Hearing heart sounds through stethoscope with tinnitus

[UnicoRN611]

I read through some of the board posts about tinnitus and stethoscopes but none of them quite had the same problem I do. I have ringing tinnitus, which really doesn't bother me while listening to heart sounds, I can tune it out.

The problem I'm having is there are extra sounds (that I know are coming from my ears and not my heart) that coincide with the heart sounds when I'm listening to them.. It's like a quick chirp, or like the sound of someone hitting the bottom of a pot with a wooden spatula at the beginning of every heart sound. I'm trying to train my ear to ignore it by listening to my own heart sounds at night, but tonight I heard a split in the chirp while listening for S2, but I couldn't really tell if there was a split in S2 on the beat itself. I'm assuming I don't really have an S2 split because I heard it the whole time (not just on inspiration), and nobody has ever mentioned it to me before.

I also have other strange sounds that occur in my ears with other loud noises, and I've tried to explain this to a few doctors and they've all just basically told me to deal with it, because it didn't impact my hearing in any significant way (except being uncomfortable and annoying). Well, now I would say this is impacting me in a significant way because I'm having trouble deciphering heart sounds.

SO basically I'm looking for advice, is there anyone else out there in the nursing world that has this issue? Is it just a matter of learning to deal with my tinnitus, or should I try something else (such as a different type of stethoscope?) Thanks to anyone who has any advice!

[aeris99]

I'm not sure if this would work for you but if you have a friend in class or lab, ask if you can try their scope. Or ask your instructor if there is one in the lab that you could try. See if you have the same problem with different brands.

I found it hard to hear heart sounds at first but it if I make sure the ear pieces are angled in right and hold it so they don't slip down, I can hear much better. I also practice on anyone that will let me.

[UnicoRN611]

We all have the same scope because we paid with them as part of tuition. I do think I will ask my instructor about it though, she may know whats going on in my ears too lol

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

I suggest you find someone willing to listen to the same hearts at the same time with you each using your own stethoscope, and talk it through as you compare things. The more weird heart sounds you can share, the more you'll have data to decide whether you can differentiate or not, and how.