Nyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Just kidding.
I have noticed that there is a ringing in my ears that can be quite pronounced, but it seems like I only experience it in certain acoustical environments. Small places with no reverberation seem to produce the most ringing. Think of a phone booth lined with acoustic insulation inside and out.
The ringing I would describe as constant (unwavering, not pulsating), very high pitched, and kind of metallic/electronic sounding.
Also, I noticed abrupt changes from a live acoustic (lots of reverb) to a dry one (no reverb) seems to increase the effect.
One last note- it rarely occurs outdoors, the acoustic, though not live, usually is still slightly reverberant, or maybe not ‘sealed off’ enough (or something). However, I remember hearing it at the rim of the Grand Canyon, hardly a closed space. I’m thinking it has to do with the lack of aural stimulus compared to expected aural stimulus or something.
Another last note- it doesn’t happen (or I don’t notice, which I would count as ‘not happening’) if there is a significant amount of sound in the air. This seems significant and this effect is pronounced.
So anyway that’s the best I can describe my ‘condition’. It is in no way debilitating, sometimes slightly irritating, giving me a claustrophobic, 'boxed in" feeling. Does this bear the trademarks of Tinitus? Does the symptoms sound like Tinitus?
I’m not a doctor, but in my not-so-professional opinion: I don’t think so.
Tinnitus is a constant ringing in one’s hear, and can never be shut off - which is possibly enough to drive someone bat crazy.
I hear what you hear as well - the ringing sound one hear’s when in a very quiet room, such as an anechoic chamber. Accompanied with a hemmed-in feeling. Odd, but since it goes away when I hear sound, I don’t worry about it.
Again, IANAD, but I do have moderate tinnitus. What you have sounds like it to me. I almost never hear my tinnitus unless I think about it. Your brain has the ability to “switch off” sounds / inputs that are not important and I suspect that you just aren’t hearing it in the noisier environments.
Try this: in one of the areas where you DON’T normally hear it, try concentrating on it and TRY to hear it. I suspect that you will be able to hear it when you try.
From my own personal experience I would say yes. I have always had what you describe, only noticeable in generally quiet environments. More recently it got much worse in one ear.
You know, honestly, I HAVE tried this, in many different situations- and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Try as I might, I cannot detect it. It MAY be just buried under ambient noise as you say, though.
I even have gone in and out of a room where I heard it, to try and mentally ‘hang on’ to it, to see if I could sustain it in another environment. I couldn’t.
If you are hearing a sound not from an external source, it is by definition, tinnitus.
The remaining possibility is that you have highly sensitive hearing and are perceiving a pitch from an external source not ordinarily perceived by others.
There are rare disorders in which the sound being perceived is from the person’s body (I can think of a carotid glomus abnormality, for example) but these are not typically described as high-pitched.
Embedded alien devices are a more remote possibility…
ETA: I sort of think everyone gets a teeny tiny background sensation when there is absolute silence…while that’s technically tinnitus I suppose, I don’t consider it pathologic. Just background zinging of nerve fibers…
I have had Tinnitus for more or less 50 years. You just learn to live with it. It is less when there are other noises around, but at night when it is quiet, it is worse. Just learn to live with it.
An audiologist visit may be in order if this is something that becomes more frequent or more noticeable. Like LSLGuy I did experience that effect intermittently before the measurable hearing loss and continuoue tinnitus kicked in.
Major second to that - do what it takes to visit an audiologist. If it is tinnitus, there may not be much they can do to help, but there may be advice they can give to keep it from getting worse.
Eeeyep, that sounds like my tinnitus - much less noticeable in noisy environments, present in quiet ones.
I’ve had it so long (at least since I was too young to remember not having it) it doesn’t bother me, but it’s always there, and used to be lesser, too.
