Tinnitus sufferers

kipple

I am posting this as I would think there are probably some Tinnitus suffers here and my experience today might possibly help someone else who has Tinnitus.

I have had Tinnitus For about 12 years and it is as a result of Exposure to numerous stupidly loud Marshall stacks and boogies over a 40 year period of time. I have no one to blame but myself for that.
The Tinnitus has gradually gotten much worse over the 12 years that I have had it.

When I first experienced it the Tinnitus would be masked by the slightest background noise and when the background noise was present the tinnitus would completely disappear and at first I could only really notice the tinnitus in total silence .
That gradually changed as time went on and I am now finding that even when I have the television up full blast I still have a massive ringing noise in my ears. Nothing Masks the tinnitus anymore and it is there full tilt 24/7.

I also suffer from hearing loss when listening to more than one sound source when in conversation and an example of how the hearing loss presents itself is if I am in conversation with say three people with the TV on in the room at the same time and typically this results in me not being able to tell the difference between someone saying Hayley or kayleigh they just sound exactly the same . its fing murder when loads of people are talking as I cannot tell what people are saying. talking to one person is not a problem it is just when there are a few people.
The real pain in the arse though is the Tinnitus...

So...I went to get my hearing tested today in a private clinic and I should add that I only agreed to the hearing test as the Hearing aids were offered to me completely free of charge and I was told I could pick any model I liked for free.

The hearing test results showed my hearing is damaged right across the range but it is much worse in the treble frequencies.

The Audiologist showed me a range of hearing aids and then programmed the set of hearing aids through a device that connected the hearing aids to the Laptop.
The hearing aids were programmed to compensate for the results of my hearing test and as well as compensating for my hearing loss the hearing aids were also programmed to run a Tinnitus Masking sound and there were different sounds to choose from. After choosing one...then the audiologist let me demo the hearing aids right there and then.
The tinnitus Dissapeared .. It Totally Fing Amazed me  
 
Prior to the test I was very sceptical about hearing aids being able to offer any relief from tinnitus and I say again I only agreed to the test as the Hearing aids were offered to me completely free of charge prior to me agreeing to the test.
Needless to say I am having a set of the hearing aids in the next couple of days.

So If you suffer from bad Tinnitus this might give you some hope that there is a possible solution. 
   

boogieman

Interesting, but I have to say the sceptic in me is curious. Can I ask how you got these hearing aids for free? My understanding is that they can normally be quite expensive? 

kipple

boogieman said:

Interesting, but I have to say the sceptic in me is curious. Can I ask how you got these hearing aids for free? My understanding is that they can normally be quite expensive? 

It came about through a good friend of mine who is also one of my Business partners .My business partners Father in Law is an Audiologist and he owns a Couple of retail hearing aid outlets and a few Hearing aid clinics and about 10 weeks ago I started working one day a week in one of the Retail units and last week for the first time I worked directly with the owner and after a conversation with him the very generous offer was made to me.
I had been told awhile back by my business partner when I first started working there that the owner had said the aids were available to me but after having the conversation directly with the owner I decided to take the test.
 

stratman3142

Interesting, I didn't realise hearing aids could cancel Tinnitus. Having had it for years I've learned to live with it. But I will have to get some sort of hearing aid at some point I think (because my wife complains about the volume of the TV) so I'll bear this in mind.

Emp_Fab

What were the hearing aids / system called ?

thomasross20

+1 what are the details?

Chalky

The downside is wearing the hearing aids, taking them out at bedtime and the tinnitus is then very noticeable just when you are trying to relax and sleep?

kipple

Emp_Fab said:

What were the hearing aids / system called ?

The ones I am having are called Starkey Muse i1000
My understanding is that all the models in the starkey range are hearing aids and tinnitus masking devices combined.

Some of the other starkey models have other functions such as being able to stream the audio from a TV or other devices such as ipod iphone and the TV /ipod volume can be set at a completely different level to the conversation volume level and the hearing aids different volumes can be controlled from an app on the iphone or via a small controller or from the aids themselves.
You can have the TV set at a volume in the living room that is whisper quiet so it does not piss the family off but if needed it can be louder in the hearing aids but the conversation level in the aids can be at a different level. so the TV or ipod volume level is being streamed but the conversation is direct from the aids and if you want to turn the TV up or down in your ear but leave the conversation level intact it can all be controlled.
I didn't ask for a set of those as I thought it might be misconstrude as me taking the piss...although I would of liked a set.

kipple

Chalky said:

The downside is wearing the hearing aids, taking them out at bedtime and the tinnitus is then very noticeable just when you are trying to relax and sleep?

I will not be wearing the ones I am having at night but there are various models that can sit fully in the ear canal and can be worn at night time and they are custom built from molds that are taken of the ear canal.
 
But I think you are right if they are taken out at night it will no doubt create a contrast and when they were demoed to me I was actually quite suprised at how noticable my tinnitus was when I took the aids back out .but ...in my situation the Tinnitus is already very noticable when I am ready to sleep but I am fortunate that I don't get any problems sleeping because of the tinnitus. . when I'm tired I can sleep anywhere even when noise is present.
The tinnitus is way more annoying to me when I am awake .
The tinnitus is one part of the problem for me but the hearing loss is also an issue for me so I would be daft not to try them for free.
Even though they are free to me.. the company my boss gets them from gives a 30 day money back guarantee so if they don't work out for me I will just give them back and then my boss can return them to the company he gets them from but I am definitely going to give them a fair trial. 

Lodious

Very interested....how much are they?

boogieman

Lodious said:

Very interested....how much are they?

A bit of googling says those particular ones are £600 each or £1100 a pair. Actually quite reasonable for hearing aids. 

kipple

boogieman said:

Lodious said:

Very interested....how much are they?

A bit of googling says those particular ones are £600 each or £1100 a pair. Actually quite reasonable for hearing aids. 

The Starkey Muse hearing aids are a range of products and there is more than one version of the Muse and pricing starts at around £1100 for a pair and prices go up to around £5000 for a pair not including accessories such as the streaming devices

Pricing depends on whether the Hearing aids are 
Receiver in the canal RIC
Completely in the canal CIC
Behind the Ear BTE
In the Canal ITC
In the ear ITE

Haych

Interesting!

I've had tinnitus now for close to 20 years after going to see a mate's band.  The morning after ringing has never gone away.  In recent years I also get an intermittent drone in my right ear too, I find it's triggered by similar droning noises, long car journeys and diesel engines, that kind of thing.

I find that my hearing is generally 'OK' although nowhere near as good as it used to be.  Holding a conversation in a busy pub is a nightmare as the background din makes it very hard for me to understand what somebody stood right next to me is saying.  Interestingly I found that wearing my ER-15s (that I only got AFTER I developed tinnitus) in this situation helps massively and enables me to hear individual voices much more easily out of the rest of the hustle and bustle that's happening around me even though the conversation is quieter.

I find alcohol makes my tinnitus worse, as does high sound pressure, obviously, but I always take plugs if I anticipate being in that kind of situation.

Falling asleep now is really easy as I've always got white noise, it rarely bothers me while I'm in bed. 

A very interesting and useful thread though, I think hearing aids have come a long way recently and I do anticipate that one day I will need a pair myself.