Tinnitus Not Present in Quiet Places — I Hear It Only When There's External Sound

[Allison McHugh]

Hello, my name is Allie and I am a fairly new tinnitus sufferer... unfortunately. I decided to make this post to see if others are experiencing what I'm currently enduring. My tinnitus is only present in sound. If I retreat to a quiet room and allocate several minutes for my tinnitus to settle down, then it goes away completely. I actually prefer being in quiet places, as my tinnitus is no longer present. I have found that environmental sounds aggravate my tinnitus. I have the Widex Zen sound therapy, but the generators actually create a major spike for me, which (at times) is unbearable. I would love to live in an environment where no external stimuli is present, but that just isn't reality.

From one tinnitus sufferer to another, I feel your pain.

If anyone has any suggestions, please share Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this post!

 

[Tybs]

Welcome! I share your experience, at least partly: my tinnitus has a low baseline, but is pretty much always audible because it tends to compete with external sounds. I quit using white noise for other reasons some time ago, after which I started experiencing moments and periods of time where my tinnitus got very low in volume. In the end, I ended up with the same conclusion that you express here.

Do you happen to know the cause of your tinnitus? Since when have you had it?

 

[Allison McHugh]

Thank you so much for your response! I developed it back in April of this year. I received Botox injections for chronic migraine and two days later found myself at our local urgent care with a raging ear infection. I suffered from many ear infections over the course of three months. Ringing dissipated as the infection healed. I was recently diagnosed with TMD, so I'm being treated for that. I have to wear a splint 24 hours a day over the course of the next 15 weeks. I really hope it helps, but I have a funny feeling my tinnitus is here to stay. I just wish I could wear those devices without it resulting in a major spike. I pray that your tinnitus will get better for you!

 

[Tybs]

TMD is known as a possible cause of tinnitus. You might turn out to be one of the lucky ones: make sure to write a success story here in case it turns out that way.

Curious: do you only have one sound, or are there multiple of them? And would you describe it as a tone, a hiss, a static, or something different?

 

[Allison McHugh]

I only hear one sound and it's high pitched ringing. I hear it in both, but my right ear is more affected. That side hurts the worst and has become more bothersome. I have deep ear pain in both, jaw pain, pressure and popping (possibly due to ETD). However, I'm noticing an improvement in the pressure I just started using the appliance this past Thursday, so time will tell! I'm also scheduled for PT and acupuncture! I'll absolutely keep you posted!

 

[Nate52]

Hello, my name is Allie and I am a fairly new tinnitus sufferer... unfortunately. I decided to make this post to see if others are experiencing what I'm currently enduring. My tinnitus is only present in sound. If I retreat to a quiet room and allocate several minutes for my tinnitus to settle down, then it goes away completely. I actually prefer being in quiet places, as my tinnitus is no longer present. I have found that environmental sounds aggravate my tinnitus. I have the Widex Zen sound therapy, but the generators actually create a major spike for me, which (at times) is unbearable. I would love to live in an environment where no external stimuli is present, but that just isn't reality.

From one tinnitus sufferer to another, I feel your pain.

If anyone has any suggestions, please share Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this post!

I have the same kind of reactive tinnitus. My right ear responds to certain sounds with ring sounds. When the external sound stops the ringing stops. I would love to know the cause and possible treatment. I do best in quiet areas, which is difficult in our noisy world. This is the biggest challenge I have ever had to endure.I have had this since Labor Day.

 

[Nate52]

I also have TMD. Bite splints at night and physical therapy for tmj disorder are very helpful. Examples would be jaw muscle stretches, heat applications, and massages of tight muscles.

 

[Allison McHugh]

Did your tinnitus get better as your jaw healed? I have to wear my splint during the day and night guard while I sleep for a duration of 15 weeks!

 

[Flyingsheep]

Mine also tends to get louder when I'm around certain sounds, particularly white noise. Anything else it's fine, but for some reason it seems to really present itself when I'm around white noise such as a fan. But when I get away the baseline is usually pretty low. Had tinnitus for over a year now.

 

[Nate52]

Did your tinnitus get better as your jaw healed? I have to wear my splint during the day and night guard while I sleep for a duration of 15 weeks!

It did improve some. The best thing was reducing the horrible headaches.

 

[JacquelineG]

I'm so sorry you're going through this and I hope your situation will get better.

This is the first I hear of T being non-existent in a quiet place. It's usually the other way around. I have to have some ambient noise in whatever room I enter. Bathroom (turn on faucet), bedroom (turn on fan), kitchen (turn on sound machine), at work (white noise app on mobile phone), and on and on. Oh how I miss being in a quiet room...

 

[Allison McHugh]

I have horrible headaches too! Here's to hoping my T will improve! I do have hyperacusis as well, which I know is commonly correlated with TMD. But I'm working with my audiologist, acupuncturist, PT and TMJ specialist to hopefully heal my jaw and tinnitus over time. I'll absolutely keep you posted regarding my (hopeful) improvement!

 

[Carol27]

Has your tinnitus improved?