[Cerberus]

After years of loud cars, loud music and loud working conditions I am suffering from increasing levels of tinnitis. It is starting to affect my ability to hear conversations -especially when there is background noise. Looking for input/suggestions from others that experience the same.

[stellar]

what? You will have to type bigger.

[mike nixon]

I've got the same issue some days, there's ALWAYS ringing tho. Came from working too close to a cyl grinder, I've lost 25% of my upper range hearing.

That being said when it gets BAD I've found that LOUD music helps. I don't know why and it shouldn't but it does helo the ringing subside.

I saw several specialists and they told me that there was nothign thye could do for mine.

Good luck

[mviker]

I have no idea if this works or not, but have seen the TV commercials for it. I don't have ringing, but after many years playing in bands and listening to loud music, I have some issues too. Hope this helps and good luck!

http://www.quietrelief.com/

Kevin

[stellar]

A lot of times I have no idea what someone is saying unless they are looking at me. I must be reading the lips. Often when asked a question by the wife or grandkids I am raising, my reply to them will get a look of confusion or a big laugh. Obviously I get some words wrong sometimes and get a big ribbing and amusement to others. I find myself saying uhha, yeah, right, sometimes with a little laugh. It works most of the time, but can also get ya into big trouble. I guess it is time to see an ear doc and start wearing those little battery operated horseshoes around my ears.

[69goatboy]

Me too. Not much can be done, from what I understand.
I've heard that caffeine can make matters worse.
I try to make sure that I use hearing protection whenever I can, especially while using the lawnmower, trimmer, etc.

The level at which it affects me comes and goes. Sometimes it's not so bad, other times it's almost unbearable.

[Stuart]

The Mayo clinic has a summary on tinnitus that's pretty good - it describes causes and possible treatments. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tinnitus/DS00365/ I've had it myself for a number of years now; during the day it's not a big deal but it makes it hard to go to sleep at night - I need some background noise like a radio or TV to help drown it out.

[Cerberus]

Thanks for the posts. I too wear hearing protection religiously. I have seen the "Quietus" commercials, but have yet to find anyone who has used it. I'm going down that path of smiling and nodding - feigning that I actually comprehend what is being said.

Stuart - great read!

69goatboy - I live a few miles NW of you. PM me if you're interested in drinking beer, acting stupid and telling lies.

[Cliff R]

No cure for tinnitus that I'm aware of. I'm 100 percent loss in the upper frequency ranges, and constant ringing in my ears. I get a whopping 10 percent disability from the Military for it......yippie....Cliff

[David Jones]

Nothing they can do for mine. I gathered that was the case for most. I was WAAAAAAY ahead of the curve with loud car stereo's back in the day and never worried about hearing protection when running loud equipment. Now, I find that head phone hearing protection is kinda nice when running a weed eater, chainsaw or lawnmower.

Still love the car stereo's.......

[mviker]

Originally Posted by stellar

A lot of times I have no idea what someone is saying unless they are looking at me. I must be reading the lips. Often when asked a question by the wife or grandkids I am raising, my reply to them will get a look of confusion or a big laugh. Obviously I get some words wrong sometimes and get a big ribbing and amusement to others. I find myself saying uhha, yeah, right, sometimes with a little laugh. It works most of the time, but can also get ya into big trouble. I guess it is time to see an ear doc and start wearing those little battery operated horseshoes around my ears.

Funny, Mark...The few times I spoke with you on the phone weren't too bad. I don't recall having to yell at you or anything! That was a year or so back though. Must have been before your world tour with Blue Oyster Cult or something. lol

[1966Lemans]

My wife has had tinnitus for about 10 years, and it started getting really bad last year. I'd sometimes find her just crying. It was driving her crazy. We've gone to several different types of doctors over the last year, but nothing particularly promising. Then we started experimenting with "maskers". Basically, you wear ear buds and pump particular types of low level sound into your ears, that masks the tinnitus. At first, it seems counter intuitive, because you'd think the masking sound would also drive you crazy. But, not so much. We started out with experimenting with basic white noise (think the sound between AM radio stations). It made an almost immediate improvement in her life. She continued experimenting with different sounds. She had just bought an iPod Touch (basically an iPhone without the phone), and there were several apps available targeted at tinnitus masking sounds. She hit upon a combination of sounds that worked pretty well. I think it's sorta' an ocean sound with the sound of crickets overlaying it. She listens to it while she's at work, and at night while we watch TV (volume set high enough to mask, but low enough to still hear conversation and the TV). It's really made an improvement in her quality of life. It still bothers her, don't get me wrong. But she has blocks of time where she doesn't notice it as much. And I haven't found her crying since she started masking.

--- Jay

[ho428]

I worked in a Cotton mill for years, between that and Rock Concerts in the 70's my ears ring constantly. Usually doesn't bother me, just used to it I guess, but I do have a small fan for white noise to help get to sleep.
Complete silence is when it's worst.

[mechanickeith]

Only way I can sleep is if a fan is running in the room. Go camping,,maybe an hour or 2 a night of sleep.

[GT182]

Same here. Ringing all the time. Not a real big deal so far but it does get annoying especially trying to get to sleep at night. It seems that if you can get your mind from thinking about it it helps too. Wife's snoring is a worse problem with sleep deprivation.

I've been trying the Lipo-Flavoniod Plus they advertise on tv. Haven't seen much improvement but then again I haven't been using it religiously for 60 days like they say to do.