I made tinnitus my friend, then it disappeared [video]

mynoise.net
gregsadetsky
6 hours ago
67points
35 comments

Comments

rietta5 minutes ago
I have it after I shot an indoor USPSA (IPSC) match right after a major ear infection. I always wear double ear plugs and muffs. The ENT I saw said he thought it was the infection that did it not the shooting. My hearing test came back very good despite the ringing. It’s always there, especially when it’s dead silent but after about four years, I don’t think about it anymore most of the time. I always wear shooting grade earmuffs even when doing yardwork with a lawnmower and the weedeater, I baby my hearing the best I can. It is a good reminder that we only get it once.
cogogo2 hours ago
Over the years I have seen a few threads on tinnitus. I have it very mildly and doesn’t bother me much. On the other hand I have had “floaters” in my eyes since I was a teenager (probably just when I noticed them). Until I saw a doc I thought I was going blind but apparently they run in my family. They are like visual tinnitus and my god do they drive me crazy. I find wearing sunglasses helps me ignore them but they can be brutal. I am a big skier and in flat light they drive me bonkers. Not sure I have seen these discussed here but maybe I missed it.
ColdStream1 hour ago
As someone with both as well, yeah they are there but really they don't bother me.

I cannot change them so I don't worry about them, they are just little my little floating jelly blobs friends that visit when I am at my computer.

cataphract32 minutes ago
I have both as well. Floaters are mildly annoying, but at least when you lie in bed at night you don't see them in the dark.
jwrallie8 minutes ago
There is also visual snow syndrome to keep you company at night.
ysavir1 hour ago
I've had them all my life. I remember watching a some video a few years back that said they're more noticeable against a bright/white background, which checked out with my past experiences. And judging by your skiing comment, probably for yours as well!
Barbing1 hour ago
That stinks, sorry to hear.

It's mentioned when tinnitus comes up, or when dark mode isn't available. Couple months ago, someone recommended a supplement that it seems could easily(?) be DIY'd in case it's snake oil (even if it's more expensive, then they don't "win"!) :)

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

baggy_trough1 hour ago
I have the same problem. Some good mitigations are dark mode on the computer and using very dark, yellow/brown alpine sunglasses in bright sun.
darksim90512 minutes ago
This page has so many dang scripts and the iframe doesn't do it any favors. I've allowed everything and it still doesn't load. There are far too few specialists that work on tinnitus and so many dental and ENT specialists choose to not take it seriously enough.

I have high pitched 7k hz bi-lateral ringing, 24x7. I've had it my whole life. I am convinced part of it is due to being born very premature (I was 1 lb 11 1/2 ounces). I believe it may be cervical and/or neurological (vascular, specifically).

It's so frustrating because nothing has happened. Masking only does so much. Sitting around reading a book, or trying to sleep is almost impossible.

I've been wanting to make a documentary style video on this diagnosis/issue, because a more people suffer like this than people realize. One medical professional that was helping me passed away a few years ago and that still eats away at me, because he really cared that he wasn't able to help me and it ate away at him. I still miss him.

im3w1l6 minutes ago
Crazy thought but given that you have a pure sine frequency, maybe it would be possible to listen to an out of phase version of it to cancel. Same principle as noise cancelling except the noise is purely internal. Though I guess phase might drift over time making it not work. Still would be interesting to hear your results with this, success or not.
zelphirkalt13 minutes ago
I don't even know why I have tinnitus. It's not end of the world bad tinnitus, but sometimes does get a little annoying. It is louder in the evenings/nights than in the mornings. I have it since primary school 4th grade or so, when I realized I have it, because an old teacher described her own tinnitus. But as far as I can remember there was no very loud sound event before that causing the tinnitus. Maybe it comes from bad posture or so, already in primary school. Too heavy school bag with too many books? Who knows. Have had it ever since. Most effective masking method for me is sound of rain whitenoise like that rainymood website.
Geee1 hour ago
I have had occasional tinnitus, and once it lasted for a few months and then went away. Sometimes it appears suddenly, and I've taken vitamin B12 and magnesium and it goes away in a few hours. Vitamin D might also help according to some studies, but in my case I think it might make it worse. Not sure if placebo or not.
Sindisil2 hours ago
It's almost certainly my own damn fault I have it, but after at least 35-40 years dealing with it,tinitus sure as hell isn't my friend.

Mine is high pitched, and varries in intensity but has gotten worse lately. Sometimes it makes jus existing down right hard, but usually it's only moderately annoying and I can mostly ignore it.

I've tried an assortment of sound based methods to mask it or train my brain to tune it out, but nothing has worked more than fleetingly.

The only thing that reliably gives me a break is if I can really focus on something. Music (passive or active), cooking, and programming are the most reliable, but sometimes reading, gaming, or good conversation works. Usually, though, everything is done with a constant backing track of flyback transformer whine.

Wear hearing protection, kids, or you may well live to regret it!

fowlie1 hour ago
Amateur musician with mild/moderate high frequency tinnitus here. I was treated with exposure therapy, and while I hear the sound (less now than before) it doesn't bother me any more. I would recommend a book called "Living Well With Tinnitus". Good luck!
cheschire2 hours ago
I remember about twenty years ago reading a method on a forum somewhere for dealing with tinnitus to create temporary relief. Many folks claimed to experience relief from trying it. Maybe it will help you?

It was text back then but nowadays there are videos. Here's an example: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YyT9ZwWy5Jc

271831 hour ago
I developed tinnitus in my right ear about 5 years ago. I remember exactly when it started. I was welding up a tailpipe repair on my car, and in the next bay over my brother was running the lawnmower to adjust the carbs. The exhaust was basically blasting directly into my right ear from a distance of about 10ft. I don't recall it feeling excessively loud at the time, but afterwards for about a two years I had really bad occasional ringing and occasionally I could hear "rushing" sounds very loudly.

About 3 years ago I used a borescope and some tweezers as a sketchy endoscope and pulled out a hair that had somehow wedged itself in my ear canal. I don't recall how I figured out this plan, but it worked. The tinnitus has never returned since then.

I have no idea whether there's any causal connections between any of these events. It's a big mystery. But TBH I don't really care that much, I'm just super glad it's gone.

Barrin921 hour ago
>tinitus sure as hell isn't my friend.

what the author is advocating for "befriending tinnitus" is a well established form of therapy (Acceptance and Commitment/ACT), it's generally very effective because avoidance or compensatory behavior ("trying to make the tinnitus go away / distract myself") is teaching the brain that tinnitus is a problem and is only going to increase the kind of alertness that leads people to focus on their tinnitus. It's the same way with insomnia, people who try to produce sleep efforts tend to worsen their insomnia, you need to befriend being awake.

There's a big psychological component to tinnitus that sustains itself because people view tinnitus as a problem, that's often larger than the physical impairment.

aappleby3 hours ago
I've had tinnitus for 25+ years after neglecting an ear infection while I was working overtime.

It's never disappeared, but the "rain on a tent" sounds from mynoise.net, fan noise, and having a Twitch stream on in the background masks it enough that it's not bothersome during the day.

"Befriending" it though? Naah, I don't think so.

y1n02 hours ago
of course even reading a thread on tinnitus makes mine worse. The mere fact of paying attention to it makes it worse, so I have a hard time seeing how a drug is going to help much. I do wish there was something.

Ostensibly mine is from high frequency hearing loss, which I absolutely have, but I now wear hearing aids and it has no measurable impact from my point of view.

I take comfort in that I can go long periods of time without noticing it, and I know that even though I'm focused on it now and it's loud, it will slowly drift to the background and below conscious notice before too long.

I certainly don't befriend it, but I when I notice it, I acknowledge that I notice it and move on with whatever I'm doing. Eventually I'll notice again, days or weeks later and realize I hadn't noticed it at all in the intervening time. So I just relax and move on.

ed_mercer2 hours ago
My dad has it really bad because he worked in a nightclub in his twenties. He would say it's like a jumbojet idling its engines nearby, all the time. It's thanks to him that I started taking ear protection seriously.
viburnum1 hour ago
It took a while but this worked for me (no gimmicks either)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vOHoeRYxBI