Tinnitus from Anxiety Triggered by Researching How Dangerous Headphones Can Be?

[microo]

I've never experienced tinnitus until October 19th (I think). From then on I've been having tinnitus that can be usually heard in quiet environments and can be masked when I'm outside or in any place with background noise if I'm not thinking about it. It's louder/more bothersome in my right ear because it's a high pitch sound mixed with a humming sound. My tinnitus started after my excessive fear that I had hearing loss problems. That fear came from the fact that I had worn headphones everyday for the past 2 years. I started to think: "what if this has affected me" and "I should search this up" which was a huge mistake. I found out about something along the lines of "hidden hearing loss" and started constantly trying to listen out for any sign of tinnitus as that was apparently one of the symptoms of it.

A few days later (October 19th), I did start to hear a high pitched ringing noise in my right ear and started panicking about it. I went to see my GP and he checked my ears and said there was no sign of infection and both my ears were perfectly healthy. He said I had no hearing loss, did not need a hearing test or an MRI. I still panicked anyway as I could still hear it when trying to sleep at night. I spent the next few months crying over this stupid noise and hoping for it to go away... If I had never searched up anything to do with hearing loss, I don't think I would ever have started hearing this high pitched noise. Googling tinnitus became an obsession and I cried more over the fact that there was "no cure". I started hearing a low humming noise along with the high pitched noise in my right ear. The other ear also has a sort of high pitch but it's not as noticeable as the one in my right. Maybe my right ear noise is more noticeable because I was always trying to hear it in that ear since that's the ear I first heard tinnitus in.

I can't concentrate on anything anymore. My parents refuse to let me go see an ENT because they say it's all in my head and I just need to stop thinking about it. But my anxiety won't let me. I don't think I have TMJ or ETD. No history of hyperacusis. I don't have any of the other symptoms of those conditions. No pain or clicking in my jaw, no discomfort, no ear fullness, nothing. I know that not knowing what tinnitus is/never searching it up would result in me not hearing this but if this is psychosomatic, how come it's louder in my right ear? That scares me. Surely I'd be able to hear it equally in both ears if it was, right...? I want to go back to silence. I want to stop crying over this. Why is it louder in my right ear? Is there something wrong or is it all in my head? I don't understand this. I've been known for having a higher level of panic/anxiety and I only developed tinnitus when finding out about what it was.

Not knowing the exact cause of tinnitus only makes me stress out more. If it was headphones, I would've gotten tinnitus without having to do extensive research on what tinnitus is. But the tinnitus is different in both ears. Maybe it'll never go away now. I'll be aware of it forever.

 

[DimLeb]

First off, here we all know that it's really hard in the beginning. This intense anxiety will go away over time, whether the actual tinnitus sound goes away or not. It will get better, just read a bit on how to protect your ears with earplugs/earmuffs/etc.

In my opinion, one just doesn't get tinnitus because of reading about tinnitus. It defies any sort of logic, because tinnitus doesn't care about our thoughts or emotional state. It is a pathological problem which has organic roots like an injury or something. Be it external insult, genetics or other malfunction of the body. However, science is very primitive regarding ears, so no one can really detect the problem yet or even look into what happens in the cochlea, neurons, or brain that take part in tinnitus.

I would say it's a big unfortunate coincidence that you developed it after reading about it. Yup, those happen in life, too. And we easily correlate things to other things, especially when there is no solid answer to the problem, and especially at tinnitus.

I suggest you find a place to do all possible tests (extended audiogram, balance tests, blood tests etc) and exclude things, but keep in mind that many people (including me) can search for years for a possible reason and never find anything that could have caused it.

 

[Michael Leigh]

Not knowing the exact cause of tinnitus only makes me stress out more. If it was headphones, I would've gotten tinnitus without having to do extensive research on what tinnitus is. But the tinnitus is different in both ears. Maybe it'll never go away now. I'll be aware of it forever.

Hi @microo.

I am sorry to hear that you are going through a difficult time at the moment with tinnitu. I have some suggestions that you might find helpful.

Since you have been a regular user of headphones, I suspect the tinnitus was present for quite a while but operating at a very low level, so your brain easily dismissed it as background noise. This does happen because the internal workings of the human body is quite a noisy place. However, in very quiet surroundings, late at night for instance, you probably would have heard the tinnitus if you knew what to listen for.

I believe your research into headphone use and hearing loss made you focus more on your ears and auditory system and the dangers of exposure to loud noise. In the process you probably read that headphones can cause tinnitus, because people often don't realize they are listening to audio at too high a volume.

Your experience is reminiscent of my own which happened 26 years ago. I was a regular user of headphones and now know I was using them at too high a volume. I was listening to music through my Beyer top-of-the line headphones and reading a HI-FI magazine, that was reviewing a pair of Stax electrostatic headphones. These are highly revered with a price to match and well over my budget. As I become engrossed in the article, the writer mentioned the dangers of listening to audio at too high a volume can cause tinnitus. He described it as a ringing in the ears and said there was no cure. He advised not to use headphones at loud volumes and for long durations.

As I slipped the headphones off my head, I began listening for tinnitus and immediately heard it. It was a frightening first experience that I have written about on this forum. Looking back, I can remember late at night in bed when it's quiet, I could hear high pitched ringing but quickly dismissed it as I didn't know what it was. During the day the ringing was easily masked by sounds in the environment.

Please click on the links below and read my posts. Go to my started threads and read: Will My Tinnitus Get Worse? The Habituation Process, How to Habituate to Tinnitus, Tinnitus and the Negative Mindset, Acquiring a Positive Mindset.

Since your tinnitus is low at the moment, there is a good chance this will improve. For this to happen, my advice is not use any types of headphones even at a low volume. Use a sound machine for low-level sound enrichment especially at night. More information about this is in my posts.

All the best,
Michael

New to Tinnitus, What to Do? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum
Tinnitus, A Personal View | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

[Michael Leigh]

In my opinion, one just doesn't get tinnitus because of reading about tinnitus. It defies any sort of logic, because tinnitus doesn't care about our thoughts or emotional state

There is plenty of information online that explains the way tinnitus is greatly affected by our thoughts and emotions. Talk to any audiologist or hearing therapist that specialises in tinnitus treatment and management. They will tell you, stress makes tinnitus worse and tinnitus can make stress worse. It can become a vicious cycle and needs to managed. There are various ways this can be achieved, by one or a combination of: counselling, medication, sound therapy and relaxation techniques.

Michael

 

[Jammer]

Time and patience are your path to acceptance.

 

[Stuart-T]

I've never experienced tinnitus until October 19th (I think). From then on I've been having tinnitus that can be usually heard in quiet environments and can be masked when I'm outside or in any place with background noise if I'm not thinking about it. It's louder/more bothersome in my right ear because it's a high pitch sound mixed with a humming sound. My tinnitus started after my excessive fear that I had hearing loss problems. That fear came from the fact that I had worn headphones everyday for the past 2 years. I started to think: "what if this has affected me" and "I should search this up" which was a huge mistake. I found out about something along the lines of "hidden hearing loss" and started constantly trying to listen out for any sign of tinnitus as that was apparently one of the symptoms of it.

A few days later (October 19th), I did start to hear a high pitched ringing noise in my right ear and started panicking about it. I went to see my GP and he checked my ears and said there was no sign of infection and both my ears were perfectly healthy. He said I had no hearing loss, did not need a hearing test or an MRI. I still panicked anyway as I could still hear it when trying to sleep at night. I spent the next few months crying over this stupid noise and hoping for it to go away... If I had never searched up anything to do with hearing loss, I don't think I would ever have started hearing this high pitched noise. Googling tinnitus became an obsession and I cried more over the fact that there was "no cure". I started hearing a low humming noise along with the high pitched noise in my right ear. The other ear also has a sort of high pitch but it's not as noticeable as the one in my right. Maybe my right ear noise is more noticeable because I was always trying to hear it in that ear since that's the ear I first heard tinnitus in.

I can't concentrate on anything anymore. My parents refuse to let me go see an ENT because they say it's all in my head and I just need to stop thinking about it. But my anxiety won't let me. I don't think I have TMJ or ETD. No history of hyperacusis. I don't have any of the other symptoms of those conditions. No pain or clicking in my jaw, no discomfort, no ear fullness, nothing. I know that not knowing what tinnitus is/never searching it up would result in me not hearing this but if this is psychosomatic, how come it's louder in my right ear? That scares me. Surely I'd be able to hear it equally in both ears if it was, right...? I want to go back to silence. I want to stop crying over this. Why is it louder in my right ear? Is there something wrong or is it all in my head? I don't understand this. I've been known for having a higher level of panic/anxiety and I only developed tinnitus when finding out about what it was.

Not knowing the exact cause of tinnitus only makes me stress out more. If it was headphones, I would've gotten tinnitus without having to do extensive research on what tinnitus is. But the tinnitus is different in both ears. Maybe it'll never go away now. I'll be aware of it forever.

I'm sorry that you have tinnitus.

2 years headphone use is a lot - and even if you kept the volume reasonable - could still result in issues.

I was on a violin forum today as I recently took up the instrument and there was a discussion about tinnitus - somebody said that hearing loss need not have come from a super loud noise, but could build up over time if the ears are repeatedly exposed to significant sound. The violin produces between 70 dB and 95 dB in close proximity to the left ear and this could be sufficient to cause tinnitus after some years of regular playing. The consensus on that board is to wear effective earplugs when playing.

As Michael Leigh said - it would not be anxiety related but caused by headphone use. The main thing is to stop using headphone and avoid excessive noise.

Become a regular here and get as much info as you can and good luck.