Noise-induced tinnitus.

@ramfromtvl Welcome to Connect. I know tinnitus can be annoying. I live with it too. I had always been very careful with my hearing avoiding loud noise, but it was prescription antibiotic use that caused mine. I didn't know that could happen and antibiotics that cause this are classified as being ototoxic. Only a medical professional can evaluate your situation and tell you if your tinnitus is permanent.

Inside the cochlea in your inner ear are what are called "hair cells". These are actually nerve endings and they are bathed in fluid and can move in the fluid in response to sound waves that are funneled into the cochlea by your outer ear. I remember the photo in one of my science books that showed hair cells that were broken and shattered by loud sounds. That type of damage is permanent nerve damage and is preventable by avoiding loud sounds and wearing hearing protection for the times when loud sound cannot be avoided. That kind of damage over your lifetime is cumulative.

Sometimes I also have pulsatile tinnitus and can hear my heartbeat in my ear, and allergies and sinus congestion also make my tinnitus a bit louder. I don't focus on it, so it doesn't bother me very much. It is most noticeable when the house is quiet when I lay down to sleep. When I hear my heartbeat, I'm glad to know that it is there. Using something for white noise can help like a fan.

Here is a link about the different types of tinnitus that may be of interest.

Great . Hope that it's not bothering you much now. I also have a clicking sound in my jaw. I don't know If it's TMJ or not. But it's really difficult to find the cause. And as long as it's not bothering I am going to ignore it and live happily.
Glad connecting with you

@ramfromtvl I get clicking and popping in my jaw sometimes when I open my mouth. I do have some TMJ issues and it can misalign my jaw. I also have thoracic outlet syndrome which makes one side of my neck tighter, so that affects the jaw. My physical therapist works on it and she does myofascial release to loosen everything. The key to everything working correctly is keeping things aligned properly. Here is our discussion on MFR so you can read about it. The first pages have a lot of information.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/

Thank you for sharing your story and this information. Tinnitus is one of those things that is difficult to imagine if you don't have it, or tor explain when you have it. It takes some doing, including stress management strategies, including relaxation to live with it. In most cases, as we learn to live with it, it ceases to bother us. I hope that works for you.

I want to point out that when the hair cells in the cochlea are damaged by excess noise exposure, which is quite common, it doesn't necessarily cause 'nerve damage'. What happens is the hair cells, which send sound to the auditory nerve are damaged, dead or non functional. The nerve is fine, but it isn't getting the message it needs to transmit to the brain. This is why cochlear implants, which bypass the hair cells in the cochlea work. They stimulate the brain electronically.

I was told my 'hearing nerve' was dead decades ago. I lived with progressive hearing loss for years thinking nothing could ever help me. Then I discovered assistive listening devices that allowed my hearing aids (which I fought getting for years), to transmit desired sound directly to my ears without any background noise. That gave me hope which ultimately led to me getting a cochlear implant. My ability to hear when tested improved from 10% word recognition to 93% with the cochlear implant processor. What a miracle it has been.

@julieo4 I am so glad that cochlear implants have helped you and thank you for sharing your story. It is amazing when you can solve a problem with a medical breakthrough! We may be using different terminology to say the same thing. I found some documentation that explains the details about hearing and how it works, and some research into repairing hearing loss with stem cells.

I was speaking about the hair cells as being nerve endings on the cellular level and are the first cell that receives the mechanical sound waves and converts them to an electric impulse and passing that directly to the cochlear nerve. They call them sensory receptors, and because they actually generate an electric signal that crosses a synapse to the cochlear nerve, I think of them as nerve endings or at least specialized nerve cells. Classification can change in time so I don't know if they are thought of differently now. Of course those nerve cells connect to other nerve cells and so on until it forms the path way that carries hearing impulses to the brain. Nerve cells have a very long extension called an axon and that communicates with tree like branches of an adjacent nerve cell called dendrites. The nerve impulse has to transmit across the space between the nerve cells with the help of chemical neurotransmitters to send an electric signal to the brain and that happens very quickly and the hair cells also generate neurotransmitters. The hair cells can be damaged and stop functioning and can be shattered by loud noises. The video below explains how the ear actually amplifies the sound coming into it. A cochlear implant can bridge the problem area of damaged hair cells and communicate with nerve cells further up the line.

Here is a drawing I found that explains the cellular biology of the hair cells.
https://content.byui.edu/file/a236934c-3c60-4fe9-90aa-d343b3e3a640/1/module12/images/Cochlea2.png

A textbook description of hearing
https://open.oregonstate.education/aandp/chapter/15-3-hearing/

and a video showing physically how hearing happens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGqfRvCkt-w

There is also some exciting hope on the horizon for regeneration of hair cells with stem cells to repair hearing loss.
Here is an article from Harvard and excerpts from the article.

Excerpts:

"The cells that collect sound information from the environment and send it to the brain are called hair cells. We are born with about 11,000 hair cells in each ear, and they need to last. We experience the slow progression of hearing loss as these fragile cells die due to excessive noises, exposure to certain drugs, and aging. As hair cells die, nearby brain cells that once carried sound information to the audio processing part of the brain also expire."

"Regeneration of Hair Cells
HSCI scientists have discovered which stem cells can become hair cells as well as the molecules that bring about this change. Using this information, our researchers are developing techniques to grow hair cells in the laboratory and implant them into the ear.

Stem cells can also be used to screen for drugs that could stimulate the regeneration of hair cells. This method has already produced drugs capable of partially restoring hearing in deaf rats. The next steps are identifying the right mixture of drugs that will regenerate the largest number of hair cells and assessing ways that these drugs can be delivered to the ear. The success in rodent models will eventually lead to drug tests in human stem cells."

You obviously have done a lot of research, as have I. And, I've lived it since I was diagnosed with progressive bilateral sensorineural hearing loss 50+ years ago. It's very encouraging to hear the word 'cure' related to hearing impairment. I follow and support The Hearing Research Foundation, and sincerely believe there will be a cure sometime in the future. The auditory sensorineural system is extremely complex, and a great deal of it is inaccessible due to where it is located in the skull. I feel so very fortunate to have benefitted from what was considered impossible when discussion began on it; my cochlear implant. Maybe stem cells will make it possible for my non implanted hear to regain hearing someday. I have always said, "If there was a cure for hearing loss, I would try to get in the front of the line to try it." So far, the CI is the next best thing!
Thank you for sharing your information. Like you, I believe that in time, there will be progress. Meanwhile, I love to hear!

I don't think I might have a hearing loss. Because PTA and BERA came out to be quite good. I don't actually find a satisfactory cause for my tinnitus.
Thoughts?...