I thought everyone heard that D:

For more info check out these sites:

http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/

Http://WWW.ata.org

If you have tinnitus they have some great tips on maintaining your hearing. And if you don't, some insight on keeping it that way.

The same sort of thing happened to me! I've had tinnitus my whole life, but I didn't realize that I HAD tinnitus until about a year ago.

When you've always heard it you just assume that it's normal I guess.

That's too adorable. I have slight tinnitus because of not wearing ear plugs at a few too many shows, now I need to remember to take them with me so keep it from getting worse D:

I flunked a hearing test in elementary school because I couldn't differentiate between the tones I was supposed to identify and the tones I heard all the time.

This absolutely mirrors my experiences as well. When I was little I just assumed that's the way ears worked, but something must have Tinnitussed them up real good pretty early on.

Sure it wasn't the television tube or some other high frequency electrical device?

This is about the only thing my dad and Yuko have in common.

I didn't realize I had constant tinnitus until the last JW comic about Yuko's.
It's always worse when I'm actively thinking about it.

I know that feeling, Yuko.

One of my earliest memories was sitting in my bed before anyone else had woken up and hearing that hum and wondering what it was. I had to be around five. I didn't know it was tinnitus until I listened to a Skeptoid podcast about it.

I thought everyone heard it. O.O I used to think that's what people meant when they said silence was deafening!

that is a thing I have done. My ears are actually ringing so bad right now that I have been (futilely) turning up my music to drown it out. When I laughed and shared today's page with my husband... he gave me the same look as Yuko's mom, shook his head, and went back to his computer.

Little Yuko is just too cute XD

I was so confused as a child as to why no one else could hear it. My ears are actually ringing as I type this, oy. Poor sleep patterns as of late thus increased ringing.

So that's what that is. And here I just thought I was going crazy.

Ugh, I hate seeing MS pop up as a possible cause of things I have. I've been terrified of it since I did a project on the disease in fifth grade (when we picked diseases, I thought it would be neat because we share initials. Mom thought it was funny because we both get on people's last nerves. Ha. Ha.)

Anyway.

Tinnitus isn't as bad if you say it like you're the Diabetes guy.

You know who I'm talking about.

Diabeeetus.

When I was a little kid I thought I had the super power of hearing radiation. I thought I was listening to the leftover background radiation from the big bang!

"is that the planet moving" oh lawdy that's precious xD I never thought about the ringing like that, even as a kid.

Like many people, it was only recently that I realized I had tinnitus. I remember I used to get hearing tests done often as a kid, and as part of the test they'd put me in a soundproof booth and get me to press a button every time I heard a beep. Each beep would vary in tone and in volume, and sometimes they'd get real quiet. I always got confused and mistook the tinnitus for a quiet high-pitched beep, and I'd be pressing the button when nothing was actually there. The attendant would always look at me as if I were an idiot and chastise me with, "only when you hear the beep!" Yeesh! You think they would've caught on that I had tinnitus ><

I always hear a lil buzzing sound whenever it is dead silent. Is it related to my left ear being deaf? Hmm. I never knew what to call that.

I always thought it was the sound the TV made when you turned it off.

AAAAAGHHH!!

I like to believe that you are one of the few hundreds who can actually hear the residual echos from the Big Bang.

I've developed tinitus in recent years. Not so much that it causes me to loose sleep (apart from that one night where it was so bad I started crying from distress) - I've started turning down my television to near mute levels and staying well clear of all my musical instruments (which are all very loud electronic synthesizers).

I just don't want any kind of hearing loss. :c

i started getting the buzzy sound in my ears at night in 10th grade. headphones i suppose. because of your last comic on tinitus, i know what it is, so thanks, :P

Y'know, I always thought knowledge of tinnitus was a common thing. Everyone I've ever talked to has known what "ringing in the ears" was. It's weird to encounter all these testaments of people having no idea.

Also, if you get real quiet just about everyone can hear SOMEthing. Sometimes it's just your brain making noise to fill the gap - phantom noise if you will. Tinnitus is only a medical problem if it interferes with your life. It can get bad enough to drive a person bonkers, but that's pretty rare.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

It's that white noise that keeps one up at night, that sound in the back of your head.
So many mysteries. So many miseries.

And thats why I can't sleep without the fan running at night - otherwise the ringing keeps me up.

As a child I thought I could just hear all the electricity in the air.

What if Yuko's tinnitus is a unique ability to hear the fangirl squees of JW fans? Because I made a rather high pitched "eeee" sound yesterday when I received my copy of JW vol. 3! XD

But in all seriousness, thanks for explaining tinnitus and hope all is well :)

So that's the name of this obnoxious ringing sound, uh?

I knew it was something related to hearing too many loud sounds but since I've had it since I was very young (p-much like Yuko) I figured it was a normal thing...

I thought this was gonna be something though-provoking and sweet and it turns out it's just tinnitus.

Thank you for pulling the rug out from under me with that, baby Yuko.

Lot's of ear issues as a child, many surgeries, tubes, adenoid removal... Wasn't the loudest kid when I was young but distinctly remember my frustrated mother one day asking:

"Do you know what quiet sounds like?"

"Peaceful but with that low buzzing noise that you hear all the time"

Wasn't until years later learning about tinnitus where I finally understood that puzzled look she gave me.

For those of you blessed with not being able to hear it... Describe it like this

"Do you remember those hearing tests in school when you were young, they put headphones on you and made you raise a hand for which side the tone was coming from? That tone, constantly when it's quiet. I used to not be able to hear the lowest tones on that spectrum because I would lose it in the buzzing of the tinnitus"

I've come to terms with it, just always have something on that makes a low, low noise. Because if you put me in a dead quiet room I've got about 10 minutes before it becomes unbearable.

My mom gave me that same look. I was probably in kindergarten when I asked my mom what that buzzing noise was that I heard all the time. She said that maybe I could hear the fax machine in my neighbor's house. I'm happy that this is not an unusual thing.

Somehow the sound isn't as bad if I think of it as the music of the spheres.

I normally have the radio on very low overnight to help sleep through it.

I always thought that I was just hearing the electricity buzzing through the house. I can hear the TV when it's on, and tinnitus sounds just like that.

nooooope. *sigh*. I wonder what complete silence is like...

If you try and listen to it when it happens, it drags out a lot longer.

I have tinnitus so bad I can hear it clearly over the computer, two monitors and a humidifier.

It's probably genetic from how bad my dad's hearing is, but I like your explanation better, Yuko :)

On mother's side, both of my grandparents are deaf, and my mom as well. They all have hearing aids, and when something goes a little wrong they make a high pitched ringing sound (audible to everyone), but all they have to do to stop it is turn the volume down. It's a tiny little dial on the hearing-aid.

I have on-and-off tinnitus, from a slight hearing loss of my own, and when I was a little kid and had no idea what it was, I just assumed it was the same thing that was happening to my grandparents/mother. So whenever I heard it, I would put my hand up to my ear and move my fingers as though I were turning the volume down. Eventually it would fade away, so...I assumed it was working. Years later, as well, I found out that was untrue xD

This fills me with a deep sorrow.

I have something similar to tinnitus but not quite.. I only hear a buzzing/static when LOUD noises occur. Like at concerts with all the cheering, etc, I'll hear a staticky noise in my left ear but once it quiets down, it goes away. As far as I know there's no name for this but does anyone else have this?