I've had tinnitus in my left ear for many years, it has gotten louder as I have lost the hearing in that ear. In May of '12 I had sudden loss of the last little bit of hearing in that ear and a couple of really bad dizzy spells (felt like I was kinda drunk, couldn't walk a straight line, vomited with each episode). That finally drove me to see an ENT. When the last of the hearing went, the tinnitus became what I call "screaming" tinnitus. There is a high pitched noise, clicks, and a sound that is very much like a mosquito buzzing at that ear. The mosquito is what varies, softer to very loud at times.
The ENT sent me for an MRI. I think he knew I had an AN on my left. Imagine his supprise when the AN was seen on my RIGHT! Not to mention my supprise! So I have no hearing in my LEFT ear and an AN on the right (with slight buzzing, and mild-mod hearing loss in the right)
At present I am 1 week into fractionated radiation treatments (whoo-hoo, 20% done!) My Neuro-ENT feels the fractionated treatments hold the best option for hearing preservation over the long run, but feels that within the next 10 years I will lose "useful hearing" in the right ear. At that point I should be a candidate for a cochlear implant.
My question is...since the tinnitus is basically the brain wanting to make noise to compensate for no audio imput coming from the left, if I have a cochlear implant, will the tinnitus decrease? Does anyone out there have one?
And I love the explaination of the tinnitus...it is the best one I have ever read.