What Defines Mild, Normal, or Severe Tinnitus?

[BuzzyBee]

I have no idea what level mine is and am kind of scared to find out! All I can say is I can hear it over traffic at rush hour in a busy city. I have to roll my eyes these days when people suggest "masking" with pleasant music or whatever. The only thing that masks it is running bathwater (usually). Luckily it's manageable in a quiet room. I just have a hard time outside and in public places.

It makes me sad that audiologists and doctors are still telling us to "get used to it" or "ignore it". In theory that works fine for normal tinnitus, but nobody seems to care about severe, intrusive tinnitus that reacts to sound.

 

[foliefortuna]

I was diagnosed with severe tinnitus and was measured at 85 dB and high pitched on my left side. Life can be hell if you allow it to be.

Oh my god. I feel so weak that I complain about my tinnitus now.

 

[threefirefour]

Oh my god. I feel so weak that I complain about my tinnitus now.

Well you shouldn't. All tinnitus is bad and you shouldn't fell guilty for feeling that way. just because someone is worse off doesn't make your grievances any less valid.

 

[foliefortuna]

Well you shouldn't. All tinnitus is bad and you shouldn't fell guilty for feeling that way. just because someone is worse off doesn't make your grievances any less valid.

I agree but I still cannot believe Michael B's tinnitus is that loud and nothing can be done. It is horrible. If 10% of people have tinnitus then we should all demand a cure. After all, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and there are a lot of us.

 

[threefirefour]

I agree but I still cannot believe Michael B's tinnitus is that loud and nothing can be done. It is horrible. If 10% of people have tinnitus then we should all demand a cure. After all, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and there are a lot of us.

I agree and the wheel is only getting squeakier. At least there's a lot of research going on, which is awesome.

 

[Tinker Bell]

I have never reached a decibel level where I cannot hear my tinnitus. I was once at a location where the sound environment was around 90dB. I could easily hear my high pitch tinnitus louder than the noise. It always seems to hover above whatever level is my environment.

But does that mean that it is always 90dB or that it is a high pitch internal noise that is easy to pick out and hear?

 

[Michael B]

In all honesty, people have worse problems than me.

I agree but I still cannot believe Michael B's tinnitus is that loud and nothing can be done. It is horrible. If 10% of people have tinnitus then we should all demand a cure. After all, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and there are a lot of us.

Rest assured, my days are better than my evenings. But then, it's only a few hours.

 

[Bill Bauer]

If all you can think of is T (you hear it within seconds of forgetting about it) it is severe. If you can hear it only in quiet places, it is mild/minor. If it is not severe or minor, it is normal.

 

[jay777]

mild = normal life
normal = living life
severe = living hell

 

[Jason37]

I still don't understand. Ear plugs were in last night at restaurant for my B-day and I still couldn't hear my T over ambient sound and conversation and my brother asked if it was bothering me. I said I couldn't hear it right now. He said his were ringing away and could hear it loud and clear. He didn't even know what T was 4 months ago Until I told him. It hasn't phased him one bit. I feel like a real whimp compared to what people go through.

 

[threefirefour]

If all you can think of is T (you hear it within seconds of forgetting about it) it is severe. If you can hear it only in quiet places, it is mild/minor. If it is not severe or minor, it is normal.

mild = normal life
normal = living life
severe = living hell

No I mean actual decibels.

 

[MBH]

My hearing person said I was 50 dbl and I was surprised he said that since i have head T. I couldn't tell how loud mine is and i would say mild/moderate 4/5/6 range. Also mine is not steady or normal, due to being head T, also mine is not due to noise, so if I thought to know my dbl I should have used it at the McDonald's where I was eating at and they were doing construction and I thought it was loud i just didn't know how much and I thought I would be ok, wrong i spiked for awhile. If I use one of those dbl apps do I match to my level?

 

[brownbear]

What defines mild, normal or severe tinnitus?

Don't you mean who defines.....?!

 

[monkey legs]

I have never reached a decibel level where I cannot hear my tinnitus. I was once at a location where the sound environment was around 90dB. I could easily hear my high pitch tinnitus louder than the noise. It always seems to hover above whatever level is my environment.

But does that mean that it is always 90dB or that it is a high pitch internal noise that is easy to pick out and hear?

Yours sounds like mine. I dont think its the subjective volume, rather its such a high pitch it seems to "stand out" against what ever other noise is going on. It does seems kind of re-active to the background sound.

 

[robHing]

You can barely hear it in a Library: Very mild (not even suffering Tinnitus in my opinion)
You can hear it always in quite places: Mild
You can hear it in most places, in traffic, restaurants, while talking, inside of an airplane: Moderate (I have this level)
It is so loud, just compared with alarms, horns, turbines, etc: Severe (very, very few people suffer from this kind of level).

This is very good way to measure the Tinnitus level.
I can hear my T in most places.
Based on Tinnitus info, there are SIX levels. Level 5 & 6 are severe.

I am glad that TT forum has this discussion.

 

[Tinniger]

No I mean actual decibels.

It is impossible to measure the severity of tinnitus in decibels.

 

[Sam Bridge]

If all you can think of is T (you hear it within seconds of forgetting about it) it is severe. If you can hear it only in quiet places, it is mild/minor. If it is not severe or minor, it is normal.

That doesn't make sense if you stay in a quiet place though, even with minor t?

Although i do get what you are saying generally..

 

[Billylongpockets]

What an interesting thread..
I am due to see a specialist in 4 to 6 weeks time . l only know my condition as the noise is always there. It is above every noise including listening to my sons loud music..
No wonder l'm feeling exhausted...

 

[devonlee]

This is a question that is very hard to answer. As you probably already know, Tinnitus is very subjective and varies wildly from person to person. Your best bet would be to go to an audiologist amd get the pitch matched. They will try to mask it after and that should give you a pretty good figure. Mine came out around 25db. To me it seems awful but others might consider this as nothing. I just don't know.

In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing beneficial about gaging your tinnitus on a decibel scale.
So you've figured out how 'loud' your tinnitus is, what does that give you?
I still believe that two people suffering with the same decibel level of tinnitus, would describe it differently, as well as the effects that it has on their lives.

I think too many people on here are obsessed with figuring out the decibels of every single noise. You definitely can't habituate if you're constantly thinking about decibels and tinnitus.

 

[threefirefour]

In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing beneficial about gaging your tinnitus on a decibel scale.
So you've figured out how 'loud' your tinnitus is, what does that give you?
I still believe that two people suffering with the same decibel level of tinnitus, would describe it differently, as well as the effects that it has on their lives.

I think too many people on here are obsessed with figuring out the decibels of every single noise. You definitely can't habituate if you're constantly thinking about decibels and tinnitus.

That wasn't a very good opinion.

 

[Michael Leigh]

That wasn't a very good opinion.

I agree with devonlee @threefirefour. One will never habituate by constantly monitoring decibel levels. Put the sound Apps and decibel meters away. To some degree the same applies to earplugs, earmuffs and other forms of hearing protection. Use them sparingly as overuse can cause more harm than good.

 

[threefirefour]

I agree with devonlee @threefirefour. One will never habituate by constantly monitoring decibel levels. Put the sound Apps and decibel meters away. To some degree the same applies to earplugs, earmuffs and other forms of hearing protection. Use them sparingly as overuse can cause more harm than good.

Knowing ones tinnitus better can't be bad.

 

[Michael Leigh]

Knowing ones tinnitus better can't be bad.

True. Providing this is kept under control and one doesn't become obsessed with monitoring sound levels and overusing hearing protection. Sadly, this can result in developing phonohobia, misophonia and other psychological problems if one isn't careful.

 

[Alex Prime]

Mine is new, so it changes every day. Weekends was awful, today not cool either, yesterday almost could not hear it...