Low Pitch Ringing/Hum Went Away After Using a Mouth Guard and Regular Jaw Massage

[GDK]

Would be interesting to see if anyone else gets low hum relief from wearing a professional mouth guard during sleep or if @GDK just got very lucky here.

Ya, I am hopeful others will find relief. That's why I created the thread.

But I think the key is to reduce tension in the jaw muscles. For me, that involves massaging them quite a bit, wearing a professional mouth guard, and actively trying not to clench during the day.

It's remarkable how often I'll find that I'm clenching without even realizing it.

I want to reemphasize that my hum was exactly like everyone else's.

 

[brownbear]

@GDK, thanks for posting this. I developed EXACTLY what you and @Ben Winders describe in my good ear about 2 years ago and I have been wondering if there is anything I could try to do about it so I may give your suggestions a try. In my case this low sound came on in my good ear about 3 years after my original tinnitus started on the other side. I think they are not related to be honest. If only I could find something to try to sort out the horror show in my original ear I'd be a happy man!

 

[Ben Winders]

For me, personally, as I stated many times before, I caused my own low hum with a self-inflicted (stupid > aren't they all) acoustic trauma.

@GDK - would you be able to point out exactly what part you are massaging and how long per day are you massaging on average ?

 

[GDK]

For me, personally, as I stated many times before, I caused my own low hum with a self-inflicted (stupid > aren't they all) acoustic trauma.

@GDK - would you be able to point out exactly what part you are massaging and how long per day are you massaging on average ?

Hi.

I'm massaging the section about two inches directly below my ear canal opening.
Clench your teeth and you'll feel a muscle contract around there. That's the one I'm massaging.

I'm not massing all that much, a few times a day for maybe 10 minutes. If I feel tense, I do it more.

The one thing I'm wondering, Ben, is how can you explain your somatic element to your hum? If it is nerve damage, why would moving certain ways improve your hum? To me, that says it's a physical thing...

 

[Ben Winders]

Hi.

I'm massaging the section about two inches directly below my ear canal opening.
Clench your teeth and you'll feel a muscle contract around there. That's the one I'm massaging.

I'm not massing all that much, a few times a day for maybe 10 minutes. If I feel tense, I do it more.

The one thing I'm wondering, Ben, is how can you explain your somatic element to your hum? If it is nerve damage, why would moving certain ways improve your hum? To me, that says it's a physical thing...

Isn't Susan Shore explaining this somatic component in some way? Let's say I damaged nerves, wouldn't bending my head cause simple gravity to make the hum sound differently (or vanish sometimes when it is not that intense)?

When I shake my head 'NO NO' in a fast way, my hum also makes the same noise as a Star Wars sword would sound when it is waved around... "wo wo wo wo wo", the hum is interrupted.

I guess this is also due to the motion / gravity... it's as if some internal cable is hanging "lose" and the shaking makes it "wobble".

I thought for a very long time that the somatic component actually meant it was something physical but it seems that all people with low drone tinnitus have this same behavior (shaking head makes it "stop" etc...)

Again - my tinnitus is 100% due to me sleeping with in-ear headphones with a low droning noise (app with fan noises to enable me to sleep in a busy city)... so I definitely have damage, but the only question is: what kind of damage exactly.

 

[GDK]

Isn't Susan Shore explaining this somatic component in some way? Let's say I damaged nerves, wouldn't bending my head cause simple gravity to make the hum sound differently (or vanish sometimes when it is not that intense)?

When I shake my head 'NO NO' in a fast way, my hum also makes the same noise as a Star Wars sword would sound when it is waved around... "wo wo wo wo wo", the hum is interrupted.

I guess this is also due to the motion / gravity... it's as if some internal cable is hanging "lose" and the shaking makes it "wobble".

I thought for a very long time that the somatic component actually meant it was something physical but it seems that all people with low drone tinnitus have this same behavior (shaking head makes it "stop" etc...)

Again - my tinnitus is 100% due to me sleeping with in-ear headphones with a low droning noise (app with fan noises to enable me to sleep in a busy city)... so I definitely have damage, but the only question is: what kind of damage exactly.

To me, it seems that if the nerves/hair cells are damaged, that means they are dead.

Tinnitus can be caused by the brain replacing frequencies lost by hearing damage. So, if your hum is due to the cells that receive low frequencies being dead, I don't see them coming back to life by shaking one's head.

Rather, if your hum is due to something physical, like a nerve being irritated, or pressed on due to swelling, then I can see shaking one's head causing it to change due to momentum. So, shaking your head could be relieving the pressure on a nerve for a second.

I had the same thing. Shaking my head caused it to go away.

 

[Ben Winders]

To me, it seems that if the nerves/hair cells are damaged, that means they are dead.

Tinnitus can be caused by the brain replacing frequencies lost by hearing damage. So, if your hum is due to the cells that receive low frequencies being dead, I don't see them coming back to life by shaking one's head.

Rather, if your hum is due to something physical, like a nerve being irritated, or pressed on due to swelling, then I can see shaking one's head causing it to change due to momentum. So, shaking your head could be relieving the pressure on a nerve for a second.

I had the same thing. Shaking my head caused it to go away.

I obviously love how you are thinking.

In all honesty, it blows my mind how my low hum behaves some days. Let's call it the quiet days (some days my hum is at 9 all day and I can't do anything somatic to change the intensity).

Today was such a quiet day:

I go upstairs to the most quiet room in the house. The humming is at a 6 (still not quiet ofc but better than 9).

I sit down on the bed and raise my head until my face is almost horizontal > this causes my hum to go up to a 9.

Bringing the head down again lowers it back to a 6.

After being in the dead quiet room for a while (20 minutes) the hum subsides to a 1 (yes, almost completely gone), raising my head until face horizontal brings it to a 4.

Bringing the head down again brings it back to a 1 or even a 0 sometimes.

There is an actual "breaking point" - neck position that brings it from a 4 to a 0, more or less just above a natural sitting position...

When it is at 1 or 0, laying down (on back or either sides, it doesn't matter) ramps it up again to a 4.

Sitting back up after laying down means it is louder again.

After this fun session in our bedroom we went to get food, 10 minute drive in the car. Upon coming back from that short car ride, the buzzing is extremely loud for a good 5 minutes (like a 10 or so), before subsiding back to a 4.

Keep in mind what I said in the beginning, this is a good day, a day where I can manipulate the buzz and it sometimes drops to a 0. Most days are 9/10 and there is nothing I can do to bring it down.

I'm really puzzled about this behavior and I'm inclined to follow your thoughts. I mean if this is really tinnitus caused by low frequency hearing loss, how on earth does it drop to a 0 sometimes or how on earth can I manipulate it like that.

Fact is though that most people have a somatic component to their tinnitus, but my case is almost too extremely somatic.

 

[GDK]

I obviously love how you are thinking.

In all honesty, it blows my mind how my low hum behaves some days. Let's call it the quiet days (some days my hum is at 9 all day and I can't do anything somatic to change the intensity).

Today was such a quiet day:

I go upstairs to the most quiet room in the house. The humming is at a 6 (still not quiet ofc but better than 9).

I sit down on the bed and raise my head until my face is almost horizontal > this causes my hum to go up to a 9.

Bringing the head down again lowers it back to a 6.

After being in the dead quiet room for a while (20 minutes) the hum subsides to a 1 (yes, almost completely gone), raising my head until face horizontal brings it to a 4.

Bringing the head down again brings it back to a 1 or even a 0 sometimes.

There is an actual "breaking point" - neck position that brings it from a 4 to a 0, more or less just above a natural sitting position...

When it is at 1 or 0, laying down (on back or either sides, it doesn't matter) ramps it up again to a 4.

Sitting back up after laying down means it is louder again.

After this fun session in our bedroom we went to get food, 10 minute drive in the car. Upon coming back from that short car ride, the buzzing is extremely loud for a good 5 minutes (like a 10 or so), before subsiding back to a 4.

Keep in mind what I said in the beginning, this is a good day, a day where I can manipulate the buzz and it sometimes drops to a 0. Most days are 9/10 and there is nothing I can do to bring it down.

I'm really puzzled about this behavior and I'm inclined to follow your thoughts. I mean if this is really tinnitus caused by low frequency hearing loss, how on earth does it drop to a 0 sometimes or how on earth can I manipulate it like that.

Fact is though that most people have a somatic component to their tinnitus, but my case is almost too extremely somatic.

Ben,

I swear, your story was identical to mine. Changing head position cannot raise your hair cells in your cochlea from the dead. Thats why I always believed mine was physical in nature. I thought it might be a blood vessel, or a growth (mri ruled that out).

I think the hum we are hearing is us hearing our own body vibration. Similar to pressing your palm on your ear - you'll hear a hum. Try it right now. Palm against ear. You get a hum. You are hearing your vibration. Your ears are picking up the vibration of your palm against your ear.

When we change our head position, something physical happens near our auditory system, so that something is no longer vibrating against our auditory system. The hum lessens. When we turn our head a different way, it gets worse.

What causes this? Well my argument is that inflammation due to irritation is causing things to be physically pressed up against our auditory system. In my case clenching and grinding is the root cause of the inflammation.

So, if we can decrease the irritation, perhaps the hum goes away.

 

[CykoJon]

Ben,

I swear, your story was identical to mine. Changing head position cannot raise your hair cells in your cochlea from the dead. Thats why I always believed mine was physical in nature. I thought it might be a blood vessel, or a growth (mri ruled that out).

I think the hum we are hearing is us hearing our own body vibration. Similar to pressing your palm on your ear - you'll hear a hum. Try it right now. Palm against ear. You get a hum. You are hearing your vibration. Your ears are picking up the vibration of your palm against your ear.

When we change our head position, something physical happens near our auditory system, so that something is no longer vibrating against our auditory system. The hum lessens. When we turn our head a different way, it gets worse.

What causes this? Well my argument is that inflammation due to irritation is causing things to be physically pressed up against our auditory system. In my case clenching and grinding is the root cause of the inflammation.

So, if we can decrease the irritation, perhaps the hum goes away.

I also believe that my hum is somatic in some way but I seem unable to control the intensity like Ben does when it's loud. The only thing that makes a difference in intensity is either when hearing/making a sound or moving my head around which both stops the hum completely. Also, the hot water from a shower bring it back to baseline level (0.5 to 1/10) so this tells me it's probably muscle-related. Very strange...

 

[CykoJon]

I obviously love how you are thinking.

In all honesty, it blows my mind how my low hum behaves some days. Let's call it the quiet days (some days my hum is at 9 all day and I can't do anything somatic to change the intensity).

Today was such a quiet day:

I go upstairs to the most quiet room in the house. The humming is at a 6 (still not quiet ofc but better than 9).

I sit down on the bed and raise my head until my face is almost horizontal > this causes my hum to go up to a 9.

Bringing the head down again lowers it back to a 6.

After being in the dead quiet room for a while (20 minutes) the hum subsides to a 1 (yes, almost completely gone), raising my head until face horizontal brings it to a 4.

Bringing the head down again brings it back to a 1 or even a 0 sometimes.

There is an actual "breaking point" - neck position that brings it from a 4 to a 0, more or less just above a natural sitting position...

When it is at 1 or 0, laying down (on back or either sides, it doesn't matter) ramps it up again to a 4.

Sitting back up after laying down means it is louder again.

After this fun session in our bedroom we went to get food, 10 minute drive in the car. Upon coming back from that short car ride, the buzzing is extremely loud for a good 5 minutes (like a 10 or so), before subsiding back to a 4.

Keep in mind what I said in the beginning, this is a good day, a day where I can manipulate the buzz and it sometimes drops to a 0. Most days are 9/10 and there is nothing I can do to bring it down.

I'm really puzzled about this behavior and I'm inclined to follow your thoughts. I mean if this is really tinnitus caused by low frequency hearing loss, how on earth does it drop to a 0 sometimes or how on earth can I manipulate it like that.

Fact is though that most people have a somatic component to their tinnitus, but my case is almost too extremely somatic.

I have been reading your story for a while now. I was wondering since you've gotten this for a while now, do you have any coping strategies for the rest of us with the hum?

I'm at my 5th month now and even though it's not as bad as yours (mine's a 0.5 or 2/10 most the time) but when the loud hum show up when waking up on certain days, it wrecks me emotionally and it takes me a while to calm down. It's the fleeting nature of it that makes me anxious and depressed. I think it's finally going away but then nope... still here.

After almost 2 years of this experience, what would be your words of wisdom to bestow upon us?

 

[Rb86]

Isn't Susan Shore explaining this somatic component in some way? Let's say I damaged nerves, wouldn't bending my head cause simple gravity to make the hum sound differently (or vanish sometimes when it is not that intense)?

When I shake my head 'NO NO' in a fast way, my hum also makes the same noise as a Star Wars sword would sound when it is waved around... "wo wo wo wo wo", the hum is interrupted.

I guess this is also due to the motion / gravity... it's as if some internal cable is hanging "lose" and the shaking makes it "wobble".

I thought for a very long time that the somatic component actually meant it was something physical but it seems that all people with low drone tinnitus have this same behavior (shaking head makes it "stop" etc...)

Again - my tinnitus is 100% due to me sleeping with in-ear headphones with a low droning noise (app with fan noises to enable me to sleep in a busy city)... so I definitely have damage, but the only question is: what kind of damage exactly.

God I can't believe it but your symptoms are identical to mine (as far as the low hum in my left. I have other sounds as well overall). Ugh.

I have to say it brings me comfort that others have this same thing.

Do you guys ever have it change from a non-rhythmic and random "woh woh" to a constant hum? Mine will do that and it's usually easier to ignore at that point as I pretend like it's just the furnace in the attic. It's most bothersome when it's pulsating in a random pattern.

 

[Ben Winders]

God I can't believe it but your symptoms are identical to mine (as far as the low hum in my left. I have other sounds as well overall). Ugh.

I have to say it brings me comfort that others have this same thing.

Do you guys ever have it change from a non-rhythmic and random "woh woh" to a constant hum? Mine will do that and it's usually easier to ignore at that point as I pretend like it's just the furnace in the attic. It's most bothersome when it's pulsating in a random pattern.

My hum is always constant.

 

[Kriszti]

Do you guys ever have it change from a non-rhythmic and random "woh woh" to a constant hum? Mine will do that and it's usually easier to ignore at that point as I pretend like it's just the furnace in the attic. It's most bothersome when it's pulsating in a random pattern.

Mine does. But it's more like now I'm hearing a thudding, a distant, random bass, but when it's that time of the year it's humming constantly. I have days/half days off from the constant hum, and then when it's back, it's humming again constantly. I guess that these are two variants of the same thing and not just different sounds of tinnitus, because they behave so similarly to each other, and completely differently to my other tinnitus sounds.

Up until now for 5 years, I had the constant humming for weeks (last year for half a year) except for 2018 and knock on wood, this year I have not had it yet. Hope it stays this way. (Am I making sense?)

I think the hum we are hearing is us hearing our own body vibration. Similar to pressing your palm on your ear - you'll hear a hum. Try it right now. Palm against ear. You get a hum. You are hearing your vibration. Your ears are picking up the vibration of your palm against your ear

I don't get vibrations from pressing my palm against my ears at all. Never have. When the hum is on, pressing my palm against my ear actually stops it. But I won't rule it out that the hum is our middle ear muscles spasming somehow.

 

[Thomas L]

Do you guys ever have it change from a non-rhythmic and random "woh woh" to a constant hum? Mine will do that and it's usually easier to ignore at that point as I pretend like it's just the furnace in the attic. It's most bothersome when it's pulsating in a random pattern.

Yeah. I'd say for me 80% of the time it's some rhythmic "vwoom vwoom" like a lightsaber and sometimes 20% of the time it's going to get constant and I agree that constant is easier to ignore.

For some reason most of the morning up until noon ish I'm going to get actual real silence and it's going to slowly start for the remaining of the day to get to full intensity before bed and will again stop in the middle of the night. I had it once that one evening it was quite present and instantly stopped no questions asked and I didn't hear it until the next day. I'm so puzzled sometimes.

 

[GDK]

Mine does. But it's more like now I'm hearing a thudding, a distant, random bass, but when it's that time of the year it's humming constantly. I have days/half days off from the constant hum, and then when it's back, it's humming again constantly. I guess that these are two variants of the same thing and not just different sounds of tinnitus, because they behave so similarly to each other, and completely differently to my other tinnitus sounds.

Up until now for 5 years, I had the constant humming for weeks (last year for half a year) except for 2018 and knock on wood, this year I have not had it yet. Hope it stays this way. (Am I making sense?)

I don't get vibrations from pressing my palm against my ears at all. Never have. When the hum is on, pressing my palm against my ear actually stops it. But I won't rule it out that the hum is our middle ear muscles spasming somehow.

When you press your palm against your ear, you don't hear a low roar? Like the ocean? That's what I mean by vibration.

 

[Rb86]

Yeah. I'd say for me 80% of the time it's some rhythmic "vwoom vwoom" like a lightsaber and sometimes 20% of the time it's going to get constant and I agree that constant is easier to ignore.

For some reason most of the morning up until noon ish I'm going to get actual real silence and it's going to slowly start for the remaining of the day to get to full intensity before bed and will again stop in the middle of the night. I had it once that one evening it was quite present and instantly stopped no questions asked and I didn't hear it until the next day. I'm so puzzled sometimes.

Same, often. Thanks for sharing. It actually helps me to know I'm not alone in this aspect of tinnitus, which honestly the majority of our community don't share.

 

[Rb86]

My hum is always constant.

Interesting. Well, take SOME comfort in knowing that's easier to ignore than the non rhythmic woh woh random pulses of low end. When it's constant it's just "oh the furnace is on."

 

[Kriszti]

When you press your palm against your ear, you don't hear a low roar? Like the ocean? That's what I mean by vibration.

No, I don't.

 

[Thomas L]

Same, often. Thanks for sharing. It actually helps me to know I'm not alone in this aspect of tinnitus, which honestly the majority of our community don't share.

I think it'd be helpful to understand what it is actually. Perhaps if we keep sharing information on this we'll make some progress understanding. I can't settle for it just being tinnitus, why would it stop for weeks at the time sometimes only to come back for no reason. I'm clueless.

 

[Rb86]

I think it'd be helpful to understand what it is actually. Perhaps if we keep sharing information on this we'll make some progress understanding. I can't settle for it just being tinnitus, why would it stop for weeks at the time sometimes only to come back for no reason. I'm clueless.

I've had it 2.5 years among other sounds. At onset it was HUGE and loud. I had to sleep next to a box fan and stay outside as inside it was super loud. Then it'd go away for months, then back a day or so, then gone then back sometimes a month... Nowadays I have it most evenings but it is much much quieter. If I go outside I don't hear that part.

My feelings are that air pressure has a large effect on it. Inflammation probably has a large effect on it. Basically it's a partially broken wire that sometimes isnt touching anything and making noise and sometimes it is - hence why the head shake left and right effects it. That's just my guess.

 

[Ben Winders]

A week ago at 5pm I had my usual humming/buzzing. I went into our most quiet room of the house and sat on the bed. 2 minutes into the sitting, my buzzing/humming completely went away. I repeat: it was gone completely. Then I laid down and it came back immediately.

I've asked this question many times before: which regular tinnitus behaves like that. (Answer: none.)

 

[Thomas L]

Yeah I'm also fortunate I can't hear it outside or anywhere with some background noise. I still need some sound to sleep with otherwise it distracts me too much but hopefully that'll get better over time. Clenching my jaw stops it for 2-3 seconds every time. Perhaps by doing so, I'm tensing some muscle and prevent it from moving too much or something.

 

[Forever hopeful]

Ya, I am hopeful others will find relief. That's why I created the thread.

But I think the key is to reduce tension in the jaw muscles. For me, that involves massaging them quite a bit, wearing a professional mouth guard, and actively trying not to clench during the day.

It's remarkable how often I'll find that I'm clenching without even realizing it.

I want to reemphasize that my hum was exactly like everyone else's.

Thanks for this post. I have fluctuating high pitched tinnitus. I have it in both ears but worse in the right ear. ENT thinks it is related to both chronic allergies and TMJ. My jaws are forever tight. I clench at night but more than clenching during the day, for some reason I'm tensing those muscles and they get irritated from movement, talking, eating etc. so my tinnitus gets worse as the day goes on.

Can you tell me what type of massage you did? For how long etc.?

 

[GDK]

Thanks for this post. I have fluctuating high pitched tinnitus. I have it in both ears but worse in the right ear. ENT thinks it is related to both chronic allergies and TMJ. My jaws are forever tight. I clench at night but more than clenching during the day, for some reason I'm tensing those muscles and they get irritated from movement, talking, eating etc. so my tinnitus gets worse as the day goes on.

Can you tell me what type of massage you did? For how long etc.?

When you clench, you'll feel the Masseter muscle flex. That's the muscle I massage and apply heat to. I just do it a bit every day now. When I'm driving.

But I do think the mouth guard is the most helpful as I'm not clenching at night.

 

[Forever hopeful]

When you clench, you'll feel the Masseter muscle flex. That's the muscle I massage and apply heat to. I just do it a bit every day now. When I'm driving.

But I do think the mouth guard is the most helpful as I'm not clenching at night.

Thanks. For heat, did you use a heating pad or warm towels?

 

[GDK]

Thanks. For heat, did you use a heating pad or warm towels?

Heating pad a few times.

Remember though, my tinnitus was a low pitch hum that I could modulate. Not high pitch.

 

[Forever hopeful]

Heating pad a few times.

Remember though, my tinnitus was a low pitch hum that I could modulate. Not high pitch.

Thanks. My ENT has prescribed both massage and heat, and wants me to see a maxillofacial specialist. I can modulate mine as well. My friend had tinnitus from clenching and grinding her teeth. It went away with a good mouthguard. It was very high-pitched. Tinnitus sounds different for people.

 

[Benjaminbb]

Heating pad a few times.

Remember though, my tinnitus was a low pitch hum that I could modulate. Not high pitch.

Hey GDK.

Everything still silent here?

I saw many of your above messages to Ben about this being physical. I've been saying the same thing and have the exact same on/off sensations to moving neck etc. I'm still interested in digging deeper on the physical side.

However there is one element that makes me think maybe this isn't physical or at least completely physical and that's how it stops with any outside noise. I can have no hum and listing to music will trigger it once the music stops. Then if I hear any sound it will stop for that duration. But my main point is it can definitely be triggered on via sound only.

I want to point out that hearing loss related tinnitus isn't always due to there being a missing frequency that the brain replaces, it can be singles hairs or a group of hairs misfiring and vibrating because they're damaged. In the cochlear we have hairs at each section that detect each frequency. As they become bent or damaged(they never fully die) they can vibrate without sound.

One theory I had was that this was simply the bass frequently hairs misfiring like some other forms of tinnitus, however just like the hum stops with sound, the movement of the neck or finger in the ear does provide a low sound like you mentioned. Therefore interacting and cutting out the hum whilst the hair reacts normally to the sound.

So just wanted to add this into the mix as we go further into figuring this out.

If this were the case it'd suggest that some people basically have low intermittent tinnitus just like any other frequency, however it is more interactive to other low sounds.

That's also why some people have mentioned it kind of rumbling to distant bass noises. Basically if a car drives down my street that ear can amplify it at that low frequency. Hearing and exaggerated hum but once that sound like gets louder it will stop the hum. This says to me the hair is interacting weirdly.

 

[GDK]

Hey GDK.

Everything still silent here?

I saw many of your above messages to Ben about this being physical. I've been saying the same thing and have the exact same on/off sensations to moving neck etc. I'm still interested in digging deeper on the physical side.

However there is one element that makes me think maybe this isn't physical or at least completely physical and that's how it stops with any outside noise. I can have no hum and listing to music will trigger it once the music stops. Then if I hear any sound it will stop for that duration. But my main point is it can definitely be triggered on via sound only.

I want to point out that hearing loss related tinnitus isn't always due to there being a missing frequency that the brain replaces, it can be singles hairs or a group of hairs misfiring and vibrating because they're damaged. In the cochlear we have hairs at each section that detect each frequency. As they become bent or damaged(they never fully die) they can vibrate without sound.

One theory I had was that this was simply the bass frequently hairs misfiring like some other forms of tinnitus, however just like the hum stops with sound, the movement of the neck or finger in the ear does provide a low sound like you mentioned. Therefore interacting and cutting out the hum whilst the hair reacts normally to the sound.

So just wanted to add this into the mix as we go further into figuring this out.

If this were the case it'd suggest that some people basically have low intermittent tinnitus just like any other frequency, however it is more interactive to other low sounds.

That's also why some people have mentioned it kind of rumbling to distant bass noises. Basically if a car drives down my street that ear can amplify it at that low frequency. Hearing and exaggerated hum but once that sound like gets louder it will stop the hum. This says to me the hair is interacting weirdly.

I'd agree that what you are saying could be happening, although I'm not certain that hair cells can be bent or damaged, causing misfiring. I'm not saying you are wrong-just that I've not read that.

But what you are saying could be a physical explanation. I for sure agree that when it stops by putting a finger in one's ear, or moving, we are just generating a low frequency sound that is overpowering the hum. The hum is still there, we just can't hear it.

In my case, and hopefully others, the hum has been gone for months, and that is after I've focused on dealing with stress, clenching, massaging, and having a mouth guard.

I want to reiterate that I had the hum mostly everyday for nearly a year, with a few breaks. I was feeling hopeless and now it is completely gone. I don't think, in my case, it is hair cells that are damaged or bent, because it has gone away.

But that doesn't mean what you are saying couldn't be happening to someone else.

 

[GDK]

Seeing as he doesn't develop tinnitus for just over another 18 Millenia from now, I'm going to have to disagree.

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Omg. I didn't catch this. That's hilarious. I just fixed my profile info.