Does Blocking Off Sound and Focusing on Tinnitus Help?

[Gyromite]

For years I've always put my fingers to my ears pressing the little flaps in front of the ear canal to shut out all sound. I am always doing this in an attempt to see if my T is getting worse and if I can focus on the source of the sound; however it never helps(well, once). I've recently joined this site and I'm wondering if I've been doing it all wrong, instead of focusing on it I should ignore it.

I've been under the suspicion lately that pressing on my ears might be exacerbating the situation; I don't know if damage can be done by pressing on the ears like that.

So do you guys think I'm causing damage or aggravating my T by doing these things? My T has been spiking for a week and it's driving me insane!

 

[Dana]

I've been under the suspicion lately that pressing on my ears might be exacerbating the situation

I don't think the pressing was so hard to do any damage.
On this forum we insert our fingers in the ear canal to plug our ears and check the current T levels, no flaps. It works.

 

[Cheza]

So do you guys think I'm causing damage or aggravating my T by doing these things?

I don't think you're causing any damage if you mean physical damage. However, by actively seeking out your tinnitus and focusing on it, you're telling your brain (limbic system) that it's an important sound and please make it louder so I can stay aware of this danger that doesn't exist.

Tinnitus is complicated. Don't seek it out and don't monitor it. You want your brain to move it into the background, not the foreground.

 

[Gyromite]

Tinnitus is complicated. Don't seek it out and don't monitor it. You want your brain to move it into the background, not the foreground.

I was doing that at least 3 times a day, seeking out the noise. Today though I didn't for the first time in years, and I've noticed an improvement already in my temperament! Thanks for the tip!

 

[linearb]

personally I find that blocking my ears -- sometimes with earplugs -- actually makes the tinnitus easier to ignore, because the part of my brain that's constantly trying to find/lock on to the signal, doesn't have to work to do so, and then it fades to the background more readily.

It doesn't work when I'm in a distress state, though, and this idea would have sounded crazy to me a couple years ago. These days I routinely meditate, read or even sleep with earplugs in (the latter only when there's something obnoxious happening externally, like construction in my building, or someone snoring).

 

[Cheza]

Today though I didn't for the first time in years, and I've noticed an improvement already in my temperament! Thanks for the tip!

That's good news! When I first started reading this forum, that was one thing that really stood out to me, not to seek the tinnitus. So glad it's working for you, and I hope it fades away completely.

 

[I who love music]

A few years ago I had a HORRIBLE spike and I did what I did for years when T got loud, I put cotton in my ears and the T became even louder of course, but it seemed that while trying to strain to hear outside environmental sounds, these daily sounds were getting louder as if my hearing was adjusting to the outside world. And through the years I found that as this happened, the T was fading. Still loud, but fading. Then after a couple weeks when I felt it was "Time," I'd take the cotton out and real life sounds were clear and loud and T was WAY back in the distance.
My T will never go away, but I found a way to cope with my loud borderline sounds in both ears...
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/