Does Mindfulness Meditation Help Reduce Tinnitus Volume?

[threefirefour]

Usually I don't care about this stuff but I heard a guy on some other forum say it reduces his tinnitus by half. I wonder if there's truth to this.

To simplify this question in a way nobody can misinterpret, does mindfulness meditation help in reducing tinnitus volume, or is it useless for that?

 

[vermillion]

As a professional dancer, i tend to get involved in this kind of work, such as yoga, meditation etc. where someone engages in body and spiritual awareness. Personally (even though i could feel the benefits of yoga practice before tinnitus) i tend not to have the patience and discipline, as i was a very hyper mobile person. My point is that you can only have an answer to your question if you invest in this kind of practice, which is gonna take several months. It's actually a process to learn a new skill. There are claims about mindfulness changing the brain's neural synapses. Personally i would doubt that mindfulness can literally reduce t volume, but one can always try. Nothing to loose. It's not something risky.

 

[threefirefour]

As a professional dancer, i tend to get involved in this kind of work, such as yoga, meditation etc. where someone engages in body and spiritual awareness. Personally (even though i could feel the benefits of yoga practice before tinnitus) i tend not to have the patience and discipline, as i was a very hyper mobile person. My point is that you can only have an answer to your question if you invest in this kind of practice, which is gonna take several months. It's actually a process to learn a new skill. There are claims about mindfulness changing the brain's neural synapses. Personally i would doubt that mindfulness can literally reduce t volume, but one can always try. Nothing to loose. It's not something risky.

I was wondering if it actually helps though in most cases. Why even bother if there isn't a good chance it will? All I found on the internet were articles dodging the question of whether or not it reduces tinnitus, meaning it probably doesn't. It's hard to find something that doesn't completely suck for tinnitus.

 

[Starthrower]

No it will not reduce the tinnitus loudness threefirefour. That is not the point of the therapy. It is more about refocusing your emotional state. And this is what helps the tinnitus patient in most cases.

I know you get very defensive when it sounds like a "cure" rather than a simple coping technique.

Umm...BTW your avatar is not nice. Unless that is how you actually spend your time....

 

[threefirefour]

No it will not reduce the tinnitus loudness threefirefour. That is not the point of the therapy. It is more about refocusing your emotional state. And this is what helps the tinnitus patient in most cases.

I know you get very defensive when it sounds like a "cure" rather than a simple coping technique.

Umm...BTW your avatar is not nice. Unless that is how you actually spend your time....

Okay /thread. Thanks for the info.

And it was for an inside joke. I need to change it soon but I need a new picture.

 

[vermillion]

Why even bother if there isn't a good chance it will?

Curiosity, 'fun', distraction, meeting a hot chick during a class. Who knows? Maybe you will become a spiritual master and suddenly guide us all to the light. It may surprise you. Btw i know a guy with severe tinnitus and a fair amount of HL. After 20 years he managed to move on through meditation. (Not habituation. More a sense of control), but this is like a religion to him. I wouldn't want to expand this in the context of faith etc. My point is that one must find what works for him. There's no damn cure.

 

[threefirefour]

Curiosity, 'fun', distraction, meeting a hot chick during a class. Who knows? Maybe you will become a spiritual master and suddenly guide us all to the light. It may surprise you. Btw i know a guy with severe tinnitus and a fair amount of HL. After 20 years he managed to move on through meditation. (Not habituation. More a sense of control), but this is like a religion to him. I wouldn't want to expand this in the context of faith etc. My point is that one must find what works for him. There's no damn cure.

Not looking for one, just a way to reduce volume. Looks like I'm sticking to ACRN for a while.

 

[vermillion]

Not looking for one, just a way to reduce volume. Looks like I'm sticking to ACRN for a while.

Me2. I had a bad experience with Trobalt and i'm so disappointed. I still look at the pills and would love to pop them, eagerly. On the other hand i have noticed that bromazepam reduces mine a bit (have tried a few times only a low dose of 3mg), but those damn benzos cannot be taken as a long-term solution. If i had 25.000 euro i would go for SC. Anyway. I'm off topic. I will retreat.

 

[Starthrower]

And it was for an inside joke. I need to change it soon but I need a new picture.

Thanks threefirefour!!

Reducing the actual volume depending on the reason for your tinnitus is difficult. I know you have a very sharp mind. When I worked with some highly intellectual guys for example engineers they needed data and precision and proof. The same with a few registered genius types.

Nothing wrong with that at all but it makes it much more difficult on the person.

 

[TuneOut]

Usually I don't care about this stuff but I heard a guy on some other forum say it reduces his tinnitus by half. I wonder if there's truth to this.

To simplify this question in a way nobody can misinterpret, does mindfulness meditation help in reducing tinnitus volume, or is it useless for that?

Being mindful of something besides tinnitus shifts awareness away from the tinnitus. That way it's not at the forefront of your consciousness. You likely meditate this way often, for a short time at least, without realizing it.

 

[threefirefour]

Being mindful of something besides tinnitus shifts awareness away from the tinnitus. That way it's not at the forefront of your consciousness. You likely meditate this way often, for a short time at least, without realizing it.

We already established it's useless for tinnitus. No need to revive a dead thread.

 

[Zug]

It is not useless.

It is "useless" in the sense that you want it to be. It's like saying a table is useless because it doesn't fly.

Mindfullness is a part of CBT, very useful.

Only thing I can add is, unfortunately you won't find something to lower your Tinnitus, but if you learn not to pay attention to it, it's a step forward.

Best,
Zug

 

[Liam_Cairns]

We already established it's useless for tinnitus. No need to revive a dead thread.

It legit helps lower my tinnitus volume temporarily, butttttt I think its because meditating lowers blood pressure.

 

[TuneOut]

We already established it's useless for tinnitus. No need to revive a dead thread.

I felt the need.

 

[TuneOut]

Okay got that out of your system. See ya.

Looking forward to it.

 

[I who love music]

A few years ago I tried a thing that requires sitting alone in a quiet room, listening hard OVER the T for silence. I thought it worked a little, maybe 20 percent. But I got about 98 percent relief from a different method that I learned here, and I did a video about it.

Good luck, Terry
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/

 

[threefirefour]

It legit helps lower my tinnitus volume temporarily, butttttt I think its because meditating lowers blood pressure.

Interesting. I notice my tinnitus reduces when I stop moving for a while.

A few years ago I tried a thing that requires sitting alone in a quiet room, listening hard OVER the T for silence. I thought it worked a little, maybe 20 percent. But I got about 98 percent relief from a different method that I learned here, and I did a video about it.

Good luck, Terry
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/

You talk about this post all the time and I just don't find it helpful. Other than that your other idea sounds interesting.

 

[I who love music]

Stop.

Interesting. I notice my tinnitus reduces when I stop moving for a while.

You talk about this post all the time and I just don't find it helpful. Other than that your other idea sounds interesting.

How long did you try it? Did you notice your responses getting fewer?
Just trying to help.
Terry

 

[threefirefour]

How long did you try it? Did you notice your responses getting fewer?
Just trying to help.
Terry

Thanks for the help. I didn't try it because it's not what I'm looking for. Anyways I'm sure it has a market but you can't win them all.

 

[PaulBe]

I need to change it soon but I need a new picture.

I hadn't really looked until now....and....ewe

 

[threefirefour]

I hadn't really looked until now....and....ewe

No need to be sheepish

 

[Steve]

There are different branches, and who can say what will work for your particular aetiology.

Did you read the section from the conference on neurofeedback?

There is a branch of evidence showing reduced Alpha and increased Delta activity in the brain. Learning to control the Alpha activity could reduce the volume of tinnitus, be that through Yoga, meditation, mindfulness, neurofeedback or whatever.

It's often about finding the right technique that makes the most sense to you. I suggest neurofeedback with a visual display judging your need to see results. In this way you have clear indicators that the technique is working or not.

Here is a review of neurofeedback https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5717031/

From the conference report, the neurofeedback presentation:

"They use visual feedback for their tests; a UFO travelling along a tunnel, alpha brainwaves control the speed and Delta controls direction. The aim is to balance things for a smooth ride. There was no placebo group for the data presented, however they did find that an increase in Alpha activity in those with tinnitus corresponded to a decreased loudness of tinnitus and decrease of tinnitus distress. When they followed up at 3 months the loudness had returned to baseline."

So basically if you stop training your brain it can go back to baseline - or in other words if you get back to obsessing / focusing on tinnitus the brain goes back to the same patterns. Nothing concrete but it's worth a shot because they did report a decrease in loudness.

 

[Hazel]

@threefirefour , I've been meditating daily for 6 weeks now. I'm keeping a log, and intend to post about my experience sometime in the next few months. But for now it's just too soon to judge. All I can say for now is that my experiences have been ... interesting, to say the least; in more ways than one.

There is (I think) plenty of evidence that consistent meditation practice changes brain structure after a few months or so. I'll try to find some links to academic studies on this. From what I recall, it increases grey matter and shrinks the amygdala. There's also the brainwave stuff that Steve describes above.

All of it sounds like it could potentially help to reduce T, at least in some people. Only way to know for sure is to try it out. But I can tell you it requires a lot of commitment and discipline, so you have to willing to really apply yourself.

@Steve , I'm a bit confused about the comparison between neurofeedback and meditation? Is it basically the same but through different methods? Meditation doesn't require any external gadgets, unlike neurofeedback.

 

[Hazel]

And please do change your avatar @threefirefour
No need to aggravate others more than you already do ;-)

 

[Steve]

@Steve , I'm a bit confused about the comparison between neurofeedback and meditation? Is it basically the same but through different methods? Meditation doesn't require any external gadgets, unlike neurofeedback.

Sorry for the confusion. Less of a comparison of the techniques, more that they aim to achieve similar things in the balancing of the thought processes, generally acting on achieving a state of mind.

 

[Zug]

Mindfullness and Meditation are a part of CBT. Sometimes they are used as synonyms, but at least in the context of CBT, they're not the same. I did some meditation but never really got into it. Mindfulness is about learning to redirect your focus, changing your attention from where it is to where you want it to be.

I remember asking my therapist more than once if all this wasn't just some feel good mumbo jumbo, and we talked about the research and benefits.

I wouldn't expect any of them to lower any sound. Once I started habituating I was under the impression that my Tinnitus was lower, as in, it gets easier to mask and not pay attention to it. I remember turning on the same white noise app that I was using before starting CBT, and objectively I think the sound was the same. It's just that my brain was changing it's focus.

Anyway, it's certainly not useless, you just need to be realistic about what to expect.

Best,
Zug

 

[threefirefour]

@threefirefour , I've been meditating daily for 6 weeks now. I'm keeping a log, and intend to post about my experience sometime in the next few months. But for now it's just too soon to judge. All I can say for now is that my experiences have been ... interesting, to say the least; in more ways than one.

There is (I think) plenty of evidence that consistent meditation practice changes brain structure after a few months or so. I'll try to find some links to academic studies on this. From what I recall, it increases grey matter and shrinks the amygdala. There's also the brainwave stuff that Steve describes above.

All of it sounds like it could potentially help to reduce T, at least in some people. Only way to know for sure is to try it out. But I can tell you it requires a lot of commitment and discipline, so you have to willing to really apply yourself.

@Steve , I'm a bit confused about the comparison between neurofeedback and meditation? Is it basically the same but through different methods? Meditation doesn't require any external gadgets, unlike neurofeedback.

Awesome. Yeah please keep us updated

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Mindfullness is a part of CBT, very useful.

I did CBT without the meditation. CBT is a scientific approach. Mindfulness meditation is religion. It annoys me when you go to a scientist for help and they tell you to perform a religious activity.

 

[Mikael]

Some1 suggested me yoga, I haven't tried it, so it may work, or not.

 

[glynis]

@Mikael ,
Hatha Yoga is good,it works on your breathing .
Love glynis