Ear ringing affecting the enjoyment of home theater

Klipschhead302

Klipschhead302

Senior Audioholic
I've been a bit quiet here, after spending a decent amount of money to upgrade the HT I have begun to have ringing in the ears. Not from playing too loud, it happened pretty much overnight, I woke up one morning a few weeks ago to a loud ringing that hasn't gone away. The Dr. says it's tinnitus or meniere's which if true sucks.

Do any of you have the same thing, if so how has it impacted your ability to enjoy HT? For most of a movie it seems ok but quiet passages the ringing is so prominent it gives me a headache. Hopefully they figure out something, this sucks.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
Have you been to a hearing specialist or just regular doc? I'd look for a hearing specialist because it doesn't sound normal for sure. Overnight is the scary thing.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I've been a bit quiet here, after spending a decent amount of money to upgrade the HT I have begun to have ringing in the ears. Not from playing too loud, it happened pretty much overnight, I woke up one morning a few weeks ago to a loud ringing that hasn't gone away. The Dr. says it's tinnitus or meniere's which if true sucks.

Do any of you have the same thing, if so how has it impacted your ability to enjoy HT? For most of a movie it seems ok but quiet passages the ringing is so prominent it gives me a headache. Hopefully they figure out something, this sucks.
Do you consume a lot of caffeine, take a lot of Aspirin (it usually has caffeine) or have high blood pressure? Were you recently exposed to extremely loud noises or music?
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Yeah overnight is definitely scary. Have you started any new medications? I have a little tinnitus from aging(43) and not always wearing ear protection as a drummer and being around loud cars etc. Mine is mostly quiet enough that even in quiet scenes in movies I don't notice, but sometimes. Sometimes I just turn it up. I've also noticed some medicine will make it a little louder. Advil or Tylenol mostly.
I hope it's only temporary.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
I've had tinnitus for years. There's a ringing in my ears 24/7 and it never goes away. I've learned to mostly ignore it, but I imagine if it were to suddenly go away, I'd notice big time.

I'm missing some higher frequencies because of it also, but I've adjusted. I've never been to a hearing specialist, but I probably should. My mom has hearing aids now and says the work really well. My issue with that is, aren't hearing aids tiny little speakers? Would that affect the way I hear sound? Will I be "hearing" my stereo or those tiny little speakers?

I was exposed to a lot of shooting guns with no hearing protection as early as 9 or 10 years old. When my stepfather died, I turned his pa system and concert speakers into a home stereo. You can imagine what a 16 year old kid with a love for music and gobs of power would do with a system like that. Then drumming... I wish I could go back... sigh

Anyway, I'm glad you started this thread. I have a lot of questions too.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
We all did a lot of things that we shouldn't have. After a few years of concerts, even as a younger kid, I started using ear plugs at shows, always wear some kind of ear protection while shooting, being around loud cars, etc... My hearing is still pretty good all things considered. Age is still age. This one that we're talking about definitely isn't age, it is something else.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Yeah, I know the source of mine. Head's is different. Sorry for trying g to hijack your thread Head. That being said, how distracting is it? Are you running a fever or anything? Caffeine, aspirin and cannabis can all aggravate it. This is probably redundant, but have you hit your head recently? And are you sure you're not cranking it up and listening for long periods?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
My tinnitus came on gradually, but it is present pretty much daily now but not always very prominent if that's the right phrase. Altho it is much reduced after a particularly good sleep, trying to get to sleep is where it bugs me the most (in contrast to the very quiet), lately I've been leaving a fan running for some white noise (read that as a suggestion for how some are dealing with such). When it's most prominent it does somewhat get in the way of enjoying audio, but c'est la vie.

I at least outlasted my younger brother and sister, who have had it for several years before and my father had it at a younger age than myself; my brother was around loud things probably more than I; my sister wasn't at all, my dad somewhat less than myself. I attended many rock concerts, even worked at quite a few, have blasted loud sound systems in vehicles and at home for years, owned several convertible cars, been around jet airplanes quite a bit, you name it I asked for it. I remember my dad having sold his hi-fi gear and record collection as he just wasn't able to enjoy it as his deafness increased.

Hope you find some relief and are able to enjoy the audio again...
 
Klipschhead302

Klipschhead302

Senior Audioholic
Have you been to a hearing specialist or just regular doc? I'd look for a hearing specialist because it doesn't sound normal for sure. Overnight is the scary thing.
Not yet, just completed a huge migration and now on to a new big project. Had hoped for some down time so will have to find time to make the appointment. I work at a Doctor's office and he of course said go see an ENT Doc soon.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
Yeah could be something other than your ear itself that is causing it, but is related to that whole system. ENT would be the next step.
 
Klipschhead302

Klipschhead302

Senior Audioholic
Do you consume a lot of caffeine, take a lot of Aspirin (it usually has caffeine) or have high blood pressure? Were you recently exposed to extremely loud noises or music?
No to all of this, it baffles me but hopefully will get figured out soon.
 
Klipschhead302

Klipschhead302

Senior Audioholic
I've had tinnitus for years. There's a ringing in my ears 24/7 and it never goes away. I've learned to mostly ignore it, but I imagine if it were to suddenly go away, I'd notice big time.

I'm missing some higher frequencies because of it also, but I've adjusted. I've never been to a hearing specialist, but I probably should. My mom has hearing aids now and says the work really well. My issue with that is, aren't hearing aids tiny little speakers? Would that affect the way I hear sound? Will I be "hearing" my stereo or those tiny little speakers?

I was exposed to a lot of shooting guns with no hearing protection as early as 9 or 10 years old. When my stepfather died, I turned his pa system and concert speakers into a home stereo. You can imagine what a 16 year old kid with a love for music and gobs of power would do with a system like that. Then drumming... I wish I could go back... sigh

Anyway, I'm glad you started this thread. I have a lot of questions too.
Thankfully my hearing range seems to be the same, unfortunately I am very sensitive to high frequencies and this ringing is in that range and on some days gets so bad I get a migraine from it. Last night it was like somebody turned up the volume, so I need to get that appointment set, hopefully next week.

In my youth I went to Sammy Hagar at Chicago Fest 1982, he had the tower wall of speakers configured to be the loudest in concert history. I had first row my girlfriend on my shoulders and after that concert I couldn't hear for the better part of 2 days.

I have always had intensly loud but very clean sound systems, a few in cars that won sound competitions, not the bass competitions but sound quality competitions of the late 80's through the late 90's. Took a lot of first place trophies so I have dealt with loud volumes a long time.

I don't think this issue is that thought, it happend over night which is very unusual so we'll see what the ENT Doc says. As of today it's driving me nuts unless background noise is loud enough to cancel or match it...
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Thankfully my hearing range seems to be the same, unfortunately I am very sensitive to high frequencies and this ringing is in that range and on some days gets so bad I get a migraine from it. Last night it was like somebody turned up the volume, so I need to get that appointment set, hopefully next week.

In my youth I went to Sammy Hagar at Chicago Fest 1982, he had the tower wall of speakers configured to be the loudest in concert history. I had first row my girlfriend on my shoulders and after that concert I couldn't hear for the better part of 2 days.

I have always had intensly loud but very clean sound systems, a few in cars that won sound competitions, not the bass competitions but sound quality competitions of the late 80's through the late 90's. Took a lot of first place trophies so I have dealt with loud volumes a long time.

I don't think this issue is that thought, it happend over night which is very unusual so we'll see what the ENT Doc says. As of today it's driving me nuts unless background noise is loud enough to cancel or match it...
The thing about high SPL is that it may not seem like it's doing damage, but it always does. Might not make your ears ring, but it can shift your threshold upward. Won't punch out a narrow range, but the damage may not be noticed until the last domino falls.

Have you ever done any deep relaxation or deep breathing exercises? That can help too.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
I've been a bit quiet here, after spending a decent amount of money to upgrade the HT I have begun to have ringing in the ears. Not from playing too loud, it happened pretty much overnight, I woke up one morning a few weeks ago to a loud ringing that hasn't gone away. The Dr. says it's tinnitus or meniere's which if true sucks.

Do any of you have the same thing, if so how has it impacted your ability to enjoy HT? For most of a movie it seems ok but quiet passages the ringing is so prominent it gives me a headache. Hopefully they figure out something, this sucks.
Tinnitus is not a diagnosis. It just is another way of saying ringing in the ears.

I doubt you have Meniere's disease, which does cause deafness and tinnitus, but the dominant symptom is dizziness and loss of balance, which is usually the way it comes to attention rather than Tinnitus.

Your symptom is unfortunately very common and is the cumulative result of excessive noise most often. Most of this noise tends to come through employment. Use of headphones and AV systems contribute their share.

I addition our cities are very noisy places. I'm lucky enough to live at the moment in a quiet forest where the loudest noise is the cry of the loons. When I'm in the Twin Cities metro though, I'm very aware of the noise.

One last thing, I do encourage quiet spaces on homes, especially the main living area, and I'm definitely not in favor of whole house audio installations.

Your symptoms do indicate cochlea damage, most likely from cumulative noise exposure.
Since this has just started a vigorous program of noise avoidance might bring you relief.

You do need and a consultation with ENT and your audiogram will likely be revealing.
 
B

Blue Dude

Audioholic
I've had mild tinnitus for a few years. I fly a lot so I had musician's plugs made that cut down ambient noise (there's a lot of broad band noise on planes) but still allow for speech intelligibility. They seem to help. White noise at night helps with drowning out the ringing when it's "too quiet". When I close the door to my home theater, that "too quiet" sensation impinges on my ears slightly and I notice the ringing right away, but as soon as I play anything, I forget about it immediately. There is hope!
 
cpp

cpp

Audioholic Ninja
tinnitus, I've had it since 1969. It all started playing in rock bands in high schools and college and nobody back then was that concerned about your hearing,. As I got into my late 20's and early 30's it was drag racing that was added to the mix at the local track in Gainesville. So today its 24x7 ringing like a pack of crazed mosquitoes off in the distant. My little brother who is now a Otolaryngologist always tells me, I told ya so bro. That loud crap will impact your hearing one day. Yep he was right,. Protect you hearing at all cost, there is NO cure.
 
C

Ceycey

Enthusiast
I've been a bit quiet here, after spending a decent amount of money to upgrade the HT I have begun to have ringing in the ears. Not from playing too loud, it happened pretty much overnight, I woke up one morning a few weeks ago to a loud ringing that hasn't gone away. The Dr. says it's tinnitus or meniere's which if true sucks.

Do any of you have the same thing, if so how has it impacted your ability to enjoy HT? For most of a movie it seems ok but quiet passages the ringing is so prominent it gives me a headache. Hopefully they figure out something, this sucks.
I've been a bit quiet here, after spending a decent amount of money to upgrade the HT I have begun to have ringing in the ears. Not from playing too loud, it happened pretty much overnight, I woke up one morning a few weeks ago to a loud ringing that hasn't gone away. The Dr. says it's tinnitus or meniere's which if true sucks.

Do any of you have the same thing, if so how has it impacted your ability to enjoy HT? For most of a movie it seems ok but quiet passages the ringing is so prominent it gives me a headache. Hopefully they figure out something, this sucks.
I have had tinnitus for over 5 years now. When I first got it I thought it was going to drive me insane. Now most of the time I do not know it. when it is quiet it is more noticeable. Good luck with it.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Sorry to hear about this. No recent respiratory infection ?

I hope it's only an acute/transient case that will go away.
 
XEagleDriver

XEagleDriver

Audioholic Chief
By all means go to the doc/specialist as others have said. That being said, I am a retired jet pilot with thousands of hours near the engines. Thankfully, I religiously wore ear plugs during my career. However, I also get noticeable ringing every so often.
One thing that has helped me is too sleep/spend a day with foam ear plugs in. After that "break" my ringing decreases, might help you, give it a try.
An additional plus is the plugs filter out my wife's ceaseless commentary (being brave here since she is not a forum person).
Cheers,
XEagleDriver

Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk
 
GO-NAD!

GO-NAD!

Audioholic Spartan
.... My issue with that is, aren't hearing aids tiny little speakers? Would that affect the way I hear sound? Will I be "hearing" my stereo or those tiny little speakers?...
This is something I've wondered about, as well. While my hearing isn't too bad, I know there has been degradation over the years. While I was in the Navy, I spent many an hour in submarine engine rooms. While quiet on the outside, inside with the engines running was noisy as all get out.
 

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