5 ms·

Wait, you thought a persistent ringing noise in ears is a normal human trait?

toomanybeersies 8y ago
I guess so? My father has it too (and my grandfather had shit hearing), so I think it's in part hereditary. Years of construction work with power tools and target shooting (often without hearing protection) hasn't helped though. I've had tinnitus since as long as I can remember. It doesn't bother me, I usually don't even notice it unless I'm specifically thinking about it. I've had it so long that I don't actually have a baseline of what true silence is, my brain usually just filters it out (although depressive episodes and drinking often bring it out). I've read stories about people who've been driven mad by their tinnitus. Thankfully it barely affects my life. Like, now that I'm thinking about it, I can hear it above everything, but when I wake up in the morning I'll forget I have it.
- overcast 8y ago
  Spent many years of my youth chasing loud hardcore shows. I remember distinctly the show that left me with ringing for two weeks, that mercifully subsided. From then on I wear plugs, even when doing things like mowing the lawn. Protect your ears man.
- mikestew 8y ago
  Hey, me, too! Since I was way too young to attend my first rock show or hold an air tool. Doesn’t bother me a lick because, well, that’s apparently the way I was built. Like you, I don’t even notice unless I think about it. Can’t say about the rest of my family, never asked. I’ve always wanted to go to one of those acoustically-dead rooms, where you can hear the blood pumping through your veins. Or will I?
  - rootusrootus 8y ago
    Being in a room so quiet you can hear your own bloodflow drives me insane. It gets louder, and louder, and louder ... Give me just a bit of actual noise to hear, please and thank you.
Raphmedia 8y ago
Also having tinnitus since birth (or very young age), it's the kind of thing you don't question. Similar to how some people in need of glasses never go to the optometrist because they think that seeing blurry is normal. Or colorblind individuals that are not aware that not everyone sees life in two colors. I also had floaters in my visions for ages before being told that not everyone has those... and visual snow / static even in daylight, which it turns out not everyone has. Damn, my body's sensors are so defective.
- overcast 8y ago
  Are we limiting this to early childhood before you know better? I can't see someone going through their life thinking they shouldn't be able to see properly, or have shit floating around in their eyes(I have had both since birth). I mean common sense says that's now how things are supposed to operate.
  - mikeash 8y ago
    How does common sense say that? Talking to other people about how they perceive the world is what would say that, but that doesn’t necessarily happen.
  - sp332 8y ago
    If it happens gradually you might not notice until it's really bad. I know someone who got new [+] corneas and cried when they realized they could see individual pine needles on trees. They'd just forgotten that that was a normal thing they could do. [+] Well, slightly used lol
    - northwest65 8y ago
      I can definitely relate to that; after laser surgery (and I mean literally minutes after) I could see the wood grain on the window sill in the darkened room they put me in post op. On the drive home I could see leaves on the trees in the most fabulous definition. I knew my vision was rubbish, but to have it hammered home so starkly was literally eye opening. I marvel at it to this day and I advocate for people getting laser surgery so enthusiastically you'd think I was on their payroll.
mbrameld 8y ago
Wait, you think if you had been born with tinnitus you would have just intuited the fact that it wasn't normal and others couldn't hear it? I don't think you put a lot of thought into your response.
- overcast 8y ago
  I think most people have enough intelligence to realize something is wrong. Why go to the doctors at all then? Surely my problems must be normal for humans. Sure, as a young child you'd not think about it. But as an adult, you're telling me you wouldn't question that? Come on.
  - Raphmedia 8y ago
    Sure, perhaps if you tinnitus is the sound of a plane landing. But for a faint constant tone that your brain filters out unless you are in total silence? Why go to the doctor at all?
  - Barrin92 8y ago
    >Why go to the doctors at all then? Many people do in fact not seek medical attention for problems they have had for very long amounts of time. People are quite adaptable. If you have grown up with some peculiar trait that nobody else has it is not so easy to notice that something is off as we learn to work around it seamlessly, the same is often true in people who suffer from depression, it can be easy to just accept it as the normal state of affairs. I also doubt that this is related to intelligence. On the contrary, it often seems that people with high aptitude have a particular talent for rationalising conditions that set them apart from others. This, for example, shows up in certain political biases, where higher education among some groups correlates with worse understanding about facts. (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/14/upshot/climate-change-by-education.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/14/upshot/climat...)

I guess so? My father has it too (and my grandfather had shit hearing), so I think it's in part hereditary. Years of construction work with power tools and target shooting (often without hearing protection) hasn't helped though. I've had tinnitus since as long as I can remember. It doesn't bother me, I usually don't even notice it unless I'm specifically thinking about it. I've had it so long that I don't actually have a baseline of what true silence is, my brain usually just filters it out (although depressive episodes and drinking often bring it out). I've read stories about people who've been driven mad by their tinnitus. Thankfully it barely affects my life. Like, now that I'm thinking about it, I can hear it above everything, but when I wake up in the morning I'll forget I have it.

overcast 8y ago
Spent many years of my youth chasing loud hardcore shows. I remember distinctly the show that left me with ringing for two weeks, that mercifully subsided. From then on I wear plugs, even when doing things like mowing the lawn. Protect your ears man.
mikestew 8y ago
Hey, me, too! Since I was way too young to attend my first rock show or hold an air tool. Doesn’t bother me a lick because, well, that’s apparently the way I was built. Like you, I don’t even notice unless I think about it. Can’t say about the rest of my family, never asked. I’ve always wanted to go to one of those acoustically-dead rooms, where you can hear the blood pumping through your veins. Or will I?
- rootusrootus 8y ago
  Being in a room so quiet you can hear your own bloodflow drives me insane. It gets louder, and louder, and louder ... Give me just a bit of actual noise to hear, please and thank you.

Raphmedia 8y ago

Also having tinnitus since birth (or very young age), it's the kind of thing you don't question. Similar to how some people in need of glasses never go to the optometrist because they think that seeing blurry is normal. Or colorblind individuals that are not aware that not everyone sees life in two colors. I also had floaters in my visions for ages before being told that not everyone has those... and visual snow / static even in daylight, which it turns out not everyone has. Damn, my body's sensors are so defective.

overcast 8y ago
Are we limiting this to early childhood before you know better? I can't see someone going through their life thinking they shouldn't be able to see properly, or have shit floating around in their eyes(I have had both since birth). I mean common sense says that's now how things are supposed to operate.
- mikeash 8y ago
  How does common sense say that? Talking to other people about how they perceive the world is what would say that, but that doesn’t necessarily happen.
- sp332 8y ago
  If it happens gradually you might not notice until it's really bad. I know someone who got new [+] corneas and cried when they realized they could see individual pine needles on trees. They'd just forgotten that that was a normal thing they could do. [+] Well, slightly used lol
  - northwest65 8y ago
    I can definitely relate to that; after laser surgery (and I mean literally minutes after) I could see the wood grain on the window sill in the darkened room they put me in post op. On the drive home I could see leaves on the trees in the most fabulous definition. I knew my vision was rubbish, but to have it hammered home so starkly was literally eye opening. I marvel at it to this day and I advocate for people getting laser surgery so enthusiastically you'd think I was on their payroll.

mbrameld 8y ago

Wait, you think if you had been born with tinnitus you would have just intuited the fact that it wasn't normal and others couldn't hear it? I don't think you put a lot of thought into your response.

overcast 8y ago
I think most people have enough intelligence to realize something is wrong. Why go to the doctors at all then? Surely my problems must be normal for humans. Sure, as a young child you'd not think about it. But as an adult, you're telling me you wouldn't question that? Come on.
- Raphmedia 8y ago
  Sure, perhaps if you tinnitus is the sound of a plane landing. But for a faint constant tone that your brain filters out unless you are in total silence? Why go to the doctor at all?
- Barrin92 8y ago
  >Why go to the doctors at all then? Many people do in fact not seek medical attention for problems they have had for very long amounts of time. People are quite adaptable. If you have grown up with some peculiar trait that nobody else has it is not so easy to notice that something is off as we learn to work around it seamlessly, the same is often true in people who suffer from depression, it can be easy to just accept it as the normal state of affairs. I also doubt that this is related to intelligence. On the contrary, it often seems that people with high aptitude have a particular talent for rationalising conditions that set them apart from others. This, for example, shows up in certain political biases, where higher education among some groups correlates with worse understanding about facts. (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/14/upshot/climate-change-by-education.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/14/upshot/climat...)