Tinnnitus

[eveled]

I was at work the other day. Changing a boiler and water heater. I got this ringing in my ears, at first it was driving me crazy then I gradually got used to it. If sort of came and went.

After about an hour my coworker said my Tinnitus is driving me nuts today. Much worse than normal. I looked at him and said. “OMG! You can hear that too”?

We looked on and off for what was making the noise but could not find it because of its non directionality. We finnally blamed the radon removal system thinking when we put the power back on it would stop. All day we listened to that buzzing. We got everything powered back up and it was still there. We asked the home owner he had never heard it before.

Long story short there was a water alarm built in under a work bench. The sump pump was slightly overflowing because we had killed it’s power when we shut the boiler breaker.

Anyway glad it wasn’t my tinnitus getting worse, my sympathies for any of you who live with it constantly. If you have it and it’s service related you paid one hell of a price to serve our country. Thanks for your service.

 

[gunman42782]

I have had it for years now. The only time it really bothers me is when watching TV. But, yeah, some days it can about drive you nuts.

 

[Mobuck]

My constant companion. Like being in a closet with 10K crickets.

 

[Hawk-in-Wi]

Ya you got that right !!! after years of working around noise equipment like chainsaws , sawmills , cut off saws, nail guns , heavy equipment , trucks ect. and of course shooting , it's a wonder I can hear at all

 

[Captain America]

My constant companion. Like being in a closet with 10K crickets.

Yup, I was born with it. I always have music on in the background when working on something...it really helps me concentrate on the task at hand.

 

[Dan in MI]

I can deal with it 98% of the time. but out in the woods with no other noises it kills me. I have you look to my right all the time because critters can sneak up on me.

 

[Cholo]

I've had severe tinnitus for 50 years or so. I can hear it at all times, though I usually stay distracted. I went from sleeping with a fan to a dedicated noise maker. I travel with one, usually One time while out of the country I forgot it, no sleep that night. This city is always cool so there's no heat or AC anywhere. It took my date and me all day to find a ventilador (fan) because they don't use them. Forget about finding a white noise maker.

About 6 years ago I went to contender's meet and knew the older motel I was staying at had an AC fan that will run continuously. What was I thinking? They shut the power off from 12-6 am to work on it. Damn...

Tinnitus sucks, but I'll take it compared to the alternative :wink:

 

[Pat-inCO]

I got mine in '61 when a buddy and I went hunting. Only problem was the he brought
his dad along. No problem, right? Except that the dad saw a buckskin, pulled up
and shot. You guessed it, the end of his barrel was about eighteen to twenty inches
behind and to the side of my ear. - - - - THAT HURT!

In a way it's good. When you don't want to participate in a conversation you just wait
until they are talking to you and cup your hand behind one ear and say
WHAT WAS THAT? :wink:

 

[Carrij]

Here’s a link to a site that generates a tone and you can adjust it to find the actual pitch of your tinnitus. Mine is different in both ears, left lower pitch, right much higher.

https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

 

[Wyandot Jim]

In the early 60s I worked on B-47s and KC-97s on the flight line while in the USAF. Most of the time there were B-47s taxiing around with J-47 engines screaming so loud it would hurt your ears, along with other loud equipment running. At that time we didn't have any ear protection which probably lead to my Tinnitus.
Flying in loud airplanes and shooting without ear protection probably didn't help either. Just the way it was in the GOOD OLD DAYS :wink:

My Dad who was a B-17 Ball Turret Gunner during WWII also had hearing problems due to 50 Cals. going off next to his ears and flying in loud planes.

Not only do I have the constant ringing but also at times it sounds like an orchestra playing, along with other strange sounds at times.

Do any of you have this take place?
The Ear DR. said " Yep that happens and can't do anything about it."

 

[Rick Courtright]

I always have music on in the background when working on something...it really helps me concentrate on the task at hand.

Hi,

I've had a mild case for years. Background noise/music is often enough I don't notice it at all. And some times it takes a day off with no other input.

Rick C

 

[LAH]

Mine is the sound of fall bugs. I can live with it.

 

[vito]

Mine was pretty bad when I was on Active Duty. I think what caused it was having an ear infection while living right near an 8 inch howitzer battery that fired pretty much day and night in Vietnam. It only got me 10% disability from the V.A. But in the decades since I retired from the Army it has receded and now only affects me at seemingly random times, sometimes lasting only a minute or so, sometimes for much longer. When I think of how many came home from Vietnam with fewer limbs than they arrived with, I thank my good luck for only having this minor (for me) problem.

 

[Armybrat]

My constant companion. Like being in a closet with 10K crickets.

Same here, except add swarms of cicadas and jillions of chirping birds. Sometimes it is VERY loud.
Am just used to it and relegate the noise to the background where it is ignored.

 

[WAYNO]

Mine is almost always there. Sometimes worse than other times. It started many years ago, but then subsided for a lot of years until it came back with more vengeance.

Army Aviation? Ordnance? We wore ear plugs on the range, but not often while on the flight line, and not always when flying. Some Huey's were deafening after a long flight. Army earplugs didn't always work very well. And flight helmets were not always available to everyone. When they were, commo wasn't always clear, so we turned up the volume to our helmets

Heavy industry? I nearly always wore ear plugs, but there was too often quiet times without ear protection when all of a sudden there was an unexpected extreme decibel blast without warning and we couldn't get our ear plugs in fast enough.

The ambulance chasers always tell us, go after what's owed to us. Who did the most damage...The Army or industry? I can only imagine a claim would be denied, as one would claim the other was to blame. So I do nothing.

 

[HawkEyeEarl]

always there. Like long ago lying out at night listening to katydids. Only now its day and night. Inside.

 

[sfhogman]

Yup. Well over 50 years of motorcycling, gunfire and such.
It's a whistling hiss that's always there. Most of the time it's playing in the background...
Other times, like when I'm stressed, it can be loud and very annoying, which adds to the stress, etc. I get myself caught in a loop.
When that happens I read a book, listen to classical music, or smoke my pipe. The spikes don't generally last more than a couple of days. The covid isolation tends to make things worse...

Jeff

 

[xtratoy]

What did you say?????

 

[RICHP]

I can deal with it 98% of the time. but out in the woods with no other noises it kills me. I have you look to my right all the time because critters can sneak up on me.

Same here.

 

[vito]

The ambulance chasers always tell us, go after what's owed to us. Who did the most damage...The Army or industry? I can only imagine a claim would be denied, as one would claim the other was to blame. So I do nothing.

Get a decent attorney who can file claims against BOTH possible sources of the problem. Let them fight it out proving that the other caused your disability. Who knows? You might end up getting one or both to offer you a settlement. I'm not an attorney and not purporting to give legal advice, but this seems like a worthwhile tactic to pursue.

 

[Johnnu2]

YUP I got it big time too.

Personally, it's worth it, considering all the fun things (and some not so 'fun' things) I did to get it.....

J.

 

[gramps]

I have had tinnitus since I was a child. It started with my firing a .45 ACP 1911. No relief since. Rarely shoot without plugs or headsets. I ignore it. Who needs white noise? I got plenty of it! lol
gramps

 

[Danjet500]

I got mine from shooting a kiln gun at a stone quarry. I only worked there five years but probably shot over 50000 rounds of 8 gauge 3 ounce slug shells. Minimal hearing protection at that time.

 

[wiz1997]

Got mine back when I was about 14 years old.
Had four teeth pulled when I had braces put on.
Thought I was picking up radio signals at first.

That summer I ended up with really bad ear infections from working as an aquatics instructor/lifeguard in a Boy Scout summer camp.
Lost 10% of my hearing in the left ear just from the infections.

Years of working in noisy refineries, chemical plants, and production plants have also taken their toll.

Learned to ignore the "ringing".

Now I get a very low frequency "hum" on occasion.

I read where it is your brain trying to hear, but your ears can't, so your brain creates the "ringing".
Sort of like when you are asleep and your eye balls begin moving (REM sleep).
You see from the various pressures put on your eyes by light waves.
When in REM sleep, your closed eyelids put pressure on your eyes and your brain thinks it should be "seeing" something.
This is when you "see" your dreams.

The "ringing" can also be caused by high blood pressure, so get it checked.

 

[Mobuck]

Guns, tractors, chainsaws, triphammers, the occasional explosion, lots more guns and louder explosions, and the end result is: 90% high frequency hearing loss and 50%+/- across the remainder of the hearing spectrum.
I discovered an unhandy coincidence this summer. The 'bale full' warning on my new to me John Deere baler seems to be a near match for the frequency of the constant ringing in my ears. The blinking icon on the screen is good enough but I didn't even know there was an auditory warning until Grandson was riding with me. He said it was loud enough to hurt his ears but I hadn't even noticed.

 

[DeletedMember275]

Twenty years of active duty in the Armament repair field, listening to tank guns and artillery pieces firing, machine guns, mortars, tank and truck engines, banging, clanging, beating, hammering, then working for a mobile tool company in and out of auto repair shops, then back to working around tanks, trucks and machine guns. Plus all the shooting that I did myself - WITH hearing protection the last 40 or so years, but frequently WITHOUT in the time before that. It's a wonder that I can hear as well as I do. My tinnitus is mostly intermittent and not too terribly loud - a high pitched whine. Sometimes it's much louder and a lower pitch, but generally doesn't last for more than maybe 30 seconds at a time. So far, anyway.

To WAYNO: I would definitely file with the VA, as a minimum. You may not get much, but if you get even a 10% disability rating for hearing loss they will provide you with free hearing aids and batteries.