Is this Tinnitus?

[Tilly9]

Hi I'm Tilly, My GP is sending me to ear nose and throat clinic, as he thinks I have Tinnitus, but I'm not convinced. Do the sounds change or become louder? as when I get to bed all I can hear is a steady buzz like bees, when I wake in the night the noise gets louder sounding like a vacuum cleaner or a washing machine.I have been out early in the mornings looking for the noise but I can never locate it!!! I only ever hear the sounds at home,or in my back garden. Any advice will be helpful as I can't deal with this .

[Lioned]

If you have tinnitus you hear it everywhere you go.

Sounds like you live under/near overhead power lines or maybe you have some other problem in the house.

[Tilly9 in reply to Lioned]

I've had western power to check the substation that's fine. I've just been outside there is a strange pulsing sound but nobody hears it but me! My husband doesn't hear the vacuum sounds ,so I don't know what it is if it's not Tinnitus

[Lioned in reply to Tilly9]

My wife can hear a pin drop at the bottom of the garden and our gardens 200 yds long.She sometimes hears ‘lorries coming up the hill’ but we dont live on a hill.

I hear an orchestra of screams and whistles constantly at close on 60db.I live in an indescribable hell from the moment i awake,for me and most others on here there is no respite.

If you can walk down the road,go to the park,escape to the beach then you sure are lucky.

It may well be you are susceptible to a very low frequency.You mention substation ? I am an electrician,are you close to a mains transformer.

You should go to the ent clinic and get expert advice and hopefully you will be fine.

[Tilly9 in reply to Lioned]

I've just sent my Husband outside and he can't hear a thing. You maybe right I can only hear low frequency sounds. Yes i'm near the mains transformer at the substation ,western power have been out to check but it's fine. I've an appointment at ent in June. Thanks Lioned and I'll enjoy the peace where I can find it.

[Lioned in reply to Tilly9]

In my life as an electrician i have come accross this on a number of occasions.

Always Women who seem to be sensitive to very low frequency,only man i ever met was blind and had raised sensitivity to certain sound.

I may be wrong so get yourself checked.

[jmallordturner51 in reply to Lioned]

As Shakespeare did write, "And whilst I live to account this world but Hell." I am with you my friend. Though I do feel we will see relief in the not too distant future.

[LittleNell83]

There was a few articles over the last week, about a global hum... May be worth a read

[Ruud1boy]

The Hum!!

It is more likely to be tinnitus I would think, especially if you can only hear it at night. At nighttime, there's less general background noise, so any 'noises from within' as the Ancient Greeks used to call it are more noticeable.

From what you're saying, it would appear to be very mild T and most people do usually learn to ignore that fairly quickly.

I would still suggest you learn as much as you can about T - the BTA's website is a good place to start, so you can arm yourself with the knowledge of how to do what you can to prevent it getting worse.

[Tilly9]

Thanks for all you advice. I have read up about the hum,which is interesting. I think I am making my T worse as I keep asking people if. they can hear anything, I'm a always listening and talking about what I'm hearing. I need to learn better coping skills,like all you lovely people☺

[getchegary in reply to Tilly9]

Absolutely. If you continue thinking about it too much, the noise becomes incessant. I know exactly how you feel about this. The same happened to me. Trust me, heed the advice of others on this forum and find distractions. It sounds like a simple solution but you will find yourself in a much better place psychologically.

[Foxymum]

I’m the same as you I think Tilly, and in the beginning xould always heat a hum thought it was the boiler even rang environmental health at one point!

Once at my mums I thought oh no I can hear it hear too so realised it was in fact me

Really hope it improves for upu asap x

[Ecclescakes]

When my tinnitus started it sounded like the police helicopter was out over our street again - hum of the engine and the beating of the rotor blades in the air. Looking out the window surprisingly there was nothing there (used to be a regular occurrence where we lived the helicopter would be searching for joyriders who had made a run for it after abandoning the car in the area we used to live). I woke my wife and she could not hear anything and it dawned on me the noise I was hearing was in my head. Humming, ringing, whooshing and beating noises have dogged me for 15 years since. However during the day out and about being busy I often forget to notice the tinnitus sounds so your experience just hearing noises at home may be explained by being to busy or stimulated by other sounds outside the home to notice your tinnitus. That's a good thing and eventually you will learn to mentally screen out the tinnitus noises at home at least part of the time. You will just have to put up with it in between which is hard but you get used to it.

[ShakeelaBTA]

Hello and welcome to the British Tinnitus Association forum.

Do feel free to ask any questions, I hope that you find this a helpful and supportive place to help you manage your tinnitus.

We have some resources that you might like to check out in addition to our home here:

tinnitus.org.uk (information and support details)

takeontinnitus.co.uk (free tinnitus management programme)

Helpline 0800 018 0527 (Monday-Friday 9am-5pm) (outside the UK you can call [phone])

Kind regards

Shakeela

[Ruud1boy]

Did you ever make any progress in identifying the source of the sounds Tilly? Or did you stop searching?

[Tilly9 in reply to Ruud1boy]

Hi Rudd1boy, The ENT say I have tinnitus, but I'm still not convinced ! As the factory has installed new equipment and most of the neighbours have noticed the increase in noise. I now sleep wearing ear buds I don't know if this a good idea of not.

[Claire1210]

Hi does your hum vibrate? I have it and when it's bad it feels like it vibrates xx