Anyone with tinnitus or hearing loss who is into "high-end" audio?

Mine is like the old fly back transformer whine in tube TVs. 

That's just what mine sounds like.   And having sensitive hearing I've always been able to hear that high pitch from a CRT TV immediately if one is in the vicinity.  Like, as soon as I'd walk in to someone's house, or in to a store, even if the sound was off that transformer whine was blazingly obvious to me.


BTW, there was a good thread we did when another member complained of hearing sensitivity, likely hyperacusis.


I had a wicked flair-up of my hyperacusis due to having an air-show - various jets - flying low overhead, and I've been treated for over a year now.  I was given tiny hearing-aid type devices that don't amplify sound but instead push a carefully modulated type of white noise in to my ears all day long to re-orient my auditory system.  Seems to have worked pretty well so far as most of my hyperacusis is gone.  (And of course I take them out to listen to music.  With the devices out my hearing is as good as ever).

pfeiffer,

I have had bad tinnitus since the 90’s. It waxes and wanes in intensity (or how aware I am of it). I’ve also struggled with bouts of hyperacusis - hearing sensitivity where sounds can hurt the ears - which is frankly much worse when it comes to this hobby than tinnitus.
My experience: The tinnitus very, very rarely ever affects my listening.When it’s really bad, again this is rare, it can be loud enough to "ride over" the music so I hear it while listening. In such cases if I can’t ignore it, I would just retire from listening that night. But..again...super rare.Otherwise it doesn’t affect my listening or the sound quality at all.

When my hyperacusis flairs up - which has been very rare over the years EXCEPT that I had a recent bad flair up that I’m having treated - it could make the sound of my system too painful to listen to. That was the most disheartening.

In both cases what I’ve learned over the years, at least for me, is that not succumbing to the issues works best. That is: if I notice my tinnitus seems louder one day I don’t really change what I’m doing, I just go on (listening to music or whatever) and it fades in to the background soon enough, within a day or two. Concentrating on it or worrying or tip-toeing around it trying to find quiet doesn’t help, doesn’t make it go away any faster, so just "getting on with life" has been the best approach.

BTW, despite having tinnitus and sometimes hyperacusis, the upside is that I’ve been protecting my ears from loud exposure for so long I’ve avoided the hearing frequency damage that often comes with age or loud noise exposure. Audiologists always comment "I can’t believe your chart is this good, it’s like the hearing of someone 15 years younger or more!"

Ear plugs work!