It took, for me, a complete turnaround in how I viewed the ringing. I had to believe that it will not kill me, even though I thought the competition between me and my problem to be all that life was. I had to believe what I heard was not going to cause me to off myself or kill me. I came to realize it was only how I perceived the head noise that caused me suffering, and that perception had to change. For me, it was sound therapy that put me on the right track. Even for the H, which was the first -- and usually is -- condition to respond to the constant sounds I listened to day and night.
For the H, I experimented with various noise recordings: white, pink, etc. and found what was being touted as the best option, pink noise, to not suit me well. I used the white noise maskers the VA gave to me, but to no avail. My first experiments aggravated me. Then a free online noise generator helped me to fashion my own tolerable CDs, which, in those days, I played on a CD player strapped to my side as I worked every day. The more I listened, the more sound outside myself I was able to tolerate. It was a slow process that led me to alleviate the H.
Then it was for the T that I listened, and for me, the best recordings were Mike Petroff's CDs. Again, as often as I could, they were playing through my CD player, through a head set into my ears. I learned I had to have a better balance on the sound coming to me through the head set as the hearing of my left ear was much worse than my right. I needed balance in the sound coming to me. That was a hard struggle for me because, even though there were MP3 players out by then, none of them contained balance knobs. I finally found balance through a bluetooth transmitter that sends MP3 recordings to me through my hearing aids.
So, you see, it's all a process. But, it has to begin with you realizing there IS a way of escape, and to stick with the plan. Did I ever cry myself to sleep, or for that matter, not sleep at all? PLENTY of nights. Did I worry about my future? Without a doubt. But as things began to improve, my outlook changed a little here, a little there.
David