One random night, I lay on my bed in my silent bedroom, and I felt that the silence is uncomfortable. Why, I asked myself, that the silence felt sharp, like I prefer the noise of my annoyingly loud dehumidifier, or the muffled sound of traffic in my old apartment?
I realized that the silence was ringing, in a high pitched noise that we all associate with being hit near the ears. My inner voice told myself: “man, you have tinnitus.”
Thinking back, that wasn’t the first time I thought that I have tinnitus, but I was probably in denial for years, or it just got louder. The sad part is that I’m only 26, and somehow, I feared getting tinnitus ever since my childhood.
Even worse, I just ordered a pair of headphones with ANC, and when I don’t play anything through it, the ringing gets very clear.
Was depressed for a few days, thinking that it’s not fair that I got it even though I don’t expose myself to loud noises often, I listen to music at a couple levels lower than my preference, and I don’t turn up my music to drown out noises.
But nothing in life is fair, and to compared to the suffering of others, this is only a mild discomfort. So I’ll try to keep positive about it, and be grateful that I still enjoy a comparatively luxurious life.
I’ll visit a doctor soon though!
Any of you have a similar experience? I’ll be happy to read your stories!
I’ve had it for over a decade now. Given I love live music and music production is a hobby of mine, it was pretty sad when the penny dropped for me that: yes, this ringing isn’t gonna go away like it used to, a day or two after a gig.
Some kind of white noise or similar (I like rain sounds) when trying to sleep is an essential for me. ANC headphones will stop you from causing further damage as long as you keep your volumes at healthy levels (the ANC means you can use lower volumes that feel louder than they actually are).
Also, get yourself some loop experience (or similar) ear plugs for gigs that are designed to let through a bit more in the range music is generally played, whilst blocking loads of the frequencies you don’t even hear. It’s important to make sure you don’t cause further damage now, I know some people get the “well I’ve already got it now, why bother” thought, but sadly you can always worsen things.
Generally I have gotten used to it tbh, I don’t spend loads of my time thinking about it at least and with things like white noise for sleep, I can generally work around any issues.
Good you say you’ll visit the doctor, it’s very often caused by sound related hearing damage, but tinnitus can be a symptom of all sorts of other things, some of which are indeed temporary.
Finally if it is hearing damage, there’s actually been some progress in new therapies for it in recent years. I read recently about a (currently pretty pricey, unfortunately) treatment where they sort of “recalibrate” your brain to filter out the signal generated by the damage. It apparently has pretty good results, I’m thinking of looking into it myself at some point
I’ve been wanting to get those earplugs as a precaution for a while but I don’t go to music fest or concerts often enough to justify it. But maybe I should get em and go out more.
Hopefully the new medical tech gets more mainstream and cheaper soon, just like lasik.