Woke Up with High-Pitched Alternating Tinnitus in Right Ear

[HopefulFrog]

I've always thought I had a very, very mild case of tinnitus, since whenever wearing earplugs I would hear a faint hissing noise instead of silence.

However, this morning I woke up and suddenly seem to actually have tinnitus in my right ear. I hear a constant, high-pitched sound that seems to alternate randomly between two tones about a half-step apart. When I first woke up, I thought I was having an auditory hallucination. It's not very noticeable in a loud room (like with our noisy heater going), but with my ear plugs in or my noise cancelling headphones on, it's noticeable. That's a problem, since I wear my headphones through most of the day to block out the loud booming bass that frequently intrudes from the parking lot outside and triggers my misophonia, anxiety, and OCD.

I'm not sure what might have caused the sudden onset. I wore earplugs to bed, as I often do, to reduce the likelihood of being woken up by the aforementioned bass. I frequently reuse the same pair of earplugs, meaning they have some earwax buildup. I also woke up feeling somewhat ill this morning, for whatever reason, including some congestion, so here's hoping that the new ringing is a temporary symptom.

Another possible cause could be what I listened to last night with headphones. I might have unintentionally had the volume too loud. In particular, the little USB sound card I sometimes use has a bizarre bug where it sometimes is way louder than it should be and isn't fixed until I change the volume on my PC. That happened last night and I didn't notice right away. And what I listened to was rather discordant and very much unlike what I would normally listen to. It was Jammin' Sam Miller's remaster of Misty Menace from Donkey Kong Country. I don't recommend anyone listen to that. It was... unpleasant.

I don't have insurance or the money to see a doctor or ENT about it, so I hope it just goes away or at least doesn't become worse. As it is right now, I believe I could habituate to it without too much of a struggle, kind of like the floaters in my eye that are pretty prominent when I notice them, but I usually don't notice them.

My condolences to anyone with much worse tinnitus.

 

[Michael Leigh]

Hi @HopefulFrog, using earplugs at night while asleep is not a good idea, as it allows the brain to focus on internal sounds within the body and head. In the process it will increase these background noises that are normally not heard during daytime due to surrounding sounds in the outside environment.

In very quiet surroundings it's not unusual for a person to hear tinnitus due to the reasons explained above. This is seldom a problem because the tinnitus is very low and easily masked by normal everyday sounds. However, if one regularly uses earplugs when asleep at night, they are unwittingly forcing their brain to seek out and increase its background activity and therefore, risk tinnitus developing which can become more noticeable and intrusive during waking hours.

The fact that you listen to audio through headphones, means there's the risk of the tinnitus you are now hearing becoming louder and more permanent. Sorry to sound so sobering but this is how I see your situation. However, I believe by following some of the advice I am going to give, your tinnitus will reduce and you will habituate quite successfully in time and hopefully it will become a distant memory.

The first thing is to stop using earplugs at night while asleep for the reasons mentioned above. I know this won't be easy so take your time to make the change without putting too much pressure on yourself. Place a sound machine by the bedside to supply your brain and auditory system with low level sound enrichment. More about this is explained in the links below.

I also advise not to use any type of headphones to listen to audio even at low volume. This includes earbuds, headsets, noise cancelling and bone conduction headphones.

Please go to my started threads and read the following posts: How to Habituate to tinnitus, The Habituation Process, Will My Tinnitus Get Worse? Tinnitus and the Negative Mindset, Acquiring a Positive Mindset, The Complexities of Tinnitus and Hyperacusis. Hyperacusis, As I See It.

All the best,
Michael

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

 

[Rockman]

Hello there, I'd definitely stay away from headphones. They seem to be in the top 5 reasons for getting tinnitus.

I'd protect your ears from loud sounds and get plenty of sleep seem to really help.

Hopefully it fades away with some time.

 

[HopefulFrog]

Hi, thanks for the advice. Gratefully, the ringing seems to have subsided, and may have been a false alarm, just a temporary symptom. I didn't notice that it was gone until I turned off my computer, though, because apparently my computer's fan(s) emit a noise at pretty much exactly the same frequency as the ringing I was hearing, and it's situated directly to my right when I'm at my desk.

As far as wearing earplugs while sleeping being harmful, I'll give sleeping without earplugs a shot. But my wife sleeps with earplugs in every night and has for many years, and she hasn't complained of any ringing in her ears. I don't think I'll be able to go without headphones, since I use them to avoid annoying her with my sounds/music. I will be careful to keep the volume low. I have been paranoid about noise-induced hearing loss for a long time, so I try to avoid loud noise whenever possible. For instance, I wear noise-suppressing earmuffs when running the blender.

I'm considering taking decongestants as well, since I tend to be congested and I'm inclined to believe the ringing I heard was a symptom of that.

 

[Michael Leigh]

I don't think I'll be able to go without headphones, since I use them to avoid annoying her with my sounds/music. I will be careful to keep the volume low. I have been paranoid about noise-induced hearing loss for a long time

If you decide to use headphones, keep the volume as low as possible and try not to use them for too long without taking a break. Headphones, earbuds, and headsets are the most common causes of noise induced tinnitus. Believe me, you don't want to get it.

Be careful and take care.

Michael

 

[HopefulFrog]

After a couple of days of not really noticing anything, I started noticing ringing again in my right ear yesterday and it hasn't left since then. It's a high-pitched, consistent ringing tone, no longer alternating. It's noticeable whenever there's not enough background sound to drown it out. It's a nuisance, but much less annoying than it was when it alternated tones, and it doesn't seem to affect my ability to fall asleep.

I'm starting to recover from my cold, which seems to have been the possible cause of the new tinnitus. Hopefully the ringing will go away eventually, but I believe it's mild enough that if it doesn't get any worse it won't affect my quality of life that much.