Re: ears & more

[TritoneDW <TritoneDW@aol.com>]

<< do you hear a sound in your head? >>

Yes, and I've been meaning to look up some stuff on tinnitis, but I haven't
yet. I've got this VERY high pitched keening in my ears, which I think is
tinnitis. Here's the thing--I've had it for as long as I can remember, way
before I started to listen to loud music. I had a lot of ear infections as 
a
kid, so I think that's got something to do with it. It's really loud, when 
I'm
paying attention to it (it's always there). 

Now this is wierd: I can control the volume of my tinnitis. Whether I am
actually making it get louder/softer is probably impossible to say, but it
seems that I can actually control how loud the ringing is. Strange.

Here's another thing: I think having tinnitis for my whole life has made my
hearing much more acute. Obviously, my actual hearing is not as good as 
many
people, but my ability to listen actively is much greater--I'm really good 
at
musical dictation/transcription, etc. I've really had to learn to listen 
past
the ringing in my ears, so I find it easier to listen past other extraneous
noise. At least, that's how it seems. The flip side to this is that I find 
it
nearly impossible to truly "tune out" background music (non-musical noises
aren't such a problem). Elevators and grocery stores can be a living 
hell....

Ringingly,

Drew Wheeler