[PINeely]

Both my brother and I have it. His is from a cochlear notch and mine is from too much guitar with 5000 watts of amps.

[Nifty]

Might be long, but hopefully relevant to someone who may be experiencing something similar.

About 6 months ago I woke up with a feeling of "stuffiness" in my left ear. Kinda felt like my ear just needed to pop, so I wasn't too worried about it at the time. 2 days later when it still hadn't gone away was when I got a bit annoyed, it's also when I started to realize that my hearing wasn't quite right.

I went into see an ENT for an auditory test immediately, at which time I found out just how bad it it had gotten. I had moderate/severe mid to low frequency hearing loss in my left ear, and the frequencies I could hear were pretty distorted, (almost like Charlie Brown's teacher). Side note: If anyone is interested, I can post the original audio test that I had done. Anyway, the doctor then went on to tell me that the type of hearing loss I was experiencing was most likely due to nerve damage in my inner ear and permanent....FML.

They thought I may have Meniere's disease due to the ringing and frequency loss i was experiencing, so I was put on steroids for a couple of weeks. During that time there were a few days when my hearing completely returned - low frequencies had come back, the ringing stopped, and the distortion had gone away. Then, just as quickly, my hearing would get worse again and the ringing would return. After a few different medications with the same results (seemingly random periods of better hearing) I started doing some research and paying more attention to what I was doing and came to the following conclusion.

Diet and Exercise - My particular problems SEEM to stem from a build up of fluid in the inner ear. I noticed that after I got a good sweat doing, my hearing would get better rapidly. Reducing the salt in my diet (since it causes you to retain water) combined with exercise has pretty much brought my hearing back to a normal level. To make sure I hadn't just gotten "used" to the reduced level of hearing I went back to get another audio test done and it confirmed that my hearing had indeed returned, the doctors were actually pretty shocked.

Not everyone's case is the same, but since I know how frustrating it can be, I'm hoping that it may help someone. After visiting numerous doctors, not one of them mentioned diet or exercise as a possible treatment, so you might want to check into it if you haven't already.

tl;dr - My ringing and frequency loss is under control by watching what I eat (low sodium) and continuing to exercise regularly.

[Wakka]

Originally Posted by CarForHire

Get Surefire ear pro! They're inexpensive, and very comfortable.

http://www.surefire.com/EarProProducts

Those look great, and comfortable, i think im going to pick a pair of these up thank you!

Originally Posted by Nifty

Might be long, but hopefully relevant to someone who may be experiencing something similar.

About 6 months ago I woke up with a feeling of "stuffiness" in my left ear. Kinda felt like my ear just needed to pop, so I wasn't too worried about it at the time. 2 days later when it still hadn't gone away was when I got a bit annoyed, it's also when I started to realize that my hearing wasn't quite right.

I went into see an ENT for an auditory test immediately, at which time I found out just how bad it it had gotten. I had moderate/severe mid to low frequency hearing loss in my left ear, and the frequencies I could hear were pretty distorted, (almost like Charlie Brown's teacher). Side note: If anyone is interested, I can post the original audio test that I had done. Anyway, the doctor then went on to tell me that the type of hearing loss I was experiencing was most likely due to nerve damage in my inner ear and permanent....FML.

They thought I may have Meniere's disease due to the ringing and frequency loss i was experiencing, so I was put on steroids for a couple of weeks. During that time there were a few days when my hearing completely returned - low frequencies had come back, the ringing stopped, and the distortion had gone away. Then, just as quickly, my hearing would get worse again and the ringing would return. After a few different medications with the same results (seemingly random periods of better hearing) I started doing some research and paying more attention to what I was doing and came to the following conclusion.

Diet and Exercise - My particular problems SEEM to stem from a build up of fluid in the inner ear. I noticed that after I got a good sweat doing, my hearing would get better rapidly. Reducing the salt in my diet (since it causes you to retain water) combined with exercise has pretty much brought my hearing back to a normal level. To make sure I hadn't just gotten "used" to the reduced level of hearing I went back to get another audio test done and it confirmed that my hearing had indeed returned, the doctors were actually pretty shocked.

Not everyone's case is the same, but since I know how frustrating it can be, I'm hoping that it may help someone. After visiting numerous doctors, not one of them mentioned diet or exercise as a possible treatment, so you might want to check into it if you haven't already.

tl;dr - My ringing and frequency loss is under control by watching what I eat (low sodium) and continuing to exercise regularly.

Thats how my ears are. I dont really get a whole lot of 'ringing' so to say. Just feels like im always on an airplane. However my right ear does 'turn off' every once in a while, just for a few seconds though. I eat a TON of salt, perhaps i should change up my diet and see if anything improves. thanks for the info.

[Express]

Originally Posted by Wakka

Those look great, and comfortable, i think im going to pick a pair of these up thank you!



Thats how my ears are. I dont really get a whole lot of 'ringing' so to say. Just feels like im always on an airplane. However my right ear does 'turn off' every once in a while, just for a few seconds though. I eat a TON of salt, perhaps i should change up my diet and see if anything improves. thanks for the info.

THIS. accompanied by a high pitched ring/whine and other noises i am used to hearing

[silvergray545]

I have it as well. I got it when I was 14 years old. I used to listen to my CD player religiously. Then my dad would take me shooting. After I started driving, I put $5k worth of audio equipment in my car. This was no Best Buy boom boom stereo. I had a serious set up. 125 watts going to each of the eight 6.5" mids and I had two 12" subs in a 7 cubic foot ported box tuned to 34 Hz. I benched the amp for the speakers at just over 1000 watts RMS and the amp for the speakers at 2400 watts RMS. For those of you who read that and didn't understand any of it, most people couldn't sit in the car for more than a few seconds with the volume turned up. Add some more shooting, concerts and motorcycles in the mix.

It really sucks having it but there's nothing I can do now. I never tested my hearing loss but I don't believe it is that bad. My ears are still pretty sharp. I could have recovered a little bit though, that was about 4 or 5 years ago. If I could do it all over again, I would have never of bought that stereo. You live and learn, I guess.

[zgood4u]

Over 40 years of playing live music has done it for me, my right ear is shot and my left is about halfway to 3/4 gone. My doctor has told me to get hearing aids. The good news in all of this I can't hear my wife most of the time. I tell her, if I can't see you I can't hear you. She doesn't seem to get that concept though.

[Wakka]

Originally Posted by zgood4u

Over 40 years of playing live music has done it for me, my right ear is shot and my left is about halfway to 3/4 gone. My doctor has told me to get hearing aids. The good news in all of this I can't hear my wife most of the time. I tell her, if I can't see you I can't hear you. She doesn't seem to get that concept though.

one of my college professors had it pretty bad. He said unless he wore his hearing aid, it was unbearable, but with the hearing aid in, it went away.

[El_Duderino]

Originally Posted by Wakka

one of my college professors had it pretty bad. He said unless he wore his hearing aid, it was unbearable, but with the hearing aid in, it went away.

Not uncommon since tinnitus is often exacerbated by hearing loss. Fix the hearing loss with a hearing aid and the tinnitus often goes away.

[El_Duderino]

Originally Posted by Blayne

Actually I got a question, my doctor said that over a long period of time that it is possible for it to slowly go away. Is this true? Also, I believe I got it from a gun shot, as my ear was kind of deaf for the whole day after the gun shot. Though the next day it was perfectly fine, and for about a week or so after it was perfectly fine. Then I was just sitting at my desk, and it started ringing. No one can figure that out, as should it not be instant after the trauma occurred.

Thanks a lot

(Just did some thinking on this, and would it be correct to say that since there was a delay in my case, it would be more than likely that my condition is being caused from the brain?)

It is very possible that you suffered a high-frequency hearing loss from the gun shot. The timeline you describe is actually pretty typical in that the hearing loss is usually not instantaneous. The hair cells often deteriorate over a fairly rapid timecourse after a major insult like a loud gunshot near an unprotected ear. It is only when the hair cells fall below a certain threshold (in terms of absolute numbers) that the hearing loss itself becomes easily apparent on audiograms. Chances are that if you have an audiogram done, there will be a steep fall off in the higher frequencies although the lower frequencies are, likely, unaffected given the mechanism of injury.

After an insult to the cochlea, a "permanent threshold shift" can occur ie at certain frequencies your hearing threshold permanently worsens. It is only after this occurs that tinnitus often becomes apparent. The exact mechanism for the tinnitus is not entirely known but is likely secondary to false "signals" being generated along the auditory pathway ie either by the remaining hair cells or in the brainstem.

In some cases, if the tinnitus is bad enough, correcting the high frequency hearing loss with a hearing aid will fix the tinnitus.

Hope this helps.

[mike the snake]

I have it severely. You know how sometimes you get ringing in your ears, and then it goes away in 10 seconds or so? Well, one day, my ears started ringing, and never turned off. It is absolutely terrible.
I can't say what caused for sure, but I used to play punk rock, and go to many many shows when I was young, listened to super loud music in my car, then later I raced radio controlled nitro powered model race cars, super loud high pitch engines, usually 10-12 of them at a time, then I raced real race cars, I've always hunted and love shooting, so I really did a number on my ears in my life.

Today (I'm 44 now) I have to have a fan running next to my head, along with a white noise machine making rain or wave sounds, just to go to sleep. I take Benedryl also so I can get past the sleep threshold, or I have to listen to my ears screaming and it's very hard to get to sleep.

It seems different frequencies set it off worse as well. The road noise on rough roads in my old car always had my ears screaming after longer drives, and loud music and loud noises like saws and loud engines has them ringing out of control.

I haven't had my hearing checked, I know I should. I'm a Q-tip user, always cleaning my ears as they always seem to itch, always have, and I'm wondering if maybe stopping that may help.

When I was young, I knew i was overdoing the loud noises, stupid and young and didn't care, and still wouldn't care too much if it was just hearing loss (a lot of the time I don't want to hear what I'm hearing anyways lol) but tinnitus is a living nightmare.

[M3Bahn]

I always try to protect my hearing.

At the gun range I wear both in ear foam protection and ear muffs.

On motorcycles I aways have protection or doing things like leaf blowing etc., thing is to be consistent.

Most people don't realize they are playing their ipod type devices too loud and that will add up over time.

The guys with the super loud car stereos will all be deaf soon if they aren't already.

Even after all that, I will still get mild tinnitus if I play my guitar at what I think is not a too high sound level, luckily it goes away after a couple of months.

I think you should always carry foam ear protection in your wallet like a condom, since you never know when you will need it.

[Blayne]

Originally Posted by El_Duderino

It is very possible that you suffered a high-frequency hearing loss from the gun shot. The timeline you describe is actually pretty typical in that the hearing loss is usually not instantaneous. The hair cells often deteriorate over a fairly rapid timecourse after a major insult like a loud gunshot near an unprotected ear. It is only when the hair cells fall below a certain threshold (in terms of absolute numbers) that the hearing loss itself becomes easily apparent on audiograms. Chances are that if you have an audiogram done, there will be a steep fall off in the higher frequencies although the lower frequencies are, likely, unaffected given the mechanism of injury.

After an insult to the cochlea, a "permanent threshold shift" can occur ie at certain frequencies your hearing threshold permanently worsens. It is only after this occurs that tinnitus often becomes apparent. The exact mechanism for the tinnitus is not entirely known but is likely secondary to false "signals" being generated along the auditory pathway ie either by the remaining hair cells or in the brainstem.

In some cases, if the tinnitus is bad enough, correcting the high frequency hearing loss with a hearing aid will fix the tinnitus.
Hope this helps.

Makes sense, thanks a lot. The free healthcare here in canada, makes it hard to get any kind of good information . As for the audiogram I had one and did loose high frequency, though not much all and a very small span. Everything else was average.

[1speedbike]

Originally Posted by mike the snake

I can't say what caused for sure, but I used to play punk rock, and go to many many shows when I was young, listened to super loud music in my car

Wow you might actually be me, had I been born 20 years earlier. Went through a big punk phase and then ended up spending high school and some of college playing and listening to punk, hardcore, metal, whatever was loud

I take Benedryl also so I can get past the sleep threshold, or I have to listen to my ears screaming and it's very hard to get to sleep.

Didn't want to say it earlier in the thread, but usually I need something "external" to help me sleep, too. Sometimes benadryl, usually a glass of wine, a beer, or just a bit of happy herb. Plus music, as usual.

I feel your pain.. it sucks and I'm sorry man.

[gary88]

I definitely have a ringing in my ears. Most of the time it's very subdued and not noticeable unless in a dead silent room, but occasionally I'll get a loud-ish ringing that will persist for maybe 10-15 seconds, or some that will last up to maybe five minutes. Almost always in my right ear. I blame all the concerts and local shows I've been to, many of which I was right next to the monitors with no earplugs.

[Small Yellow]

I have it, used to go shooting a lot and once I thought I was deaf in one ear because I couldn't hear out of it as much as the other for 3 days. Basically earplug came loose and I didn't notice it until I was done running and shooting.

[len56]

I just started hearing a slight ringing in my right ear that lasts a few seconds after listening to loud music on my headphones... this thread is scary, so I'm gonna give the haus music a rest for a bit, :S.