Todd’s Take: My Tinnitus Has My Wife Thinking That I Want Her Murdered

A cautionary tale, my fellow rock-'n-rollers.

Years of wearing headphones as part of being a radio broadcaster and getting blasted with high frequency feedback frequently, along with attending countless bombastically loud rock concerts has left my hearing permanently suffering a chronic symptom called tinnitus.

Tinnitus is an annoying ringing or buzzing in the ears when no sound is present. I don't notice it much during the day when I'm surrounded by noise but I do when I am watching t.v. and there is background noise and ESPECIALLY when I go to bed at night. Because of the constant ringing, I have to sleep with the radio or television on to provide some "white noise" so that my brain doesn't get fixed on the ringing in my own ears.

Many famous people suffer from this including rock legend Pete Townshend and late-night television icon David Letterman who discussed it back in 2012. It can become so bad that it has driven some to committing suicide!

Don't worry, I'm not contemplating taking my own life. To the contrary, my wife thinks I am trying to kill HER! You see, one of the tv programs I frequently find myself turning to at night is Forensic Files on HLN. The narrator of the show, the late, great, Peter Thomas, has a voice that is soothing and not too loud, so it helps me to not notice the ringing as much.

The problem is, almost every episode is about a husband killing their spouse! My wife started to become concerned that I was "trying to get ideas" from the show!