Can Being Prone to Earworms Make You More Vulnerable to Distress Caused by Tinnitus?

[ECP]

All my life, I've had a tendency toward anxiety (which is bad) but also a curious, probing intellect and a lot of determination when faced with problem solving (which are both very good traits to have, in my opinion).

Before getting tinnitus and hyperacusis, I was very prone to having earworms. If you don't know what an earworm is, it means you have a song playing in your head all the time and you can't make it go away. It could be a song that you like, or it could be one that you don't like, but the point is that the song is catchy and your brain can't get rid of it.

Ever since early childhood, whenever I was bothered by a song that became an earworm, I'd sit down at my piano and teach myself how to play it. Not just the melody but the full chords, and I could not rest until I got every chord right. As an adult, I'd continue to do that. Sometimes I'd go as far as to get out of bed just to sit down at my keyboard and try to figure out the chords in a song that was bothering me. As someone with a perfectionist streak and an insane amount of curiosity, it would be hard for me to sleep if I couldn't solve the mystery of the unknown chords in the song.

Since 2020, my earworm problem got a lot worse, probably because of general stress caused by the pandemic. Unexpectedly, it turned into telephobia (a fear of talking on the phone) because any time I spoke to someone on the phone, the entire conversation would replay inside my head for days, sometimes weeks or even months. The conversations didn't have to be long and upsetting in order for them to become earworms. Even short and mundane conversations would have that effect, like my dentist's office calling to confirm an upcoming appointment and me having to pick up the phone to say yes, I am still planning to come. The fifteen seconds it would take for me to speak to the receptionist would be enough to ruin my ability to concentrate for the remainder of the day, and then I'd lie in bed that night, angry because I can still hear the receptionist's voice inside my head. And unlike a song that I could get out of my mind by attempting to recreate it on my keyboard, there would be nothing I could do to get the sound of the receptionist's voice out of my head.

Now that I have tinnitus (and hyperacusis to boot!), a peculiar thing has happened. I no longer have telephobia. I can now make and receive phone calls without any anxiety, knowing that nothing will "stick" inside my brain after the call is over. I have also tried listening to catchy music on YouTube, and that doesn't stick inside my head either. All it does is send pain into my right ear, even when I play the music at the lowest possible volume.

I'm no scientist, but I truly believe that the tinnitus now resides in the part of my brain that used to latch on to other auditory stimuli, and it is so bothersome that it has crowded out all the other sounds that I used to think were intellectually interesting or emotionally significant.

Has this happened to anyone else, or is it just me? I just wonder if my personality type (anxious, obsessive, and musically inclined) has set up a perfect storm of conditions causing me to be more vulnerable to the psychological effects of tinnitus.

I'd give anything to evict the tinnitus and invite back all the other stuff that used to live inside my head, even the pop songs on the radio that I couldn't stand. That was nothing compared to the never-ending SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH.

 

[Playdohh]

Has this happened to anyone else, or is it just me? I just wonder if my personality type (anxious, obsessive, and musically inclined) has set up a perfect storm of conditions causing me to be more vulnerable to the psychological effects of tinnitus.

I don't have experience with earworms, but your comment on your personality type is something I've been thinking about lately. I've had generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder since I was a young kid. When I was 23 I started taking an SSRI, which helped tremendously. After about 9 years, I wanted to try stopping the SSRI to see what happened - I successfully got off and didn't have any anxiety or OCD issues (this was about 9-months ago). Now I have tinnitus and hyperacusis, and naturally, the anxiety and OCD have come flooding back.

It makes sense that something like tinnitus, hyperacusis, and the other ear disorders discussed on this forum would cause people anxiety, depression, OCD, and other struggles. But from scrolling through the forum it seems like a lot of people have had these mental health issues even before getting tinnitus/hyperacusis. This has made me wonder if maybe there is a link where people that have anxiety/OCD are more predisposed to developing something like hyperacusis, which is supposedly quite rare. Maybe it's all just a coincidence... or not related at all, but it has made me wonder.

 

[ECP]

I don't have experience with earworms, but your comment on your personality type is something I've been thinking about lately. I've had generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder since I was a young kid. When I was 23 I started taking an SSRI, which helped tremendously. After about 9 years, I wanted to try stopping the SSRI to see what happened - I successfully got off and didn't have any anxiety or OCD issues (this was about 9-months ago). Now I have tinnitus and hyperacusis, and naturally, the anxiety and OCD have come flooding back.

It makes sense that something like tinnitus, hyperacusis, and the other ear disorders discussed on this forum would cause people anxiety, depression, OCD, and other struggles. But from scrolling through the forum it seems like a lot of people have had these mental health issues even before getting tinnitus/hyperacusis. This has made me wonder if maybe there is a link where people that have anxiety/OCD are more predisposed to developing something like hyperacusis, which is supposedly quite rare. Maybe it's all just a coincidence... or not related at all, but it has made me wonder.

@Playdohh, it probably isn't a coincidence. If I had a million bucks, I'd pay someone to research this question and so many others I have about the ear problems that afflict us.

On the flip side, think of all the people who have a history of anxiety or depression and never get tinnitus or hyperacusis, even after being exposed to damaging levels of noise. Or think of all those old people who live to be a hundred, even though they smoke a pack a day, eat junk food, or drink hard liquor every night. Is it luck or a positive attitude that keeps them healthy?

It's like for every disease out there, there is a "perfect storm" of factors that determine whether it will manifest in one person's body as opposed to another person's body, and science still doesn't know how to predict it accurately for every person or for every disease.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this line of thought, just musing on the weirdness of it all. A year ago, if I loved or hated a song on the radio enough, the thought of it would keep me up for hours. Now the only thing keeping me up at night is this random noise in my head that isn't even a song. Who knew life could be so strange?

 

[Playdohh]

@Playdohh, it probably isn't a coincidence. If I had a million bucks, I'd pay someone to research this question and so many others I have about the ear problems that afflict us.

On the flip side, think of all the people who have a history of anxiety or depression and never get tinnitus or hyperacusis, even after being exposed to damaging levels of noise. Or think of all those old people who live to be a hundred, even though they smoke a pack a day, eat junk food, or drink hard liquor every night. Is it luck or a positive attitude that keeps them healthy?

It's like for every disease out there, there is a "perfect storm" of factors that determine whether it will manifest in one person's body as opposed to another person's body, and science still doesn't know how to predict it accurately for every person or for every disease.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this line of thought, just musing on the weirdness of it all. A year ago, if I loved or hated a song on the radio enough, the thought of it would keep me up for hours. Now the only thing keeping me up at night is this random noise in my head that isn't even a song. Who knew life could be so strange?

I don't think it is a coincidence either. But like you said, a perfect storm of factors makes any disease/illness manifest... and it's hard not to ponder on it sometimes and let your mind run. Whether that is healthy or not... probably not.

I hope the tinnitus subsides for you soon, or at least reduces in volume so it is more manageable. Have you been noticing any improvements? If I remember right, you had hyperacusis/noxacusis as well, right? Any improvement there?

 

[Juan]

For me the way to get out of an earworm is evoking a different song... so the "catchy" earworm fades when one tries to evoke, remember and follow different music.

 

[PennyCat]

That's an interesting thing to think about. I don't think I'm more prone to earworms; I'd get them sometimes but probably not any more than "normal". However, I do have OCD, several anxiety disorders, depression, Borderline Personality Disorder, and a few other things, and I am very prone to hyperfixating on things and having them replay in my head, similar to what you experienced with the earworms. This includes me overly fixating on the tinnitus, which in turn makes it worse. I also wonder if having these pre-existing disorders makes one more susceptible than others. I feel like so little is known about mental health and the brain and ears in general.

I'm only 22, have no history of noise exposure, no hearing loss, no hyperacusis. My tinnitus just started one day (I also have pulsatile tinnitus but I think that is unrelated to my new 'regular' tinnitus). I think mine started due to stress, although really I'm sure there's a million things it could be. But if it truly was triggered by stress, that might be another indicator of how deeply everything is connected and that having pre-existing mental health struggles could exacerbate the issue.

 

[ECP]

I don't think it is a coincidence either. But like you said, a perfect storm of factors makes any disease/illness manifest... and it's hard not to ponder on it sometimes and let your mind run. Whether that is healthy or not... probably not.

I hope the tinnitus subsides for you soon, or at least reduces in volume so it is more manageable. Have you been noticing any improvements? If I remember right, you had hyperacusis/noxacusis as well, right? Any improvement there?

@Playdohh, I have had some slight improvement to both the tinnitus and hyperacusis just in the last week or two, and I'm not sure what to credit for that. It could be nothing more than time and a willingness to protect my ears by wearing earmuffs several hours a day, just not all day. It might also be the many vitamins and supplements I've been taking. I still don't feel like I'm out of the woods yet, but I'm grateful that I'm beginning to see a glimmer of hope for the first time.

For me the way to get out of an earworm is evoking a different song... so the "catchy" earworm fades when one tries to evoke, remember and follow different music.

@Juan, I used to do that too, LOL. It didn't always work, but I would try. I keep hoping that if I can overcome tinnitus that I will also be free of the earworm problem too.

That's an interesting thing to think about. I don't think I'm more prone to earworms; I'd get them sometimes but probably not any more than "normal". However, I do have OCD, several anxiety disorders, depression, Borderline Personality Disorder, and a few other things, and I am very prone to hyperfixating on things and having them replay in my head, similar to what you experienced with the earworms. This includes me overly fixating on the tinnitus, which in turn makes it worse. I also wonder if having these pre-existing disorders makes one more susceptible than others. I feel like so little is known about mental health and the brain and ears in general.

I'm only 22, have no history of noise exposure, no hearing loss, no hyperacusis. My tinnitus just started one day (I also have pulsatile tinnitus but I think that is unrelated to my new 'regular' tinnitus). I think mine started due to stress, although really I'm sure there's a million things it could be. But if it truly was triggered by stress, that might be another indicator of how deeply everything is connected and that having pre-existing mental health struggles could exacerbate the issue.

@PennyCat, how long have you had your non-pulsatile tinnitus? You say it's newer than the pulsatile kind. I wonder if you could use any previous habituation strategies to hopefully habituate to this new sound in your head.

It's hard to have these mental health challenges, with or without these ear problems, that's for sure. I had PTSD many years ago, and honestly the tinnitus and hyperacusis make me feel like I have PTSD all over again, even though the circumstances are totally unrelated.