h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why do people hear ringing in their ears? You know that high pitched sound that comes out of the blue when you least expect it. It irritates me. Is there some scientific reason? The wives/folk tales said someone was talking about you when your ears ring. Tell me........my fellow researchers. Give me some insight. Thanks
Hoppa

Are you on about the sudden bursts of 'ringing' that start for no apparent reason and then stop after a minute or two? Or are you on about the kind that is always there, but is more noticeable when it's quiet?

I don't know what causes the first kind, but the second kind is called tinnitus. It's a recognised condition and is currently untreatable. I suffer from a mild kind that is faint and high-pitched, and isn't noticeable most of the time. However, some people suffer from it so badly that it intrudes into their everyday lives. Causes vary - I can't figure out when or how mine started - but can include over-exposure to loud noises, e.g., disco every night.

Sometimes electrical equipment gives off a high pitched whine, I can hear it through walls no bother....
BCNU - Crescent

Yes, that can be another problem. When our video is 'off' (actually, it's on standby, waiting for someone to do something), it sometimes gives off a faint, high-pitched whine. This gets annoying after a while, but can be stopped by turning the video 'on', then 'off' again.

I can nearly always hear when there's a tv or monitor in the room...

If you are talking about tinnitus, a constant ring in the ears. The condition is most often caused by exposure to loud noises, which can damage the microscopic nerve endings in the inner ear, according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology. But tinnitus can also result from allergies, medication and (in rare cases) brain tumors (not that I am trying to scare you). There are treatments.

Or you may just be senitive to high pitch noise that almost all electronic equipment produce.

You could be turning into Noddy

Those of us with exceptional hearing in the higher ranges can be plagued with all sorts of ringing they must tune out. I know Joanna is a musician, and so am I. I hear flourescent and some other lights, computer monitors, televisions, VCRs, alarm clocks, and most radios whining. These devices are theoretically designed not to produce such sounds, but the standards are unfortunately rather low. There's really not much you can do about it...

Wow! This is sure cool to be able to ask anything and get so many replies. Thank you. The kind that plagues me is the high pitch that happens without the light voltage noise. It just happens for a few moments just enough to irritate you. No one else can hear just me. Inside my own head!!!!! ARGGGGG I hear ringing that only I can hear. lol
Mostly when it is quiet, or little noise. I sound like a freak when you type it out. At least I don't hear voices! Not always anyway. Just my subconscious rationalizing
I have good hearing, I can hear very faint sounds and of course high pitched voltage. Etc.
Hoppa

I believe I suffer from Tinnitis; I once heard the end of a fascinating radio programme talking about this topic (someone'd even recorded the sounds from a sufferer that were loud enough to be heard by someone else...). According to this show, a brain chemical-imbalance causes the sounds, which can appear out of nowhere and vanish again, with varying levels of intensity.

The kind I get is usually sharp at the start and then it fades away. Only once did the sound stick around for hours and I started to worry a bit...then it left. Pain in the ears, actually.

Fruitbat

Hmm! I'd never thought about the sudden, comparatively short bursts being tinnitus, too. I suppose they must be, just temporary rather than permanent.

Comedian Billy Connolly did a program where he spent some time alone in the Arctic (apart from occasional visits from a film crew). It's very quiet up there, and he noticed a faint ringing in his ears that he said he would have a doctor check out. It was round that time (i.e., when the program was first shown) that I accepted that maybe the ringing in my ears shouldn't be there. However, it is very faint, I can ignore it most of the time, it doesn't bother me, so I probably won't do anything about it.

I think most of these strange internal sounds can be labelled tinnitus, but I do recognise those short, high pitched bursts and they're of a completely different character to the constant background noise type of tinnitus. I associate the short bursts with stuffed up noses, colds, hay fever or air travel - anything that upsets the balance of pressure in your ears. The short bursts tend to last only a few seconds, have a constant pitch but varying volume and when it stops, the stuffiness and ear pressure feel better.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm Very interesting!!!!!
Now I am listening to the hum of my computer. I wonder if I will notice the ring in my ears more often, now that we are analyzing what we are hearing. I can't remember much more about it. Good thing! That means is hasn't happened today. It is hard to describe hearing. Never thought about it. Good points in this forum. I never thought about the nasal congestion and ear pressure resulting in the high pitch ringing. It makes sense!
Hoppa

I have tinnitus badly tonight, literally feels like a lazer cutting into my ears, with a very high pitched tone, with a slight pulse....it is as loud as a loud T.V and making me walk from room to room....I can't concentrate...T.V and reading is immpossible, it is 24 hours a day, and can affect marriges, work,etc. I simply can not explain what it is like...it is spoiling my xmas...can't watch special programmes I love.
Started feom a bad sore throat 2 months ago..am awaiting an E.N.T appointment, and taking serc-8 tablets to get rid of it...if it never goes away, then i just don't know what I will do!!

Poor you.
I've got a bit of tinnitus stemming from a blocked ear. Daily olive oil for a week has pretty much cleared it, but the whistling remains. Once you notice it, it's hard to ignore.

Anyone know why my ear blocks up again overnight?

Can't answer that accurately...but a guess would be the olive oil ''pools'' in you ears overnight....giving a blocked feeling.

....some more agressive things like Otex ear drops, can't be used if you have tinnitus....also, using cottonbuds can scratch inner ear, causing Tinnitus.

Check this out for a good diagram and description of the ear. http://www.earaces.com/anatomy.htm#Organ%20of%20Corti:2

Re cotton buds. I was always told never to push anything smaller than your big toe into your ear!

turvy

...I was told it was nothing smaller than your elbow, lol.

....going back to my doctor again tomorrow, tablets arn't working, and I can't even listen to christmas music in Sainsburys without ears hurt.....don't know what to do if Carol singers come round...shall I ask for Silent Night, or ear plugs?

...after 8 days I went on Stemetil tablets 2 tablets 3 times a day as I was shaking, eyes flickering, half closed in light and feeling sick as room seemed to be turning...I simply had had enough....and the noise in ears was like sharp lazer sounds, REALLY loud too! Told doctor I had as much as I could take....people were looking at me in the doctors waiting room like I was dieing or something. Seems I have Labyrinthitus really badly, which causes Vertigo and Tinitus. A vestibular dysfunction it's called, lol!

Poor you, that's horrid. Hope you get better soon.