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.