People have successfully found the cause of their tinnitus but usually
that is objective tinnitus -- tinnitus that is an actual (not phantom)
sound.  Since tinnitus can be a side effect of many drugs, stopping
the drug can stop the tinnitus, too, but it is hard to simply isolate
the cause of tinnitus like you would evaluate other symptoms to
diagnose a disease because tinnitus is a symptom of so many
conditions.

Most of us notice that our tinnitus changes in intensity and even the
nature of the sound throughout the day or other periods of time.  You
are noticing this more because you are concentrating on listening to
it.  I do that, too once in awhile, but not from the standpoint that
the sound is annoying to me.  I do it to just listen and accept it.  I
have no expectation that it will go away and no intent to let it
bother me.  There is no reason to expect that the variations you are
noticing in sound will lead to determing what will stop the sounds or
what causes them.

What I would suggest, though, is that you go to an ENT or
neurotologist that has an understanding of tinnitus for an evaluation
of your hearing and a physcial examination of your ears.  When you
call to make the appointment, ask what their protocol is regarding
early treatment of tinnitus.  If they don't have a comprehensive
answer, call someone else.  There are a few things that can be tried
when the tinnitus is new that might give you relief and are worth
trying if you are in the early stages.

Let us know how it goes,
Terri

http://pub219.ezboard.com/btinnitusactivismandsupport

rakon <rakon107@newsguy.com> wrote in part:

These are all pretty typical for people with tinnitus.

Yes, for many different causes. Among them are certain infections such as Lyme
disease, autoimmune inner ear disease, some immune-mediated relatives of
Meniere's disease, tumors, certain activity of the outer hair cells,
pseudotumor cerebri,...a fairly long list. There are also rare instances of
objective tinnitus caused by a variety of things ranging from malformations of
the circulatory system to impacted earwax.

All the things you describe point to a muscular connection.

Have a look here:
http://eebee.net/TinnitusIsaPainintheNeck.shtml

Tinnitus is a pain in the neck
Elly's Tinnitus Resources
http://eebee.net/
http://meniere.eebee.net/

For email: elly at eebee.cjb.net

There is a T-Gone website which lists about 10 causes of tinnitus and
they teach people how to identify by the kinds of sound each type
produces.  I managed to find out for myself that mine 'might' be
similar to Type-7, which means it comes from the poor nerve conditions
in the brain.  You may want to look it up.

http://www.t-gone.com/tinnitus/tinnitus_frame.asp

FP