- Apr 18, 2025
- 1
- Tinnitus Since
- April 2025
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Pub on top of existing hearing loss
Hello, just introducing myself. It's great that there is a forum for tinnitus. Over the past week, I've felt pretty low at times about it, but right now, it doesn't seem to bother me as much. I have some tinnitus in my right ear, which sounds like a 10 kHz whine. Interestingly, there have been moments in the past week when it completely disappeared. This afternoon, I was cleaning the car with headphones on, and now it's back.
Things that have noticeably helped the tinnitus settle down:
How it happened:
I went to the pub with a mate last Saturday, and there was music playing. He assured me it wasn't that loud, not like a nightclub, and there were loads of people there. I guess I was just unlucky.
I already had a pre-existing 40 dB loss above around 100 Hz in my right ear. That dates back about 20 years, after a scooter exhaust exploded near my head. I had also been messing around with guns, not just SA80s but also artillery and flash bangs during officer cadets and CCF. Still, I never really noticed any long-term effects.
I have a fancy £2,000 Phonak hearing aid and had my annual check-up at Boots about a month ago, in mid-March. The woman doing the hearing test turned up the settings and told me I had lost about 5 dB since my last visit a year earlier. At the time, I said it seemed a bit loud to me. She also told me off for not wearing it—I've honestly only worn it a handful of times since I bought it.
Now I'm wondering whether I should go to Specsavers and get reassessed by someone else, or whether I should just go back to Boots. But the woman there seemed a bit stern when I said it felt too loud. I'm really starting to wonder whether these hearing aids can actually cause damage.
In the meantime, I'm not going to wear it and have bought some earplugs instead.
Things that have noticeably helped the tinnitus settle down:
- Jon Kabat-Zinn sessions, particularly the body scan
- Hot baths
- Less coffee and no beer (although that tends to lower my mood)
- Riding my bike (it lifts my spirits, and the wind noise blocks out the tinnitus… maybe it's going to make me really fit)
How it happened:
I went to the pub with a mate last Saturday, and there was music playing. He assured me it wasn't that loud, not like a nightclub, and there were loads of people there. I guess I was just unlucky.
I already had a pre-existing 40 dB loss above around 100 Hz in my right ear. That dates back about 20 years, after a scooter exhaust exploded near my head. I had also been messing around with guns, not just SA80s but also artillery and flash bangs during officer cadets and CCF. Still, I never really noticed any long-term effects.
I have a fancy £2,000 Phonak hearing aid and had my annual check-up at Boots about a month ago, in mid-March. The woman doing the hearing test turned up the settings and told me I had lost about 5 dB since my last visit a year earlier. At the time, I said it seemed a bit loud to me. She also told me off for not wearing it—I've honestly only worn it a handful of times since I bought it.
Now I'm wondering whether I should go to Specsavers and get reassessed by someone else, or whether I should just go back to Boots. But the woman there seemed a bit stern when I said it felt too loud. I'm really starting to wonder whether these hearing aids can actually cause damage.
In the meantime, I'm not going to wear it and have bought some earplugs instead.
