Non-stop ear-ringing for years - best option for checkup?

inxtrovert

After procrastinating for years I've decided it's finally time to get my ears looked at for what is presumably tinnitus.

I was looking at an audiology clinic in Dublin and they quoted me €100 for a hearing test and consultation with an audiologist.

Does this sound about right? Is there a better option I'm missing?

Most results in google seem to be shops that sell hearing aids, but I don't need a hearing aid and would prefer to be looked at by someone who doesn't have an incentive to make me buy something...

Any advice much appreciated.

carbsy

I've had severe tinnitus for over 20 years caused mainly by clubbing and dancing close to huge speakers. I've been through the mill with private hearing aid companies & our own HSE. The private hearing aids did work ( 5k per set so not cheap ) but when I took them out the ringing was worse than before I put them in. I stopped using them about 10 years ago. Maybe technology has changed since? I'd be interested too....

looksee

I have constant loud tinnitus, I also have hearing aids. I am not sure that one affects the other.

As consultations go, 100 is very reasonable. The general consensus seems to be there isn't much can be done about it, but certainly get it checked out.

the_syco

inxtrovert wrote: »

Most results in google seem to be shops that sell hearing aids, but I don't need a hearing aid and would prefer to be looked at by someone who doesn't have an incentive to make me buy something...

The ones that sell hearing aids would have equipment to detect what's wrong with your ears.

Check out Chime or Bonavox, or to a lesser extent, SpecSavers.

Wouldn't trust anyone who doesn't sell hearing aids to have the right equipment to test your hearing, tbh.

=-=

If all else fails, they may be able to tell you what frequency of white noise may assist you to sleep.

looksee wrote: »

I have constant loud tinnitus, I also have hearing aids. I am not sure that one affects the other.

From what I've read, tinnitus can happen when the brain makes noise when it can't hear anything; the hearing aid can assist with his, as it'll allow you to hear better and thus your brain doesn't make the noise. Although not always the case, the hearing aids can help you with it.

inxtrovert

Quick update, I went for this checkup recently with an audiologist and it was kind of a strange experience - both based on the general vibe and because of something they said:

When asked if I had any hearing loss, I mentioned (apart from the ringing) the only time I noticed any kind of impairment is when I put my wristwatch up to each ear, and it's noticeably harder to hear the ticking in one ear compared to the other - i.e. it seems slightly impaired in the higher frequencies.

They then tell me that a ticking wristwatch is low frequency, not high frequency. I was surprised to hear them say this as I've been involved in music production for a long time and I'm very aware of the difference. I thought maybe they misunderstood so made it clear it was a wristwatch and not a big wall clock or whatever, and the response was "Yep, low frequency".

For science (and because I just had to find out if I've been very, very wrong) I actually recorded my wristwatch using a mic and put it through audio-spectrum software to check the frequency, which put it at around 6300Hz.

From a quick google, it seems that some hearing tests check as far as 8000Hz - on that scale at least, 6300Hz is nowhere near low frequency...

I'm not an audiologist, though, so maybe the medical definition of high and low frequency is different than the musical one.

Can anyone in the know comment on this? Because it just seems like a bizarre statement and makes me question whether I can trust this person's judgement in general.

Eph1958

Hi, interesting situation. I am not an expert here but the idea of a ticking watch having any sound frequency at all is really odd. However old mechanical watches were sometimes said to have a beat referred sometimes as it's frequency. Normally this was 60 ticks per second, sometimes called 60 Hz. Higher quality watches with a "sweep" second hand ticked four times per second or 240 Hz. In sound (musical) terminology 60 Hz would be very low and even 240 Hz would still be considered within the "bass" range of sound. Perhaps there is a misunderstanding here of the exact meaning of the term frequency?
I have moderate hearing loss and constant tinnitus. It sounds like a pure tone ~6,000 Hz, slightly different in each ear. Above that range I hear little or nothing. It is only within silence that this becomes intrusive.

Just a thought,
Eph.

inxtrovert

Hello Eph1958.

By definition, any sound must have a frequency. In the context of my talking about hearing impairment in one ear, if the audiologist thought I was referring to the number of ticks per second as opposed to pitch, I would find that extremely strange. In any case, I don't think this is what happened here.

It's safe to say that I likely won't be returning to this person in future, I probably should have just went for the free test in specssavers and saved myself the money, but what can you do - thought I was paying for expertise.

Thanks for the response!

the_syco

inxtrovert wrote: »

It's safe to say that I likely won't be returning to this person in future, I probably should have just went for the free test in specssavers and saved myself the money, but what can you do - thought I was paying for expertise.

Perhaps check out Bonavox or Chime?