[Closed] What's annoying you currently? II

The contrary, I'm afraid. But I'll enjoy the time that I have. It is actually complete silence which is the big enemy...some kind of soothing background music often helps.

Yes, most of the times bacteria can cause this, fungus in the ear, penetration of the eardrum, fluids, foreign objects and such. You have to find out what's causing it...

"Tinnitus is not a disease but a symptom resulting from a range of underlying causes that can include ear infections, foreign objects or wax in the ear, nose allergies that prevent (or induce) fluid drain and cause wax build-up. Tinnitus can also be caused by natural hearing impairment (as in aging) (...)" (wiki)

Yes. It has.
And in fact I greatly prefer that over any intermittent interference: the brain is very adept in "filtering out" constant noise.

Though, as said, it's not really at the stage where it's actually and actively causing discomfort. I have no idea how it would compare to yours at this time, but -with your reference to a quiet room- it seems comparable (although it's not a ringing. Just a very high-pitched sort of whine. Almost electronic in semblance).

Very true, although it needs training and time. It's called 'selective hearing' in psychoacoustics.

Well, it depends on the nature of the interfering sound. It's pitch (frequency), its nature, its loudness in dB. In any case, depending on the seriousness of the case, it might training and certainly time.

Martijn, Thor, depending on the nature of the problem (as long as they find out what causes it (or in most cases where this is really difficult to determine, they just find out on what type of disorder you have in your hearing system)), doctors usually advice cortisone dosages for a max of one month for each curing period but it's harmful to the body so it must be done in moderation, and it diminishes metabolism’s rate on most people, thus needs a lot of care if you don't want to gain a lot of weight at the running time of the cortisone therapy.

"any therapy that could actually do any harm is postponed until there's absolutely, positively no other alternative."

I can't tell you how much i agree with that. Here in Greece, pharmacies are like candy stores. And there's a lot of people who over-do it on antibiotics for the slightest of silly reasons, resulting in much bigger harm, long-term.

As for the hearing thing, from what you tell me it sounds like there might be excessive fluilds in the rhino-ear systems, causing this? I am no doctor of course, but we've done some pretty good courses during the master's degree lately, covering those issues. And my teacher who can't accept having hearing problems due to the nature of his work (he's working with electro-acoustic measurements and sound engineering) managed to completely fight off some similar problems he had last year using cortisone.

Sorry to hear that, Thor. Must be quite a shock, when you depend so much on your hearing. Hopefully you'll come to live with it, like Martijn, not feeling bothered by it. Just be careful with too loud music, especially via earphones, so it doesn't get worse. Probably also a good idea to use earplugs when drilling or vacuum cleaning etc. I already do that, even though I have no tinnitus diagnosis.

Makes me wonder whether I have tinnitus too, since I sometimes notice some high-pitched ringing in my ears. I used to listen to very loud music when I was a kid, so perhaps that is the reason. It doesn't really bother me in my daily life though. Wonder whether there's any reason to go to the doctor, since I'm already protecting myself against loud noises, and since I'm not really bothered by it.

Peter

I'm surprised I didn't get it after so many loud rock & pop gigs, hell, The Rolling Stones sent me deaf for nearly a week.

Sorry to sound like a fool, but what is tinnitus?

Sorry to hear about what must be something awful, judging by the reactions.

google it

Everyone has these buzzing or beeping noises in their ears once in a while (that come and go quickly), plus everyone can hear some kind of buzzing noise if they stay perfectly still and just listen to their own body. However, tinnitus is a defined condition that is a bit worse than that. It's actually one long BEEP (as in your alarm clock beep), usually at a high pitch that goes on forever. Mine isn't quite there yet, thankfully. On good days, it sounds a bit like the sound from an oldfashioned TV ("fat screen") on mute, if that makes sense?

As a matter of interest, Thor, is it both ears or just the one?
And if it's both ears, is it equally loud?

Yes, it's both ears, but according to the tests, the left is worse off (strange, because I've often felt the right was worse).

That's 2 things:

1) the air particles lightly hitting on the eardrum and which can be heard (or felt) in perfect-silence conditions after a time-limit of concentration, usually 5-10 minutes or so. and
2) the sound of the three middle ear bones (The Ossicles --> The middle ear contains three tiny bones known as the ossicles: malleus, incus, and stapes) which transmit the air-pressure induced movement (i.e. sound as mechanical energy) to the inner ear and the cochlea.

It's not exactly buzzing noise, more like a very, very subtle and quiet veil of white noise.

I always thought it was listening to one's own bloodstream or something (the "flow"-like noise you hear when you put your hands over your ears)....