Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

Hi, @kicker113640 Welcome to Connect.

Do you wear hearing aids? I have tinnitus and during the day, when I am wearing my hearing aids, I don't notice the tinnitus but at night when I take them off and go to bed I really do unless I am active with something like reading before settling down to sleep.

I believe that my situation is pretty common, that people with hearing aids do not notice their tinnitus when they are wearing their hearing aids because they are hearing other external sounds whereas after removing the HAs things are very quiet.

The sound I hear is like a motor running so when it first started it would alarm me that something in the house was running and I would tell my husband. He would get out of bed and go around the house to find the noise but there was never anything. Eventually, I realized it was tinnitus. I guess I thought tinnitus was a ringing sound and mine is definitely not.

It is a nuisance but if yours is similar to mine you will eventually learn to just live with it. I will be curious to hear what your doctor says about it.
JK

At least for me it has been the case that as my hearing loss becomes more profound my tinnitus is noticeable and bothersome whether I have my HA in or not, since I’m no longer very much in touch with environmental sounds. I have also now begun having repetitive musical auditory hallucinations, which I concluded is my brain trying to supply sound as I lose more and more ability to hear the sounds I used to hear all the time. At a recent visit my audiologist confirmed that that is indeed what my brain is trying to do. She has programmed several different subtle sound choices into my HA phone app for me to choose from when I need to lure my brain into listening so that it doesn’t have to create musical noise for itself.

The combination of tinnitus and auditory hallucinations has been upsetting and frightening to me, but I am finding myself comforted by an appreciation of my brain’s remarkable creative efforts to take care of its needs on its own without any conscious assistance. My audiologist assures me this is not mental illness or dementia, which of course are frightening to all of us, just the brain reacting to too much silence where there used to be a rich sound environment.

My name is Carole. I also experience tinnitus. My hearing aids which I started wearing about one year ago are not always sufficient. I hear several different sounds with the tinnitus for the most part when there are sounds around me (people talking) and my aids are worn, not aware of the tinnitus. When I meditate in the morning I am also not aware of it. Lately I can hear repetitive music as well. Disturbing. Would like to hear more about your experiences. I like one on one rather than a whole community. Thanks

I’m in the 3 week of Sudden hearing loss. I had my 3 rd ear shot yesterday and if it doesn’t help they won’t do the fourth. I will then get another hearing test to see if hearing aids will work. I will have a MRI next Tuesday. The doctor said it is routine to rule out a non cancerous ear tumor that is rare but it does happen. It’s helping me not to be so scared knowing other people are going through the same thing . Any tips will help!!

I’m in the 3 week of Sudden hearing loss. I had my 3 rd ear shot yesterday and if it doesn’t help they won’t do the fourth. I will then get another hearing test to see if hearing aids will work. I will have a MRI next Tuesday. The doctor said it is routine to rule out a non cancerous ear tumor that is rare but it does happen. It’s helping me not to be so scared knowing other people are going through the same thing . Any tips will help!!

@colleenyoung @cobweb. My hearing loss started about 14 years ago, apparently age related, or possibly related to cirrhosis which was not diagnosed until years later. It took a turn for the worse a few years ago, in clarity. My current aids, Oticon Opn1s, are generally considered to be the best for clarity, or were when I got them about a year and a half ago. Despite that, my hearing is still not great. I really need CC on the TV, and in a noisy environment I am lost. It is very isolating. I think unless there is a giant step forward this is the best I can expect, unfortunately.
JK

@kvetch

Welcome to Connect Carole. There have been a lot of discussions about tinnitus, musical ear, hearing loss in general, etc. Do explore those topics as people have many stories to share.

I have profound hearing loss and use both a hearing aid and a cochlear implant processor, so I understand the discomfort level people have with these issues. I don't have answers though, just experiences.

Tinnitus usually starts to abate in time, or we get used to it and it's our new normal. There is research that indicates that it's exacerbated by stress. Of course, it causes stress! So, we need to learn some stress management techniques. Rhythmic breathing is one that I find helpful when stress starts to get me down. Have you tried breathing exercises?

Here's a link that explains it: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324417