I woke up this morning and instantly my heart fell. I had a dream last night that I was back in the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas, trying my luck on the Roulette tables and sipping on a long island iced tea. It’s now been over 5 weeks since I went to the Fabulous Las Vegas and I think I am experiencing what they call “Withdrawal Symptoms”.
Have you ever found, when you are over-tired or stressed, that you think you can hear your phone ringing when it’s not? Well, I do. It used to happen a lot. But these days, instead of hearing my phone, I hear the slot machines… Genuinely. It’s becoming a problem. I hear them everywhere.
I Googled it, and the closest thing I can liken it to is an affliction known as “Tinnitus”. Here’s the official Wikipedia explanation:
Tinnitus (pronounced /tɪˈnaɪtəs/ or /ˈtɪnɪtəs/,[1] from the Latin word tinnītus meaning “ringing“[2]) is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound.
Tinnitus is not a disease but a symptom resulting from a range of underlying causes that can include ear infections, foreign objects or wax in the ear, nose allergies that prevent (or induce) fluid drain and cause wax build-up. Tinnitus can also be caused by natural hearing impairment (as in aging), as a side-effect of some medications, and as a side-effect of genetic (congenital) hearing loss. However, the most common cause for tinnitus is noise-induced hearing loss.
Just to clarify, I have never had an ear infection, there are no foreign objects in my ear (that I am aware of) and I am quite hot on inner-ear cleanliness. I refuse to believe it’s the aging process (I am in my twenties for heaven’s sake) so the only option I am left with is “noise induced” Tinnitus.
This makes a lot of sense. I have been lucky enough to spend so many nights inside the mightily impressive Las Vegas nightclubs over the last few years, that it could well be that I am being “music-ed” into loss of hearing. The only remedy is for me to stand a further distance from the speakers and amplifiers whilst making shapes on the dance floor… I’ll have to seriously consider it. But I am not happy about it, I have to say. I might just have to get used to the sounds of the slots. It’s a lot more interested than the high pitched “Wheeeeeeee” that other sufferers apparently experience. At least there’s the hum of background chatter in mine.
