Can Wi-Fi Worsen Existing Tinnitus?

[Thongjy]

Hi currently in my workplace I am seated about 2 to 3 meters from a dual antennae wireless router.

Does anyone have any experience that their tinnitus becomes louder when near to such routers at such distances?

I am very concern about it worsening my tinnitus and felt to be left with 2 options: Either request change seat or quit this job.

Please help!

 

[Beth]

Hi, for me it certainly made it worse but I think it is unusual for it to do so. The best thing I ever did was to see a kinesiologist. In the first session he identified all the vitamins that would help, slight changes to my diet and I was told to get rid of my microwave and only use my computer wired (the grandchildren hate it!) and most importantly, get rid of the cordless phone as it sends out microwaves constantly. It made a big difference to how I felt so even though the t didn't change, I coped with it a lot better. I will stress again that not everyone is affected so don't worry, but do a google on, 'dangers of EMFs' and don't waste money changing things or buying lots of supplements till you've seen a good kinesiologist. He/she will be able to tell you what you need/don't need in one session. Good luck.

 

[Thongjy]

So does being near the wireless router and not near shows a distinct difference in the T intensity?

 

[Sound Wave]

No it can't

 

[Beth]

Hi currently in my workplace I am seated about 2 to 3 meters from a dual antennae wireless router.

Does anyone have any experience that their tinnitus becomes louder when near to such routers at such distances?

I am very concern about it worsening my tinnitus and felt to be left with 2 options: Either request change seat or quit this job.

Please help!

PS I forgot to say that you can buy plug in things to help protect you from electo magnetic fields and things like small earthing mats but you may not need them. I do not believe that EMFs make tinnitus worse but if you are affected by them as some people very obviously are, then if it increases your anxiety, that could be a factor in you perceiving the tinnitus as worse.

 

[Asian]

not sure if wifi affects it . maybe mobile towers emitting signals ? Electronics in general like PC, phones, laptops ?

 

[Matt01]

Not sure on this, but WiFi is everywhere, so very difficult to avoid.

 

[Thongjy]

Hi. Any more personal experience to share?

 

[LadyDi]

Hi @Thongjy: Very well could be my imagination. But I think my tinnitus is more bothersome sitting at my desk in front of my computer, which I do much of my work day. I blame our massive wireless system in this large room but who knows? I cope with it by wearing headphones and very softly playing masking music.

 

[BobDigi]

So does being near the wireless router and not near shows a distinct difference in the T intensity?

Nope. Impossible.

 

[BobDigi]

Hi @Thongjy: Very well could be my imagination. But I think my tinnitus is more bothersome sitting at my desk in front of my computer, which I do much of my work day. I blame our massive wireless system in this large room but who knows? I cope with it by wearing headphones and very softly playing masking music.

More likely you have noticed it more in you computer room, because before the headphones, it was a quiet room.

 

[Thongjy]

Anymore personal experiences? Thanks everyone.

 

[Kopesy]

I've always been a little weird with wifi. Always turn mine off & never sleep anywhere near my phone. Does it have a physical impact on us, I'm not so sure, it's more a physiological effect in my opinion. Though I'll never stop my habits regardless

 

[Thongjy]

I've always been a little weird with wifi. Always turn mine off & never sleep anywhere near my phone. Does it have a physical impact on us, I'm not so sure, it's more a physiological effect in my opinion. Though I'll never stop my habits regardless

Could you describe what you mean by weird?

 

[Kopesy]

Could you describe what you mean by weird?

Oh, as in the effects it could be causing within our brains that we as of yet don't recognize. It's purely personal is all as there isn't any evidence of it doing anything. Just something I've always avoided as much as possible since I was young

 

[1MW]

Yes can worsen but i think the noise of computers in the room can worsen you T many times more.
Wifi is microwaves but it is low power. Microwaves interact with hearing but all has to do with signal power.
For example the microwave oven has high amounts of power.
Mobile phones emit microwave rf have more power than wifi

Radio Frequencies are everywhere the electricity emits RF at 50/60HZ
radio stations emit RF / telecommunications the list has not end.
To solution is to buy or make a faraday cage in you bed so for 8 hours you will be totally free from RF. The ready solutions cost about start from 500 euros to some thousand euros.
Iam planning to do a cage like this who knows if iam free from RF for 10 hours every day
T maybe better because of better sleep.

https://sites.google.com/site/nationalenvironmentsociety/ears-ringing-
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14628312
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_auditory_effect
https://sites.google.com/site/nationalenvironmentsociety/ears-ringing-
http://xcorr.net/2012/05/24/hearing-radio-frequencies/
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...yb25tZW50c29jaWV0eXxneDo0NjM1MjQyNGI3YWIwYWJj

 

[LadyDi]

More likely you have noticed it more in you computer room, because before the headphones, it was a quiet room.

I see your point, @BobDigi. Quiet rooms do bother my tinnitus. But I work all day in a news room -- which while not deafening, most certainly is not quiet. I notice my tinnitus go up shortly after I begin sitting at my terminal. Usually starts subsiding after I leave. Of course, could be stress-related, not the wireless. But I wonder.

Also, I once took a camping trip to a place that (sadly) is very close to high-tension electrical lines. My T was crazy the entire time I was there.

Interesting discussion, all.

 

[Thongjy]

Anymore feedback?

 

[Mo_Mo]

Anymore feedback?

Wifi works on 2.4 and 5.4 GHz, it is everywhere u go not just the wireless routers, all smart phones have this chip that's how u can access Wifi through your phone same as smart tv's laptops and other gadgets, thus all of these chips have to be set to the itu regulation which is usually 100mw for indoor usage, put that aside there also other different frequencies every where you go 900mhz to 1400mhz range for 2g 3g and 4g, all the microwaves between different towers run on 10ghz-80ghz, hence there are radio frequencies every where u go regardless of the WiFi being on top of you or not. Usually Wifi access points have omni directional antennas hence they emit the frequency 360degrees sometimes the blind spot is underneath the access point directly.
Also all phones are always connecting to the cell towers hence every single mobile around you has a connection going towards a tower.
Having a omni directional antenna on a Wifi router means there is less gain (power) that's why you cannot connect to it when you are 200m away, whilst mobile antennas on towers are directional 30-90 degree antennas with lower gain and emits signal much further for mobile coverage upto 5km, hence I would be more afraid from mobile towers than Wifi router

 

[Christian78]

Scientifically it is proven that wifi , and other wireless communication can make you have fibromyalgia and damaged nerve. If we talk about so strong radiation from Iphone 5 on wifi+4g it is not impossible to cause tinnitus. Laptop uses 30mw, i phone uses also maybe 2mW, router uses MUCH stronger, and outside if near home is el transformer and telephones relays it is bad. in circle of 50 m.

it engineer

 

[linearb]

As an analogy only, the brain is essentially a radio. Tweaking your consciousness can let you tune in to all sorts of things that you usually tune out.

This is a controversial area, and there is a lot of pseudoscience and woo woo stuff tossed around. However, there is a small body of work which demonstrates some metabolic effects of EMFs at usual densities for cellular or wireless networks:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25565559
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25084839
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24772943
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22047460

There are plenty of other papers out there, too. Some have not found these correlations, but given the number of independent researchers who have observed various biological effects of EMFs, I think it's reasonable to assume that they "might do something", and that something might or might not interact with your neurology in an odd way.

Of course, the explosion of wireless nets over the past decades also coincides with the widespread distribution of various pollutants and toxins - so even if you can find differences in the population from now and then, proving any kind of causative effect from pure EMFs seems difficult or impossible.

Personally, I do believe that when I am most anxious, my CNS picks up on all kinds of things that are not otherwise significant, because anxiety seems to crank up the signal gain on all my perceptual processing. It would not shock me to learn that some kinds of radiowaves is in the list of "all kinds of things", but I don't know how actionable that is.

Scientifically it is proven that wifi , and other wireless communication can make you have fibromyalgia and damaged nerve

I don't think this has been proven by any stretch of the imagination. The best that we have are some conflicting reports and the observation of very specific changes in very specific circumstances. There is no smoking gun, and there is certainly no reason to think that radiowaves cause "nerve damage". If that were the case it would be pretty easy to observe, because it's pretty easy to objectively measure nerve signaling.

Here is a single, very low impact study which finds a correlation between nerve signaling and EMFs in rats:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25205214

Here's a contrary study which found *neuroprotective* effects from EMFs, also in rats:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22406415

 

[linearb]

Another thing I'd point out -- as much as I do believe that a heightened sensitivity to noises and perhaps other things, helps propel me into a state of fight-or-flight limbic activation which cranks up my tinnitus, it's also the case that I have left-sided dominant tinnitus in the 12-13khz range, and I also have asymmetrical hearing, with a left-sided deficit in the 12-13khz range. For every anecdotal report on the internet of "they put a cell tower/smart meter near my building and I got tinnitus", there are a hundred reports of people who see no connection and/or have obvious hearing issues contributing.

I'm a bit of a basket case these days, and am thinking about taking a week or two next month to de-stress. One of my possible vacation venues is Green Bank, WV, which also happens to be one of the only places in the US where there's almost no cell coverage or even FM/AM, because it's home to a huge microwave telescope which is trying to detect intersteller radio transmissions.

If I do that and my tinnitus completely vanishes, I will definitely let y'all know

 

[Thongjy]

Note that I not referring to wireless router far away but talking about a dual antennae router placed about 2 to 3 meters away.

Will that worsen my tinnitus?

 

[Kathi]

I use wifi all the time for my laptop and I've never noticed it effect my tinnitus.

 

[Thongjy]

I use wifi all the time for my laptop and I've never noticed it effect my tinnitus.

How far are u from the router?

 

[Steve]

One of my possible vacation venues is Green Bank, WV, which also happens to be one of the only places in the US where there's almost no cell coverage or even FM/AM, because it's home to a huge microwave telescope which is trying to detect intersteller radio transmissions.

When I saw the thread title that was my first thought, to suggest a journey to the radio quiet zone. This is the place to test the theory conclusively. Thanks for the research.

 

[Singularitarian]

Anyone else find their tinnitus is amplified by electronic devices like computers, laptops, etc.? It's almost like a cicada buzzing in my head when I'm on my laptop. I have two forms of tinnitus; one that is in my right ear, unaffected by the laptop, and then a general one when I'm near to electronic devices.

 

[Kathi]

How far are u from the router?

It's right next to our desktop. When I use my laptop, it's in the next room. I do use the desktop a lot and never noticed my tinnitus reacting.

 

[Sound Wave]

Wow, this debate is still going, when it should not. Wifi can not cause or worsen T.

To the original personal asking the question, have you considered stress as a potential cause for stronger T? We know stress worsens T and many people are more stressed at work.

 

[linearb]

Anyone else find their tinnitus is amplified by electronic devices like computers, laptops, etc.? It's almost like a cicada buzzing in my head when I'm on my laptop. I have two forms of tinnitus; one that is in my right ear, unaffected by the laptop, and then a general one when I'm near to electronic devices.

many devices emit various high frequency tones that might be revving you up. In fact, when I played my T tone to a friend, he said "that's exactly like the noise my laptop makes, so I hear that a good 8-10 hours a day".

To the original personal asking the question, have you considered stress as a potential cause for stronger T? We know stress worsens T and many people are more stressed at work.

Have you considered the idea that EMFs might be a potential cause for increased stress? I just posted a half page of peer reviewed papers which all came to the conclusion that it's possible.

I think it's interesting the degree to which many people will completely and without hesitation deny the idea that usual exposure to fields can have any biological effects whatsoever, despite a large and growing body of work that goes back 60 years at this point.

Whether or not those effects have anything to do with the propagation of the tinnitus signal is much murkier, and I'm not suggesting there's any reason to think so. But, I have talked to a couple people who "cured" their tinnitus by moving to very very rural areas. That's a drastic change, so there are many reasons it might be the case, which have nothing to do with EMFs. I think it's an interesting area of study, though.