Tinnitus & high frequency hearing loss due to inner ear damage

[chillyinCanada]

It's funny (heh) that I can hear my 3 tones of tinnitus but not ogher things. Frankly, I think my actual hearing isn't that bad, lol. Some higher ranges are gone. But it's more like the filtering system doesn't work. Home alone I can hear every little creak the house makes even the fridge but in a crowd of people, I can barely make out whst the person across from me is saying. Out for dinner with friends isn't as much fun as it used to be, because I catch myself just tuning out because of the frustration trying to follow the whole conversation (depending on where we are and background noise involved). And I'm not as chatty on dive boats as I used to be, no doubt some are glad of that. LOL

 

[Gedas]

I had an inner ear damage and lost some high frequency hearing 30db at 4 khz and 25db at 6 khz. The only feeling i noticed was an awful tinnitus. I was put on prednizone, trental and neurorubine, now after 12 days hearing is 90% back , tinnitus is very mild. Now continue on trental, neurorubine and will add vinpocetine. ENT told that treatment should always start immediately in a case of hearing lost. Hope this helps anyone.

 

[kernkamp150]

I have a similar story to all of you, expect my accident happened while freediving in early May 2016. I'm a healthy 35 year old with no prior issues with hearing at all. I did 1-week of freediving in Bonaire during May 1-9th. I apparently forced my equalization too hard and one day I noticed muffled hearing and slight tinnitus. I just thought I had water in my ear or something and that it would clear up eventually. It never did and I kept freediving, often to depths of 100+ feet for 2 minutes at a time. The only thing I can think is that I forced the equalization a few times... also I was wearing a hood and it is possible that there was air trapped in the hood (always punch a small hole in hoods). In any case, I immediately saw an ENT when I got back to Michigan. Same story, I had hearing loss in my left ear only. Anything above 5,000hz was very hard to hear. Right ear was perfectly fine. At first my only symptoms were the hearing loss. But soon the tinnitus came on.... then got progressively worse. Then I started to feel dizzy sometimes, even when I was sitting still. Then I became very sensitive to loud noises. Anything loud would pretty much make me dizzy and nauseous. Right now i'm avoiding loud places like restaurants. Noises like plastic bags being crumpled and dishes clinking together make me crazy. I'm also very sensitive to pressure (think opening your window in a car). It's only been 3 weeks, but so far it hasn't gotten any better. This is very scary and I can only hope it gets better. My quality of life has suffered dramatically. It makes me want to avoid going out. As far as what's wrong, my eardrum is fine, so it's something in the middle ear. Not sure if partial tear or complete blowout of round window.... i don't think so because i never really became dizzy or anything when i was diving. My best guess is that i maybe have a slight tear of the vestibule. Or, just some form of general inner ear barotrauma. If my story resonates with anyone, please let me know. My family/friends have no idea what i'm going through and I feel like i'm suffering alone.

~ Brandon

Hey, your symptoms describe what I have almost to a T. What is your status now and have you improved at all?