Tinnitus thread

[Alinestra Covelia]

–noun Pathology.
a ringing or similar sensation of sound in the ears.

I've had tinnitus as long as I can remember. As a kid, I'd hear a ringing when I was alone in a room. It's like a mix between a hum and a buzz sound, and it's stronger in my left ear than my right.

If I click my fingers, the sound goes away. Listening to music will make it go away too. But in silence, I can concentrate and it will swell to fairly loud volume, or if I ignore it, it will fall to a baseline background.

It's never caused me any problems, but I've heard other people who develop it later in life and it causes them problems.


Do you have this? Does anybody you know have it?

[Lancer]

I hear the ringing of silver trumpets once in a while. My mother used to tell me someone was talking about me.

[Jon Miller]

Occasoinally

JM

[The Mad Monk]

Every once in a while. I think from childhood.

[Docfeelgood]

I'm losing my hearing and I have to take aspirin everyday.
I hear a lot of ringing.

[Theben]

Both me and che have it. Mainly from listening to music too loud when younger.

I also managed to damage my left eardrum when I was 18 by lighting a pack of blackcats and trying to toss them thru the open door- the fuse was quicker than I thought and they went off midair. My left ear was ringing for 3 days, and I suffered some minor hearing loss.

[ricketyclik]

I used to get it every time I walked into a jeweller's when I was a kid. I think it was all the clock and watch mechanisms.

That doesn't happen anymore - my hearing isn't nearly as sensitive as it once was - but I still occasionally get it, once every few weeks, for just a few seconds.

On a slightly different tack, I used to hear a choir of angels from inside the frequencies of the beach on a windy day every time I ate magic mushrooms

[Straybow]

Ear protection
I used to do tree work. I lost a bit of my upper hearing range from the times when I forgot or lost mine, and a tiny bit of tinnitus.

When I was young the ultrasonic motion detectors used to feel like a faint pressure. No, I don't no how sound can "feel" like "pressure" but that's the only description I can give. Now when I'm in a quiet place I get the same "feeling" in the frequency range I've lost and a faint whine at the very top of my hearing range.

I can usually ignore it because it is so faint, but I can hear it now as I type.

[-Jrabbit]

AC, has you seen an ENT or an audiologist about this?

[Kidlicious]

I worked on a flight deck of an aircraft carrier when I was younger, and didn't always wear protection. I still have perfect hearing 20 or so years later. I think some people have a genetic predisposition to hearing problems.

[Q Classic]

I actually don't think I have tinnitus, though I sorta get what AC's saying. If in a silent situation or alone in a room, I occasionally think I hear something; the more I focus on it, the louder it gets.

I think it's actually more from an overactive imagination; the mind thinks it should be hearing something, and thus creates a "noise" to compensate for the silence.

[Alinestra Covelia]

AC, has you seen an ENT or an audiologist about this?

Yep, I went specially when I was 19 because I was starting to wonder if it was perfectly normal. They said as long as it wasn't causing me to lose sleep or stress out, it was manageable.

Since it doesn't cause either of those, I've gone back to living with it with no problems. I like to think of it as my guardian angel sitting on my shoulder telling me what to do.

And all I hear is "whisperwhisperwhisperwhisperwhisperwhisper..."

[Theben]

AC, has you seen an ENT or an audiologist about this?

How is a walking tree going to help her?

[ricketyclik]

And all I hear is "whisperwhisperwhisperwhisperwhisperwhisper..."

Maybe you should see a psychiatrist... Or an exorcist.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Well it's better than what I heard from the guardian angel when I turned 13 and went to a boarding school.

Which was just "blahblahblahblahblahblah..."