The Hearing Scare: Tinnitus
TINNITUS:
Never a moment of true silence.
June 7, 2019
By: CaspHer
Since as early as 6 years old, I remembered asking if people could hear that buzzing or ringing noise that never seems to go away. I sat beside my mother one day and asked her if she could hear the noise too. She said no. I was a child at the time so, I stood up on the chair near my mother and rested my head on her ear to see if she could hear it.
“Can you hear it now? My head is next to your ear,” she still couldn’t hear the ringing or buzzing. We were at the ear doctor’s office. I asked if the doctor could see the bug in my ear that was making that noise and wouldn’t stop it. No one else heard it but me and only me. After a while I thought it was normal to hear the constant ringing. The noises were at different frequencies from time to time. The buzzing and ringing never stopped but it certainly changed levels. To accompany this seemly unusual situation, I had already been born with moderate hearing loss, this internal noise never left. It was with me wherever I went and through every waking moment of life. The sounds changed and got higher whenever I was getting sick. Once I got sick from a common cold, the tinnitus went back to it’s normal never-ending frequency.
Never a moment of silence in my world.
Fast forward to more than twenty years later in life, I’m standing in the middle of Minneapolis College of Art and Design music studio. MCAD was said to be the most-quietest studio ever. It was not silent at all to me. In fact, that space brought the tinnitus much closer along with a steady heartbeat through my hearing aid.
A microphone with a pop-cover stands in front of me and with each breath, the tinnitus sings through my head skewering the bells and chimes with buzzing. I start singing, “Late In the Afternoon” and belt the lyrics out from the bottom of my belly, shouting the tinnitus away. The cast shadow forms across my face from my black fedora hat only leaving the rest of me in light. My arms hang down casually as if everything is okay and I’m just singing away. No. Everything is not okay. My auditory nerve is dying and I’ve been plagued by Tinnitus from as early as 6 years old.
Tinnitus visits me at every close to silent moment there is in life. When the background singers finished harmonizing with me, tinnitus shot it’s unwanted chords in my brain’s ear.
The history of Tinnitus:
Tinnitus is the perception of noise or ringing in the ears. A common problem, tinnitus affects about 15 to 20 percent of people. Tinnitus isn’t a condition itself — it’s a symptom of an underlying condition, such as age-related hearing loss, ear injury or a circulatory system disorder.
Although extremely bothersome, tinnitus usually isn’t a sign of something serious. Although it can worsen with age, for many people, tinnitus can improve with treatment. Treating an identified underlying cause sometimes helps. Other treatments reduce or mask the noise, making tinnitus less noticeable.
Symptoms of Tinnitus:
Tinnitus involves the sensation of hearing sound when no external sound is present. Tinnitus symptoms may include these types of phantom noises in your ears:
• Ringing
• Buzzing
• Roaring
• Clicking
• Hissing
• Humming
The phantom noise may vary in pitch from a low roar to a high squeal, and you may hear it in one or both ears. In some cases, the sound can be so loud it can interfere with your ability to concentrate or hear external sound. Tinnitus may be present all the time, or it may come and go.
There are two kinds of tinnitus.
• Subjective tinnitus is tinnitus only you can hear. This is the most common type of tinnitus. It can be caused by ear problems in your outer, middle or inner ear. It can also be caused by problems with the hearing (auditory) nerves or the part of your brain that interprets nerve signals as sound (auditory pathways).
• Objective tinnitus is tinnitus your doctor can hear when he or she does an examination. This rare type of tinnitus may be caused by a blood vessel problem, a middle ear bone condition or muscle contractions.
Unfortunately, I grew up with subjective tinnitus which is the kind that I can only hear. This was due to being born with two damaged cochlea and eventually getting worse as an adult. Not only did I have the hearing loss, but I was also born with blindness. Two of the most important senses compromised from birth.
As someone living with tinnitus, it is indeed possible to have a filter added to your hearing aid to help ease the presence of this annoying symptom. I’ve had a tinnitus filter sound added to my hearing aid no more than three weeks ago and I’ve allowed my brain a few days to adjust.
Not long ago, the tinnitus decided to get extremely high in my ear making it literally impossible to hear with or without my hearing aid. I had to rush to the emergency room to get it looked at. This cost me a few days of training and daily living tasks. During this hearing scare, I was very unhappy and was also on my way to visit a friend in another state. By the time I got to the other state and the filter was added for relief, I was able to hear somewhat better. I still struggled with the residual split sound but it was better than not hearing anything at all due to Tinnitus.
With this filter being added to my hearing aid, I am very much at ease for now. Any time it gets very quiet, the filter quickly covers the tinnitus before it begins to mask external sound.
While I was unable to hear anything during that time, I was able to utilize my other communication skills to the fullest. I learned ASL and have access to video relay services for the deaf and HOH (hard of hearing) at home. I’ve made my phone calls through my VP or text my friends if I could not get in front of a VP right away. When I text my friends, I used my Braille display to navigate through my devices efficiently. Still, none of my communication skills were interrupted by the hearing loss scare. I just had to readjust the way I communicated until things either cleared up or I learned that my hearing was going to remain that way.
For those of you who may be reading this blog and story, please treat your ears nicely when being exposed to loud noises that may cause issues later on. An additional piece of information about Tinnitus is that exposure to loud noises can also trigger the beginning of Tinnitus. Playing loud music through earbuds and concerts without earplugs can certainly begin the onset. So many other situations can provoke tinnitus in anyone. Everyone is not invincible from Tinnitus.
Thank you for reading!
Photo description:
Blue and teal drawing of an ear with soundwaves going through the helix of the ear.
