Yes, i hear a ringing - whooshing noise but its mostly not bothersome. I swear it started when I went to a concert by Sun Ra Arkestra. They came on stage and started with an incredible blast of music that nearly blew your eardrums out.

Ive also heard ( ha ha) that it can be caused by too much aspirin.

Of course now that you’ve brought it up, I very aware of it!

Haha yeah it’s been very loud since seeing this thread!

Mine first began in just one ear about twenty years ago. Now it's in both ears and getting louder as my hearing worsens. Mine is an endless rush of 'chirping' like bein in an aviary where you can't distinguish individual bird song. I've spoken with people who feel driven mad by theirs. The person who finds a cure will be wealthy!

Aspirin can cause a temporary ringing in the ears. Hmm, maybe there's a cure lurking there.

I believe all OTC pain relievers (aspirin, ibuprofen, acetominophen, etc.) carry the risk of hearing loss if they're used often over a long period of time.

I have had it all my life, but didn’t recognize it until filling out a doctor’s form in my twenties. The questionnaire said, “Do you have ringing in your ears?” I thought, doesn’t everyone?

debra

Does anyone pronounce this correctly, or are you like most, rhyming it with arthritis?

I‘ve also had it for years, along with occasional chirping mentioned here. Most of the time I’m not that much aware of it. LOL, this thread has made it pretty loud! No problem at all with my hearing. Not long ago I heard a pharmacist say it can be caused by osteoporosis of the skull. That was a new one for me.🤷‍♀️ Will ask my doc when I see him soon.

Years ago I heard Barbra Streisand talk about her ears ringing (long before I had it or had even heard of tinnitus). I remember thinking how very odd it was. Nope, not so odd at all!

For those of you who have it, don’t you long for an ”OFF” button?

I think mine is relativlely mild and I think it may be brought on by my migraine medicine. (BTW, totally worth it.) The time it bothers me the most is when I visit my brother, who lives where it is very quiet. I get like a buzzing in my head that makes it hard to fall asleep. Then I come home to the city where there is always noise outside my window and sleep like a baby.

Ive always pronounced TIN-it-us. Have I been wrong all this time??

That seems to be the preferred pronunciation, and I was unaware of it. I’ve heard and spoken it the other way, which FWIW Merriam Webster’s site gives as the second option.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tinnitus

Coming again from the dim-witted part of the extended family, the first I heard of this condition was when one of the intellect-lacking souls spoke about having;

Tin tin eye tus

Not knowing anything different, I thought that was correct until I saw the word written out and spotted the error.

There's a town on the route from LA to Las Vegas. To this person, it is and has always been:

Bar strow

Which may not be recognized by the good citizens of Barstow, CA.

Sorry if my thread is making people focus on their tinnitus. It's happening to me too. To describe it, it's really not ringing but white noise and I have it in both ears. I cannot remember not having it so I don't know if I did as a child. I did have a lot of earaches as a kid and none as an adult. I think both of my kids have it. I'm guessing wearing earbuds for over an hour each day isn't helping it.

I remember noticing it as a child at night when I was trying to fall asleep. I liken it to the high-pitched tones you hear during a hearing test, only much higher and nonstop. I used to be afraid taking a hearing test that I would mistake the tinnitus for the actual tone. It has gotten louder in the last several years. Sometimes it's softer, and then, it's almost like the ear canal "fills in" and then it becomes much louder...even though, as far as I know, nothing is moving and no colds or sinus issues concurrent. Ear pops can sometimes help, but not much or usually. The high pitch becomes background noise for me and doesn't seem to interfere with my hearing, but the clicks when they occur are most annoying.

I never thought of it, but perhaps it is why I prefer to fall asleep with the TV on...

Yes but not frequently. My hearing loss was sudden and severe and I have Meniere's disease. So I struggle with something almost daily. Hyperacusis, hearing loss and recruitment hearing are constant. Aural fullness is frequent and can be activated by fatigue, stress, noise or barometric pressure. The latter is the most constant trigger. Ditto for fluctuating hearing. Fortunately, episodes of vertigo have subsided over the years but can randomly return. Had some that on the last two weeks., but fortunately not severely, for now it's over. Just enough to keep me off balance. Anxiety can worsen vertigo and just having vertigo can bring on anxiety so I have learned to really work on tapping that part down. As for tinnitus it seems to hit me in the evening or in bed when it does happen. Mine either sounds like a babbling brook or tinkling wind chimes. I am not sure if it's a form of tinnitus but I can sometimes hear/feel my heartbeat or pulse in my ear.

I've had it since childhood and I do not remember ever not having. I also thought that everyone had it, and I've never experienced true silence.

I like to have white noise to drown it out, and living close to LAX was ideal. There were constant planes, but we weren't directly in the flight path, and so the sound was just enough to distract me.

As a child, I lived on a farm that was extremely quiet, and so the tinnitus was worse, unless I had a fan going. The only sounds I heard at night as a child were coyotes, barn owls, and very occasional cars. I know that my father had it also, but Kevin does not.

It is too quiet where I live now, but the sound of my CPAP machine is sufficient to be of help.

There's this...no idea if it works...or even if I'd want to try it!

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/15/1244501055/tinnitus-hearing-loss-ringing-ear-noise

Yes, I have a constant, low level high pitched "fuzzy" sound. It doesn't interfere with my hearing and often I am not conscious of it, or not much.

I tend to think that the warnings about exercising with headphones were correct - I ran for many years with (over the ear) headphones. And in the years before it developed, I went through a phase of using fairly frequent doses of ibuprofen to manage pain from an injury and from work.

I've had a high-pitched whine in both ears for over 10 years. Sometimes it seems louder than others. It makes it difficult to understand people who speak with a higher pitched voices, especially on the phone. I also tend to need the TV sound louder than DW does as the whine drowns out voices.

I've said mine sounds like tape hiss, but that would make sense only to those who are old enough to have used reel-to-reel tapes. "White noise" would probably describe it too.

I blame Elton John--or, more accurately, the concert seats that put us directly in front of one of those massive speakers. A little boy was seated with his parents in front of me, and I've sometimes wondered how his hearing is.

Lily, did the doctor address your concern about your eardrums? I'm told I have narrow ear canals too, and I've had wax removed twice: the first time, my PCP used hot water, but not under pressure. It took some minutes, but it was effective. The second time, very recently, an ENT physician went in with a tool and removed it. It was quick, and again, no pressure.

I too have had it as long as I can remember. I never knew that it wasn't normal until more recently.

Mine is constant, never goes away, and fortunately doesn't vary much in intensity or volume, etc.. It's a high pitched whine. I have no problems ignoring it. It currently only interferes if I'm in a noisy environment and the person I'm talking with has a voice that sort-of blends into that noise...if that makes any sense at all.

Rae - I was a runner for decades too, and wore in-ear headphones that were often blasting music at a ridiculously loud level. I loved music and attended about a billion concerts of rock bands too. I remember one concert in a smaller venue that was so loud for hours, that when I came out, I was almost functionally deaf. It was so weird looking at my friends and seeing their lips moving but not really much sound. It took hours for my hearing to return.

Between the 2 I was probably doomed.

Years ago I also used to get a fluttering in my ears. THAT was annoying as all get out - it felt like I had a bug trapped in there.

I just want to say I’m really enjoying these descriptions. So much closer to what I have, than to simply calling it ringing in my ears.

Annie - That link, I’m not saying it won’t work but it sonds like it’s more a distraction than an actual link. Maybe I’ll just try a 9V battery to the tongue!

Oh yes. It sound like cicadas in the summer.

Sherry, right and I’ve often heard people say crickets.

Haven't noticed it currently, but I've certainly experienced it after attending loud concerts and nightclubs in my younger days. I know there is no cure for, but it can be diminished by various means. I've read a lot about it over the years. It can be caused by exposure to loud noise, among a number of other things, as people have described here.

Hubby is a drummer and has serious tinnitus and hearing loss. He just accepts it, but I do worry a bit for him - more than I think he does.

I try to protect my ears with noise reducing earplugs at shows or in other loud situations - sometimes I just cover/close my ears with my hands. Movie theaters are pretty bad nowadays, and I'm kind of glad I only go to them rarely.

It often concerns me that the young people I work with blast music at ear-shattering levels in our gym, which is basically a huge echo chamber. Many of our campers love it, tho of course some get very stressed out, AND they can't hear directions, of course 🙄

I think too many people aren't educated about the dangers of hearing impairment from loud sounds.

Mine started about 20 or so years ago. It sounds very much like the cicadas in the summer, except it doesn't 'ebb and flow' like the cicadas do, it's a pretty constant sound and volume. It bothered me a lot at first, but over the years I've gotten used to it, and rarely pay any attention to it now. Occasionally there will be a popping noise in one ear, always the right, never the left, sometimes it is quite loud, and it can get very annoying. I have no idea what caused it, I have never liked loud sounds of any kind, so I've never listened to loud music, used head phones or ear buds, or gone to loud concerts. I have been on a lot of meds for a number of years, so maybe something there contributed to it, who knows.

When I was in grade school I was taught that when a word has two vowels separated by a consonant, the first vowel is always pronounced 'long'. 'Tinnitus' is a word I saw in print long before I ever heard it spoken out loud, therefore I have always pronounced it with the long 'i', tin-eye-tus. The correct pronunciation still sounds weird to me.

Rusty

DH has had constant tinnitus since he was a teenager. His father had it and so does his brother. He never listened to loud music. It has been thoroughly investigated by ENT consultants. There's no known cause and no known cure. The tinnitus is nothing to do with his hearing which is fine. It does depress his mood on particularly bad days. It's not just annoying, it can also affect ones mental health.

Absolutely, Carol. I wasn't exposed to really loud noises in my younger days because the few concerts I attended were more folk singers , Beach Boys, and the like. However, my husband was a state forester in his younger days before he got an administrative state job in forestry. He was constantly assessing trees, using chainsaws and other equipment never using ear plugs, and now he has off-and-on tinnitus but more importantly has loss of hearing. He doesn't want to wear a hearing aid but should . Loud noises certainly are a factor and that's why I see people with young children putting noise-canceling ear devices on their babies and young ones.

I also have Miniere's with its fluctuating hearing and have had tinnitus always. I think of it as a running refrigerator most of the time with varying levels of additional ringing and whine. The worst was the crackling bubble wrap sound but that eventually went away. If I am hearing a funny sound in the house I first plug my ears to see if it is me.

Mine has always been ringing. Once in a great while I will get a much louder tone, but thankfully that’s only happened in the right ear and only lasts briefly. I have slept with ear plugs for years because I am sensitive to sound, go figure. It has caused me to have to sleep in a different room than my DH because his snoring is so loud…..🙁

I am amazed at all the people here who have this condition. I thought it may be rare affecting only a small percentage of people. Obviously, this never comes up in normal conversation. I mostly ignore it but the day I posted it was exceptionally loud first thing in the morning.

This may be helpful to some people - I used to have a similar one - there are many to be found on the web...

Is tinnitus different from other physical problems where parts of our bodies are damaged due to age and/or abuse? Is there any group of humans who do not suffer this? Would city mice develop tinnitus earlier than country mice? (How would we know? Would they rub their ears?)

I want a cure for this!

"physical problems where parts of our bodies are damaged due to age and/or abuse? "

I just want to reiterate that tinnitus is not necessarily the result of either age or abuse. So yes, tinnitus is different. DH has had it since he was a teenager and has never been exposed to loud noises. He's been fit and healthy all his life and still is. He just has it. No known reason.

Mine also sounds like Cicadas and I've had it for years although not as a child. I hum a lot to distract myself but that annoys my husband :-) Good thing we have our own spaces to hang out in! I do have hearing loss that I relate to choosing concert seats in front of the speakers. I like music loud enough to feel it.

Thanks, floral.

I'm surprised that no one has found a 'cure' for this, given that it's so common. I suppose the first step is identifying the part of the ear (or brain) causing the noise.

Mine sounds like crickets chirping, with the background sound like if you held a big sea shell to your ear and could hear "the sound of the ocean".

I don't know how long I have had it because for the longest time, living in the country, I thought it was crickets or cicadas or just normal sounds...birds chirping or whatever. When I realized what it was, and I couldn't get away from it, that was very difficult. For the longest time I kept a radio or TV on all the time when I was inside.

I have gotten used to it, and it doesn't bother me quite so much any more...but I really would like to experience true silence...just to know what that is like.

I had it , for about 20 or30 years. Then when I got hearing aids it went away. I do not know why, but I am very happy it has.

greenshoekitty -- I need new aids. Do you have the ambient-sound-blocking, fill-the-ear kind? Mine are the behind-the-ear variety and don't stop the tinnitus. I don't find them comfortable either.

Tinnitus can be caused many things including ear infection, hearing loss, medications, neurological conditions, structural abnormalities, and vascular conditions.

See an ENT physician for a diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

Yes, good advice. But be prepared for seeing an ENT specialist not helping. Unfortunately, there may be no known reason and no available treatment.

Chisue, The ones I have now are over the ear by Oticon. I do not do well with those that are just in the ear ( they do not stay in well for me.) That said for many years I used over the counter ones that also took the noises away. I would guess for me it is having the ear cannel blocked, and the noise just does not come back when the aids are removed over night.

'kitty -- Thanks for the reply. I guess I'm just not as fortunate as you.

MDLN -- I'm afraid floral is right. No ENT has been of help, which is what I've heard from friends as well. It's like the old saw, "Have you had this before? Well you have it again!"

Coincidentally there was an rsvandme commercial on ealier with sn annoying sound, maybe a screechy flatline? My 17yo cronges and said, ”Sounds like tinnitus.” I was surprised both thst she was familiar wity it and that she used the pronunciation from upthread which I only learned days ago. Evidently my wife and son don’t have it so they can’t relate. Just like our pixelated visiob issue. Gonns start a thread on that.

Agree, underlying cause may not be found; however, hate to later find out a treatable cause was not diagnosed - due to lack of specialty evaluation. We see that too often in the ED.
More information:
*

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tinnitus/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20350162
* https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/tinnitus
* https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/tinnitus-ringing-in-the-ears-and-what-to-do-about-it
*

NOT an endorsement, but interesting...
https://www.lenire.com/what-is-lenire/?

Absolutely. Do get checked by a specialist. But don't assume there will be an answer.

Mine sounds like a combination of a high-pitched whine and a pressurized steam leak. I first noticed it when I was around 60 y.o. It's similar to sounds of machinery that I worked around til about 15 years before it began.

Mine is an extremely high-pitched ringing sound that is more bothersome when it is very quiet.

I had a dream a few nights ago in which I heard a very loud ringing noise, and when it stopped, I noticed that my tinnitus was gone, but that was just a dream. However, I did learn what complete silence was like in that dream.

I've had mine since I was a small child. I asked my father about it then, and he told me that he heard it also - so I assumed it was hereditary.

I know exactly when mine happened - at a concert where I sat inexplicably by a huge speaker. I've always have been sensitive to loud sounds and all my life have avoided and been careful about my hearing....until that night nearly 12 years ago. Walked out of the venue with my hearing sounding like I was under water and woke up in the hotel the next morning with white noise/ringing etc. and 24/7 since. I can otherwise hear fine. Over the years the sounds have changed at times from popping and other sounds with ringing to today plain high-pitched ringing....

There is no remedy.