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I have had T for at least 25 years starting after a 2-hour car ride in a closed car listening to very loud music. If we could only know the consequences of what we do before we do it! It has been loud and annoying and unceasing ever since, especially at night, but fortunately I was able to ignore the "tea kettle" while carrying on the normal activities of life. Recently due to increasing loss of hearing in both ears, I tried hearing aids for the first time. My audiologist insisted I wear the new aids at least 4 hours a day for a month to give me a chance to get used to the new sounds. In spite of the volume being too high, which she adjusted but without much help, I dutifully wore them for a week. However I stopped abruptly after my Tinnitus intensified suddenly and dramatically. I now have much, much worse T which so far is impossible to ignore. I have searched on line for reports of similar negative reactions to new hearing aids, but I generally see only a few suggestions that hearing aids actually help T via masking, etc. Has anyone heard of similar problems relating to hearing aids? Are there special kinds which help improve hearing but don't inflict further damage to the T? I appreciate any responses.
I think of poor, mad Edgar Allen Poe's wonderful poem about the sound of the church bells, at first reflecting joy and happpiness, but soon descending into stark terror:
Yet the ear, it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows;
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells -
Of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells -
In the clamor and the clanging of the bells!
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Hi RLB,
Welcome to the forum.
What kind of hearing aid are you using? It could be a problem with the hearing aid sealing you ear canal and thus not allowing proper pressure equalization. Especially as a tinnitus sufferer, you should better use 'Open Fit' hearing aids which would not suffer from this flaw.
My tinnitus was actually triggered by the usual 'in-ear' headphones that came with my walkman; these also more or less completely blocked the ear canal, which at first caused a pressure feeling in my ears that didn't go away, and after a further week or so the tinnitus then started.
Just think about it, both with these ear-phones and hearing aids you effectively put a loudspeaker right into your ear canal. If you then seal your ear canal to the outside, this can not be a good thing as you have the sound signal bouncing back and forth in your ear canal, which will increase the sound pressure and confuse the hearing centre in your brain and thus make the tinnitus worse or even cause it in the first place. So I would only use devices that are as 'open' as possible in order to prevent this from happening.
Thomas
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Thanks for your response. I did have "open fit" hearing aids, but in view of my reaction, I would say they were more closed than open, because the volume was too loud and I suffered ear fatigue almost immediately. I should have "listened" to what my body was telling me, because after only a week of wearing them 3-4 hours a day my Tinnitus exploded. I guess my question is, have others had adverse reactions to hearing aids of all types? I haven't read much on the subject. My other question, which I will just have to wait and see for an answer, is whether this new intense level of sound is permanent, or whether I can hope it will subside to the merely tolerable level it was before.
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I personally did not have contact yet with somebody reporting these kind of problems with hearing aids, but I remember that some people had problems with 'tinnitus maskers', and since these are technically not too different (in both cases you put a loudspeaker in your ear canal), I wouldn't be surprised about such reactions, in particular if the volume is apparently set too high (although in some cases it could happen with any volume setting).
I also found these reference on the web which confirm that it does happen on occasions
http://www.hearingcenteronline.com/askmsearse.shtml (see the last 'Answer' on this page).
http://www.deafnessresearch.org.uk/5457 … erers.html {"However, hearing aid levels should not be set too loud as this can actually worsen the tinnitus")
http://www.hearingaidforums.com/showthread.php?t=1622
But I would expect the tinnitus to calm down again if you stop using the hearing aids for a while. You may be able to shorten this period by taking a few painkillers (Paracetamol or Aspirin) for a couple of days. This always worked for me when my tinnitus was aggravated for some reason. 1-2 painkillers a day for 2-3 days should be enough here if it works at all. I would also avoid caffeine and alcohol for a while as these tend to aggravate it as well.
Thomas
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Well it's been three weeks since I stopped wearing the damn things, so I would expect it should have subsided by now if it's going to. I'll try Tylenol as you suggest.
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An old post but finally I find someone with the exact same experience as me. I tested a hearing aid due to moderate hearing loss in my right ear. I had very mild tinnitus from playing in a band but it was nothing that ever bothered me, the hearing aid was an attempt to improve my hearing loss. After only a few days of testing this hearing aid Oticon Intiga 10 I noticed the ringing in my right ear as if I had been to a loud concert or something. I stopped wearing it and went back to the audiologist who insisted that the tinnitus would die down back to normal. That was 2 weeks ago and the tinnitus has just got worse.
My hearing loss is more in the high frequency range and I fear I have just sent my brain into a mess pumping in high frequency noise with the hearing aid.
Anyway I'm hoping my brain will sort itself out and get back to normal as this tinnitus is now a big problem. RLB did your tinnitus get back to a "normal" level?
Thanks
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Goldfinger,
I'm sorry to hear of your experience with hearing aids. Simple common sense suggests that since loud sounds are known to trigger Tinnitus, a hearing aid which is specifically designed to increase sound levels might have the same effect if not used properly. I don't know why there isn't more written about this; even audiologists don't seem to have much information on the subject. My guess is our experience is more common than is generally reported. Unfortunately I know it's not what you want to hear, but my "second stage" tinnitus has not abated in over a year. However, thanks to the wonderful support from my new audiologist (himself a Tinnitus sufferer), I have nearly completely habituated to it and have moved on. We are planning to begin (carefully!) trying hearing aids soon to deal my continuing hearing loss issues. The T. is with me always, but it is no longer a heavy cloud over my life. I am carrying a new part of myself, as if it were a limp, bad eyesight, a scar on my face: unwelcome, definitely, but a part of me that I live with by coping, and, most importantly, ignoring it. My audiologist's first piece of advice when I went to him in a near panic last year: "Tear up that f....g chart!" It was the best advice I've ever got. --RLB
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Hi RLB
Thanks for your honest reply. Its encouraging to hear that you have coped with it.
I am having some difficulty coming to terms with this new level of tinnitus as I willingly put this hearing aid in my ear. I'm aware that they cannot produce dangerous levels of sound but I feel I didn't have much guidance on how to adapt to it. Anyway I am determined that this is not going to ruin my life. My audiologist still believes it will eventually go away and she has never had anyone getting tinnitus from a hearing aid. Do you have any tips on how to get habituated to the tinnitus? I will have to find some support if it does not ease off.
Thanks
Nick
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Hi Goldfinger,
Welcome to the forum.
Have you tried already whether (as suggested above) taking a few painkillers (Paracetamol and/or Aspirin) for a couple of days can quieten the tinnitus down again? This has practically always worked for me.
Thomas
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Nick,
Since you indicated your “second stage” tinnitus began only a few weeks ago, I am not surprised you haven’t come to terms with it. It took me much longer. I went through several months of anguish, reading books, doing research on the internet, talking to doctors, etc., before another doctor referred me to an audiologist who was a tinnitus sufferer and one who had a special interest in tinnitus patients. On that first visit, he urged me to tear up my intensity charts that I had been keeping on the spot, to stop my research, to stop obsessing, and to begin focusing on the part of my life that I had pushed aside. That visit flipped the switch for me. The only reason I got your response to my original entry on this site is that I was notified by email. Mostly I ignore my tinnitus. I know it’s hard at first, but for me, it’s the only thing that works.
One of the hardest parts in dealing with my tinnitus was the fear of triggering more spikes, so I avoided situations that were noisy, such as restaurants, city street scenes, concerts, social events, etc. I resolved this by simply carrying a set of earplugs with me in a case attached to my keychain. It took a while before I became less self-conscious about using them, but I now have no hesitation about plugging in whenever the need strikes. Most people don’t notice, and if they do, I come up with a humorous line that puts people at ease. As time goes by I use them less and less, but I have the security of always having them with me.
Are you still using the hearing aid that you suspect caused your spike? I stopped using mine the moment my tinnitus spiked, immediately returned them, and haven’t used one since. I plan to gradually get acclimated to a new set – next time with a volume control -- sometime soon. Having said that, even my new audiologist doesn’t believe the old hearing aids caused my spike. He believes the volume level was not high enough to cause damage (he checked). But for me, the coincidence in timing was a little too much of a coincidence to continue using them.
Good luck. --Bob
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