What Does Your Tinnitus Sound Like?

[CrystalB]

My tinnitus is in both ears, my right seems like it's the worse one. I have an extremely high pitch hiss and static, I can hear it over basically everything, sometimes it sounds like a high pitch electrical ring, and most of the time it's all of those at once!

What does everyone else's sound like?

 

[housemzk]

Sometimes it sounds like something I hear everyday which is easy to describe and then other times I can't describe it because there's nothing even close to it. Especially early on with tinnitus.

Today is high pitch hiss and light electrical zap. Yesterday I had a loud bug zapper going off every second or so and that caused agitation most of the day.

 

[sirhand]

I've got old high pitched CRT TVs in both of my ears. That's what I hear all the time. When things are quiet, my left ear has two lower tones it likes to wobble between, fast random speed. And my right ear has one lower tone it plays. When I get fleeting tinnitus the ringing temporarily turns to a hiss/static sound for a few minutes, then it switches back to the ringing.

loud bug zapper going off every second or so

That sounds shitty, sorry.

 

[Samir]

What you describe is reminiscent of what I had when this all started. I think it's fairly common that it starts off like a hiss or static noise and then changes character to a more tonal kind of noise.

In fact, professor Rauschecker of Georgetown university described the same kind of onset of his tinnitus, and he has been researching tinnitus for many years now. For some people the onset is immediate and tonal, while for others it's a slow onset and it's typically a hiss or static noise. So those would be the two types of onset that I can discern from all the threads and post I have read here. It also seems as if those who have an immediate onset have it loud and more distressful, while those that have a slow onset have it mild or moderate. I don't know what to make of it, but it's a common pattern I have seen here.

The static noise didn't bother me at all. It didn't even register as tinnitus with me. I thought nothing of it, but I did notice it. I would mostly notice it in very quite and closed spaces like the bathroom or the bedroom.

Right now, while I type this it sounds like a low buzz type of sound. Some months ago it used to sound at night like some kind of chirping in my head, there was this very interesting pattern to it. I imagined it as if they were talking to each other. Like thugs making a plan on how to overthrow me as their boss. It wasn't a particularly disturbing sound, but very peculiar and distinct sound. It has never really sounded anything like that again. It might as well have been neurons firing in synchrony.

 

[CrystalB]

Tinnitus can be so different with everyone!
Can y'all hear it over stuff? Like I can hear mine basically over anything.
I have had it for 7 months, I don't have hearing loss, but my ENT did tell my last month that I have ETD, my ears pop and crack, and sometimes my right ear when I try to pop it, it feels full and I can hear wind but it doesn't pop. My ENT doesn't know if ETD is what's causing my tinnitus.

 

[sirhand]

When it's bad, I can hear it over anything. When it's good, almost anything will cover it up. Usually it's somewhere in between.

when I try to pop it

Ugh, I hate when it feels like it needs to pop but it won't. My advise, don't keep trying to pop it.

 

[GregCA]

Can y'all hear it over stuff? Like I can hear mine basically over anything.

Same here.

 

[Alex Prime]

High pitch screech, although recently it became quieter and somehow more pleasant.

 

[TLion]

A very high static "sssssssss". I liked it more when it was a tonal beep. This could be covered easily. This new static sound isn't very maskable.

 

[PaulBe]

These days mine seems to increase its volume to maintain a constant sound relationship and balance with everything going on around it. As a result it can't be masked because it will come up to volume-match the masking device.

 

[Sam Bridge]

It has always been a soft static noise.

 

[Makrohn]

Mine started out with the static hiss before I also got a high pitch tone on top. A year ago, my right ear went crazy and I now also have a distant jet that varies in volume and intensity. Oh, and of course I have some intermittent and sudden random beeps and a buzz that also seem to live a life of its own. I am amazed by all the different variations the brain seems to pick up on.

 

[Samir]

Can y'all hear it over stuff? Like I can hear mine basically over anything.

It depends, sometimes I can, other times I cannot. It can vary from day to day.

I have had it for 7 months, I don't have hearing loss, but my ENT did tell my last month that I have ETD, my ears pop and crack, and sometimes my right ear when I try to pop it, it feels full and I can hear wind but it doesn't pop. My ENT doesn't know if ETD is what's causing my tinnitus.

Your hearing would be affected by ETD. It would reduce your ability to conduct sound in that ear. Reduced auditory input drives compensatory mechanisms and neuroplasticity in the brain which results in tinnitus.

I'm not an ENT doctor nor am I a neuroscientist, but you can draw this conclusion easily by following the research. However, it should be obvious to any ENT that problems with the middle ear can cause reduced hearing. So if you can clear up any kind of conductive problem there is a good chance that tinnitus will go away. If left untreated the tinnitus will stay.

 

[Tinniger]

My main tinnitus is a loud hiss in the left ear, as if air escapes from a leaking oxygen bottle.

 

[h-m-1994]

I have 2 sounds, first, a humming which is barely there, but gets louder with stress and tiredness. Secondly, irregular clicking in both ears with occasional spasms that ignite a pure tone for a few seconds, which is likely TTTS (I think this is likely as I hear thumping in my ears when I put on my earmuffs). My ears don't react to noise, but I try to protect them against harmful sounds like buzzsaws, construction work, chainsaws, drills and idiots showing off on their motorbikes (surprisingly common in my area). Hoping it can go away eventually, started going to an osteopath to unwind some tension in the upper part of my back and may take up acupuncture for stress.

 

[Natester1986]

Mine sounds like a tea kettle. That's the only sound I hear when it comes to tinnitus. Not really that loud. Of course, I'm careful when it comes to loud noises because I don't want to risk having my tinnitus become much worse.

 

[uae96]

A constant loud head tone, can be masked by AC, then comes the very loud hissing that can't be masked which is the worst for me, I also have hyperacusis which gives me ear pain.

 

[another sean]

Like a Salvation Army bell being run during Christmas, twice as fast.

 

[streeter1985]

Constant sound in the background, high frequency.
Over it an always fast randomly changing hissing with multiple even higher frequencies. No way to distract from the hissing.

 

[sky_high]

Does anyone's tinnitus sound like there's sand climbing up the spine into your head? Does it mean that my tinnitus could be somatic, something related to my spine or neck muscles? I have this or the classic cathode TV sound.

 

[Jmk]

Mine is hissing sounds, does anyone have this sound?

 

[Stu1983]

For my first 10 years (2008-2018) I heard these bird noises and a "reeeeeee" ringing noise. Always constant but moderate in severity, and I heard the noises only in my ears, I had no serious spikes either.

In Dec 2018 my noise doubled in volume and from then until February 2019 it was a constant high pitched ringing. Then I developed hyperacusis and everything has since then gone mental.

Since that date it's spread to my head and has been changing hourly or daily. It's a high pitched hiss, kind of like an air raid siren, crickets, steam kettle (kind of), strange electric noises come and go. Sometimes a combination of these sounds, sometimes only one.

I can usually hear it over the shower and cannot mask it normally.

 

[Frayact]

I've had a high-pitched hissing in both ears since April 1996. I'm able to ignore it most of the time.

In July 1996, I started hearing a loud, low-pitched hum which is also a physical sensation, like a fluttering or vibration. This sound has caused me major depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts over the years. But unlike the hissing noise, this humming sound will mysteriously go away for periods of up to two and a half years. In fact, it recently came back after being gone for that long. It's now been back for over three weeks. I'm hoping it's temporary, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

[CMIH]

My tinnitus sounds like an extremely high pitch squeal, which I believe indicates high frequency hearing damage/loss.

 

[SadiRose]

My tinnitus is non-stop screeching like a train trying to stop or that sound when you pull the end of a balloon out to squeal the air out. I hear it in both ears but my right side is often louder it seems. Specialists tell me it is not my ears though. It is my brain. I am often feeling very hopeless as it can be extremely debilitating.

 

[dan]

Does anybody's tinnitus sound like a loud vacuum cleaner?
Perhaps a very thick loud dental drill? Obviously not maskable and now can hear it through the shower a bit...

Please give me some hope for any semblance of a life...?

 

[Yuuls]

All over the place.

Started out super bad - cicadas in both ears, then a beeping in my right ear that would eventually turn into longer and longer beeeeeps and eventually become a ringing. Often 3 tones in one ear.

On a good day it sounds like sand pouring on glass with a very faint beeping. Mild electrical zaps, kinda like when bugs hit those special lights meant to kill em.

At its' worst, cicadas, 4 tones of ringing and my right ear would buzz/vibrate so loud that I could almost physically feel it in my ear.

If I hear any kind of white noise - fan/certain songs/shower/heater there's usually an additional high pitched sound that emerges but goes away when the source of the sound disappears.

I'm about 8-9 weeks in, so who knows where it will go from here.

 

[PeteJ]

High pitched ringing of several tones. It's difficult to describe now. It seems to worsen at night. 9 or 10/10 going up to 11/10.

My left ear and surrounding area including the bone is in pain and discomfort.

But, it's the loud ringing that is the worst. The pain is severe when it's bad but it's the loud intrusive ringing that makes life intolerable. I hope the pain goes away soon, though. I haven't had this pain in and around my ear for a while and it's suddenly really bad. I know people are asking how your tinnitus sounds but it is difficult to put into words. I used to describe it as a combination of a kettle boiling and cicadas but it is ringing of several high pitched tones. I can't mask it either. It's too loud.

 

[FGG]

I have two sounds and they sound exactly the same on both sides:

High pitched single tone (around 12000 Hz?) and a "cicadas" type sound.

 

[FGG]

High pitched ringing of several tones. It's difficult to describe now. It seems to worsen at night. 9 or 10/10 going up to 11/10.

My left ear and surrounding area including the bone is in pain and discomfort.

I think this was covered in another thread but having pain in the "surrounding area" seems like such an unusual symptom. I have to wonder if a good otologist/neurologist/facial pain specialist/dentist? couldn't work you up better.