[HN Gopher] What are the most common tinnitus frequencies? (2015)
___________________________________________________________________
What are the most common tinnitus frequencies? (2015)
Author : walterbell
Score : 135 points
Date : 2023-04-11 08:26 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.audionotch.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.audionotch.com)
| ShadowBanThis01 wrote:
| Mine started after a COVID booster (which is finally being
| recognized as a cause, too late for many of us). 9 kHz.
| mderazon wrote:
| Don't feel bad, mine started after COVID infection so you might
| have gotten it anyway
| totetsu wrote:
| I have had a Tinnitus tone for as long as I remember. I always do
| well on hearing tests and it doesn't bothers me really. Someone
| on HN once mentioned a technique of tapping the back of you skull
| to give temporary relief. It works surprisingly, but for me it
| just shifts the frequency of the tone up a bit. I'd be interested
| to test if this shift is just perceptual or if it could be
| measured
| dalmo3 wrote:
| Just tried that. Sounds like switching channels on old tube
| TVs.
| 000ooo000 wrote:
| I know the skull tapping method you mention but unfortunately I
| only get very temporary relief using it - 20 or so seconds -
| and it's quite an unpleasant experience, if we are thinking of
| the same method. Mine is: hands over ears with fingers wrapping
| around back of head such that middle finger tips just touch,
| lift index finger on to middle finger, press index finger down
| hard onto middle finger and slide it off such that it quickly
| slaps the back of the head/neck (similar to a standard thumb-
| index finger clicking motion). Repeat this for 10-20 seconds
| using both hands to get about 30 taps. It's loud, not quite but
| almost painful, and doesn't provide very long relief for me so
| I don't use it much.
| bhasi wrote:
| It is temporary relief for me as well. More like a gimmick
| than a solution.
| dontlaugh wrote:
| It works for maybe a second or two for me.
| JayStavis wrote:
| I had a pretty brutal headcold a few years back and for about two
| weeks afterwards I had what I described as "supersonic hearing"
| though my doctor called it tinnitus.
|
| I could hear my neighbor's garage opening a block away in San
| Francisco and had a frequency sensitivity that was totally
| abnormal. It was also really painful so I'm glad I got my normal
| hearing range back.
| nonethewiser wrote:
| Hmm I didn't think that was tinnitus. Maybe symptoms are
| broader than I thought. I wonder if that's what I have.
|
| I had a bad sinus infection that has mostly healed. Sometimes I
| can hear this very low rhythmic beating in my ear. It's like
| someone banging on my furnace or doing some sort of distant
| construction (banging on sheet metal). I can even hear it with
| noise canceling headphones on (but no music, that drowns it
| out). The rhythm makes me wonder if it's my heartbeat somehow.
|
| For a long time I thought it was distant construction but I'm
| in a very rural area with no construction around, and I've
| noticed it over the span of months. It's either something like
| tinnitus or maybe my neighbor is tunneling under my house.
| rocketbop wrote:
| It likely is your heartbeat. I had a similar thing for a long
| time. Advice would be to try and forget about it, and it will
| go away. The more attention. You give it the more prominent
| it will become.
|
| I think the brain tends to filter the body sounds out of our
| consciousness in general and sometimes it sort of forgets to,
| or becomes rewired to notice or focus on something that is
| normally filtered.
| 1970-01-01 wrote:
| This is called hyperacusis, and it's related to tinnitus.
| Hearing the door bell, unrolling a strip of packing tape, or
| even walking down a busy street can make you feel physical
| pain.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperacusis
| unvs wrote:
| Thanks for this. I remember having this as a child, where the
| sound of walking down the stairs at home would be painful and
| almost threatening. It hasn't returned since then,
| thankfully.
| rewgs wrote:
| I have this, as well as multiple very loud permanent tinnitus
| tones. The latter sucks, but hyperacusis ruined my life, as
| well as stopping my career as a (I think it's fair to
| describe myself this way) promising film/video game composer
| dead in its track.
|
| It is the most horrible condition you can ever imagine. I'm
| over two years in and am only recently back to being able to
| live a somewhat normal life, but I easily get "setbacks" due
| to loud sounds. In the hyperacusis community it's well known
| that these can become your new normal -- it's happened to me
| multiple times.
|
| Protect your ears and try your best to not get concussions,
| folks. Though I can't confirm that one or either is the
| cause, it's my best guess and is good advice anyway.
| stephenitis wrote:
| Thank you, this describes me!
|
| I have been trying to describe my hearing symptoms to people
| and I could only say that I thought I was more sensitive than
| almost all of my peers. I thought it was because I was mildly
| on the spectrum(this is listed as an associated condition)
|
| I will try to get a doctor to confirm if possible.
|
| It doesn't cause me physical pain but certain many sounds
| will cause great discomfort in my life. It also keeps me from
| good sleep because I can't tune out sounds.
|
| I wear earplugs to concerts and have a decibel monitor app on
| my phone.
|
| I enjoy producing music in my free time and also enjoy taking
| the occasional psychedelic. Which is probably making it
| worse.
| JayStavis wrote:
| TIL. I was semi-hoping someone would fill in the gap! At the
| same time I'm wondering why the heck my doctor won't tell me
| these things.
| sbierwagen wrote:
| The average doctor does not have an encyclopedic knowledge
| of all human disease, and if they do, they are discouraged
| from using it:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_(medicine)
| samplatt wrote:
| Doctors only know what they've been taught or experienced.
| You'd hope specialists would know these things, but even
| they miss things and forget things. And GP's?
| fuggeddaboutit
| IIAOPSW wrote:
| I have an uncle that has this funny habit of answering the door
| before you ring the bell. That sounds impressive until you
| learn how many times a day he opens the door and no one is
| there. He's schizophrenic. The cost of increased sensitivity is
| a higher false positive rate. If there were no drawbacks,
| evolution would have given us heightened senses 100% of the
| time.
|
| I'm not suggesting you had any sort of psychiatric issue. I'm
| sure your increased sensitivity was very real and very grounded
| in realistic expectations of reality. But, are you sure that
| there were no false positives that came with the heightened
| sensory experience? Did you ever check that the thing you
| recognized as a garage door opening down the block was in fact
| a garage door opening down the block? Could it have been some
| other subtle sound you normally don't pick up on?
| JayStavis wrote:
| On the garage door bit, yes I actually did confirm this.
|
| With that said, was certainly hearing all sorts of things
| that I didn't know what they were, typically very low
| frequencies. Another comment mentioned my own heartbeat which
| I could hear, and I couldn't go into work for a few days due
| to how painful and distracting ambient noise was.
|
| For the duration of the period I was wearing noise-canceling
| airpods, and it was the only way trucks passing by outside
| wouldn't make me wince.
|
| No history of psychiatric issues fwiw, but have had my share
| of ENT irregularities (I can't properly equalize while
| diving, for example).
| IIAOPSW wrote:
| Really really want to clarify I was in no way implying a
| psychiatric issue. Just that anything which turns up the
| sensitivity of our perception also turns up our false
| positive rate. Everyone experiences false positives
| sometimes: occasional, temporary, erroneous perceptions.
| Its only psychiatric when the signal to noise ratio is too
| low to correct.
|
| Very interested in the ultra low frequency bit. Any
| estimate at how many hertz it was? Somewhere under 20 hz it
| has to stop being sound and start being a consciously
| perceptible "puff of air".
| 1letterunixname wrote:
| It sounds like REEEEEEEEEEEEEE constantly.
|
| Also have SCDS in my left ear: I can "hear" my left eye move.
| cpeterso wrote:
| I listen to notched pink noise videos on YouTube because they
| mask my tinnitus and help me concentrate. People have posted
| white/pink/etc noise videos with notch filters to match a range
| of different tinnitus frequencies. I don't think the notch has
| helped me, but if I'm already going to listen to pink noise, I
| might as well try the notched noise.
| excalibur wrote:
| Oh you'd love it if I would post my personal tinnitus frequency
| here so you could target an attack for my ears specifically
| and.... hack me or something. Not gonna happen, I'm onto you (
| [?] [?])
| DoreenMichele wrote:
| Someone with an entire wardrobe of tinfoil hats has entered the
| convo.
|
| ;)
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| Yes, what people call tinnitus is really just being able to
| hear your individual interlink frequency in the collective
| consciousness.
| y-c-o-m-b wrote:
| I have "somatic tinnitus" where I can change the tone, frequency,
| and sometimes make it disappear altogether for a few days. This
| is a working theory, but it's supposedly caused by inflammatory
| arthritis (spondyloarthritis) in my cervical spine and other
| areas compressing nerves and arteries. I can also move the
| ligament in my C8-T1 spine, which causes all sorts of side
| effects but it can also resolve or make worse my tinnitus for
| several days. Sometimes just moving my neck towards one shoulder
| can also resolve or make worse my tinnitus.
|
| It's been like this for almost 10 years now with the worst of it
| starting about 5 years ago. Not many doctors are familiar with
| this condition, so as you can guess, I get a lot of looks like
| I'm crazy but it's legit happening. Not to mention this is the
| least of my neurological concerns. The US healthcare system thus
| far has been hugely disappointing in giving a damn beyond "yep,
| looks like you have to live with this forever".
| bhasi wrote:
| Is this thing legit?
| ttpphd wrote:
| Hi _waves_ I am a hearing scientist. There is not enough
| information provided in this write-up to judge the data. Take
| it with a big grain of salt. There could be UI /UX factors that
| are not accounted for which could swamp out any sort of
| meaningful information about tinnitus perception, for example.
| 000ooo000 wrote:
| Have you had much exposure to tinnitus research? Is there
| much promise showing, assuming there is some going on, in
| terms of an eventual treatment?
| walterbell wrote:
| What's the current method recommended by hearing scientists /
| audiologists?
| bhasi wrote:
| Thank you so much for the reply! I am apprehensive about
| trying this app out for fear of inadvertently causing my
| tinnitus to increase.
| DoreenMichele wrote:
| PSA -- because articles about anything tinnitus-related typically
| result in people discussing home remedies or the like -- for some
| people tinnitus is indicative of magnesium deficiency.
| aitchnyu wrote:
| I'm stressed by losing my job and I have symptoms (muscle pain,
| tiredness, insomnia) that I self diagnosed and treating with
| magnesium pills. When will the tinnitus be gone :-)
| pier25 wrote:
| I have mild tinnitus. It's super high in frequency, very close to
| my threshold of hearing around 13k or so (I'm 44). I mostly only
| notice it when putting on headphones (without anything playing).
| Also sometimes if I'm in a really silent room but that's not a
| daily occurence.
|
| It started about 2-3 years ago, weeks after my first COVID shots.
| I don't know if these event are related or not but there's
| mounting anecdotal evidence that more research is needed.
|
| https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/covid-va...
|
| Some weeks ago I started taking some mushrooms (lions mane, etc)
| and niacin or nicotinic acid (a form of vitamin B3). Not
| niacinamide which is also another form of B3. I'd say on average
| my tinnitus has been reduced by 30-40%.
| mderazon wrote:
| Mine started right after COVID infection. I was already
| vaccinated but got a very mild COVID. First sense of smell was
| gone and then tinnitus started.
| ShadowBanThis01 wrote:
| "It started about 2-3 years ago, weeks after my first COVID
| shots."
|
| After experiencing hearing loss and tinnitus following my last
| COVID booster, I have seen two of the top specialists in the
| country, who were quite vehement in assuring me that this is a
| "true agent" and that information on it has been suppressed.
|
| https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/covid-va...
|
| https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/investigations/can-the...
|
| https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8443418/
|
| https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220523/Pfizer-COVID-19-v...
|
| https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/tinnitus-rare-sid...
|
| Facebook group for victims, with several thousand members:
| https://www.facebook.com/groups/265035901879921/
| dahart wrote:
| It generally kinda seems like maybe inflammation or other kinds
| of bodily stress increase tinnitus symptoms. Getting sick and
| having a shot have that in common, along with various accidents
| and other medications. Research into tinnitus tiggers is
| needed, but we have to be a little careful about implying the
| Covid vaccine can cause it, without comparing it to other
| things or to not taking the vaccine, since even though the shot
| might trigger an increase in symptoms, it appears getting Covid
| is even more likely, so the shot may be the route that is far
| less likely to trigger tinnitus. It also might be almost any
| sickness vs almost any vaccine.
|
| My tinnitus did seem to get worse right after my first shot,
| while I was feeling crummy, and then went back to normal. (It
| also gets worse when I'm low on sleep, sometimes when I
| exercise, and when it's quiet.) A friend believes he got
| tinnitus from the Covid shot - but he's ~50 and that's when a
| lot of people first notice tinnitus. A huge problem with
| tinnitus is often you have it for a while before you notice it.
| I'm pretty sure I just didn't become aware of my tinnitus until
| it had been there for months or years. It's not surprising that
| an event that increases the symptoms might be blamed or
| associated with tinnitus, since you're more likely to notice
| it, even if the condition was already there.
| ShadowBanThis01 wrote:
| I protect my hearing and do a lot of audio work. My symptoms
| definitely coincided with COVID shots. Furthermore, my
| girlfriend developed them as well at the same time (we got
| our shots at the same), but we didn't mention them to each
| other until after mine became severe after my last booster.
|
| Two hearing specialists confirmed that this is a true
| relationship, which is being suppressed in the media and in
| public. People, even experts in the field, are afraid of
| being "cancelled" for decrying this serious vaccine risk. And
| rightfully so. I've been reported and shadow-banned for
| simply making these statements and posting the links I
| provided above (which go to a research paper and mainstream
| news sources).
|
| The initial symptom after the COVID shots was occasional
| sudden attenuation of hearing in one ear, accompanied by a
| high-frequency tone. These both diminish over the next minute
| or two.
|
| After my second booster (which she did not get), my symptoms
| became severe and continuous.
| dahart wrote:
| Sorry to hear your tinnitus got worse. The boosters had no
| effect on mine. Hey I believe you that the shots can
| increase these symptoms, and I agree it's a touchy subject.
| I just wanted to be clear that even though it's true (and
| happened to me), that still doesn't mean the summary that
| the vaccine is a "serious risk" is correct, because there's
| a high risk of tinnitus when you skip the vaccine and catch
| Covid.
| ShadowBanThis01 wrote:
| Thanks. I think it's a serious risk, especially when
| weighed against the effectiveness of some boosters. The
| second original booster was nearly useless, so the
| risk/reward ratio was much higher than that of the
| original shots.
|
| But because this side-effect information is being
| suppressed, millions of people were denied the right to
| assess that ratio. I would never have gotten that second
| booster had I been apprised of this risk.
|
| People have the option to wear highly effective masks
| that protect both them and others in risky situations if
| they don't want shots. I was denied the info to make an
| informed choice, and there's no excuse for that.
| clsec wrote:
| I _had_ mild tinnitus for years that I believe I got working w
| /loud machinery & going to lots of concerts (clubs are actually
| worse because you are more likely to stand next to the
| speakers). The morning after my second Pfizer mRNA shot I awoke
| to what amounts to a miniature jet engine inside my ear. It has
| persisted for 2 years & has been extremely stressful and
| disconcerting.
|
| After a long time (during covid) I was finally able to see my
| PC who sent me to an audiologist for a hearing test. The
| audiologist only found slight hearing loss at high frequencies
| in my left ear (the ear closest to the CNC machines I used to
| work with). She said she didn't see anything else abnormal &
| asked if I wanted an MRI to see if it could find anything. I
| agreed. The MRI found nothing wrong with my ear or eustachian
| tube.
|
| I've reported it to VAERS and have been sort of following
| Gregory Poland, MD [1](director of Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research
| Group), who also got tinnitus from his first mRNA covid shot.
| The issue definitely needs research.
|
| Dr Poland, along with others, have recently released a couple
| of reports [2,3] saying that we need a new roadmap for covid
| vaccines. I agree!
|
| Also, I used that tone generator site that someone else posted
| and it seems that my jet engine screams at about 18000 Hz.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Poland [2]
| https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X2...
| [3] https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/cidrap-unveils-
| roadmap-a...
|
| Edit to add VAERS website. If you suspect you got tinnitus from
| an mRNA vaccine please report it here:
| https://vaers.hhs.gov/reportevent.html
| pier25 wrote:
| Thanks for the info.
|
| > _it seems that my jet engine screams at about 18000 Hz_
|
| It's impressive you can hear that frequency. If you don't
| mind me asking, how old are you?
| clsec wrote:
| No prob! I turned 57 in February.
| pier25 wrote:
| Holy shit it's amazing you can hear up to 18k!
| edb_123 wrote:
| Mine is a deep sinus tone around 50-60 Hz. The amplitude varies
| between the days/sometimes between the hours. Pretty annoying,
| even though it's most prominent in quiet environments, and I can
| imagine having a loud high pitched tinnitus would perhaps be
| worse.
| comradesmith wrote:
| Are you sure you're not hearing something real from the
| electrical grid?
| genewitch wrote:
| this immediately struck me as a possible example of "The
| Hum"[0], although that is said to "peak at around 40hz"
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum
|
| And on the main topic, i occasionally have ringing ears, and
| about 90% of the time i know why (usually a loud engine that i
| wasn't wearing protection near), but 10% of the time, like
| during a quiet weekend at home - it appears out of nowhere. I
| am not sure what my frequency is, but it's well over 1khz.
| thamer wrote:
| Trying the most commonly reported frequency of ~8,000 Hz on a
| tone generator[1] provides a good example of how distressing this
| can be. If you give it a try, I would recommend you turn the
| volume almost all the way down before pressing play.
|
| [1] https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/
| exodust wrote:
| Nice link. I was able to roughly match the tinnitus in my left
| ear to somewhere near 12,000 Hz. Mine is a constant super high-
| pitch so difficult to match exactly. Surprised I could still
| hear the generated tone that high.
| [deleted]
| albrewer wrote:
| I hadn't thought of doing this; I just informally tested mine
| to find I've got a dead zone between ~13kHz and ~14.5kHz. I can
| hear the sound above and below that range - it fades out, then
| back in as I move higher in frequency.
| dmtroyer wrote:
| Funny, I'm right at 8000Hz like the peak of their distribution.
| I've had tinnitus for years but never knew the frequency until
| now.
| rendall wrote:
| I have a whole concert of tinnitus frequencies. It is not a
| single tone. I don't remember when it started, but it has been
| there for decades.
|
| I've read that tinnitus is akin to phantom limb syndrome, the
| brain compensating for missing frequencies it no longer hears.
| Happily, I can ignore it, but it's always there.
| ggm wrote:
| 8 years later an update would be fascinating. Would overtones and
| frequency doubling or splitting or harmonising account for any of
| this?
| themodelplumber wrote:
| And did that YouTube cure ever really work? A remedy that was
| going around some years ago, I think involving doing something
| to the back of the head...
| talesvin wrote:
| If it's that tapping in the back of the head for like a
| minute you're talking about, it seems to work for some people
| and just temporarily the tinnitus always come back. I've
| tried it a bunch of times and i worked for me only once for
| example.
| moremetadata wrote:
| [dead]
| andrewmcwatters wrote:
| Not a paid shill, but Loop Experience Plus Earplugs are really
| great. If you plan on going to a concert, they're a good option,
| or any other hearing protection specifically designed for
| concerts.
| anttiharju wrote:
| The thing is the carrying case is super small and easy to lose
| unless you attach it to something big.
| anderspitman wrote:
| I occasionally play live music and after a particularly loud show
| started looking for ear protection that wouldn't muffle things
| too much. These are both popular suggestions:
|
| https://eargasm.com/
|
| https://www.etymotic.com/product/er20xs/
| JenrHywy wrote:
| I go to concerts pretty regularly and have had both- the
| eargasms are much more comfortable and sound better. That said,
| the Etys are very durable - mine lasted for something like 20
| years
| cameronh90 wrote:
| I can hear the music at a live gig far better with a good set
| of musicians ear plugs. Live music is often so loud that it
| seems to get distorted within my ears, but the ear plugs bring
| that under control. The fact that I can hear properly for the
| next day or two is a bonus.
|
| I do find it unusual, though, that I can still feel the bass in
| my chest even though the music is no longer unbearably loud.
| alainchabat wrote:
| I developed tinnitus a month ago after a flight. I was sick and
| coughing right after the plane, but this time, I didn't equalize
| the pressure in my ears as I usually do. A day later, I noticed
| the tinnitus. Two weeks ago, I went to see an ENT doctor who
| prescribed steroids and medication to improve blood circulation
| around my ear for two weeks. He said it might be because of the
| flight, and I should try to get rid of it as soon as possible,
| otherwise my brain would think this is the "new normal".
|
| I think now the condition is better. Now hear the ringing sound
| from time to time, not every night, but sometimes during the day
| when I get tired, angry, or think about it. I hope this condition
| goes away soon.
| idontwantthis wrote:
| Do you know what the blood circulation medication was?
| alainchabat wrote:
| Nicametate citrate 50mg, I take it 2x a day
|
| Stating the obvious: check with a doctor before taking them
| ttyprintk wrote:
| It can go away.
|
| Even though I've had it precisely since a particular flight,
| doctors don't want to ascribe causation. Otitic bachtrytrauma
| has come up.
| WanderPanda wrote:
| Is it actually gone, or do you just don't think about it? I
| have a quite loud tinnitus at 9 kHz but I still don't even
| think about it for stretches of weeks and even months. But when
| I'm made aware of it it's always there (even if there is loud
| background noise)
| Night_Thastus wrote:
| I wish there was a cure for it. Unfortunately as a child my
| father took me to semi-frequently to a night club he worked at,
| and I had no hearing protection. I have had tinnitus ever since.
| It varies in severity based on seemingly a lot of conditions
| (orientation, physical activity, mood), but most of the it's not
| too awful luckily.
|
| Still, it sucks that we may be a more than my lifetime away from
| really finding a solution.
| coupdejarnac wrote:
| A few years ago, I had an iOS app that did audio notch therapy
| for tinnitus. Does the therapy actually work? For some people,
| maybe. From what I remember, the research papers I read on the
| subject indicated the therapy can help. I conducted a small study
| with the audiology dept at a local university, but I didn't reach
| any useful conclusion. In the end, I suspect notch therapy ends
| up working similarly to masking therapy (using white noise or
| other sound to cover up the tinnitus).
| twangist wrote:
| 1920 Hz in my case. I had tinnitus after I got rear-ended at a
| stop light. Decades later, it still recurs once in a blue moon,
| lasts for a mere 10-15 seconds then vanishes when I tell myself
| repeatedly "nothing is playing 1920 Hz".
| lisper wrote:
| > 1920 Hz in my case
|
| How do you measure that?
| kadoban wrote:
| You can just use a program that plays adjustable frequencies
| and shift it up/down until it matches.
| lisper wrote:
| Ah.
|
| My tinnitus frequency is higher than anything I can
| actually hear so that doesn't work for me.
| idontwantthis wrote:
| How do you have tinnitus if you can't hear it?
| LeifCarrotson wrote:
| Go back to the old question of if a tree falls in a
| forest, does it make a sound if no one hears it?
|
| Tinnitus isn't caused by actual waves of air pressure on
| the eardrum. We'd not call that tinnitus (unless it was
| actually inescapable, eg. a perception of rushing blood
| flow), that's just an annoying real-world sound.
|
| Hearing is connected to eardrum vibrations by a
| complicated system of the outer ear, eardrum, tiny
| auditory bones, the fluid-filled cochlea, tiny hair cells
| with sensory neurons, the auditory nerve, and eventually
| the brain.
|
| When all these work properly, the brain gets accurate
| information about sound waves.
|
| When those hair cells are damaged (or wherever the
| stimulus arises) to send bogus information up the
| auditory nerve, the audio perceived by the brain as a
| result of that stimulus is not necessarily correlated to
| any accurate frequency data that could make it through
| that pathway.
| Ankaios wrote:
| You could have tinnitus at a frequency you can't hear if
| the tinnitus arises downstream of auditory issues that
| reduce hearing sensitivity.
|
| For instance, if someone couldn't hear a certain
| frequency because the corresponding hair cells in their
| ears were damaged, they could still have tinnitus at that
| frequency arising from parts of the brain that process
| that frequency.
| [deleted]
| eru wrote:
| Hearing tinnitus seems to work according to different
| rules than hearing outside sounds for lisper.
|
| Since tinnitus uses different mechanics and pathways,
| that seems plausible.
|
| For comparison, think of a recently blinded person still
| dreaming visually. Or think of phantom pain.
| pastaguy1 wrote:
| They can hear the tinnitus, but not real sounds at that
| freq.
|
| IANAD, is there any kind of "gain correction" theory for
| tinnitus? ie, the brain notices your ear can't hear this
| frequency very well, so it pumps up the volume ... maybe
| too much.
|
| That would fit this data point, at least.
|
| Weirdly, maybe not so different than when a hearing aid
| starts ringing.
| edgyquant wrote:
| Mine starts as a high pitch and then I can't hear
| anything out of that ear for a good 10 seconds.
| dehrmann wrote:
| Can you match it to half or a quarter of the frequency?
| dalmo3 wrote:
| Not OP, but same problem. Interesting suggestion!
| kadoban wrote:
| Is there some kind of resonance or something that happens
| at half/quarter that lets you identify it?
|
| I experimented real quick and wasn't able to do a great
| job estimating half of a frequency from playing with the
| slider on the lower one. Wasn't _totally_ off, but
| nothing magical seemed to happen when I got to half.
| adzm wrote:
| Can you tune a guitar? I can hear it when the frequencies
| become small integer proportions like the octave (2x) and
| the fifth
| kadoban wrote:
| I suppose I've never tried. Maybe it just requires some
| practice.
| adzm wrote:
| You can actually hear the beat frequencies like tuning a
| guitar. So intervals like the fifth or an octave are
| definitely 'in tune' when you try it. Interestingly if
| you play a pure sine in each ear with one slightly
| detuned, your brain will also hear the beat frequencies
| as if the waves were interfering despite each ear getting
| separate pure signals! There was even an open source
| program Gnaural for experimenting with this effect -
| binaural beats.
| dahart wrote:
| I can't hear a beat frequency against my tinnitus tones,
| and I really wish I could. (I've tuned my guitar with
| beat frequencies for decades.) The tinnitus tones are
| very elusive when I try to pin them down with a sine
| wave, but I can get close by alternating a sine wave on
| and off while I vary the frequency... the memory of the
| tone from a second ago has been more reliable than trying
| to hear if they're close when overlapping.
| lisper wrote:
| Interesting suggestion. But no, I don't think so, and I'm
| having a really hard time describing why. It sounds like
| a pure sine wave, but it's so high I have a hard time
| relating it to any real auditory input.
|
| Also, interestingly, since I started focusing on this it
| has gotten less intense.
| IIAOPSW wrote:
| How high does your range of hearing go. We can at least
| narrow it down to somewhere above that.
| lisper wrote:
| Just under 8kHz. The tinnitus frequency seems like its
| about about a major fifth higher, so ~12kHz.
|
| I also notice in general that it's much more pronounced
| after I've been wearing earbuds, even if the volume is
| turned way down.
| IIAOPSW wrote:
| Jeez you're range of hearing is capital F Fucked. Did you
| go to school next to an airport and live backstage at a
| heavy metal concert? No disrespect.
| lisper wrote:
| No, but I'm 58 years old. Hearing loss is just a Thing
| That Happens sometimes.
| IIAOPSW wrote:
| Remind me to avoid getting old.
| jacurtis wrote:
| How can you hear something that you can not hear?
|
| I'm not trying to be facetious, genuinely curious.
| dahart wrote:
| It's two different sources, and a subjective tinnitus
| source is perceived but not "heard", if that makes sense.
| You might be able to experience something perhaps
| similar: many people can hear much higher frequencies
| when the speaker is in contact with their skull than
| through the air.
| DougWebb wrote:
| Hearing loss is a physical problem. Tinnitus, often, is a
| signaling problem. The signal can represent a sound that
| the physical sensors can't produce anymore.
| lisper wrote:
| It's a fair question, and it's hard to describe. What I
| perceive is a very high pitched pure sine wave. When I
| take a hearing test, my ability to hear real tones drops
| off long before I can hear anything approaching the pitch
| that I perceive. Does that make sense?
| Fauntleroy wrote:
| You're not actually "hearing" anything. For one, the
| sound (usually) does not actually exist. In many cases
| it's more like an inappropriate signal from a damaged
| nerve or some of the teeny tiny "hairs" within the ear
| that sense sounds.
| kadoban wrote:
| Oh wow, I did not consider that, interesting.
| disantlor wrote:
| I can relate to the last bit; I sometimes have (or notice)
| tinnitus when going to bed. I try to think about what frequency
| it is exactly and it seems like the direction attention to it
| causes it to go away (or at least get _much_ more quiet)
| mderazon wrote:
| I have something similar. I got mine after my first COVID
| infection. The infection was mild, but my sense of smell was
| gone for a week and i was left with a tinnitus
| yc-kraln wrote:
| Really sorry to hear that.
|
| When I worked for Daimler, I was surprised to learn that all of
| their cars ship with something called "PRE-SAFE Sound" which,
| when it detects that you might be in a crash (i.e. at the point
| when the seatbelts are pre-tensioned), it plays a loud-ish
| burst of white noise through all the speakers, triggering your
| ears' automatic response which disconnects your ear drums. This
| means that when the actual (very loud!) crash happens, your
| hearing is saved. They developed this in the 90s when, after
| the advent of airbags, they saw that most injuries from
| moderate car crashes were hearing related. (Here's a video with
| some cool detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTmLYY-Z2rc)
|
| I always thought it was a huge shame that 1) this technology
| isn't required/mandated for all cars and 2) Mercedes doesn't
| advertise this more
| walterbell wrote:
| Could a phone accelerometer achieve comparable detection
| response and play a warning sound?
| kloch wrote:
| The crash itself isn't usually that loud but airbag
| deployment can be 170 db which is very dangerous to hearing.
| IIAOPSW wrote:
| That 20khz one tracks for me. Sometimes if I over caffeinate I
| get that. I think the neurological explanation is right. Its as
| if certain brainwaves are leaking into the region meant to
| represent sound waves.
| concerned_ wrote:
| Unfortunately, rather than tinnitus I have misophonia, and I can
| hear ice melting. No treatment or cure. But I would bet at least
| some cases of subjective tinnitus are actually people who have
| super hearing abilities.
| musesum wrote:
| well, I used to have super hearing. Had a hard time being
| around CRT displays because the flyback transformers were
| really really loud. Now, with age, I get a phantom limb tone of
| 16KHz. [1]
|
| Coincidentally, the peak notch in the OP was the 1st
| subharmonic of that.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyback_transformer
| eps wrote:
| This is very common though, isn't it? Every child can hear a
| tube TV running when muted. Dog whistles too and all. And
| that's not even at the top of kids hearing range.
| TT-392 wrote:
| Does not being able to be around CRT displays because of the
| noise make qualify one as having super hearing? Pretty sure a
| good percentage of the population have that problem
| musesum wrote:
| Was tested while attending an electronic music class.
| Professor displayed everyone's result, so we could compare.
| His chart was the worst, as a cautionary tale. Too many
| live performance in front of the PA.
| eps wrote:
| By chance - not ice cubes in a glass of water making a hissing
| sound?
| concerned_ wrote:
| No the slight crackling. Also even though I live in a
| detached house, I hear my neighbors morning alarms going off.
| One time I had to walk into the warehouse of a local
| newspaper because they bought new forklifts that made a high
| pitch sound when they were in reverse, and the guys riding
| the forklifts had ear protection and it was vibrating the
| windows of my apt a half mile away. They turned the sound off
| only after weeks of calling the police.
|
| I used to play in a symphony orchestra as a professional and
| I suspect that studying my whole life to listen to a pin drop
| has led me into this place.
| provenance wrote:
| Tinnitus can be close to a pure sine wave at one freq or can be a
| wide band whooshing or noise, or many other variations of timbres
| with their own freq ranges
|
| I don't play or enjoy music anymore, no more power tools, etc
|
| Protect your ears
| 1letterunixname wrote:
| Absolutely. If you go out to a bar, nightclub, or concert:
| bring good earplugs always.
|
| For using power tools, always protect ears, eyes, lungs, and
| anything else you want to keep.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| Anecdotally I've noticed that music at concerts and bars is
| not as loud as it was in the 1980s. I went to a Rolling
| Stones concert in the late 1980s and was practially deaf for
| several hours afterwards. Saw the Who like 10 years ago and
| it wasn't close to painfully loud. Don't see near as much
| live music in bars as I used to but it also seems to be
| turned down compared to what used to be done.
| albert_e wrote:
| I believe you, obviously. (I dont go to concerts myself,
| but pretty sure have tinnitus and misophonia)
|
| But on a lighter note this _sounds_ like a setup for a joke
| that involves hearing loss from earlier experiences
| resulting in your hearing at less and less volume as time
| progresses.
| spiralx wrote:
| This is exactly what I suspect is the problem with a lot
| of sound engineers, where over-loud top-end frequencies
| damage their ability to hear those sounds, leading to an
| escalating increase in the volume of those frequencies.
| I've been to venues where the top-end is literally
| painful to the point of having to leave, and I'm always
| baffled that nobody running the place seems to notice or
| care.
|
| Saying that some venues do cheap out by over-loading the
| top-end to seem "loud" instead of spending more money on
| more expensive low- and mid-range speakers.
| glandium wrote:
| Anecdotally, I've had tinnitus for as long as I can
| remember, but I never really noticed until I had a
| permanent loud whistling sound in my ears after a concert
| in a smallish venue in Japan in the early 2000s, that
| thankfully dissipated after a few days. But it made me
| realize that, the residual "sound" remaining after that, I
| was actually hearing it before too.
| BitwiseFool wrote:
| I know I'm not the target market for bars and nightclubs but
| I've always hated just how loud the DJ's play the music. What
| is the point of going to a social atmosphere when you can
| barely even talk to someone without shouting? Who actually
| enjoys ear splitting music?
| marssaxman wrote:
| It depends on the venue and the event, but for many people,
| music and dancing are the point of the experience, more
| than the social atmosphere. DJs of course are there
| _entirely_ to play music and facilitate dancing, and don 't
| really need to care how hard it is to have a conversation
| in the process.
|
| When people like the music, it tends to sound better to
| them when it's played a little louder; when a DJ wants to
| raise the energy level, pushing the volume up a little is
| one way to do that. Repeat this enough times through the
| course of an evening and you end up with the PA really
| cranked. (Many bars install limiters on the sound system,
| to keep over-enthusiastic DJs in line...) If you walk in
| from the street, the ruckus might sound deafening - but if
| you've been there dancing for an hour or two, your ears
| will likely have adjusted along the way, and it won't feel
| so extreme.
|
| Another reason for loud music is that loud bass _feels_
| really good. If you enjoy dancing, that deep rumble just
| gets in your bones and makes you want to move. It can be
| kind of a spiritual experience to let yourself get
| overwhelmed and swept away by the music, feeling and moving
| in the moment, not thinking so much. A good, well-tuned
| sound system in the hands of someone who cares about sound
| quality can give you this experience without the "ear
| splitting" sensation.
|
| Even if the bar has no dance floor, loud music can help
| create a sense of intimacy. Drowning out all the other
| conversations means other people can't listen in on yours,
| and forcing you to lean in and pay close attention to the
| person you're speaking with might help spark a connection
| of the sort many people go out looking for.
| srcreigh wrote:
| There's a myth that loud sub bass frequencies doesn't
| cause as much damage as loud high pitch frequencies.
| Haven't looked into whether it's true or not yet.
| KineticLensman wrote:
| It's not just bars and pubs, but restaurants too. As
| someone who wears hearing aids, the loud music makes meals
| out really socially awkward, since you can't hear
| conversations across or down the table. It's not helped by
| the lack of fabrics and other acoustic deadeners,
| presumably because they are hard to clean.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2023-04-12 23:02 UTC)