Tinnitus, Crackling

I am a brass musician and have been playing the trombone for 13 years. I have always been aware of some tinnitus, even before I started to play the trombone, but in recent years my tinnitus has worsened, and I have developed some other problems and have more difficulty understanding speech. I was in the marching band at my university, and during my time there stood directly in front of and to the right of a prodigious trumpet player who played very loud and very high, all the time. After one particularly loud game, I noticed a crackling noise in my left ear that reminded me of the sound of a blown-out speaker. To this day, loud noises cause my left ear to crackle, and when this happens I also cannot hear anything else in that ear. Occasionally my tinnitus will suddenly get much worse and my hearing will be temporarily muffled for about a minute, in addition to the loud ringing of the tinnitus. I am very concerned about hearing loss now, and do my best to maintain quiet environments, keep my closed-ear headphones at very low levels, etc. Despite my best efforts, I still find that my hearing is extremely fatigued by my daily commute (about an hour at highway speeds in a noisy car). Since I started working at my current job, the commute has been taking its toll; I constantly have bad tinnitus, and the noise threshold for the crackling noise has gotten much lower. Once or twice a year I also get sinus infections that are usually tied to my middle ear as well. I always have them treated quickly before it becomes too much of a problem. I am wondering if these are symptoms of eustachian tube dysfunction, or, given my history of being exposed to loud music, these may be symptoms of a ruptured ear drum that has never healed. I am already looking into getting custom-fitted ear plugs for when I play gigs, and do the best I can to maintain low noise levels other than that. Preserving my hearing in its current state is ok, but I would really like to know if there is any potential for recovering from whatever damage has been done.

[Nancy T]

You can't regain lost hearing, sad to say. What's gone is GONE.

My son also played trombone and had those darn trumpets right behind him. Since I had already experienced hearing loss (a sudden severe loss on one side, unrelated to noise), I was a fanatic about earplugs. I had an audiologist friend make my son some musician earplugs, and he used them.

I never drove my kids and their friends to rock concerts without passing out earplugs to everyone and making sure they put them in their pocket. There was no way I could MAKE them use them, but at least I did everything I could (including long, scary lectures to the whole carful of teenagers, with first-hand descriptions of what lifelong hearing loss and tinnitus are like).

An audiologist can get you musician's earplugs. It is really too bad you didn't get them a LONG time ago. Have you ever had a formal hearing test and seen an ENT?

I think the awareness of dangers to hearing for children is still at a very low level among the general public. A tinnitus researcher at our local university has developed an educational program for schools called "Dangerous Decibels," which is very good, but I can't fathom why high school band directors don't encourage their students to get musician's earplugs AND USE THEM.

Nancy T.

[Nancy T]

P.S. Tinnitus doesn't usually go away either. The trick--which most people can do--is to ignore it. If you're not paying attention to it, it's not there. Consider it your "friendly neighborhood tinnitus." I am not bothered at all by my tinnitus, though I realize that many people have it much worse than I do.

If it is truly bothersome in your life, see a tinnitus specialist (there are a handful of tinnitus clinics around the country) and get help through medications, masking devices, tinnitus retraining therapy, etc.

Nancy T.

[MYS]

Hi, great advice (ignore the tinnitus) - I wish I could follow it!  I came down with this last spring, along with a sudden hearing loss, after pneumonia and an ear infection.  Two ENTs, 2 courses of antibiotics, 1 week of prednisone, an ear drainage procedure and more prednisone dripped into the ear canal, and an MRI later I was told that the hearing loss - not as bad as the day it started, when I woke up totally deaf in one ear - is 'nerve deafness' and there's nothing that can be done about it.  I could live with the hearing loss - the tinnitus is driving me nuts!
The first ENT offered to send me to a tinnitus sufferers' support group - which I initially resisted doing, now that's starting to 'sound' (LOL) like a good idea.
Do you know where these tinnitus specialists/clinics are located?  I'm willing to travel!  I'm willing to be retrained!
I just can't accept the prospect that this is going to be the way I have to live for the rest of my life, that this constant noise is never going to go away.
Thanks, you can answer here or send me a message.
MYS

[Nancy T]

What area do you live in? I think there are a number of good tinnitus clinics now, but I'm not sure where all they're located. You might just try Googling "tinnitus clinic" and see what comes up, although some are no doubt better than others.

Certainly the Tinnitus Clinic at Oregon Health & Science University (www.ohsu.edu) in Portland, OR is one of the top clinics, and I also have heard about the Atlanta Ear Clinic, but there are no doubt a number of others. I would ask your local neurotologist or other ear specialists, audiologists, etc. for a recommendation, or maybe even go to that support group and ask around. I have met the director of the OHSU program and he seems very committed to helping people with it (a nice guy, too, and funny). (Although I never sought treatment for tinnitus, as mine doesn't bother me.)

Sorry about your hearing loss. You went through a lot!

The "noise" may never go away, but you CAN turn it into something that does not negatively affect your life. You can learn to "turn it off" and ignore it. Also, a lot of research is being done, and as they understand more about tinnitus and the brain in general (because it's a brain problem, you know, and neuroscience research is big these days) I think they are expecting to make big strides in treatment.

Best of luck,
Nancy T.

[Wear/a/Jimmy]

What Nancy is speaking about is called TRT, Tinnitus Retraining Therapy....

and as an audiologist I think it is..... bunk.  No really I have attended conferences regarding it, even takend several courses regarding in both my Masters and my Doctorate program....  but I still do not buy in to it.

Basicallly the idea is if you ignore it, it goes away. Well to me, that is like holding my hand over a flame and telling myself it does not hurt as my flesh burns away....

But that is just my opinion. Surely it must work for some. Now for the good news, there is a form of treatment that has been proven to work, the bad news it is a hearing aid!  So as Nancy said go visit with an Audiologist and see what you learn.

[Nancy T]

W/a/J, I am not saying there is any magic solution for tinnitus, nor that TRT works for everyone, nor do I claim to really know anything about it.

But your analogy to burning your hand isn't really accurate, I don't think (although what about the fire-eaters and folks who walk across hot coals!). Because tinnitus is generated in the brain, not the ear. It's not something objective coming from outside that your brain has no control over.

Maybe it's different for people with really loud tinnitus, or in both ears, but I know that mine is only "there" when I direct my attention to it (and it's not something I can ONLY hear in a quiet room--I can hear it over the hum of my computer and low music). Thus, yes, you CAN learn to ignore it, to some degree. Like I said, I know everyone's case is different, but how "bad" one's tinnitus is and how intrusive and how much it affects your life IS something that one can have SOME influence over, with training or drugs or whatever. I agree with W/a/J to see an audiologist, but there are also other treatments besides hearing aids.

When I first realized that the tinnitus was going to be permanent, I admit it was a sad feeling. I thought, I'm never going to be able to enjoy complete silence again. And then later it became only something that I thought about at times when I was otherwise depressed ("My husband's a jerk, my kids are ungrateful, and on top of that I have this noise in my ear that's never going to go away!").

But after a few months, I even got over that. I never think of it like that anymore. I can enjoy sounds and silence just as I always did (as long as the sound reaches my good side), and the tinnitus is just my "friendly neighborhood tinnitus"--just a part of me. In fact, I feel slightly alarmed and "odd" when it occasionally shuts almost all the way off for a few hours--something's wrong!

You have to "domesticate" your tinnitus. Make it into a friendly little house pet. You might as well, because it's not leaving. Don't think of it as your enemy, just as a part of yourself. Fighting it, feeling antagonistic toward it, makes it worse.

I am sorry if this offends or seems incomprehensible to those who suffer greatly from tinnitus. Perhaps I would feel different if my experience were different. But that's really the way it is for me.

Best wishes,
Nancy T.

[Wear/a/Jimmy]

There are text books written about TRT. As I said, theoretically I think it is bunk. But obviosly others do not. I also think chiropractitioners are quacks, but obviously there are many that do not feel the same way....

Hearing aids are the most effective means of decreasing tinnitus, and this has been research and documented. Other methods such as TRT, ear candles etc...  not so much.

To each his own, is works for you.... great, I am certainly not discounting that.