Multiple tinnitus

[EnzoMonty]

Hello,In December 2021 T started in one ear and it is reactive. Since then I have got a number of different tinnitus types in both ears. I have ringing and hissing, intermittent clicking and fluttering. I wonder if anyone else is experiencing various forms of tinnitus.

[happyrosie1]

we all experience T in different ways. My sounds are not necessarily the sounds you get. Mine vary but they are portly the same, with the occasional extra bits thrown in.

If you are. It familiar with the website of Tinnitus UK you might find help there.

[Steve1978]

Hello EnzoMonty

Clicking and fluttering could be heard or felt in the ear due to movement of one of the middle ear muscles, the stapedius or tensor tympani or both.

It could be worth looking online at Middle Ear Myoclonus or Tensor Tympani Syndrome and see if the symptoms of these conditions are something you are experiencing.

Sometime the dysfunction of Eustachian Tube can cause the tensor tympani muscle to move which results in a sound or feeling in the ear. The tensor tympani muscle has some involvement in the opening and closing of the Eustachian Tube.

The tensor tympani muscle is also joined to the Trigeminal Nerve. If there is something not quite right with the Trigeminal Nerve, which would often but not always result in pain or discomfort in perhaps in the face/jaw/neck/upper back areas, the tensor tympani can become more activated.

Clicking could be movement one of the muscles. Fluttering could be more rapid movement of one of the muscles. Hissing could be more of a tinnitus sound but in some cases is considered a sound caused by very rapid movement of one of the muscles. Ringing is more likely to be tinnitus.

I think it is worth doing some online research to see if you can match your symptoms to any of these - Middle Ear Myoclonus, Tensor Tympani Syndrome or Eustachian Tube Dysfunction.

Steve

[EnzoMonty in reply to Steve1978]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply Steve. I will look into this further. I am curious as to whether other people have the same experience of multiple issues in their ears. I seem to have collected a number of different noises and such over the years. The hissing and ringing all react to sound e.g television, car, heating system etc which makes it more complex to manage. The fluttering only occurs when other people speak either in person or on TV. It's not all the time but when it happens it is extremely annoying

[Steve1978]

These ear conditions are just such a challenge and not well understood.

Another two areas to look at are Reactionary Tinnitus and Dysacusis. I think Reactionary Tinnitus is where the tinnitus sound reacts to another sound with its own sound while Dysacusis is a form of hearing distortion where the hearing system can't seem to interpret the sounds of particular frequency or frequencies.

The fluttering when other people speak might be due to contrast. As I mentioned in the previous post, the middle ear muscle or muscles can flutter or click. Why would they do that to people's voices? That could be due to the contrast in voices i.e. people's voices fluctuate with different levels and different pitches.

The role of the two middle ear muscles are to protect us from very loud sounds, thunder, jets, sirens etc. If something happens to the muscles they can start to over protect and move/react to sounds they shouldn't be. If for example you are having a conversation and a person raises their voice that could result in the muscle(s) contracting to protect the hearing system when they shouldn't. They perceive a threat by that sudden increase in sound.

After researching a good ENT would be the place to go.

Hope that helps in someway.

[EnzoMonty in reply to Steve1978]

Thanks very much for your reply Steve. I will look into going to ENT

[1966366 in reply to EnzoMonty]

As I type, in my left ear, I have blocked, pressure sensation and intermittent low, rumbling like thunder; in the other side of my head, that seems above the ear, I have a high pitch noise of constant "drilling." Then throw in a few arctic blizzard sounds. It is constantly changing.

[perlcoder]

Hello,

I think that multiple forms are probably quite common. I have suffered from T for the better part of 25 years. It is primarily in my left ear and primarily a hiss, but the sound, its location in my head, and loudness vary greatly, from day to day, sometimes hour to hour. I very rarely have the somatic clicking and fluttering, but they are so far away from my usual T that I don't count them as part of it.

In my case I am sure that there is kind of evil natural selection going on. The brain invents a sound, the limbic system (and whatever other systems are involved), takes it up and I hear it. if I think "Oh that's not so very bad - if I must have T at all, I can live with that." That sound will tend to disappear to be replaced with something worse. The more tired and stressed I am, the more the worse sounds dominate.

Best wishes.

[Thenoiseisreal]

New to this forum and have a similar experience that you mention  EnzoMonty I have clicking in my right ear and sometimes fluttering, more in right, and often hissing - which can sometimes be like I've "caught" a sound eg. I hear a hiss and then the hiss persists in my ears.

The weird thing is every few weeks I will have some version of a sort of pressure change sensation in my head (like a wave of fullness going through it) and then either a high pitched squeal, a tuning fork sort of mid-tone and then today a sort of mechanical low drone which was very much in the left ear but also felt like it was through my entire head. These moments last seconds... they can be in either ear (but only ever one at a time) and they trigger an anxiety response in me where I think "well this is it, I'm going to be stuck with this sound from now on"... and yet it always goes away. And often times I'll get the sound with no pressure sensation.

I manage my anxiety response with SSRIs now and it is helping. I have taken to sleeping with airpods in - uncomfortable, but I don't like silence anymore. And I've seen an ENT and had MRIs and they can't spot hydrops for Meniere's (although the ENT insists that this may be the precursor)... but I don't get vertigo and I don't have hearing loss. So she's really unsure of what it is.

Of course I sit on chatgpt and dive deep on the internet to see what I have, but nothing conclusive... ETD, TMJ, SHL... all of them have similar symptoms to elements of mine, but nothing fits the exact bill.

I've kept a diary of these symptoms since Covid hit in 2020 (as I had one of those pressure change moments right before I got Covid) and there's no real pattern. There seems to be something of a connection between tiredness and alcohol and the symptoms presenting so I stopped drinking for eight months, but that didn't stop the tinnitus "attacks".

So, as cathartic as this was writing what ails me down... and that it was somewhat pleasing to see someone else talking to symptoms that I also have... I'm unsure whether anything in here is helpful. Just know that there are others in a similar place, it's manageable and you should seek help to give you strategies to manage it. But the experts can't quite work it out either

[Aesop2 in reply to Thenoiseisreal]

Hello there In response to your sleeping issue with earpods. Try a sleep headband instead. They are much more comfortable to sleep in and easier to find when it slips off your ears

I hope it helps

Sincerely

Aesop

[RobWG]

Hi

I get pretty much all the flavours of T you mention

I've not had the fluttering for a while but there is no real pattern or logic to it that I'm aware.

My favourites are;

an odd sensation that I can only describe as the tinitus and full ear sensation I have in my left ear swapping ears repeatedly for a few minutes. Quite disorientating

A viscous spike that quickly fades sort of like a tuning fork fading. Initially is very very loud and a different deeper pitch to my normal high pitch hiss.

I've begrudgingly got used to them and wait for them to fade I suppose .

Rgds

Rob

[Thenoiseisreal in reply to RobWG]

Remarkably similar here. Have you ever consulted a Dr about it?

[RobWG in reply to Thenoiseisreal]

HiI've mentioned it but as it's part of my T there doesn't seem to be any route to investigate the details of it.

That might be me not pursuing it.

When I initially developed T I also had some seemingly linked issues around dizzyness and very odd tingling in head and particularly jaw.

They were quite debilitating and as they have faded and or I've again adjusted im taking it as a positive.

Rgds

Rob

[Plymouthgtx in reply to RobWG]

Yup - me too. I have constant, multi frequency T in both ears - but a few times a day - my ear - either left or right - will suddenly 'close down' like a feeling of pressure - and that tuning fork pure tone will quickly appear - very loud - it's an utter bitch - but it calms after around 10 - 20 seconds - but jeez it really does floor me.

[ArchieKnight]

Yes - I'm experiencing the sane issues as you. It started in one ear and is now in both but different sounds at different times with no link to my health, diet or fitness regime... I'm just exploring whether it's something to do with the menopause.

[WildIris]

It seems a bit mentally unhealthy to be so preoccupied with ear noises. I was the same way for several years, and definitely mentally unhealthy. Some people, not me back then, can just learn to ignore the sounds, or even be mildly entertained by them. Treasure your hearing, in any case, listen to music.

[PABLR]

I think it's not uncommon to have a variety of sounds. I have a whine and a hum permanently in one ear, with occasional pulsatile tinnitus thrown in for good measure. The other ear is just a whine most of the time, and then there's a hum that seems to be hovering somewhere above my heard. They don't change a lot, fortunately. I'll get occasional other fleeting sounds that come and go within a space of seconds, as well.