Noises in your deaf ear? What is up with this?

[Jack Palmer]

Has anyone else gotten noise in their DEAF ear when sounds come in the HEARING side? I am about a month post-op and even the faintest noises such as a bird outside my window or a rustle of paper cause me a very uncomfortable rush of white noise on the surgery (deaf) side. This is very difficult for me to deal with. If I put an earplug in the hearing side these symptoms go away. I would really like to hear from people who have experienced this or similar type symptoms. Did it go away?

[gemaste]

I also have problems with ringing in my deaf ear.  If it would ever stop I could overall hear much better.  I would like to know if anyone had ringing over 1 month past surgery.  Does this ringing ever go away??  Otherwise I am getting back to normal and getting use to being deaf on the AN side.   Please give me some more info.  Thanks again.  Glenn

[mike]

I have absolutely had ringing in the deaf ear, and it has been steadily going on now for a solid 3 years!  The doctor told me that when you cut the hearing nerve the brain "makes up" it's own signal, which you interpret as tinnitus.  I can't for the life of me now figure out why when I go in to see him, he sits there and rubs his chin saying "Huh, ringing..."  Go figure!

They did give me a hearing test and determined that I still hear some faint noise through the dead ear as a function of noise simply entering the ear canal and echoing around through the head and being picked up by the good ear.  Strange, but true.

[matti]

I had my hearing nerve removed 7 years ago from my AN. Immediately after, I developed a constant loud, high pitched buzz on my deaf side. I notice that the louder my surroundings are, the louder my buzz will become. It was hard at first to get to sleep with the noise, but now I am able to override it.

My doctor said basically the same thing as Mike's doctor, that my cut nerve is picking up signals resulting in a constant ringing. Reminds me of an episode of Seinfeld, in which Jerry's Uncle Leo keeps saying, "will someone answer that damn phone". LOL

Wish I had a better explanation for what is going on, hope someone out there does.

matti

[sirialison]

i am 9 months post-op and have LOTS of noise in my deaf ear - i have noticed that it is worse when i am tired or when there's a lot of other noise around me. but sometimes i get a few seconds of absolutely nothing - then i think i've lost the hearing on the other side because i've gotten so used to the noise. i think i've done a pretty good job of "tuning it out" (ha! major oxymoronic phrase!) but sometimes it just drives me nuts!

can anyone explain why that sometimes when i have my hearing side to the pillow i still can faintly hear what is going on around me with some measure of clarity (voices, tv). i know i have lost the hearing completely on the AN side but this infrequent ability to "hear" is odd - i suppose it's just my brain adjusting...again!

siri

[mike]

Please read my prior post a couple of lines up.  Perhaps it will help some.  Don't forget that though you are laying on your good ear on say, a pillow, ALL audio is not blocked from entering that ear.  Has to do with the wavelength of the audio versus the material densitly covering the ear...or some techno-mumble-jumbo like that.

Often times, depending on the T.V. show and their broadcast level, I can lay on my good ear and reasonably understand what is going on.  AND keep in mind that I don't mean to say that I have the volume up soo loud that the neighbors can hear me.  New movies with sudden changing volumes, low pillow talk one minute followed by loud noises, no, I can't understand.  In those circumstances I get aggrevated and either sit up or turn over or something to aid in my good ear's reception.

Is that clear as mud?  Ha!  Hope it helps some.

[luv2teachsped]

I get  a whishing sound, heatbeat? who knows? I asked my Dr. shortly after surgery"when are the people marching on my roof going to go away"?  He just laughed and said"possibly never".  There again ,its not really "hearing" out of the deaf ear, its something to do with the signals and how the brain processes them.  The good news is"there not marching as loud and as often".luv2teach

[mike]

Yep.  And I noticed a lot of strange "swooshing" type sounds as well, like someone were waiving a fan right over my good ear.  No one (doctor) has ever so much as attempted to approach explaining that one...

[Windsong]

Jack,

Not sure if this is what you experience, but when you wrote "rush of white noise" in surgical ear I was reminded of this:  whenever I had surgery for tube placement in my eardrums, I often had a rush of noise afterwards. Example was standing on a subway platform waiting for a train to come and when it did the nosie was overwhelming. After a bad bout of fluid in middle ears, afterwards at home when I ran water in kitchen sink it was like the sound of waterfall cataracts  like Niagara. This would usually subside in one day , maybe two maybe three. But over all that was this rush of sound with all noises.

The rush of nosie I experienced after tube insertion is not like the noises of tinnitus for me, not at all. Tinnitus is bells, or ringing or buzzing or similar type things for me.  I have yet to have my AN treated by the way.

Which leads me to wonder if your own "rush of noise"  from a bird as you said is really something to do with the whole operation procedure etc as my own rush of noise sure came always after tube insertion and I have had many. Even as I write this I realize that an op for an AN is nothing like a tube op but the choice of words "rush of noise" made me sit up and notice so I thought I'd share my own experiences.

Maybe this can help in some way.

[Static]

I have had alot of tinnitus since my surgery, sometimes it seems unbearable.  I was told that it should lessen a year after my surgery but it's been longer than a year and it seems to be worse.  If there is too much noise around me, bags crinkling, tv or radio, and people talking, I really can't understand anything that is being said!  Trying to work on reading lips but that is kind of difficult when the person talking to you is facing another direction or mumbling even just a little.  I also noticed that I usually don't hear thunder unless it's a really loud boom.  I guess I can't hear that pitch because it resembles what I hear all the time.  Sometimes it seems like I am always hearing thunder, static and other noises too numerous to mention!  I am kind of used to it by now but it really doesn't make it any better.  I had no facial paralysis and am still walking and breathing and for that I am thankful.  Things could always be worse!

[jan pentecost]

I am experiencing strange noises in my deaf ear.....and realized....for me....that they correspoed with the TV...radio.....whatever external stimuli is around. I will be watching TV and notice the noises correspond with someone talking on the TV. When they stop...the noise stops. I seem to have a constant quiet noise...much like hearing the ocean. Doesn't disturb me or interfer like prior to surgery. I know that the bone is a conductor of sound.....and routes noise from the deaf side over to the good side.
For me....I haven't experienced anything like prior to the surgery...I hated the noises...high pitched tinging noises...like in a submarine. I would bat at my left ear and yell...STOP. People I work with knew that I wasn"t crazy and batting at the air...very understanding.
My doc did tell me efore surgery that my quality of life would not be better after this type of surgery...how right he has been. Major adjustments......life is good, though

[stein78]

I too have constant white noise in my deaf ear, I am almost 4 months post-op.  It's not terrible, I just notice it when it's real quiet or when I am trying to sleep.

Jack - I too have the rush of white noise at times, feels like it intensifies.  It seems to be happening more frequent over the last few weeks.  I have no idea what triggers it, I have yet to find a pattern.  It sometimes catches me off guard and make flinch a little, but it never hurts.  I was thinking that it has to do with some of the nerves in there healing, but how knows.  I might call my doctor and ask him if it keep up.

[lifeisgood]

One day after surgery, I heard bees buzzing near my deaf ear and teletype sounds in my good ear.  I asked my doc and he said it was basically the same sensation an amputee experiences when they think they feel their lost limb. 
I also remember initially that loud sounds like airplanes would literally bounce from my deaf ear to my good ear.
18 months (I can't believe its been that long since my surgery!!) I have adjusted and honestly, loss of hearing hasn't been that big of an adjustment.
I think it took a couple of months for me to adjust.

Just remember, this too shall pass.
-Mary

[heyyouconnie]

Yea, I do too. I have noticed that it is almost sickening to me when ever I run the vacuum sweeper or a hairdryer. It gets so loud and I almost get dizzy. But I just wear ear plugs when ever I do either of those things. Loud restaurants are the worse. I can't hardly hear the hubby talking and the buzzing in my deaf ear gets so bad.

Huh, interesting about the brain making up noises you hear. I thought it was the blood running by a nerve that I heard. Sometimes it can drive me crazy, but I don't allow it to. It is a state of mind with me. I just try and stay focused on something else and try to not have it bother me. But I have noticed, I sure like quiet houses now.

[Static]

ditto!