I went to an audiologist and it turns out I only have mild hearing loss in my left ear and it’s the tinnitus that has been making it so hard to understand what people are saying and hard to understand lyrics in many songs. The audiologist asked if I was curious about trying hearing aids and I said I’d be willing to try them (1) so that a family member who has profound hearing loss would see me wearing them and hopefully feel more willing to get some for herself and (2) if insurance covered all of it. For the latter, insurance covered most and the office ended up waiving the rest which was really nice.

I picked them up on Monday and the doctor that day said I may not notice anything because my hearing loss is so mild, but as soon as she clicked them on it was like I could physically feel my brain unclench. I had no idea my brain was working so hard to focus and make sense of the sounds around me. I experienced relief from the tinnitus I had learned to ignore for the first time in a decade. I cried. I just didn’t know how much of a relief it would be and I don’t even have that severe of a case, I thought.

That first day, much of the time things were normal, but there were many times where I noticed the hearing aids were compensating for something. In particular, I remember being able to converse at check out at the grocery store while bagging my groceries instead of pausing to stop crinkling the paper bag while they spoke and watching their face and mouth to make sure I understood them. I remember singing silly songs with my very young daughter and her high tones coming through so richly. I cried again wondering what else I’d been unknowingly missing out on or working so hard to comprehend. It made me feel like I’d been squinting to listen for the last decade and could finally relax.

I took them off for the day about an hour and a half ago and now I’m sitting in the quiet and really notice how loud my tinnitus actually is. I’d learned how to ignore it for so long but now when I’m out and about I can understand what people are saying in crowded/loud places the first time they say it. I’ve heard there are mixed reviews for people with tinnitus and I’m grateful that it worked for me and hope very much that other treatments work for the people that hearing aids don’t help. If you’re curious about them, go for it and just find out for yourself. Theres a trial period most of the time so if it doesn’t work you very likely can just return it.

Whenever I see a post or a comment saying that we need to get certain groups or a billionaire involved in funding tinnitus research, I wonder if there is a way to make people understand just how many of us there are and how powerful we could be if we collectively took action.

It’s estimated that 1 to 2.3 percent of the world population suffers from severe tinnitus. That’s anywhere from 80 to 180 million people. There are so many of us that we could fund our own research by each donating a small amount. There are 78K people in this subreddit alone. I understand that not everyone has the means to donate, but if even half of us donated 40$ a year, we would raise over 1.5 million dollars a year for research. More funding would attract more researchers and would also help raise awareness.

While everyone living with severe tinnitus is desperate for a cure, it seems like very few of us are interested in donating to research. I’m wondering why that is, especially now that Tinnitus Quest exists.

What do you think it would take to get more sufferers involved?

I've had tinnitus since i was a kid (now 25) though IDK why i got it. It was just like that. I didn't even realize this was a condition until i discovered this subreddit.

Anyway, these past few days i've gotten bursts of short spikes that start to worry me. Usually they cleared after a couple of seconds/minutes & only affect one ear but they still make me keep my guard up. But now i've got another spike that lasts longer and it's still ringing as i typed this, in both ears...

i've got a headache on the side of my usual affected ear yesterday, and i'm worried if it's related....

I have a white noise machine & keep my AC running as an additional noise. Usually the AC is enough to cover the ringing. But this time the ringing just cut through the white noise.

I'm diagnosed with anxiety & one of the topics that i often freak out about is sleep. Even during normal nights I'm being kept awake from fear of not being able to sleep. So this situation doesn't really help. I'm so scared that this time i won't be able to sleep due to the ringing because my usual method doesn't seem to help 😭 how do you deal with it? I tried distracting myself but it's just so noticeable!

Try medications, magnesium or something, black seed oil, any type of diet, hearing aids, neck massages, etc. I don't wanna lose hope. Even one doing thing atleast reduces it, just do it. Let's fucking try everything

As you may know, I've made this mistake three times bursting 19khz pure tones from my speakers with an ambiental SPL of 70/75 db measured with a calibrated miniDSP UMIK-1. I initially had muscular jaw tension for a few days but seemingly no tinnitus, which appeared really high pitched about a week after. Went to an ENT which told me the exposures probably irritated my nerves and prescribed me cortisone and otocit. I'm still through therapy (about a half of the total). I'm seeing slight improvements over time: some instruments in music are strangely perceived like they're distorcing, and other environmental High frequency sounds are randomly amplified. I'm noticing the distortion and tinnitus are getting better and less prominent in some parts of the day, while they Spike during others. Even if the change is slight, it's positive. I don't really know whether it's my brain slowly recalibrating... or if this is due to a cochlear impact or to the fact that some synapses may be fucked now (as someone wrote in this sub)... since there"s no way to tell exactly what's going on with conventional exams. Don't even know if this is considered "dysacusis". Since only time will tell, and most people leave this sub once the problem is gone, I'll stay here and keep you updated in case of success... and eventually give you advice :)

If someone knows any better pls share... it would be precious for me 🥹. Thanks

Every year I swear... once the Cold weather hits and the room temperate drops, I ALWAYS Spike. For DAYS. Not ONCE my ringing would go through mildly once the cold weather hits! FUCK OFF!

Anyways.

How are you all doing Mentally? It's currently 4 am for me EST and this goddamn EEEEE on my right ear has been hitting me all day long since I woke up. Also a secondary sound in the back that sounds like this Electric static 90's tv airwave noise on top of the EEE. I'm trying... really trying...

Anybody here suffering a spike right now? Please, write your post right now on how your doing? Get the pain off, talk about anything.. I don't care... make me forget about the ring...

I just want to know if its really possible, my tinnitus is driving me crazy

Can someone help me understand why the tinnitus gets super loud after I'm at a noisy restaurant, bike ride, exercise etc... I'm new to this so trying to understand. What can I do about this? Looking for experienced people's recommendations.

Can a sinus infection permanently worsen tinnitus? I think that’s what I have, doctor prescribed me nose spray, but not helping. Going back on Monday. It’s not horrible, my ears aren’t clogged, but I have the plugged nose feel where I can still breathe through it with my mouth closed, but it’s a little rough, and have the headache and pressure feeling in my forehead, also feel oozy. I’m not sure I’m my tinnitus is louder or not right now. It’s pretty severe to begin with, but I’m just wondering has anyone experienced permanent worsening from sinus infections? If not how long did your spike last

Has anyone with mild/moderate hearing loss paired with tinnitus used these?

Is there a way i can do my audiometry tests at home ? using some app or something ? i want to check my audiometry often but it cost as we all know, so lemme know if there's other ways i can do so pls

ITS URGENT

Been dealing with Tinnitus for 1.5 months, frequent-ish poster on here.

This shit is debilitating. I have now called out of work twice and today I just left early at 12:30. I cannot take this anymore. The ringing is SO volatile. Some days its good, some days its bad, some days its unbearable. There are NO triggers that I've found to make it better or worse. Im just at the mercy of it.

I recently moved into a 1bd and this has taken all of the joy out of living alone. I hate it. I hate life. I can't do anything anymore. I haven't felt serotonin in a month and a half. Reading is a struggle.

I am constantly nauseous and every morning it feels like I got punched by a professional boxer in the head. Headaches, inability to sleep, drowsy when I wake up, the inability to think clearly, etc. Ive been to two ENT's (one was very highly regarded) and my ears look picture perfect to them. My hearing tests came back above-average.

The highly regarded ENT said the next step would be to go to a neurologist because every test the ENT can do comes back normal. He said the neurologist may be able to look to see if there is any inflammation that can be causing the volatility. I got perscribed a weeks worth of prednisone to see if that helps...

Does anyone tried this?