Tinnitus

[Sparrow]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus

Tinnitus (pronounced /tɪˈnaɪtəs/ or /ˈtɪnɪtəs/,[1] from the Latin word tinnītus meaning "ringing"[2]) is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound.

Yeah...I've had this for most of my life...first noticed it when I was 7...it was so bad I couldn't go to sleep. It still occurs occasionally...like last night. The sound is like ringing a bell but it echoes forever...and you can amplify the sound if you concentrate hard enough...kept me up for 2 hours.

Do you any of you guys suffer from this?

 

[Alice?]

Ouch, that really bites. I don't have it, but I have a friend who does and it irritates the crap out of him. I can't even imagine how crazy that would drive me. What causes the ringing? Is there any way to fix whatever is causing the ringing?

 

[Words]

I have it but on very rare occasions. At first, I thought I was crazy. maybe its related to depression? I don't know.

This site and others says no.

 

[Sparrow]

I have it but on very rare occasions. At first, I thought I was crazy. maybe its related to depression? I don't know.

I don't know...I've been depressed a ton...when I'm depressed I just fall asleep...no thinking...just too sad to think...but this tinnitus thing sucks balls.

 

[Sparrow]

Ouch, that really bites. I don't have it, but I have a friend who does and it irritates the crap out of him. I can't even imagine how crazy that would drive me. What causes the ringing? Is there any way to fix whatever is causing the ringing?

Meh...doesn't drive me crazy...I'm used to it. I just stare at the ceiling when it happens...I don't know what causes it...there are a lot of causes...Listening to music too loud is one of them. Fix it? I don't think so. There are treatments with varying degrees of success. Apparently, there are 196 causes XD. Just something I'll have to live with.

 

[NeverAmI]

My dad has it, he literally can't hear certain frequencies. It resulted from him working around jets, if I remember correctly.

I believe it is permanent hearing damage. I would assume the tones you can't hear are the ones that are ringing. Damaged hearing hair follicles. I would assume a fix isn't too far off technologically, then again I am not an expert in how they work.

I wonder if they could implement certain hearing through another sense like they do with vision.

I hope you start feeling better soon Anamalech.

 

[warryer]

I don't know but I do have this high pitched ringing sound- extremely high pitched. The same as the sound you hear when the TV screen is on So it could be one of the many electronic devices I have on right now.

It reminds me of the hearing tests they give you. It's not that loud and I can usually ignore it but, now that I'm thinking about it its kind of annoying.

 

[Kokoro]

Happens to me occasionally and consistently. It worries me each time it happens because it seems like it is doing damage.

 

[Cognisant]

I've always thought it was just one of those hyper-focus things, for example if you stare a blank wall and really focus on its texture dispite been too far away to make it out, this somewhat frightening red/green/yellow/blue static will appear. Another example would be if you focus on something across the room and widen your mental perception to everything else within your field of view the object you're focusing on appears to move away, it's not unlike looking through binoculars the wrong way.

So yeah I get it, although I just figure it's all in my head.

Btw has anyone been staring at clouds while messing with your focus and seen a purple tunnel, it's like that psychedelic tube the Tardis travels through as the Dr Who show starts, not the current introductory thing, the earlier one (meh, you'll know it when you see it). Another interesting thing to do is to stare at your closed eyelids untill you see lightning, apparently if you do it long enough you'll begin to hallucinate.

 

[Trebuchet]

It happens every once in a while to me, and lasts a few minutes. Nothing as serious as what you are describing. My dad also has it due to working around jets.

According to the American Tinnitus Association FAQ (there is an association for everything), it does not cause hearing damage.

I know that sound is perceived because there are structures in the ear that respond to particular frequencies. If one of them gets irritated or overstimulated or something, it can send signals as if there was sound, though there isn't. The last question in the FAQ I linked to above has several causes listed. One is excessive earwax, which is easy to treat, so that might be worth a try.

 

[Adymus]

It's interesting that you bring this up, because I have been getting it a lot lately. every so often I'll just lose some of my hearing in my left ear and it is replaced by a ringing sound. And then it will just go away as abruptly as it appeared.

In comparison to everyone else in this iPod Generation, I don't really put my ears through very much stress either.

 

[Hawkeye]

I think I have a mild case of it. I forgot my earplugs one time last year when I was doing a band rehearsal.

I've had it ever since. It is a constant frequency that is similar to the mosquito frequency but it sounds higher. Infact I'm gonna see if I can find out the frequency...

OK it sounds very similar to 21kHz (pretty high even for my age)

It's not very loud for me though. I only really notice it when it is really quiet.

I think everyone gets a ringing in the ears from time to time though due to random spasms in the ear. Much like a spasm in the arm or leg. They don't last very long.

 

[aracaris]

I do sometimes get it, especially if the pressure in my ears changes, but a while after any pressure change occurs it goes away. It can be somewhat annoying, but at least for me it isn't constant, or particularly loud.
Seems like a lot of electronic devices do make a similar sort of sound.

 

[Architectonic]

I know that sound is perceived because there are structures in the ear that respond to particular frequencies. If one of them gets irritated or overstimulated or something, it can send signals as if there was sound, though there isn't. The last question in the FAQ I linked to above has several causes listed. One is excessive earwax, which is easy to treat, so that might be worth a try.

There is actually a rather interesting form of tinnitus, where actual sound is emitted in the form of spontaneous otoacoustic emissions!

 

[NeverAmI]

It happens every once in a while to me, and lasts a few minutes. Nothing as serious as what you are describing. My dad also has it due to working around jets.

According to the American Tinnitus Association FAQ (there is an association for everything), it does not cause hearing damage.

I know that sound is perceived because there are structures in the ear that respond to particular frequencies. If one of them gets irritated or overstimulated or something, it can send signals as if there was sound, though there isn't. The last question in the FAQ I linked to above has several causes listed. One is excessive earwax, which is easy to treat, so that might be worth a try.

That feeling of the hairs vibrating when they actually aren't is interesting. Similar to how someone who had a arm amputated in an accident can still feel like they are clenching their fist/digging their fingernails painfully into their hand, even when the hand is no longer there.

There was an experiment of simulating their amputated arm through mirrors/reflections of their other hand or someone elses, it then opened while they imagined or went through the process of opening their hand mentally and the pain finally stopped for them.

 

[Trebuchet]

There was an experiment of simulating their amputated arm through mirrors/reflections of their other hand or someone elses, it then opened while they imagined or went through the process of opening their hand mentally and the pain finally stopped for them.

I read about cases of that in The Body Has a Mind of Its Own. It describes many extremely interesting brain/body phenomena. Hah, they even had an episode of "House, MD" using that technique.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

I used to have tinnitus occasionally in my left ear, but now I have it constantly, still in my left ear. I can only hear it when it's really quiet, so there are only two major consequences of this affliction to me:

1. It bothers me when I'm trying to sleep.
2. I have a pair of closed headphones, Sennheiser, that I cannot use because my tinnitus is especially clear when wearing these. This is, strangely perhaps, more annoying than #1.

 

[kantor1003]

Just to make something clear, Tinnitus isn't really something you have once in a while if you have it. It is a constant audible sound, not something you get occasionally. Sure, the loudness of it might increase and decrease, but it's always there.

Anyways, I have it.. got it almost two years ago.. was pretty disturbing when I first noticed it. Sure, I had ringing sounds before, like after a gig or band practice.. but this time it didn't go away.. I waited and waited, and after 3-4 months I figured that it was probably permanent damage.

A simplistic way of explaining tinnitus might be something like this.. In your ear there are many hairs, lets say each of them represent a pitch. When one of the hairs get temporarily "bent" due to an outside sound source (like grass swaying in the wind) you will register that frequency.. tinnitus occur when a hair get bent, but doesn't get back to the normal, upright position.. so the brain register a constant sound, because that particular hair is stuck, feeding your brain a constant signal.