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Posted: |
Oct 30, 2013 - 4:51 PM
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By: |
Chris Avis
(Member)
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I too suffer from tinnitus in one ear, following a particularly bad ear infection. As others have noted, it's basically just something that you have to learn to live with unfortunately. A couple of points that haven't been raised...
1) The ear/nose/throat specialists I've been to told me that there's a big neurological component to tinnitus. Certainly for me, stressful periods exacerbate the tinnitus making it more perceptible. Apparently diet too can influence things (caffeine is supposed to especially aggravate things). In a rare percentage of people, it can also be caused by brain tumours as well and not just ear damage.
2) Following on the neurology thread, apparently there is tinnitus brain re-training programs out there. The gist, as I understand it, is that you end up listening to sounds having a similar characteristics as the tinnitus and eventually your brain re-wires itself to shut the sound off. Apparently, this doesn't always have a stellar success rate which is why I haven't tried it. Has anyone on the board given it a go?
The tinnitus doesn't really materially affect my listening to film music. If anything, the music helps me ignore it. Over the years, I've increasingly listened to more and more of my music on headphones which I really don't like for reasons of avoiding further hearing damange (and the reduced fidelity). But, since I have relatively little free time to myself when I can listen to my stereo, it's increasingly how I listen to music these days.
Chris.
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Posted: |
Oct 31, 2013 - 2:01 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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2) Following on the neurology thread, apparently there is tinnitus brain re-training programs out there. The gist, as I understand it, is that you end up listening to sounds having a similar characteristics as the tinnitus and eventually your brain re-wires itself to shut the sound off. Apparently, this doesn't always have a stellar success rate which is why I haven't tried it. Has anyone on the board given it a go?
What you're talking about here is a form of 'masking', meaning that you expose the brain to a sound that is slightly LOWER in Hertz to the tinnitus, over a period of time. This will not shut the sound off (the sound will NEVER be shut off for chronic cases like myself), but it will make you more accustomed to it, hopefully.
It's basically the same thing with my sound pillow. The various noises inside the pillow are not meant to overpower the tinnitus. Quite the contrary, I'm supposed to set the volume slightly lower than the tinnitus, which -- ideally -- will help me shift focus away from it over time.
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Posted: |
Oct 31, 2013 - 2:23 AM
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By: |
Ray Worley
(Member)
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I've had tinnitus and hearing loss for several years, beginning around the same time as Thor and Deputy Riley (35 or so). Even though it is constant, I have learned to kind of tune it out most of the time. I'm certainly much less stressed than when I first noticed it and was diagnosed.
My music enjoyment is mostly only hindered when trying to listen to lossy mp3 files or in noisy environments. Good quality sound equipment and listening to a CD rather than an iPod makes a big difference.
One thing I didn't see mentioned previously, is the therapeutic effect of hearing aids. Tinnitus is caused by the brain trying to make up for sound frequencies it was used to hearing and no longer hears. It actually creates the sounds you now hear. Also, the longer it goes on without help, the more your brain will start to have trouble with speech comprehension. Hearing aids boost the frequencies you need to hear again and can actually slow down and reduce your tinnitus...or at least make it less noticeable. Nothing can completely get rid of it....yet.
Unfortunately, hearing aids are ridiculously expensive and are not covered by most insurance (at least in the US). They also have a limited life span and you will also have to upgrade when your hearing gets worse. My last pair cost around $5000.
So far, I am grateful that music stills sounds good to me and I don't seem to be missing certain sounds or instruments. As for speech, well, I still have to ask people to repeat themselves but I am super glad to be living in a time when most DVDs have subtitles or closed-captioning and my favorite local theatre has closed caption devices available for free for most movies. I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the last 2 Christopher Nolan Batman movies in a theatre without the devices because of the dreadful dialog recording (or perhaps delivery) and the too loud SFX and score. (My wife and daughter, both with normal hearing, kept asking me: "What did he say?". A novel experience for me).
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Oh and one last point. I've nearly stopped going to movies at many big screen multiplexes given how astonishingly loud their sound systems are. Several times at recent screenings, my wife and I have had our fingers in our ears (and still able to clearly hear the movie). The Dark Knight Rises with Zimmers earcrushingly loud score nearly caused me to walk out of the theatre. So in that regard, it's definitely affected my appreciation of film music in context.
Chris
iNTERSTINGLY THE DVD HAS A MUCH MORE SUBDUED - and appropriate - MIX!
bruce
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I finally scheduled an appointment with an Otolaryngologist and Audiologist for next month. The volume of the tinnitus has doubled this past week and is driving me nuts. Not sure how much can be done but I have to give it a try. The thought of living with what now sounds like a shrill whistle saddens me.
Don´t despair. It is possible that the tinnitus will diminish in time. There are treatments if the problem is a blockage within the inner ear. There are also ways to help you take the attention away from it.
Best thing you can do now: no headphones, no loud music. Try to relax and not focus on the tinnitus.
I know that´s difficult. But remind yourself that you are much stronger than you currently believe.
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Posted: |
Mar 20, 2014 - 2:55 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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There is no treatment for chronic tinnitus as of yet. However, there are any number of ways to 'learn to live with it'. Several aids you can use in your everyday life -- like a sound pillow for sleeping, a hearing aid that adds a socalled counter-noise etc. (it doesn't remove the tinnitus, but makes the brain -- the source of the sound -- focus on something else). So don't despair!
I've had chronic tinnitus for about 4-5 years now, and I've slowly come to embrace it as a 'companion' -- a part of me that will stay with me untill I die. I also used to be afraid of entering places with high sound to make the sound worse, but after a few sessions with a therapist, she told me not to worry about that. Just go wherever I want to and use headphones for music listening if I want to, but obviously don't put my ear against loud disco speakers etc., just common sense that also applies to people with healthy hearing.
That helped a lot, and removed some of the paranoia.
Good luck, ed!
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Posted: |
Mar 20, 2014 - 8:38 AM
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By: |
eriknelson
(Member)
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Ed,
I would encourage you to also investigate allergies. My tinnitus began as a high pitched whine -- like an old TV whose tube is about to go out. I had just about every test known in the ENT world (including an MRI to rule out an acoustic neuroma). Everything came out negative. My hearing tests were normal too.
Finally, the last possibility was allergies. I had the tests during which a nurse pricks your skin with various allergens and measures the sizes of the welts that form. It turned out that I was allergic to lots of grasses, pollens and even house dust. Soon after that I started taking allergy shots and, within a few weeks, my sinuses opened up and the noise subsided. From time to time the noise comes back, but I can tell it's because of congestion etc. in my Eustachian tubes. Then it eventually goes away. It doesn't bother me as much because I know what's causing it.
I still have some hyperacusis in my right ear, though. The types of music that sometimes bother me are solo piano music and, oddly enough, opera choruses. The combination of frequencies somehow overloads my inner ear and things sound distorted.
Good luck on your tinnitus journey and I sincerely hope the cause is identified. A big part of the initial stress and anxiety is not knowing what's happening.
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