Anything over 85db, leave. You should not be there.

Anxiety does play a role, but it's not everything. Reducing anxiety will help a lot, but you will also need time to heal.

If you have money, could try low level laser therapy or hyperbaric oxygen therapy to speed up the healing. Though the efficacy of both is still up for debate.

I wouldn't think wearing earplugs at night would play much of a role, but I used to do the same before getting tinnitus, so who knows? Maybe. I actually sometimes wear them again at night, because wearing them actually causes my tinnitus to lower since I now have reactive tinnitus. But maybe abstaining would be better for me in the long run.

I had some ear sensitivity prior to the onset of my ringing. Probably just my ears telling me that they were tired of music, but I was never one of those people who listened to music loud, not even as a teen. Maybe like 30-40% at most.

I wonder if I had a very very mild unnoticeable Tinnitus (from bars/concerts) which was exasperated by ETD, which in turn ramped up some mild existing hyperacusis? I have talked to many many tinnitus sufferers in the last few months and not a single person experienced what I do (most of them have the classic eeeee sound from acoustic trauma).

I wore ear plugs this morning to grind some coffee beans, and noticed that when I swallowed I had this crazy sounding squeaking in my ears each time I swallowed! It stopped when I started swallowing a lot to replicate it.

 

[Phat Tuna]

I had some ear sensitivity prior to the onset of my ringing. Probably just my ears telling me that they were tired of music, but I was never one of those people who listened to music loud, not even as a teen. Maybe like 30-40% at most.

I wonder if I had a very very mild unnoticeable Tinnitus (from bars/concerts) which was exasperated by ETD, which in turn ramped up some mild existing hyperacusis? I have talked to many many tinnitus sufferers in the last few months and not a single person experienced what I do (most of them have the classic eeeee sound from acoustic trauma).

I wore ear plugs this morning to grind some coffee beans, and noticed that when I swallowed I had this crazy sounding squeaking in my ears each time I swallowed! It stopped when I started swallowing a lot to replicate it.

I've experienced the same symptoms. It's important to not overthink all of this. It will get better. But the more you think about it, the harder it will be. I know it's easier said than done though.

 

[Yuuls]

I've experienced the same symptoms. It's important to not overthink all of this. It will get better. But the more you think about it, the harder it will be. I know it's easier said than done though.

I feel like I am losing out on the best years of my life waiting for this nightmare to get better

6 months after my surgery I was finally feeling like a normal human being and now I'm stuck with tinnitus & hyperacusis. It never ends.

 

[Jeebs]

I started experiencing this phenomenon as well yesterday, but only in my right ear and mostly hear it when it's quiet over female voices on TV. Also my tinnitus changed quite a bit: My baseline sound has disappeared almost or completely in my right ear today and is now replaced with a very quiet low-pitch hum, I can even lie down on that ear without it getting louder.
Prior to this, I've been to a party with fairly loud music which always seems to alleviate my tinnitus for some reason. Although I'm a bit concerned that this is a false sign...

 

[Jeebs]

Update: My little beeps change! Every now and then I hear a "plop" like someone opening a very tiny champagne bottle. And afterwards either I have the beeps and a low pitch hum (around 200 Hz-ish?), or they disappear and my hum is around 400-500 Hz. Could there be some physical problem in the middle ear? Like misaligned bones or something with my ear drum? My right ear also hurts much more than the left one which I think may be TTTS or somewhat regarding my hyperacusis.

 

[Capstan]

Add me to the club. Anyone have a tympanogram or benzos before this began? I had both, which did this... ugh

 

[Phat Tuna]

Add me to the club. Anyone have a tympanogram or benzos before this began? I had both, which did this... ugh

If it's one or the other I would say the tympanogram is the much more likely culprit. TTTS and hyperacusis go hand in hand with my sound distortions. They come and go together.

 

[Capstan]

If it's one or the other I would say the tympanogram is the much more likely culprit. TTTS and hyperacusis go hand in hand with my sound distortions. They come and go together.

My distortions were getting better until this weekend. I was in a noisy area and they're worse than before. Now I had another tympanogram, how far did this set me back.

 

[Capstan]

Also at the beggining, and still now, listening to fan noise (like white noise) make appear acute tinnitus, like high frequencie sound.
And also after 2 months I start hearing kind of whiss (like white noise sound) and it appears after I tried to make a high sound diseappear by listening to high sound (this is a method I was using at the beggining at that was working quite well).

I've seen a few folks in this thread was using pink or white noise to mask then developed this condition. I think I'm in this boat. I am now becoming more concerned that pink / white noise at masking volumes can create this damage.

For others don't do this. The results are devastating.

 

[Phat Tuna]

I just wanted to say mine has improved a lot. It's still there a little bit, but nothing like it was. Sometimes it will spike and get much worse, but usually goes back down after a few days. Mine comes along with these other symptoms that usually spike around the same time: TTTS, hyperacusis, ear pain, reactive tinnitus, headaches, jaw pain, tight neck. I believe what has helped me a bit is working on my posture and massaging/loosening my neck. I believe mine is related in some way to TMJ.

 

[Capstan]

If it's one or the other I would say the tympanogram is the much more likely culprit. TTTS and hyperacusis go hand in hand with my sound distortions. They come and go together.

It's surprising but I think you're right. I have spent time researching Tinnitus Talk and it looks like I'm not the only one that has hyperacusis after a tympanogram. FML.

 

[pinklights98]

I am not angry because of the ototoxic medicine, because all ear drops for ear inflammation ARE ototoxic, but only if it go behind the ear-drum. But my ear drum was fine, and I didn't get any side effect of ototoxicity.

I am angry that she didn't see the little earwax and just got it out. If she had did that, I would live a normal life right now.

Do you still have distortion?

 

[Gabriel]

Do you still have distortion?

Hey man,

It came back in February but right now I don't have it anymore, or I am just not aware of it. So all is better again!

I took some magnesium and also some benzo for the big stress.

 

[pinklights98]

Hey man,

It came back in February but right now I don't have it anymore, or I am just not aware of it. So all is better again!

I took some magnesium and also some benzo for the big stress.

What kind of magnesium do you use? I've had trouble finding one that has any sort of effect on my stress.

 

[Gabriel]

What kind of magnesium do you use? I've had trouble finding one that has any sort of effect on my stress.

I actually take like a mix of magnesium and b6 vitamin, I think it is pretty common!
And the magnesium is the one from "sea". In french magnesium Marin.

I think you should not overthink it and take b6 magnesium in your local pharmacy.

 

[vermillion]

Does anyone else hear different distortions depending on the source of sound? I feel like I'm the only one who has that...Like the distortion in the fan will be different than the one in traffic, which is different from the one in water.

I have this too.

 

[Gordon Steinberg]

Hi all,

I just developed this about a week following an accoustic trauma. Has it gotten better for any of you all?

Thanks!

Gordon

 

[Tommo5]

Hi, I'm new here, I've had tinnitus for almost 5 months as of writing this, and I mostly got used to it. However just recently I noticed something odd, my tinnitus seems to overlay certain frequencies with a beep. For example, some sounds on the TV/radio are just overlaid with this strange beep like sound, whenever my fan is on I can hear some high pitch whistle/humming sound at the same time in the ear facing towards it, and as soon as I go somewhere silent or cover my ears it goes away.

It's like my tinnitus is actively playing some distorted whistle sound over anything I try to mask it with, it doesn't seem to be in my head, since this goes away when I cover my ears or sit in silence. I noticed this when I first got tinnitus, but it went away, but a few days ago it returned.

Anyone else have something like this?

I have the exact same thing. I have no idea what's happening. My ears hurt, ringing louder, I don't think I can ever live a happy life and I'm only 16.