CI Implant and Tinnitus

In the beginning after my surgery the tinnitus I suffer from seemed to improve. I don't know if it's stress but now the tinnitus is bothering me again? Sometimes just wearing the implant helps, but other times it makes it worse? When I brought it up to the Audiologist, she didn't seem to know if the tinnitus would cause me to hear less through the implant? At times the tinnitus is distracting because of the perceived noise in my head. Real noise or not, it's there! Sometimes I find very few people can really relate to it, which kind of makes me feel alone with this problem, and makes me reluctant to talk about it? Personally I think when it does occur, it causes distraction of what I do hear?

Most of the time I do not notice my tinnitus, unless someone mentions tinnitus. Yes, CIs and HAs can help because they provide noise to our hearing nerve. It's thought that some tinnitus is caused by the brain making up noise it used to hearing.
Last year I had really bad tinnitus come and go. I do believe it affected my hearing, but since I live alone and the tinnitus usually appeared when I was alone (at home or in my car), I can't say for sure it affected my hearing. It would come and go, thankfully, but lasted several months. Eventually went away on its own.

Thank you for the encouragement, there is hope that it can get better? After the CI implant surgery, it seemed to improve for a while?. For me, stress has a way of making those noises louder and more intense, before and after the surgery, but if tinnitus is a perceived sound of the brain, then how can it have any affect on the volume of what goes on in our ears, unless our brains still control what we hear or think we hear?

stephaniep said:

Thank you for the encouragement, there is hope that it can get better? After the CI implant surgery, it seemed to improve for a while?. For me, stress has a way of making those noises louder and more intense, before and after the surgery, but if tinnitus is a perceived sound of the brain, then how can it have any affect on the volume of what goes on in our ears, unless our brains still control what we hear or think we hear?

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Yes, our brains are interpreting what we're hearing. With CIs, the processors are sending electrical signals to our ears. Our brains turn those sounds into what the sounds are entering the processor. An example. Soon after I got my first CI I had the kitchen faucet running. That sound was static/buzzing in my CI ear until I told my brain that it was water running. Instantly I heard the sound running water makes.

stephaniep said:

Thank you for the encouragement, there is hope that it can get better? After the CI implant surgery, it seemed to improve for a while?. For me, stress has a way of making those noises louder and more intense, before and after the surgery, but if tinnitus is a perceived sound of the brain, then how can it have any affect on the volume of what goes on in our ears, unless our brains still control what we hear or think we hear?

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I don't have CI, but had hearing aids in my 20's that no longer work for me (Late Deaf). I will never do CI my choice. But, stress and tinnitus go together from what I'veread as well as what other have said they noticed from e experience as well. I have tinnitus daily whether I'm around people or not, noisy or quiet environments. I supplement with zinc, vitamin d and magnesium and its lowers the sound of tinnitus. I have learned over time that low zinc, magnesium, and/or vitamin D causes my tinnitus to appear more. If you google this,(depending on your country and google feed you get) you will see more related topics! Rhodiola and Ginko are Herbs I use for stress, anxiety, depression in which also helps lessen the stress and sometimes helpful with tinnitus. I hope you find something helpful and some relief.