"The HUM", a persistent Low Frequency Noise

I never had this hum until I got Covid the second time. I am also vaccinated as well. I notice that as I was coming off of my fever this time my ears acted like they was full of something, was hard to hear out of both ears. I did ear wax treatments with no luck. I never got any wax or waxy substance from my ears. Now I hear this pump running all the time. I can actually feel the vibrating when I hear the hum. I got Covid at thanksgiving 2020 and the second time around Dec 20 2021. Being able to feel the hum is what’s so weird. It’s driving me nuts. Also I am a 54 year old male, overweight because I love pizza. I work in the rail industry where souse is everywhere

Hi Blown503. I can imagine the constant hum is driving you nuts. Sometimes medications can contribute to tinnitus. Post-COVID is known to be a contributor too.
- The Sound of Post-COVID Syndrome https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/post-covid-recovery/newsfeed-post/the-sound-of-post-covid-syndrome/

@scottk @davidnewman @nurseheadakes may have some ideas to share with you on coping with the vibrating and low hum.

Blown have you consulted an ENT or hearing specialist?

Hi Blown503. Sorry about your recent development of tinnitus. What I find strange is the vibration you are feeling along with the hum! I have told other readers that they should find a good ENT or Audiologist who specializes in tinnitus like Colleen mentioned earlier. I have been using sound therapy for the last two years and it seems to help calm my problem. I also have severe hearing loss which typically goes hand in hand with tinnitus. It does not appear you have hearing loss. The covid connection is interesting also. The sound therapy programs can be found on your smartphone....the one I use is Tinnitus Aid. Not sure if there is a clinic near you that specializes in tinnitus....I went to Froedert Medical College in Milwaukee. Hope this helps...it seems like everyone's case is unique and one solution does not fit all!

Scott

Ah tinnitus - that noise in the head. I have had this since the late 1980's and it will never go away. I was mad at first but had to make it my friend. There was little available then to knock it out of your head then but over the years inventors came up with devices that created tones that came close to what we were hearing in our heads. I tried most of them but found they were not working for me or were impractical in my professional life. Analog hearing aids did not have anything to help with the noise.

With my digital hearing aids, programs were developed to muffle my tones so that I could over-ride what I knew was always screeching in the background. Now, when I have my hearing aids on, the Tinnitus Program is put on and I listen to the pink noise that is more soothing and allows my brain to tune-out the 'noise' and lets me focus on the better stuff of hearing what is going on around me. I have mod-severe hearing loss and have multiple programs on my HA's. I use all of them in my life. I have a mini-mic for when I am out with others. The T-coil is used in our Loop environments.

COVID creates some 80+ symptoms including the hearing loss, tinnitus, migraines, muscle aches and so one. I am being treated as a LONG COVID. I have many of these symptoms and am followed closely by my physicians. I had all of the vaccines and got the variants anyway. I did not die like my brother did recently (as a nonvaxer). What is key here is how you take care of you body in response to this viral threat.

Your immune system should be your focus (defense against the virus) as well as your brain (hearing health). Do you have hearing loss? What does your family history look like? Work closely with all of your physicians. Keep up with what the researchers are saying about the science of hearing loss, tinnitus and all of the other aural disabilities in the brain. They are all related and affected by our genes, environment, germs, viruses and stresses. Education, trial and error on what works and doesn't work for you is the best route in finding avenues to help your achieve a middle ground in homeostasis of your situation. Each of us takes a path that has many different trials and speedbumps but we soon find what helps us get to a place that we can be somewhat comfortable and content and we go on with life....and help others as well.

I have not yet, as I will when I see my dr soon and will discuss this with him soon. I take hearing test at work all the time and do have some mild hearing loss due to noises and age as they tell me. Has anyone ever thought that this hum could be a nerve somewhere near the ear. Maybe the trigeminal nerve touching something? I know they tested the nerves in my arms one time thinking I had carpal tunnel, and I’m guessing the nerves was actually making a humming noise?

Thank you Scott as I will try the therapy program you mentioned. I thought someone in my neighborhood in the country had a pump running or grain bin drying grain that I was hearing . My daughter said she couldn’t hear it. I told her shat she was the one with the problem. I’m going to the dr this month and will see where this takes me. I’m definitely trying the therapy today though. Thanks.

I have had this humming, ringing, and a "band playing" in my left ear for the last 2 years. I have had the hearing test, the exam, etc. . I also told my dr. what I am hearing and he pats me on the back and says, well, as we age, bla, bla. I am only 67. I was 65 when it started. I feel like he just blew me off. Where do you go from here? So my friend told me maybe I should put a noise machine next to my bed and see if that helps. I tried several different sounds and decided on rain. For the most part, it has been helping a lot. In fact, I will not sleep unless my machine is on. But lately, I am hearing voices. I would turn off the machine thinking who is talking outside my house? Thing is, I live in the country. Our houses are far apart from each other and obviously there are no busy streets, sidewalks, etc. where there would be people. It scared me. I thought, okay, this is a fluke. Whatever. Really trying not to freak out. But night after night, I kept hearing people talking and it seemed as if it was coming from the machine. And as one person wrote, he isn't hearing voices talking to him; he is hearing people talking. I was relieved to know that I am not going crazy. But please, by no means am I happy that anyone else is suffering from this affliction. I feel for that person. I so feel for that person. I started to try different sleeping positions and have realized that if I just stay on my back with the machine right next to me, it actually sounds like rain. (without the talking) If I try to sleep on my side, this is when everything starts to sound distorted and the voices start. This is so bizarre. It really helps to read about other experience's. I don't feel so alone in this. I hope and pray that someday they will have something that will help. There has to be an answer; a treatment; something!

It sounds as if you have tinnitus, which can create many internal sounds that only you can hear. Do you have hearing loss? It's unusually for a reputable medical doctor to put you off that way. What kind of doctor did you see?

I'm 43, and I hear a very low hum most days, but no all days. It started June of 2021. My hearing tests conclude good hearing, no loss of hearing and clear canals. When I close my left ear the noise is gone. I only hear this noise in my left ear, but of course it's worse at night and this constant sound is like a weak low frequency with breaks in it. Hearing it for more than a hour I begin to feel chest pain, which is odd. My ENT tells me my their testing equipment can't test for the frequency I'm hearing because it doesn't test low enough for the frequency I hear, everything sounds higher in pitch on their devices. Again hearing test is normal, so they say and tell my the dehiscence of ear fibers in my ear canals are in my right ear. No can explain whats happening and telling me I suffer from hearing loss doesn't explain it either, as it stumps the doctors. I don't abuse my ears with excessive noise nor do I not clean them regularly. This is weird. Also, when I drive about a block from my house, the noise fades away. At night it's everywhere.

Tinnitus comes in so many different ways and sounds. It' more bothersome than damaging, but can be extremely stressful. While there is no true cure for tinnitus, stress management, especially through rhythmic breathing, can help. Mostly it helps us focus elsewhere.

Did your ENT or Audiologist explain tinnitus to you?