[Hokiedad]

Huh?

Seriously, I have moderate tinnitus, as well as some loss of hearing in my left ear. I went to an ENT two years ago, had an MRI, the whole bit, and no specific cause was found. So I just have to live with it.

 

[F107plus5]

I can control my moderate-to-severe tinnitus. No problem at all!

All I have to do is not take my heart medication!!

As a matter of fact; what I often do is plan on when I'll get a new CD(or action flick!)or new cans!! and spend a couple of relaxing days(Right! With four Grandkids to raise, like that's ever gonna happen!)and let the tinnitus ease off for a day or an evening so I can do the serious listening, and then quickly get back on the meds before I pass on!!

....just kidding, sorta; but the wife did ask me if I'd like to be buried with my phones!

 

[Assorted]

Is there such thing as "temporary" tinnitus opposed to something chronic? Because when I plug my IEM's in after a noisy class, I hear faint ringing (music is not playing). But when I wake up in the morning, I hear a very slow and low pitched hollow whine. I'm not sure if it's tinnitus or earwax pluggage.

 

[DocHamm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Assorted /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is there such thing as "temporary" tinnitus opposed to something chronic? Because when I plug my IEM's in after a noisy class, I hear faint ringing (music is not playing). But when I wake up in the morning, I hear a very slow and low pitched hollow whine. I'm not sure if it's tinnitus or earwax pluggage.

It is normal to have ringing/buzzing in your ears at the end of the day if you have been exposed to loud noise. However I would take that as a warning sign and start to enjoy quieter listening.

I periodically had the same "temporary" ringing after work or loud outting to clubs or similar. Then, after one surgey, I woke up and it had gotten considerably worse and would no longer dissapate overnight. While I do hate it, I have gotten used to it. It is frustrating to not hear some midranges, to have to ask people to repeat themselves, and to not be able to meditate in pure silence anymore. My only fear is that it might get so bad that I can no longer enjoy my music, and that would really hurt.

 

[jrhill]

Greetings from a new member. It is really a very pleasant surprise to see such a discussion about this problem.
I have had "the noise" for years and it progressed to a thing called "****tail-party-syndrome" that is simply that you can't seperate between two different sources of "noise" be it music, talking, etc., or my worst one - radio in the background of phone conversation. It is called "deaf without being deaf" and it's bad, particularly when both ears sing different tunes on top!
After years of this, many experts, and finally resignation, I got lucky when I chased down something called the "Mozart Effect" by some French guy called "Tomatis" who has developed a system called "Sound Therapy" over the last 50 odd years. It has been available through special audio clinics in Europe for years and is readily available throughout their school system for help in all sorts of hearing related problems, not just "the noise".
However, the system that has been so successful for me was the Patricia Joudry idea of transferring the recorded music off the master tapes as used in the clinics to cassette tapes (yes, the old CASSETTE TAPES!!) so you could "listen" to this music as you go about your daily life - the "listen" bit actually means that you turn down the volume until you can JUST HEAR IT.
It is readily available in Australia, and I think in the US, or on the net and there are quite a few other variations of the "Tomatis Therapy" also. There are also other systems that seem to offer some hope for relief to this unfortunate result of self induced damage. I hope this may help some of us that finds it difficult to function anywhere near capacity with this problem.
... James Hill

 

[jules650]

It does come on spontaneously in my left ear. After a few minutes it goes away. Mostly it's happened when I've not been listening to music.

 

[NilsTentacles]

Yes, its barely there

 

[Afrikane]

Does anyone know if meds can cause tinnitus? I have been put on a prescription of Esperide, Alzam and Trepiline for a neck injury and after being on it for 2 months I have developed a constant high pitched whine, but not loud, in both ears. I never crank my music up and work in a generally quiet environment so I don't suspect loud noise as being the cause.

 

[eypc]

i think it's time for a pair of IEM's. I'll probably crank them up less while i'm on planes.

 

[microphage]

For me, it was the IEMs that seemed to CAUSE the tinnitus. I had my Zen Vision Ms on with Sony Ex90s walking through the library sensors when it caused this high frequency pitch noise in my IEMs for a split second. After walking through there a few more times throughout the day, tinnitus occured when I went through the sensors the last time. It's been with me ever since.

I had the whole workup done as well. Since I was a 4th year med student at the time, it was fairly easy to ask the ENT doc to run a few more tests just for the hell of it

Of course, nothing came back which could cure it. I've read some supplements such as Gingko Bilboba, B6, B12/Folic Acid, etc have been effective in some people but was never recommended by my ENT doc.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by microphage /img/forum/go_quote.gif For me, it was the IEMs that seemed to CAUSE the tinnitus.

There is nothing magic about IEMs that makes them safer than conventional phones. If you listen at a SPL that is high enough to cause damage, IEMs will damage your hearing just as readily as any other headphone.

I should point out that I am not any sort of medical professional. But I have owned both conventional phones and IEMs, and the reason that IEMs are potentially safer is simple: better isolation. If you are on the subway, and you need to turn up open phones to insane levels just to hear the music, you are likely to damage your hearing. IEMs, on the other hand, block out much of the outside noise, allowing you an acceptable listening level at potentially lower volume.

That said, you are still free to turn up your IEMs to ear-crushing levels. You are still responsible, in other words, for monitoring and limiting the SPL at which you listen.

When I was becoming concerned about my hearing (the tinnitus was becoming noticeable in more and more situations), my primary phones were SR60s. Because they offer little isolation, I found myself turning them up to very high levels in order to hear the music in noisy environments. So I got a pair of ER6s, and found that I was less tempted to do so when on the subway, in a crowded, noisy bar, etc.

In my opinion, the SR60s sound noticeably better than the ER6s. Better soundstaging, smoother frequency balance, etc, as many have pointed out on Head-Fi many times. But the ER6s are still excellent phones, and they definately have their place because of their small size and, again, that crucial isolation.

Conclusion? Different designs have different uses, depending on the listening environment. But in any case, it is still up to you to control the SPLs to which you expose your ears. If I had come to this conclusion earlier, I might not have to fall asleep every night to the accompaniment of a constant, high-pitched whine.

 

[kunuggs]

I've had hearing loss since I was little b/c I had tubes in both of my ears and therefore have scar tissue on my eardrums

Also, I've been to 100's of concerts w/o ever wearing hearing protection. Also, I had a pretty high SPL system in my car from about 16-20yo. So, yes

The thing that sucks is: whenever I listened to loud music in my younger days, it was stuff that I don't even have respect for anymore. Nowadays, I listen to a lot more jazz and other sq oriented genres and am no longer to resolve micro-details

 

[Shurado]

I do. It's constantly there but if I am not aware of it, I don't notice it. Upon reading the thread topic, I can hear my head ringing again and it's loud!

Back then, I pumped up the volume everywhere because I wouldn't hear too well with the MX500 I used while walking down the streets or riding in the trains. It's regulated for audiobooks now and replaced by Shure. It helps in cutting the ambient noise and lets me lower the volume levels which are huge pluses for me.

When it comes to traveling through noisy environments, trash the cheap earphones and get yourself an IEM. The extra hundred or so dollars is worth saving your ears.

Edit: As for the poll. I can stand it and it's there at times so I can't answer with either options of the poll.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kunuggs /img/forum/go_quote.gif The thing that sucks is: whenever I listened to loud music in my younger days, it was stuff that I don't even have respect for anymore. Nowadays, I listen to a lot more jazz and other sq oriented genres and am no longer to resolve micro-details

Yeah, there was a lot of stuff in the "what was I thinking" category in my past listening (Black Oak Arkansas? Sheesh, did I just admit that?), but part of me does miss the visceral thrill of blasting, say, Hendrix or Black Sabbath through a clean-sounding system. I would play "Paranoid" or "Anarchy in the UK" over and over while my college roommates laughed themselves sick immitating my wounded-chicken attempts at dancing.

But if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't. As I said earlier in this thread, it sucks to be listening to chamber music accompanied by that accursed ringing, which is clearly audible during quiet passages.

For the record, I still love punk and metal, but I'm careful not to get carried away with the volume control. And I always bring ear protection to live shows.

 

[choomanchoo]

No, I'm a male , and my man boobs are of regular size