Tinnitus

I swear my tinnitus is a result of use of AirPods.

I never wore any type of earphones ever. Then started using AirPods for calls, during workouts or on a plane. A year later I developed tinnitus and the only thing that changed in my life was wearing AirPods.

I’m no doctor, and who knows what caused my tinnitus. But it’s irreversible. I constantly hear a humming ring now and it’s super distracting, especially trying to go to bed.

I’m no doctor. But heads up for those who haven’t used inner ear headphones.

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yesitcan 16 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You forgot to mention the part where this happened recently. You’ll habituate soon and forget about it.

Source: got bad tinnitus from motorcycling, became depressed with suicidal ideation and then got over it.

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alberth 15 hours ago | parent [-]

Happened 4-years ago.

I still notice it every night at bed. Or anytime it’s quiet.

I try not to think about it, because I feel like it gets amplified when I do.

But it’s daily for the last 4-years :(

Hope you’re ok now. Please see someone if you’re not.

	▲	microtonal 7 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I know that these things can be bad, but it gets better. I have had some form of tinnitus since I was a kid. I never realized this until I talked to my wife one day and she says that no, she doesn't have a persistent beep that she can tune into. It may have been caught be ear infections when I was a kid. I also had eardrum tubes as a kid, twice. I don't notice it during the day or at night, though I can tune into it (like, when typing this I hear it). It's only more noticeable when I'm very tired or have a fever. I think the brain learns to ignore/block the signal, similar to how you can be aware of breathing or hearing your heart beat, but you don't hear it all day because your brain will just not attend to it.
	▲	hbcdbff 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I became profoundly deaf in one ear as a teenager. I suffered with tinnitus for several years. I don’t notice it at all now. It’s possible it’s still there, but I never think about it. It’ll probably happen to you too at some point. It can’t be forced though, unfortunately.

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microtonal 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I swear my tinnitus is a result of use of AirPods.

This comes up every now and then, similarly people say it is caused by noise cancellation. I have looked into this once out of interest, but there doesn't seem to be much scientific evidence for this. Unless you put them at a far too loud volume of course (or presumably block your ear canal all the time and it causes infections).

A high percentage of the western population switched to noise cancelling headphones and earbuds the last ten years or so. There is also a base rate of developing tinnitus in the population. So, it is more likely to just be a coincidence.

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wolvoleo 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Hearing damage causing (eventually) tinnitus is cumulative so it could well have been that you were already building it up.

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teruakohatu 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I swear my tinnitus is a result of use of AirPods.

Have you had your hearing checked out by an audiologist? Any hearing loss?

Hearing loss (age) and damage (loud noise) are the most likely culprits.

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alberth 15 hours ago | parent [-]

Yes. Checked out twice.

No hearing loss at all.

My hearing is actually better than age appropriate, so the doctors say I’ll just have to live with it because they can’t detect it.

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danaris 9 hours ago | parent [-]

You should look into notch therapy apps—I have some very mild tinnitus that flared up into moderate tinnitus for a couple of months last year, so I was looking for options and found that there were some that looked promising.

	▲	tentacleuno 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		What was your experience with them?

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Mc_Big_G 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I've been wearing Airpod Pro 2s for 5 years and had no increase in my tinnitus (caused by many years of playing guitar and drums). I only wore Airpod Pro 3s for 3 days and my tinnitus increased by 3-5x. Thankfully, it went back to normal or almost normal after a few weeks. I now have a brand new pair of airpods I can't use.

Googling reveals others with the same issue with Airpod Pro 3s.