Tinnitus

[SkidSolo]

I reckon I have this and its getting worse to the point I can hear the ringing in my ears even while watching tv. I'm in my mid-30's incidentally.

Flying a turboprop it can get fairly noisy. Would some kind of noise reduction kit reduce the deterioration?

Any guidance, info appreciated. I should be able to read the replies at least!

Regards
SS

[GatportAirwick]

Skid Solo Hi!

Im a Tinnitus sufferer too. Im in my very early twenties and its only come on within the last year.

First and foremost, Tinnitus is not a disease or illness, its simply a symptom. Sometimes it can indictate a hearing loss or sometimes it can occur for no apparent reason. THERE ARE THINGS THAT YOU CAN DO, you dont have to just live with it. What helped me the most was the very notion that the excellent audiologist that I saw put to me: it has been discovered that in most cases tinnitus is a noise that everyone hears, and in course everyone learns to filter out, say like breathing sounds. However, certain events trigger a reaction which makes people who suffer from tinnitus hear those sounds that once they and most other people have learned to filter out again. The sounds themselves are quite harmless - activity inside the ear that you have been made conscious of, or perhaps 'music of the brain'. The worst thing you can do is monitor your tinnitus constantly; keep active, if you sit down and the noise becomes intrusive get up and walk around and find somewhere with some natural noise that provides you with relief. Ive found that over time if you surround yourself with pleasant unobtrusive background nose, especially when going to sleep you habituate to the tinnitus and it gradually becomes less and less obtrusive and in some cases disapears. Try white noise generated from a non tuned in radio.

When you let it rule your life, it can become louder and more obtrusive - its all about mind over matter. Tinnitus gets better over time, not worse but perhaps look at it as a warning signal, you could be overdoing things, or exposing yourself to too much noise. I wear earplugs when around airports or bars and clubs, that really helps.

How obtrusive is your tinnitus? Are you aware of it all day? Id really like to share my experiences with you or offer more advice if you find it useful - ive learned to deal with it, so post back!

Hope this helps,

GatportAirwick!

[Micheal Caine]

Gatport Airwick
That sounds good . Have been hearing it when going off to sleep sometimes.
Doesn't always seem to be around , however I was getting a tad worried!
Glad its not just me.

[GatportAirwick]

No need to worry - worry makes tinnitus worse. A reassuring fact is that one in five people experience tinnitus in all age groups.

When I first noticed my tinnitus I felt frightened and controlled by it; afraid that it would get louder and louder and drive me insane. Michael Caine, Im a bit like yourself, Tinnitus is only troublsome at night when i lay my head down, the rest of the day it just isnt there - we´re lucky, with some people they have roaring 80 dbl tinnitus that stops them from leading any sort of a normal life. There´s no escape for them.

Its always a good idea to have your hearing tested, especially if the noise is coming from only one ear. If you sense that the noises are coming from in the head, the ears are probablly fine; I had excellent hearing when my ears were tested but in my case an excessive build up of wax, stress and headphones all contributed to the start of the noise. In turn ive had my ears cleanded out, dealt with the stress levels and cut out not only headphones but also clubbing and bars. I want to protect my ears now; you might find it helps you to be told that you´re hearing is fine by a proffessional, that made my tinnitus quieter! My tinnitus is now intermittent; sometimes its there at night, sometimes not - i go to sleep with the radio on or the window open, and it simply isnt bothersome now unless i make it so!

Anyone experiencing this, take heart, millions of people experience tinnitus, you probablly meet several people who experience it each day, but they´ve learned to deal with it and it doesnt affect their day to day lives so its never mentioned.

Relax and pace yourselves and this WILL get better,

Good Luck
GA

[SkidSolo]

Thanks GA. Very helpful and reassuring advice.

To put a history on it. I was in a nightclub that made my ears ring something silly and continued to do so for a couple of days. It went (or perhaps I didn't notice) but now I know what I'm listening for because it sounds similar to that experience.

Any tips for the little voices I hear as well? ;-)

Kind regards
SS

[GatportAirwick]

No advice about the voices!!! All I can say is that they are a universal experience!

Nightclubs are a prime tinnitus trigger, as are headphones! Its safe to continue going clubbing, but a word of advice, make sure there are lots of people between you and the speakers to absorb the sound, nightclubs in the uk well exceed safe decibel levels so if you're on the dancefloor take regular breaks.

You might want to invest in a pair of musicians earplugs. They are made to order and so are expensive, but are worth every penny so theyll allow you to go to places like clubs and bars and listen to the music while cutting out the dangerous frequencies!

Info is available on them from the RNID, or you might want to speak to the tinnitus helpline on 08457090210.

Look after yourselves as you know what the CAA are like come anything like this. Best not to ever mention it, they'll just panic and assume that you're going deaf which couldnt be further from the truth.

Wish you luck and a good nights sleep!

GatportAirwick

[Jam Doughnuts]

Hi Guys

Seems too be a few suffers out there... I have gone to using a good set of noise cancelling head phones, works wonders for fatigue and stress in a turbprop, and after a long day you dont take that buzzing with you...... also taken to avoiding the "louder" places for beers apre-flight...... but the simplest one bar far is the dreaded Caffine... try cutting out the tea, coffee, cola and cocoa at blighty for a week.....

but then again dont know anything better than tinitus to mask the bloody cricket chirping away at night.... :) :)

[Arm out the window]

If you can get enough volume out of your intercom system to make it feasible, wear a set of those squashy earplugs (EAR, Bilsom etc.) as well as your headset / helmet.

It reduces the available volume level, of course, but I find also makes it easier to pick out what's being said on the radio because the ambient noise is filtered out that much more.

The bonus is that you are being doubly protected from the insidious effects of harmful aircraft noise. The down side is that if you share your ICS with others and they aren't similarly protected, you may have to have the radios etc turned up to annoying levels for them.

I've had ringing in my ears for years from turbine noise, and I'm trying my best to avoid ending up with two hearing aids like my Mum has!

[madherb]

I've been affected by this problem now for several years - probably as a result of twanging away in a band, with my head two feet from Animal's drum kit, or possibly many thousands of helo hours...... Seems to vary a lot, can't quite work out what makes it worse. Still pass my medical though - but strange noises seem to emanate from the audio machine when I'm concentrating! Any ideas whether stress could be a contributing factor??

[Topper187]

Ok let me just clear one thing up? Does tinnitus make your hearing worse? I use to have extremely good hearing almost superhuman.. but my tinnitus has really gotten worse in the last year. Being 21, I do go to noisy places quite offen but i find and i always take my boots £3 earplugs. (I find that in clubs it actually makes people sound louder as it cuts down background noise in relation to people's voices.) do they cheap earplugs make things worse and should i get my tinnitus checked out? I am scared that if i do, i would have to declare it when i go for my next medical and that one is a major one including an audiogram.
p.s. i don't mind my tinnitus but it does stress me out if i start to believe that it is making me deaf and could lead to a loss of licence in years to come.

[xsbank]

I have tinnitus, and I have more or less learned to be able to ignore it, but hearing damage is another matter - I have that too! My Doc says that damage that you do to your hearing now will probably not show up for 2 years or more (unless it is severe, like an injury). The ears have a defensive mechanism for continuous loud noises so that the ears turn their own volume down, but staccato noises like drums or gunshots cause the most direct damage because the ear's reflex cannot respond quickly enough. I was told that most hearing damage from a loud environment (like the Grumman Tracker I flew for 8 years) is induced by the vibrations that resonate in your skull! Helmets are good because they damp out the vibrations, but try wearing a helmet to your local club or in the cockpit of your Dash 8 and see what the locals think. The best solution is active noise cancelling headphones, because the computers that they are equipped with sample the sound and generate an equal and opposite wave which effectively neutralizes the sound wave and, ergo bingo, the vibration. The only true way is to avoid noisy places. Go see your grandparents who live in the country and see how great their hearing is compared to yours already. Both of my kids are in their 20s and both have some form of hearing damage from music headphones and clubs - "I'll only listen this loud 'til I need glasses..." :D

[GatportAirwick]

Ok guys, I can't emphasise enough that Tinnitus and hearing damage are not necessarily linked. It is however, always worth getting your ears checked out by a professional. Equally Tinnitus is not the start of a decline in your hearing, nor is tinnitus a sound that will make you deaf. If you dont look after your ears then noise damage will reduce your hearing and the perception of your tinnitus will seem louder. If you're experiencing tinnitus there are steps you can take to stop damage to your ears making tinnitus appear worse. Invest in a pair of professional musicians earplugs - expensive at £147 but you won't regret it later on in life, especially in your 40's come those bi annual medicals.

A good way to look at tinnitus: a universal phenomenon that we all experience. Its like someone pointing out a spot on your face that you didnt know was there. It hasnt concerned you that its there because you didnt know it was, but you become conscious of it and uncomfortable with it because its been pointed out to you; you then focus on it. Its the same with tinnitus, except the trigger is something happening in your life that adversely affects your body and as a consequence brings on tinnitus.

Tinnitus WILL NOT lead to deafness. GP's are very ill informed about this condition. Dont live with it, deal with it. There are many things that can be done - retraining therapy, the method by which you learn to 'unhear' the noise to name but one.

On a final note, someone earlier mentioned stress in relation to tinnitus. Stress exasberates tinnitus like nothing else. Deal with stress, then deal with tinnitus. You'll probablly find that having dealt with that the tinnitus is not bothersome anymore anyway.

Ive done lots of research into this and have spoken to lots professionals about it. Im really happy to offer anyone my meagre knowledge or advice on this matter, just post
or e-mail!

Keep active but learn to relax as well!

[Lu Zuckerman]

I have tinnitus and have had it for over forty years. I got it mainly from flying in helicopters and large multi engine patrol aircraft. The real kicker was having to stand next to two cylinders that had to be blown down as a part of quality readiness program. The two cylinders each had 750 cubic inches of volume at 5500 PSI. Blowing them down took about 2/10ths of a second. It was like standing next to 2 155mm cannons with no hearing protection. I have been left with a constant ringing in my ears and it took a long time to get used to it.

I had a great deal of difficulty to get to sleep because of the ringing. I also lost my high frequency hearing. Several years ago I purchased a device that was a white noise generator. It could also be programmed to simulate wave action, a running stream, a rainstorm and several other sounds. The device could adjust the volume and intensity as well as the frequency of the waves and the rain. It was fantastic when trying to get to sleep. Once asleep, it kept you under.

I gave the device to a friend who just had a baby. She said the baby would go to sleep in a matter of minutes. I contacted the manufacturer and they stopped making the device. I had given up hope until last week when I found a similar device in a Canadian tire store. Although it was not programmable it did have ten different sound tracks and it is totally digital. It took me several days to get my wife to allow me to play it in the bedroom but now she is hooked on it as well. This device is made by Conair and may be available in England. It does not run continuously as it has a 1-hour timer

These things are available for $39.94 Canadian. This includes Canadian taxes and air parcel post to either europe , the UK or, Oz or NZ. . There is one problem and that is it can’t be operated from the mains in the UK or Europe as it is designed to work on 110VAC. However, it has its’ own battery pack internal of the device. (Batteries not included)

If anyone is interested contact me via email and we’ll talk.

[ 12 November 2001: Message edited by: Lu Zuckerman ]

[brockenspectre]

Lu Zuckerman has beat me to it and with much more detail ... I had a great friend in the RAF who experienced tinnitus at the end of his career as a "tough guy" and it was horribly disabling for him and .. few seemed to understand the problem but..he found a solution in a "white noise" device which he got in Canada. Just as car manufacturers experiment with "noise counterbalancing noise" to make cars even quieter so the ear and hearing mechanism works in the same way - find the "white noise" machine with the right levels and tinnitus seems to disappear, so I am told :)

Hugs {{{{{{to all}}}}}}} who suffer from this distressing sound discorder and good luck in finding a solution :D

[Jockflyer]

I myself do not have tinnatus, however, my father (exRAF engineer) suffers terribly, and often cannot sleep for the ringing noise in his ears.

If anybody, especially Lu Zuckermann, can let me know where I can order one of these white noise machines, I and my father, would be very grateful.

Email me on [email protected]

Thanks in anticipation

JF

[ 18 November 2001: Message edited by: Jockflyer ]

[buttonbx]

I would appreciate hearing about the white noise machine as well.

[Max Flyup]

I have suffered since the age of 17 (visit to a disco when I stood near the speakers) and it has not been that bad. Have gone days without noticing it. That was until about 3 weeks ago when I did some hammering of plasterboard to a frame all day - next day it was worse and it has stayed worse. The only time the high pitched white noise hiss does not bother me is on the flightdeck. The fairly loud white noise of air and all the fans on the 737 tend to mask it. On bad days (like today) its a real depressant and bad for relationships with the rest of ones family. I am 50+. Just going to have to learn to live with it at the new level.

[inverted flatspin]

I used to suffer from mild intermittent tinnitus, It used to last for a few minutes at most. Last year I went for a company (non aviation medical) and the doctor used the audiogram to measure my hearing, I missed quite a few of the beeps. This was a bit of a shocker because I always had good hearing, my AME had never tested me with the Audiogram, he just stood 6 feet behind me and had me repeat what he said. As luck would have it the doctor that used the audiogram had seen this before and the next thing he did was to get the nurse to syringe my ears with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water, I could not believe the amount of wax that came out, then he re ran the test and I got every single beep, One year later tinnitus is just a memory thankfully. the funny thing is that even though the hearing machine says I'm now hearing better than I was I have not noticed any difference in daily life.

[ 24 November 2001: Message edited by: inverted flatspin ]

[Max Flyup]

For more information see http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/

My sympathy to all who have it !