Tinnitus: What sort of sound do you hear?

[dufreyne]

I am 2.5 months post op from a middle fossa approach to remove my AN.  The tinnitus has been pretty bad.  I was wondering, for those who experience tinnitus (buzzing or ringing in your ear), what kind of sounds do people hear?  Is it always the same?  Do you have periods when there are 2 sounds at once?  Does it make you dizzy?  Also, for those with tinnitus, do you have any serviceable hearing in that ear?

Dufreyne--

[wcrimi]

I am a little over 2 months post-op also and have very useful hearing on my AN side.

I had very mild ringing in my ear pre-op (high pitched tone). I could only hear it in the quietest rooms or when my ear was resting against my pillow at night. That's how I discovered my AN to begin with.

Post-op, the sounds range from hissing, a squeak-like sound when there's a lot of noise or activity around me (like in a bar, restaurant or at a party), a high pitched sound like before, a combination of them, to almost nothing at all.  My ear also often feels congested a lot of the time. The volume and combinations vary from day to day and even a lot of the time during the same day.  It rarely gets so bad that it's driving me crazy or anything, but it is there. I guess I sort of get used to it at times or don't notice it because of the TV, radio, and other white noise.  I run a fan at night for white noise to help drown it out when I try to get to sleep, but to be honest, on most nights I would be able to sleep without it because it's not that loud.   

The general pattern has been for very slow improvement. Yesterday was great. I hardly heard or noticed a thing all day. Today it's pretty bad for no reason at all.

For me, this is a secondary issue to wonky headedness and dizziness when I'm active.

[Richard in Palacios]

I can best describe the sensation as a "jet engine" at full throttle.  It begin as hearing in the effected ear diminished and continued for about a year, gradually diminishing in intensity.  By the time we identified the AN,I had no hearing on the effected side.  That was my first clue that there was an issue to deal with. I am now almost 7 months post treatment and it has not reccurred. 

[sgerrard]

I have had crickets in my head for several years now. I still have useful hearing in both ears, the left ear having a hearing aid. It is fairly constant, though often I don't notice it, and it does not make me dizzy or anything like that. It is just my cricket buddies along for the ride. I surely hope that yours dampens down, it sounds like it is giving you some trouble.

Steve

[cin605]

Lots of noise going on in my ears.My bad ear always rings thats hoe an was discoverded,other ear only rings when i lay down & is not as loud as my bad ear.tones change alot in bad ear from high to low to a flute sound lot of draining & unclogging.

[chopper]

My ringing is of varying states.   Sometimes it's pretty minimal, others pretty damn loud.  The pitch changes here and there depending on what's going on (ie caffeine/alcohol intake, strenuous physical activity or being tired), and if I pay attention to it, like right now, I can "hear" multiple pitches at the same time, usually high and midrange type ring.   Nerve is intact, but servicable hearing is nil as far as I know.

[dufreyne]

Does the tinnitus get louder when you are in loud environments?  Do droning noises like the washing machine or food disposal machine make it louder/worse? 

I find that I can forget about it once in a while, bu most of the time it is with me and it makes it very difficult to concentrate.  My doctor told me this should improve with time.  He made the analogy to "phantom limb pain".  Your body takes time to adjust to the new lack of nerve input to my right side. 

Does that sound right to those with tinnitus?

Dufreyne--

[wcrimi]

It does get louder in loud environments for me, but the sounds are different.  For me, it changes to a squeak-like sound when there's a lot of activity around me (multiple conversations, a TV etc.. all at the same time).  I do not know if it gets better or not because I am also only a little over 2 months away from surgery, but overall I think mine has improved a little. Funny you should bring it up though because yesterday and today have been louder for me.   

[Richard in Palacios]

dufreyne,
When I begin losing my left side hearing, my ent told me to expect the tinnitus : and that in actuality, it would never really go away but my brain would "learn" to block it out and ignore those signals over time.  According to him each of us is different and would have a diferent time table to accomplish this accomodation.  He even went on to say that some never really made the accomodation and would have the tinnitus to some extent all their lives.  In my case,the jet engine did shut down after about 12 months and has not returned.  In its' place though, I sometimes suffer from what I call noise overload when I find myself in overly loud environments.  That is easily handled though and I hope your struggles with the inner noise will improve sooner than later.  Please keep us posted!
Richard

[stoneaxe]

My experience is the exact same as Choppers. Its fairly loud but doesn't really bother me.

[LADavid]

I sort of have a symphony in my head.  Since 1985, I've had a steam kettle whistle in my AN ear.  There was little hearing in that ear.  It was gone completely after the Trans-lab a year ago.  The other ear is a bit more melodic.  Somedays I hear wind chimes, others I hear crickets.  I wear a hearing aid in that ear to hear at all.  And when I shake my head back and forth, I get the sound of a light-saber from Star Wars.  It's interesting.  As I have said in previous posts, you do get used to the sounds.  They become a part of you.  It's the normal people that I have a problem with -- especially the mumblers.

[dizzyinca]

I am 2 mos post op...and the ringing persists.  Exposure to loud noises or extremely quiet environments tends to amplify the high pitch sound.  Prior to surgery I found that distraction and physical activity became my way of dealing with the tinnitus...but now with continued limitations on my physical activity I am finding the tinnitus to be an annoyance.  I have tried the background noises, and usually fatigue and a valium is my answer to a good nights sleep.  The sound is always a high pitched persistent ringing that varies in volume.  I have no serviceable hearing.

[MAlegant]

I had a lot of tinnitus (crickets mostly but also white noise) immediately after surgery.  This has gotten progressively better over the course of 6 months, to where it is hardly noticeable most of the time.  And I have my hearing so there's nothing phantom about it.  There are times when it is louder than any sound in the room but that usually passes.  Good luck with it.
Best,
M

[Keri]

it's helpful to read people's responses.. helps me put a name to my noises. i'm still pre-op (just one week away now). i have the symphony david described.  crickets may be a good description, but they're not too loud.  it's kind of high pitched white noise... but then, every once in a while a 'solo instrument' comes in and has it's own louder more pronounced tone. the background noise is kind of like listening to AM radio noise when you're trying to find a station. it's mostly something that i can hear anytime i want to (it's always there) but i seem to tune it out / live with it as well.

[Sue]

I have no serviceable hearing in my AN ear.  My tinnitus is like a constant hiss, I guess I'd call it.  It started out small, and grew to a louder hiss and it stays about the same all the time.  Sometimes it's louder, when something has aggravated it and then it's like a roaring in my ear.  And sometimes it quiets down and is a softer hiss.  But that's not as often as I'd like to to be.  But, I'd like it to be gone, too, and that's not gonna happen, I guess.  When I first had the tinnitus I could go into the shower and the shower noise would drown out the hiss and while I was in the shower, I had a bit of near normalcy.  Now, I can usually hear the head noise while I'm showering.  Once in a while I will hear other sounds, but mostly it's just this rushing hissing kind of thing.    Maybe all the air in my head is leaking out!   

Sue in Vancouver USA