Louder tinnitus in one ear

[Red89]

I have been dealing with tinnitus for 2 months now. I have noticed that the tinnitus in my left ear is louder and has a different pitch. I wonder if this is common...I wanted to ask if this happens to you too?

[Happyrosie]

all us tinnitus sufferers experience tinnitus in different ways, which may change over time or indeed from moment to moment.

Just normal!

[Red89 in reply to Happyrosie]

So doesn't that mean hair cells in one ear are more damaged?

[Happyrosie in reply to Red89]

Not necessarily, or indeed possibly not at all.

[perlcoder]

Hello Red89,

As Happyrosie said, for many of us T is entirely unpredictable, and this is one of them. My T has its primary focus in my left ear, where my audiogram shows more hearing loss than the right. I have an aid + masker for that left ear. I wake in the morning with loud T in the left. I put in the aid and start the masker. Usually (only usually because nothing is predictable), after competing with the masker for a while, the T (somewhat reduced in volume), switches to my right ear - where it is as I type this.

[Kellythecat-74 in reply to perlcoder]

what happens if you wear both HAs at the same time ?

[perlcoder in reply to Kellythecat-74]

Hello,

I have only had one proper audiogram, which was back in 2017 when my left ear HA was prescribed and supplied on the NHS. That did not show sufficient loss in my right ear to need an aid. This remained true on a brief local test in 2021. I think that both ears have deteriorated, and in any case the left ear HA is now old and due for replacement even on NHS policy. I have self-referred and had the initial technician appointment to check for wax and the functioning of the aid. She was able to increase the gain by 3dB, which is all she is permitted. I am not waiting for an audiology appointment, which may be months away. In the meantime I may get a private test and consider other options, but I saw no reason not at least to take advantage of what the NHS currently has to offer.

[Red89]

Yes but I don't have hearing loss. But it doesn't matter right?

[perlcoder]

I am not medically qualified, nor am I any kind of expert, but personally, I don't think it matters.

One factor, which may or may not be present in your case, it that there can be hearing loss in high frequencies that are not the subject of an ordinary audiogram, but which can be relevant to T.

Even when there is no disparity at all between the ears, the character of any one person's T is affected by other complex factors in the auditory pathway, which are known to exist but whose effects in a given person are currently entirely unpredictable.

[Red89]

High frequencies you mean above 8000hz right?

[perlcoder]

Yes.

Again, emphasising that I am no expert, but ISTR that Ben Thompson of "Treble Health" has covered it, maybe more than once, on his YouTube channel. He puts out a lot of content and i don't have time to search thoroughly there just now.

[Red89 in reply to perlcoder]

Ok thanks

[Graham-E]

Hello and sorry you have T. I’ve had it for 10 years and in the last say 5 years the noise feels all in the left side of my head. I also have worse hearing in my left ear. I want to run away with the idea that my hearing loss is making T focus that side. That might be true but there are people with T and poor hearing on one side that don’t experience this ‘one sided’ T.

All that to one side because the more I think about it the more I focus on it and it seems louder. The solution at the moment is to alter the volumes in each ear of my NHS HAs.

Generally this compensation helps my T.

Sorry the short answer is ‘yes’ I have one side T.

Best G

[rogerctyler]

Yes, my ears are exactly the same. I am almost deaf in my left ear. I have had tinnitus since the mid eighties. You just learn to live with it.

[bantams]

Hi, When my T started over 4 years ago it was just in my left ear and I had a CT scan on my brain to check for anything that could be causing my T, thankfully everything was normal.

Then after about 1 year my T started in my right ear, now my T is a higher pitched sound in my left ear than in my right ear.

[Fridays_Child_62]

Mine is louder on the left side and and started on the left many years ago. And I think it is common for people to have tinnitus with multiple tones as well as lifelike sounds such as an electric fan sound. If your tinnitus is largely one-sided, these days the doctors generally send you for an MRI scan to detect the possibility of an acoustic neuroma, but the likelihood of having one is very low and it is done as a precaution.

[Muleskinner]

Mine is louder and mild hypercausis in the left ear but according to the the tests hearing loss is worse in the right!

Personally I don't think there's any physical correlation, Tinnitus is your brain getting confused and playing tricks on you.

[Kellythecat-74]

I have one sided T at quite a high tone and sometimes, it does seems as if the other ear has a similar tone . I just think it acts like an echo. If I take out my earphone ,then I can tell its only the one ear.

[Janeames]

Exactly like mine. Only ringing in left ear.

[wednesday]

I have had tinnitus for many years, the left ear being the loudest and most intrusive. The right ear is not as bad but a different noise than the left and sometimes I hear what seem like people talking. I guess we all have different experiences with tinnitus.

[Red89 in reply to wednesday]

Thanks for the respond. It gives me relief to know that because for every change I notice I blame myself. Do you know the cause of your tinnitus?

[wednesday]

I don't know really but I started with under active thyroid just prior and also Raynauds so it could be an autoimmune thing. I now wear hearing aids as it caused hearing loss. I did have a perforated eardrum years ago so maybe that had something to do with it. My tinnitus is constant and it has got worse but I try to cope with it, I find it gets worse if I'm stressed. Good luck