[john_jcb]

I have in the last few years worn earplugs for a number of activities around the house that I never thought about before. Little construction projects can be very noisy from the saw to hammers. I never gave it much thought before but I now insert my plugs before I start anything.

I also wear a pair that has less attenuation when I plan on driving with the windows down for any distance. It is amazing how loud the air rushing by is.

 

[hokiefritz]

Quote:

john wrote: It is amazing how loud the air rushing by is.

Yep, that's how I got tinitus riding on long motorcycle trips. My bike's engine and exhaust system is fairly quiet but it was the wind noise, even with full face helmet, that did my ears in. The faceshield cover where the visor attaches to my helmet was broken and thus my right ear is worst than the left. It goes without saying that I suggest using hearing protection whenever exposed to anything loud, including when going to amplified live concerts.

Like kwkarth I've learned to live with it and it doesn't stop me from enjoying my music with headphones. I sure wish I had worn ear plugs on my bike though.

 

[BOBbYdIGITAL]

Thanks, Oliver, for commenting on the Ety's.

Quote:

There are things in our environment that are ototoxic such as common asprin and quinine. Taking either of those drugs, or many others for that matter, can cause tinnitus.

you'll notice most medications have tinnitus listed as a potential side effect because your ears are sensitive that way. Other drugs that your ears specifically hate are excessive alcohol (binge drinking), Caffiene, and Nicotine. I've heard people just stepped down on their intake of coffee and/or quit smoking and the tinnitus went away.

As everyone has talked about, loud noise is number one on the list of things that mess you up. Stress is also on that list. I noticed the following as well..

Quote:

Nightly Tinnitus (you get used to it) that might get louder when my body wants to alert me about (psychologically) extremely stressful situiations.

usually if I am under some psychological stress for some reason and I just suddenly exhale, saying screw it, releasing bodily tension relaxing at the same time (like becoming conscious, quieting the mind in a sense, kind of like you do before bed), I notice it's there. It's probably not a good idea in the overall scheme of things to be a tense person.

 

[a1leyez0nm3]

well, i think that it could be from a few years ago, when i went rifle hunting, and forgot hearing protection

. i only shot once, and when your ear is right behind it, its not so loud, but my dad (being as deaf already as he was) shot about 4 or 5 times, and didnt care to tell me to cover my ears before hand

, my ears rang for a few days afterward, which really scared me.. and when i was in middle school, i went to a few dances, and when i came out, my ears were fatigued pretty bad. but, i have never been to a concert without protection. ever since the hunting thing, i have been pretty careful, but i think that i might have screwed my hearing up a bit then. although, the ringing might be sychological, or both, i live a very busy life, very stressful. i cant really hear it that much during the day, unless i have hearing protection on and its really quiet.. on the other hand though...

 

[a1leyez0nm3]

does anyone know of the link to the hearing damage site?

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally posted by a1leyez0nm3 does anyone know of the link to the hearing damage site?

Just did a quick google...
http://www.californiatinnitus.com/
?

I am no fan of any kind of training would make me ignore certain frequencies though...

 

[a1leyez0nm3]

Quote:

Originally posted by Oliver I am no fan of any kind of training would make me ignore certain frequencies though...

huh?

 

[Oliver :)]

IIRC one of the common therapies is to expose you to some permanent noise (no idea which colour

) covering the tinnitus until you ignore it. Maybe I got that wrong though. Would not work for me anyway, as in "where to put the Etys now?". AFAIR there also is some sort of pressure-therapy, but nobody will get me into such a chamber.

 

[KentWang]

Hmm, can bass sensitivity increase as you get older? My mom is severely annoyed by the low frequencies generated by my ceiling fan's motor, even while in the other room, while I don't seem to notice it. On the other hand, we bought a TV once and I was tortured by its high-frequency oscilattor (though I've been told it's the transformer) and my mom couldn't hear a thing. I can also hear my Western Digital 7200 RPM drives very well, even with music playing.

I'm 17 and she is 48. Any explanations?

 

[Strogian]

If I had serious tinnitus (i.e. kept me awake at night, etc.) I would definitely not mind losing certain frequencies to get rid of it. It would be great if they could somehow pinpoint the frequencies of the tinnitus and take them out, but even a somewhat wider spread would be acceptable to me. (as long as it wasn't TOO wide

)

 

[a1leyez0nm3]

i think i have a feeling of what that is like... at my work there is a loud beeper for the fryer... i am almost immune to it, because it goes off about every minute or two at my work... a lot of times, i dont even realize it is on and i could be standing 10 feet away.. maybe i am just in another world at my work

 

[Tygur]

Well, my ears are definitely messed up, and I've mostly given up on them now. I turn up the music on my headphones as loud as I please, without a second thought.

I'm already hearing impaired. I actually have a hearing aid, but I don't like to wear it, so I try to get along without it, and I've been doing a good job at that so far. I was actually taught to lip-read.

The major reason for this post, though, was to ask about this tinnitus thing. Sometimes my ears will just suddenly start ringing for no apparent reason out of the blue. Eventually, I'll either forget about it or it'll fade away. Actually, I can't really tell which happens first. It isn't even annoying for me. It just happens. Is this tinnitus?

Also, on the subject of ringing ears, my ears like to trick me on those hearing tests. I'm talking about the test where they put these headphones on you and start these tones and beeps and you are supposed to raise your hand when you hear something. I haven't been given one in years, but I used to hate them. My ears would get tricky and I would start hearing tones that weren't even there and sometimes raise my hand for them. So is that tinnitus, too?

 

[a1leyez0nm3]

im not sure if i would do that... you might want to protect what you have left while it is still there.. and about the ringing... i have no clue.


how did your hearing get so bad when you are only 4 years older then me? i feel bad for you!

 

[Tygur]

Quote:

Originally posted by a1leyez0nm3 im not sure if i would do that... you might want to protect what you have left while it is still there

Actually, since I started lurking in this forum, I've been starting to think that, too, for some reason (that I might wanna protect what I have)..

Either something happened with my hearing when I was very young, or I was born with it. I don't know which.

I can live with it, though. The ringing is easy for me to ignore. I suspect that there might be a faint constant ringing, but I can't be sure.

I can usually tell what other people are saying unless they are either far away or whispering. I've actually gotten very good at guessing what people are saying by analyzing what I managed to hear.

 

[BOBbYdIGITAL]

Yeah, man I'd definately go to have that checked out. It sounds scary. Like I said ringing is pain. Plus I don't know if anyone noticed this with their grandparents but, when someone is losing their hearing and your ears are damaged, loud sounds sound the same, you just lose your sensitivity to the soft sounds. Like you may notice with old people going deaf that they still don't like loud music and if they are inserting their hearing aid and they get some loud feedback they grimace in pain. But it's a fact it has to do with the way the ear works. It has to do with the intensity of sound to the individual living hair cells that give volume, NOT the NUMBER of cells stimulated as you may think. So you listen to your headphones loudly and you may think you still have some hearing left but you may in fact be just as bad as our grandfathers. If you have good insurance then, like kwkarth says, go to your family physician who will most likely send you to an otaryngologyist or, an otologist. If you don't have insurance then, personally, I would go strait to the otaryngologyist or otologist instead of paying out of pocket twice. Or if you still pay pretty heavily for each visit with your insurance, again, what I would do would be to just call and talk to your family physician and tell him you your hearing is messed up and explain it and ask him if he could just help you by giving you the referral so the insurance people are happy. Family physicians are usually gatekeepers--the insurance companies nice way of saying we are too stupid to understand which specialists we need to be seeing. It keeps people from unnessecarily going to see expensive specialists, but your case obviously has to do with your ears. By the way when I got the hearing test recently, it was in a carpeted room with cool headphones and a little intercom with the dude who gave me the instructions, it was almost like sensory deprivation. It was almost hard not to hear the sounds. It would be much better than your field tests were you may have easily been distracted. (as we mentioned before about stress-related ringing)..I would take some breaths, calm down before taking the test and listen to your ears and not your mind.