Listen or Not to Listen to Tinnitus?

[Gabri]

Basic principles of TRT implies sound therapy and partial masking with white noise. However, I saw some recommendatations for habituation to actually listen and meditate on the tinnitus sound to make it a friend rather than enemy. I am not sure which one to apply, I tried partial masking with no kind of success so far and I am concerned that I might make it worse if I try meditation on the actual sound.

What is your opinion on this, do you do anything to speed habituation process?

 

[Pleasure_Paulie]

Hear it, but don't listen to it. Good luck on your journey for habituation.

 

[NimQ]

Personally, I consider the main priority controlling anxiety and stress. I was going nowhere after my acoustic trauma, as I kept checking my T constantly. It was torturing, hostile and alien mix of screaming sounds, so just hearing it made my stress levels unbearable. I associated the sound as an irreversible and stupid mistake I made by going to the concert and staying there (self-blame to the max), as a sign of my hearing and nervous system being damaged (proper doom & gloom about health decline) and as an alarm signal telling me I was making it worse by everyday activities (thinking life is over).

So because of that, for me, masking and distraction were both extremely important. I think the self-blame prevented me from having any comfort for a long time, as I kind of kept torturing myself for every single mistake and just went into a very dark place. Anyway, only when I allowed myself comfort, I could move on. And that was by freely using distractions and masking every single time I noticed my T, even using it as a preventive method if I feared for something to have caused a spike, to prevent me from checking the volume. I also believe that if we cannot calm ourselves and emotionally ignore the sound, facing it with horror only tells our brain "this is an attack, fixate on it!".

Eventually by allowing myself to escape the sound, the negative conditioning I had before started to fade. Then little by little I started to lower the masking sound and would forget to put it on. It took a lot of time for me, to accept my T baseline. It can still be hard sometimes, of course. Every time I get spikes or other scares, I go back into my comfort masking sounds. It's the only thing that can interrupt my intense focus on T when it gets triggered, as for me it has not been possible to control the fear/anxiety response by will power alone.

 

[Gabri]

I related to most of your story, just that mine is stress induced. I overstressed for a lot of things my whole life and I blame myself for many reactions I had, taking my nervous system to the limit, including poor sleep and too much work. At first I did same mistakes as all, monitored it and reacted with fear, that was biggest mistake, limbic system was involved and this sound got stored in my brain and I often listen for it even though I don't want to.

I don't do that, I am not scared anymore, just very sad. I am neutral to the sound for 2 months (4 since started), but it does not fade at all, even though my reaction changed from stress and fear to neutral, calm when hearing it. Of course I use masking at night, avoid loud places and alcohool. These things that I have to avoid, remind me of it even if I try to forget about and move on with life, but moving on means life without things you used to do....

 

[Starthrower]

Personally, I consider the main priority controlling anxiety and stress.

Me too. With very loud intrusive tinnitus the very first step for me was finding a way to address those two issues first. I had a lot of help with my doctors and medications and different ways for dealing with anxiety/stress because of the tinnitus with therapists.

@Gabri your post does not mention a problem with anxiety. That is great. Now about the mediation for dealing with not hearing the sound it worked for me. But it took a good therapist and time to lose that crazy and start to think of the noise as another noise like a car going down the street or chimes in the wind. Normal "outside" sounds.

This is so hard to describe.

 

[Gabri]

I had anxiety all my life because of other issues from my past and a lot of it when tinnitus started. I managed to control this part in last 2 months, like when I hear T, I don't react with panick mode like at first, I manage to stay calm. But this for these 2 last months only, so anxiety played a big role as for most tinnitus sufferers.

I know the theory like tinnitus should be like sound of a refrigerator and all those examples, and I can ignore to certain point when some other sounds are present, but staying in total silence seems like something hard to achieve.

Hearing of this type of meditation with focus on sound is counter intuitive and was wondering if would be better than standard attempt to ignore it. But...I am not sure if focusing through meditation won't actually make it worse, so it is always a puzzle with this affliction.

 

[Tweaker]

Mindfulness meditation can help you listen to it and not be afraid. Can't distract ourselves 24/7.

 

[Dana]

If you listen to the tinnitus sound(s) the brain will take into consideration your wish to hear the tinnitus and will filter out other sounds and pump up the volume of the tinnitus, for you to hear better what you are interested in.
This happens to all types of sounds, not only tinnitus.
If i am very interested in the sound of the refrigerator, of the car engine, i will hear in a short time almost only the sound of the refrigerator or the car engine, even if before i was not hearing them, because i was oblivious to them, i was considering them unimportant.
The brain can select the sounds it is interested in, and make them the main sound we hear, and put in the background all the other sounds.
We hear what a person says in a very noisy environment, the moment we are interested in what he is saying. We filter out what what other people are saying at the same time. The moment we lose interest in what a person says, the other voices come back from the background to our attention. If we want to hear what another person is saying, the voice of that person is brought in the center of our hearing.
To hear something that is not very loud and represents no danger to us, we have to think of it as very important, in order to hear it.
In a noisy environment, if i think i hear a knock at the door, i will be able in the following moments to not be bothered by the other sounds and hear clearly whether somebody is knocking at the door or not, and if someone does, i will hear very clearly that knock, cause i gave it priority nr 1. on the list of all the sounds that can be heard.
We do not want to do that with tinnitus, so my advice would be to NOT listen to the tinnitus.
The only sense that would make listening to the tinnitus for a while would be to see for ourselves that hearing it does not bring death, and close this chapter, but we must switch focus on external sounds after that, cause otherwise tinnitus will be the main sound we hear, front and center.

I am not talking, of course, about spikes. Spikes have a talent to take the center spot in our attention, because, unconsciously, the limbic system, the amygdala, gave them rank nr. 1. We are afraid that the spike will last for a long time, if not for the rest of our lives, and the moment we do that, it takes center stage in our attention.

I would advice, when having a spike, to turn on the radio at low volume. In many cases, not all, but in many cases, you will see that the spike gets lower in volume, which proves that, in order to hear something, two conditions must be met:
1. That sound (external or internal) to be audible
2. To "listen" to it. When we listen to the radio, we do not listen to the tinnitus, and you will see that you will hear, mainly, the radio.

A tinnitu of, say, 50 db, can sometimes, be covered by a sound of 30 db or less, just because the focus of the brain switched to the 30 dB sound. The volume of a spike cannot be measured because "measuring" means "comparing" it with a measuring unit, and the moment we bring another sound into the mix, which is one or several times the measuring unit, the tinnitus sound gets lower, taking a back seat.

There are sad times, unfortunately, when the sound of tinnitus does not subside when we listen to other sounds. That is why some people killed themselves, because the sound would simply not go down.

It happend to me to have both types of spikes, maskable, and not maskable.

Good luck to all of us!

 

[fishbone]

Basic principles of TRT implies sound therapy and partial masking with white noise. However, I saw some recommendatations for habituation to actually listen and meditate on the tinnitus sound to make it a friend rather than enemy. I am not sure which one to apply, I tried partial masking with no kind of success so far and I am concerned that I might make it worse if I try meditation on the actual sound.

What is your opinion on this, do you do anything to speed habituation process?

You should not speed up this process. It takes time and adjusting to get habituated. Personally I would not meditate on the sound and listen for it. If I meditate, my eyes would be closed and I'd be focused on a beautiful island, gal, something that can put you at peace.

Listening for the tinnitus is a NO NO, it just makes one more aware of it and can make one more obsessive about the ringing. I do agree, that it is a great idea to make the tinnitus, your friend and not your enemy. I say this on many of my posts and the contributions I have made to this very forum

I will not comment on TRT anymore because, the trolls with no experience come out of the woodwork

 

[Bill Bauer]

What is your opinion on this, do you do anything to speed habituation process?

When you become aware of it, try not to have a strong emotional reaction.

 

[Jazzer]

@Gabri - I'll just add my view.
I always start my meditation by listening to my Tinnitus for a few seconds only. (10/12 secs max.)
Within half a minute, I have drifted away using 'good' breathing, and I'm gone.
Bear in mind that you would hear your Tinnitus whether you want to, or not.
In essence - you don't have a choice.
It is a way of combining "T" with relaxation/meditation.
(You do not continue listening to "T"
- you escape from it.)
That's just the way I do it. x

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@Jazzer I read your post last night where you mention Old Town Sacramento. That got me thinking about last week where we drove by the K street entrance to Old Town on the way back from a doctor's appointment. There was a guy at the entrance playing an instrument, maybe a flute just after a heavy rain. My wife smiled and said "that Old Town". She also use to attend the jazz festival when she was younger.

 

[Gabri]

When you become aware of it, try not to have a strong emotional reaction.

I do this now, I don't have emotional reaction, but I beat myself up because I made it louder doing huge mistakes when it started just by having an emotional reaction to sound I did not knew about.

Thing is I did not even knew I had any noise in head before heard faint buzz in left ear. I scared and covered my ears to listen better. Then I noticed some high pitch tone inside center of head, that was probably there long time but not aware of it...and I got more emotional and had negative reactions after reading about it on internet. That high pitch I did not hear in silence, just when checking with ears covered. But as I was checking for faint left ear noise, this high pitch scared me more and more and one day I could hear without ears covered. I did all the bad steps to acquire tinnitus. Now, the left sound is mostly covered by center head pitch. I just created tinnitus or agravate it just by doing this stupid things.

Can't believe that sound got stuck. I had lots of stresful periods in life and a head concussion prior to hearing left ear buzz. Also, had other issues that put lot of stress on me and had some panick attacks before I heard any of the noises. Probably both sounds have stress as cause for starting, but i definetly made the high pitch stronger just by the afterwards emotional reaction.

 

[Zug]

Basic principles of TRT implies sound therapy and partial masking with white noise. However, I saw some recommendatations for habituation to actually listen and meditate on the tinnitus sound to make it a friend rather than enemy. I am not sure which one to apply, I tried partial masking with no kind of success so far and I am concerned that I might make it worse if I try meditation on the actual sound.

What is your opinion on this, do you do anything to speed habituation process?

Have you tried any of these options? I did CBT, meditated, and never thought of Tinnitus as my friend.

There are a lot of misconceptions online.

Best,
Zug

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@Gabri I see that you got a MRI post concussion. A MRI or CT would show any serious problems caused by a concussion and you said your MRI results were good. One thing that you need is rest and more rest. Within this link click onto CDC guidelines.

http://weillcornellbrainandspine.org/condition/concussion/diagnosing-and-treating-concussion

 

[Bill Bauer]

Then I noticed some high pitch tone inside center of head, that was probably there long time but not aware of it

I highly doubt that it was there for a long time before you noticed it. Of course anything is possible.

 

[Holly1987]

Basic principles of TRT implies sound therapy and partial masking with white noise. However, I saw some recommendatations for habituation to actually listen and meditate on the tinnitus sound to make it a friend rather than enemy. I am not sure which one to apply, I tried partial masking with no kind of success so far and I am concerned that I might make it worse if I try meditation on the actual sound.

What is your opinion on this, do you do anything to speed habituation process?

This is a really good question and something I am unsure about too. I have started using white noise with the volume just below my tinnitus all night. I turn it up and mask my T if I feel mysef start to get anxious/ panicky. I also turn it up and mask it immediately if it wakes me up just to calm myself down and then will try and reduce it back down. At this point listening to my tinnitus and attempting to meditate would be a terrible idea as I obsess way too much about it. For now I'm trying my best to completely ignore it.

 

[Bill Bauer]

@Michael Leigh recommends sound enrichment.

 

[Anitajog]

The brain can select the sounds it is interested in, and make them the main sound we hear, and put in the background all the other sounds.

Exactly!

 

[Gabri]

The brain can select the sounds it is interested in, and make them the main sound we hear, and put in the background all the other sounds.

The problem is we made our brains intersted in tinnitus. Even this forum and talking about it enforces this interest. Most people with this problem become obssesed with it, but ignoring is hard.

@Gabri I see that you got a MRI post concussion. A MRI or CT would show any serious problems caused by a concussion and you said your MRI results were good. One thing that you need is rest and more rest. Within this link click onto CDC guidelines.

http://weillcornellbrainandspine.org/condition/concussion/diagnosing-and-treating-concussion

Even though I manage to sleep, I constantly have issues with it, lots of wake ups, not feeling rested in the morning, startling in my body (myclonia), when falling asleep. These are all cause by long time stress, anxiety and concussion was just last straw probably to trigger all these. Of course, tinnitus joining in made all stres and axiety worse.

Have you tried any of these options? I did CBT, meditated, and never thought of Tinnitus as my friend.

I tried some self sound therapy with listening white noise on headphones below tinitus level as many hours per day as I can, but I don't see any improvement. I am thinking of CBT with a psychologist, but I am never sure how this can help as I basically know more about tinnitus than most doctors and psychologists.

 

[Gabri]

@Michael Leigh recommends sound enrichment.

I have some room small fountain, but I can't sleep just with that. Is this the type of sound enrichment he is refering to, is this better than white noise ?

 

[Jazzer]

@Holly1987 - I'll try to be a little clearer.
I settle down to meditate,
Head slightly to one side, to keep the throat more open.
I take one deep breath in through the nose,
then a long slow breath out through the mouth.
I have already asked my tummy to take over all the breathing.
From then on, breathing is purely automatic, (regulated only by nerves in the tummy and lungs.)
I allow myself to 'hear' my Tinnitus for just a very few seconds, then
no further concentration on it.
(Bear in mind, you would obviously hear it for those few seconds anyway.
It really amounts to acceptance, instead of denial, which is always futile, anyway.)
I have meditated for some years, and I am 'out' within seconds.
But many people have different methods to mine.
It's very easy to think that Tinnitus ruins everything, I know.
Well, it does not have to ruin meditation!

 

[anusha]

When you become aware of it, try not to have a strong emotional reaction.

Not sure how do I achieve this especially during midnight when I want to sleep badly. I thought I was in a better place in feb but after 3weeks of visit to India in search of cure and only got to know that I have sensonueral hearing loss very minor that I don't even realize that I have hearing loss but the doctor said the nerve got weak and so I hear T have been taking neurozon and have no progress.... 3weeks in India I hardly heard T due to so many outside noises and was slightly disturbed only during night due to AC and Fan running. Now I am back in US since 3days and to my routine. Today morning woke up at 5am and tried falling back to sleep. I keep telling myself accept T but I cried insanely for an hour in the morning when i couldn't sleep I am shaken up emotionally. I thought I was accepting and can be happy even with T. Daytime it is easier not to react emotionally but when its quite and your body just wants to rest how do I train myself not to react and cry.... because crying gives me bad headache....and also turns into spiral thoughts which are unproductive in life. I can't seem not to panic when I am in bed. I want zero emotional response and habituation badly as I want to get back to how I was.

Going to bed scares me....Sleep is my nightmare. It has been ages I felt refreshed or relaxed after a good night sleep. I thought I was only getting better emotionally but falling back to where I started in December.

 

[Jazzer]

@Jazzer
I read your post last night where you mention Old Town Sacramento

Hi Greg - I loved the Sacramento Festival - a two week gig for us in the early nineties.
It gave me an opportunity to indulge my love of the Old West, tinged with a deep sadnesse for the diabolical treatment of the native people.
I will never get my head round the vile things that happened to wonderful dignified people.
Subsequent to the festival we visited Monument Valley, Mesa Verde, Death Valley, and Yosemite.
I was buying some Western Fiction in the Mountain Light Bookshop just outside the Yosemite Park, when the shop owner asked me which authors I liked.
I mentioned Jack Schaefer, Elmer Kelton, Dorothy M. Johnson, Oliver la Farge, Forrest Carter, Conrad Richter, etc...
She was a charming lady, and introduced herself to me as Emily Schaefer, daughter of Jack.
"Would I like an autographed copy of "Shane?"
"WOW."
On several holidays out West I picked up some lovely bits and pieces, a bronze by Remington, some antique torqouise, oil paintings, numerous art books, carvings etc....
We had some lovely trips out that way.

 

[Starthrower]

I tried some self sound therapy with listening white noise on headphones below tinitus level as many hours per day as I can, but I don't see any improvement. I am thinking of CBT with a psychologist, but I am never sure how this can help as I basically know more about tinnitus than most doctors and psychologists.

I get it Gabri. I found that I had to find what worked for me personally. The white noise, the rain noise, the crickets noise and the fan at night did nothing for me but made my tinnitus seem worse. I found my fix in certain music. Certain songs and harmonies. I would listen carefully to different aspects of the instruments or vocals.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I have some room small fountain, but I can't sleep just with that. Is this the type of sound enrichment he is refering to, is this better than white noise ?

You can use http://mynoise.net/
with a smart phone, or buy a device like one of the ones below
https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Oasis-S-5000-Deluxe-Therapy/dp/B018KUVEOM/
https://www.amazon.com/Cherry-Koala-Concentration-Relaxation-Sufferers/dp/B01FRW2WBA/

 

[Bill Bauer]

I want zero emotional response and habituation badly as I want to get back to how I was.

I read that it can take as long as 18 months to habituate. Have you experienced any fading? Have you tried using sound enrichment? it doesn't have to drown out T, it just gives you something else to listen to besides T. During the first 10-15 minutes, you will still be listening to T, but eventually you might be able to listen to the sound enrichment and not to T...

As for the emotional reaction - well, consciously try to not think about horrible it is. It is like with meditation - as soon as you catch yourself thinking about it, force yourself to think about something else.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@Gabri I don't know much about sound therapy, but some like nature sounds and others like soft relaxing music. I do like to do meditation/mindfulness, breathing exercise and I found enjoyable interaction with family helps.
It's really good that your MRI came up negative. I think the best advice for post concussion is the NFL - football. I read about three players who received tinnitus after a concussion. With all of them, their tinnitus resolved before a year mark. I understand that you had tinnitus before your concussion, but it's possible that the added tinnitus in your left ear may settle down. The NFL has their players get rest and then later to start gentle exercise standing up like moving arms around. Wishing you the best.

@Jazzer I love your collection. Thank you for posting those and for all your photos. I love cats. Bank in the eighties, I had bought a small hand carved Native American art pole at the gift shop at Folsom State Prison in California. It wasn't old. The gift shop had lots of hand-made items. I have a collection from when I was 12-16 of early American stuff that I found by digging up in woods where I lived in Massachusetts. I found a hand made copper bronze coin dated 1796. I found some old medicine bottles still in one piece and some arrow heads. All your photos are so beautiful and it really is good therapy. I would post some of my pictures, but I don't know how to.

 

[Gabri]

You can use http://mynoise.net/

Good app, thanks.

 

[Gabri]

Have you experienced any fading? Have you tried using sound enrichment?

I, for myself, tried sound enrichment and white noises, that partially covers tinnitus along with stopping emotional reactions to tinnitus. However, I never experience any fading in perception when I am in silence, has always same baseline level with ocassional spikes.