Hearing Aids

#31
Thought about having a neck massage Karl but if it could cure it.. then it could also make it worse... too scared!

Fancy bolds and italics were much appreciated :)
 
#32
Just seen this post.

During my efforts to help my T

I paid privately, went to see an Ear (not ent) specialist,he is the head of cochlear implant at St georges hospital London. He tested said I have high frequency hearing loss ,he suggested that If I got hearingaids I would be "pleasantly surprised how your ears will feel"
Hetoldme when i put them in my T would diminish as would the full pressure feeling,I left not believing him.

He got me on the NHS list.


I got NHS digital hearing aids and I put them in and WOW!!!! the tinnitus disappears by a good 80% as does the fullness and pressure.Take them out and the T comes back it is not a cure but as a life saver brilliant.
Things to note ,apparently hearing aids do not make your hearing diminish.

Secondly the audiologist im dealing with at the Acoustic Cr Neuromodulation center said ,NHS digitals are as good as expensive private ,its all down to the skill of the audiologist setting them up ,he said there is nothing he could do with private aids that he couldnt do with NHS digitals.
Wish you well ,Pete
 
#33
Pete

Thanks for posting this - very interesting!

Do you wear them every day now?
I keep thinking that T may seem louder when you take them out? Does it do this for you?
Is your T louder at night when you've worn the hearing aids all day? I'm assuming you don't wear them for sleep but I don't know.

Would really like to know more.

Jane
 
#34
Hi Jane...ok ,my T does not seem louder when I take them out.

I did wear them all day as it was such a relief..but at the moment I have the Acoustic CR neuromodulation for 6 hrs a day in my ears so that knocks out the T while its hopefully working its magic.I am also trying Universal sound therapy so my ears are allways full at the mo:ROFL:

As for wearing them at night I was (your not supposed to ,it was the only way I could some peace.)

However re sound enrichment ,everything I have tried re sleep just grated on me ,music ,or white ,or pink noise.So hearing aids were good ,but felt sore in the morning .Thing is the audiologist at the Acoustic cr neuromod place said as I had high freq loss PURPLE noise would be worth a go at night and he gave me a CD ...he was right!!! Its very comfortable to hear and blends and knocks out my T nicely.

Jane for me they made a MASSIVE difference.For the first time I felt I was in control of my T.

If you have High Freq loss ,you have to move forward and get them,really.

All the best jane,Pete
 
#35
Thanks Pete - this really is something to think seriously about.

I have the purple noise cd (only recently) and yes - it's excellent.

Thanks again, Jane
 
#36
carlover said:
...I got NHS digital hearing aids and I put them in and WOW!!!! the tinnitus disappears by a good 80% as does the fullness and pressure.Take them out and the T comes back it is not a cure but as a life saver brilliant....
Click to expand...
Pete -
Very cool! I'm very happy that hearing aids are helping you.

I'm in the US, and I'm not sure if my insurance will cover the cost of hearing aides. I know my mother's hearing aides were very expensive.

click-
Thought about having a neck massage Karl but if it could cure it.. then it could also make it worse... too scared!
Click to expand...
Ever try accupuncture...? I tried it, had 4 sessions. Seemed to help a little. But some people swear by it. Actually, I think that someone with neck related tinnitus may benefit from accupuncture.
 
#37
Just terrified of doing anything really Karl. Have a cupboard full of unopened supplements that I'm too scared to take. Wouldn't let anyone near me for massage / acupuncture / manipulation/ chiro etc.

Don't want to give out an image of some terrified being here though - I'm far from that! The anxiety was there at the start but not now. It's just being cautious. If there was a known cure I'd go for it but with all this uncertainty about T it's trial and error & I don't want to experience the error :)

It's mainly because mine changes so much and also goes away completely. I'm still trying to think positively and believe that it will go away permanently. I don't want to do anything that will stop it happening.

It's dreadful on the bad days and it's wonderful on the 'no T' days. If it goes on for much longer I'll start TRT first I think and then consider other options but I can't see myself ever being brave anough to let someone manipulate anything in the hope that it may fix it.

Although it does move to my neck, mine actually started in the top of my head - violent electrical noise darting back and forth.

It must be hard to have to consider what your insurance covers when trying things for T... although I suppose the NHS here doesn't cover everything.

What does being a 'lifetime benefactor' on here mean?
 
#38
I have the Zen Widex Hearing Aids with Zen Tones to help with Tinnitus. White noise and soft smoothing Bells and charms noises. I can use them amplified or notamplified. I have five different noises with a remote control. The white noise seemed to help me cope with the tinnitus better but it bothers me sometimes too. I don't need to wear them because I can hear fine. I have high frequency hearing loss. The hearing aids did not help my tinnitus But they did not hurt it either. Cost $5900.00 dollars. Insurance paid the first $3000. Had 30 days to return them.

I wear them off and on. Sometimes at night when the tinnitus is real loud I will wear them to help sleep with the Soft bell noises. Like I said they did not get rid of the tinnitus. But I did not return them because I felt they helped take the edge off I little. Anything that anybody needs to know just ask me and I will tell you my experiences with them. Everybody is different when it comes to hearing aids or anything else. What may help one person may totally be different for another person.
 
#40
Thanks for explaining Karl - is this for hosting of the site?

ps. 'Lifetime Benefactor' does sound very important :ROFL:
 
#43
Karl said:
I seem to be obsessing away today. I probably edited my last post about 20 times. Please note all the fancy bolds and italics. I went back and forth on this one, boiling the problem down. (This needs to go into my final grade in this course. Hey, does anyone know when this course will end?)

I've corresponded and talked quite a bit with some experts in the field of tinnitus. I view it almost as an electronics problem involving afferent and efferent circuitry. One of the scientists I know is a world renowned tinnitus expert. He also happens to be a ham radio operator. He views the auditory system as a radio.
Click to expand...

Karl, thanks for all the effort you put into your posts. They are always very informative.

The way your expert friend (impressive:)) views it explains the radio tuning in type sound I have then :(
 
#44
Petloy said:
Hi louise, what frequency/ies do you have a loss? Mine is at 6-8 khz at 30 (right ear) and 40 (left ear) this one was hardest hit by the fire alarm.
Click to expand...

Hi Petloy,

My loss is around 6khz and is 30db in the left ear (where the T is a problem) and about 15 in the right (where I have it slightly).

I hate fire alarms, they are ridiculously loud.
 
#45
@Karl & click, you just made me giggle out loud :D I have no idea if the "Lifetime Benefactor" sounds ridiculous or not :D It sounds okay to my ear but that's one of the perks of not being native speaker :p

And speaking of hearing aids: I think it makes sense they help lessen the perception of tinnitus, if you have hearing loss...


Have a good Wednesday folks!
 
#46
This is really interesting stuff Karl. My replies in red!


Karl said:
Excellent question. I think once this feedback loop gets going, it reinforces itself. The brain is sort of pumping it along with energy, I think. Earplugs aren't enough to stop this thing, once the deviant cycle gets going, because it feeds on itself. But then its what its triggered that becomes the problem not the initial balancing of the sounds any longer. It must be as I have those earplugs in for 8 hours every night so there's no sound to be balanced.

In 2010, using research funding from the Ford Foundation, researchers built what's called an MEG/MRI scanning machine. They've been able to view how areas of the brain of a tinnitus patient becomes disturbed. Using again 4kHz as an example, the 4kHz region of the brain is overly excited. I think this "keeps the ball rolling", so to speak. It's a ball that is hard to stop. This then would fit in with the Tinnitus Clinics explanation of the over-excited, synchronous neurons being the problem. (I always sort of hope that is the case because then there's the ANM machine to hope for).

The same researchers were able to temporarily cancel tinnitus using a special sound therapy. Using MEG/MRI after sound therapy, they saw that the previously affected brain areas had calmed down, and the tinnitus patient temporarily experienced silence. ...But then it started up again... Because there was still hearing loss and this sound balancing problem happened again. If those people had then worn hearing aids they may have kept the T away.

See this thread: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/meg-and-mri-scans-used-to-cancel-tinnitus.288/

It doesn't take much to "get the ball rolling" when a system feeds on itself and becomes unstable.
Click to expand...
I feel unstable now too :(
 
#47
carlover said:
Just seen this post.

During my efforts to help my T

I paid privately, went to see an Ear (not ent) specialist,he is the head of cochlear implant at St georges hospital London. He tested said I have high frequency hearing loss ,he suggested that If I got hearingaids I would be "pleasantly surprised how your ears will feel"
Hetoldme when i put them in my T would diminish as would the full pressure feeling,I left not believing him.

He got me on the NHS list.


I got NHS digital hearing aids and I put them in and WOW!!!! the tinnitus disappears by a good 80% as does the fullness and pressure.Take them out and the T comes back it is not a cure but as a life saver brilliant.
Things to note ,apparently hearing aids do not make your hearing diminish.

Secondly the audiologist im dealing with at the Acoustic Cr Neuromodulation center said ,NHS digitals are as good as expensive private ,its all down to the skill of the audiologist setting them up ,he said there is nothing he could do with private aids that he couldnt do with NHS digitals.
Wish you well ,Pete
Click to expand...

Brilliant Pete, thankyou.

The 'Hearing Specialist' I've seen says he uses aids with people as a way of getting rid of the T (or probably getting habituation I think). He said you have to wean on them and wean off (I had asked if it was a lifetime thing if you start with them or is it shorter term to help with the elimination of T).
He did also say that people love how they can hear with them and he can find it tricky to get them off them!!!
 
#48
carlover said:
Hi Jane...ok ,my T does not seem louder when I take them out.

I did wear them all day as it was such a relief..but at the moment I have the Acoustic CR neuromodulation for 6 hrs a day in my ears so that knocks out the T while its hopefully working its magic.I am also trying Universal sound therapy so my ears are allways full at the mo:ROFL:

As for wearing them at night I was (your not supposed to ,it was the only way I could some peace.)

However re sound enrichment ,everything I have tried re sleep just grated on me ,music ,or white ,or pink noise.So hearing aids were good ,but felt sore in the morning .Thing is the audiologist at the Acoustic cr neuromod place said as I had high freq loss PURPLE noise would be worth a go at night and he gave me a CD ...he was right!!! Its very comfortable to hear and blends and knocks out my T nicely.

Jane for me they made a MASSIVE difference.For the first time I felt I was in control of my T.

If you have High Freq loss ,you have to move forward and get them,really.

All the best jane,Pete
Click to expand...

I also find the Purple noise far better than White. I wish they would make purple noise generators like they do white noise ones. I have the purple noise on loop on my MP3 player but there's an awful little silence when it loops. Also I play it through speakers so its not portable.

I am more and more thinking the hearings aids are a good idea for me. And if I can get them on the NHS its not a big cash risk. I would get them set up by the Hearing Specialist I've started seeing.

Thanks Pete and all the best.
 
#49
mike said:
I have the Zen Widex Hearing Aids with Zen Tones to help with Tinnitus. White noise and soft smoothing Bells and charms noises. I can use them amplified or notamplified. I have five different noises with a remote control. The white noise seemed to help me cope with the tinnitus better but it bothers me sometimes too. I don't need to wear them because I can hear fine. I have high frequency hearing loss. The hearing aids did not help my tinnitus But they did not hurt it either. Cost $5900.00 dollars. Insurance paid the first $3000. Had 30 days to return them.

I wear them off and on. Sometimes at night when the tinnitus is real loud I will wear them to help sleep with the Soft bell noises. Like I said they did not get rid of the tinnitus. But I did not return them because I felt they helped take the edge off I little. Anything that anybody needs to know just ask me and I will tell you my experiences with them. Everybody is different when it comes to hearing aids or anything else. What may help one person may totally be different for another person.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike. Such a shame they didnt reduce the tinnitus.

You mentioned you slept with the aids in? Is this uncomfortable?

I wonder if you waen on and wean off the hearing aids slowly whether that affects whether it gets rid of the T or not? Did you wean on and off?
 
#50
Louise -
You're on your way to getting this under control. If you can work through an understanding of this phenomena, you will be closer to managing it.

When we trade stories, we need to be careful not to "mix apples and oranges". People get tinnitus for different reasons, although I think there are just a few different causes. Some people will benefit from hearing aides while others will not.

The majority of people get tinnitus from age related hearing loss. I fall into that group. My tinnitus is quiet in the morning. It gets louder when I watch TV. It is a consistent tone - almost a white crackely noise now. I have no trouble sleeping, perhaps because I take Remeron. I could probably benefit from a hearing aid.

For some other people, their tinnitus is not due to hearing loss. They may have wildly fluctuating tinnitus: Very loud some days, gone other days. For some strange reason, they are getting tinnitus due to neck problems or TMJ or..."somatic tinnitus" they call it. They won't benefit from hearing aides.

I don't think there is a blanket treatment that works effectively for everybody. So, don't be dissuaded if stories seem to contradict each other. Keep on track with your gut feelings.
 
#52
Louise said:
I also find the Purple noise far better than White. I wish they would make purple noise generators like they do white noise ones. I have the purple noise on loop on my MP3 player but there's an awful little silence when it loops. Also I play it through speakers so its not portable.

I am more and more thinking the hearings aids are a good idea for me. And if I can get them on the NHS its not a big cash risk. I would get them set up by the Hearing Specialist I've started seeing.

Thanks Pete and all the best.
Click to expand...

I also prefer the purple noise to the white & pink ones but if I have any of them playing all night I wake in the morning with a headache. Sometimes a major one.

Never really had headaches before I had T (I have far more sympathy now for friends who get them regularly!).

Thought at first it was the T giving me the headache but I tried water sounds all night one night instead when the T was raging and no headache in the morning. But the water sounds don't mask it well at night when the T is loud.

Round & round in circles I go...
 
#57
Karl said:
Louise -
You're on your way to getting this under control. If you can work through an understanding of this phenomena, you will be closer to managing it.

When we trade stories, we need to be careful not to "mix apples and oranges". People get tinnitus for different reasons, although I think there are just a few different causes. Some people will benefit from hearing aides while others will not.

The majority of people get tinnitus from age related hearing loss. I fall into that group. My tinnitus is quiet in the morning. It gets louder when I watch TV. It is a consistent tone - almost a white crackely noise now. I have no trouble sleeping, perhaps because I take Remeron. I could probably benefit from a hearing aid.

For some other people, their tinnitus is not due to hearing loss. They may have wildly fluctuating tinnitus: Very loud some days, gone other days. For some strange reason, they are getting tinnitus due to neck problems or TMJ or..."somatic tinnitus" they call it. They won't benefit from hearing aides.

I don't think there is a blanket treatment that works effectively for everybody. So, don't be dissuaded if stories seem to contradict each other. Keep on track with your gut feelings.
Click to expand...

I totally agree Karl.

I've been trying to get a proper understanding but there are so many theories and so much information out there. I'm sure someone who works in this field could put it all together and understand why one theory doesn't contradict the other and get to the nitty gritty of what my actual mechanism is. I am going to find that person, if it's not the Hearing Specialist I have just started seeing.

As an aside, in the pack that I got from the Hearing Specialist there are some exercises (relaxation stuff etc) but there's a good sort of mantra to say to calm yourself, it goes:
1. Its my inner ear noises.
2. They are perfectly safe.
3. Perfectly natural.
4. They've always been there.
5. My brain is capable of filtering them out.

Point 4 refers to the theory that these natural noises have always been there but normally there are filters in place to stop you hearing them. These filters are dropped when there is hearing loss to enable us to hear better but it causes these natural noises to be heard as well.
 
#58
Karl said:
Click -
Just curious: How much did the "Lifetime Benefactor" title cost you in English currency?

I wonder how it cost for Markku to knight us?:p
Click to expand...

Just under £13 Karl - not exactly going to break the bank!

Now that's a good idea - there could be knighthoods & other titles - we could choose which one we want and have to pay different prices for each.

We could even suggest a few... :rolleyes:
 
#59
Markku said:
@Karl & click, you just made me giggle out loud :D I have no idea if the "Lifetime Benefactor" sounds ridiculous or not :D It sounds okay to my ear but that's one of the perks of not being native speaker :p

And speaking of hearing aids: I think it makes sense they help lessen the perception of tinnitus, if you have hearing loss...


Have a good Wednesday folks!
Click to expand...

It sounds fine Markku - not ridiculous at all. Glad we made you laugh!
 
#60
click said:
....
Now that's a good idea - there could be knighthoods & other titles - we could choose which one we want and have to pay different prices for each.

We could even suggest a few... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Hmm...let me think:
The Earl of Ears?
The Sheriff of Synapses?
The Lord of Loudness?
The Knight of Noise?
Our Lady of Perpetual Noise?
The Arch Duke of Deafness?
 

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