Originally Posted by Erin524

I've had tinnitus since I was a young child. First time I really remember it I was probably about four years old. Thought that it was normal for years until I saw a tv show about it.

It's pretty constant for me, but since I've lived with it my whole life it only really bugs me when it's really bad, like when I'm sick or have a migraine. I've got a cold right now, and the congestion in my nose, ears and sinuses is making the tinnitus worse.

When I had mononucleosis in 1996, my head was so plugged up with congestion during that time that I wasnt able to hear normal sounds for about two weeks. The tinnitus sound was so loud during that time that I wasnt able to sleep for very long. That was the worst that it's ever been. So, I can sympathise with you about how annoying and distracting that it can get when it's really bad.



I sleep with the tv on because the sound of the tv is just loud enough that it covers up the ringing. (when I'm sick it sounds like high tension electric power lines humming, and noise from the tv doesnt always help)

I hope yours leaves you alone soon. It gets really maddening at times. Have you gone to an audiologist and had it checked out?

They do make commerically available "tinnitus maskers". Devices that produce white noise. My dad has one that plays ocean waves, or rain sounds...sometimes he uses the sound that sounds kind of like static. You could get one of those, or maybe you can play classical music on a radio or cd when you dont want to have your tv on, and dont want to have the house totally quiet.


Did you know that William Shatner AND Leonard Nimoy both have tinnitus from hearing damage due to a special effect going off too early (or they were too close to it) while they were filming an episode of Star Trek.

Shatner actually successfully completed a treatment called "tinnitus retraining". They put what looked like little hearing aids in his ears that played white noise into his ears. It taught him to not listen to the tinnitus. He said once you're not listening to the tinnitus, you can wean yourself off of using the white noise generators. You might want to ask an audiologist about that.

I googled "tinnitus retraining", and found this site