Masking: Do You Think Tinnitus Gets Used to It?

[Marie79]

so literally anything during the day masks my t... Yes I'm lucky but I could literally sit on my quiet car with everything off and can't hear iteven if even another car drives by in a residential street.

So why at night when I am trying to sleep with the air conditioner blaring a noise machine blaring and I hear it! That's when I really freak and think it permanently got louder then morning comes and I barely hear it all day unless I'm in a super quiet area.

Do you think the T Gets used to the masking??

 

[aniketpatil]

I think. You are thinking too much and that's causing problem for you. When you lay down some muscles stretch so T increases. If your T is like this, don't be bothered by it. Here people here it even over their bike which produces 90db sound. Try to use more pillows while sleeping that may help.

 

[Dana]

So why at night when I am trying to sleep with the air conditioner blaring a noise machine blaring and I hear it! That's when I really freak and think it permanently got louder then morning comes and I barely hear it all day unless I'm in a super quiet area.

That is a problem that many people have. You can have the same nr of dB at night, you will hear your T. During the night T gets louder and above every thing. People tried to come with explanations.

Did it happen to you to fall asleep with tv on or the radio on, and to wake up in the middle of the night and get scared at how loud your TV is? The hearing gets more acute during night time, everything seems louder in our night time mode of the brain, when it works on different frequencies.

Also, T is considered by the brain a threatening noise, and during the night the hearing turns up the gain on noises that could represent a threat, so, in ancient times, we could have woken up to the tiny rustling noise made by the bear/wolf that was just about to come and eat us, so we remained until today with this trait of the auditory system, meant for surviving.

 

[Nonna]

Heating pad over ears b4 bed helps calm it down

 

[daniel1111]

You can't *really* mask T with high noise levels, T will always rise above it, especially if you're at a stage where you're not dealing with it well.

You have to find the right noise, try every app and every sound. Some people find crickets work, some actual white noise, some rain or waterfall sounds, everyone finds relief in something different, and some find none at all.

 

[glynis]

At night masking is better using sound enrichment.
This means pick a natural sound and set it below your tinnitus sound as not to cover your tinnitus up.
Try to relax and let your brain work hard to pick up the sound you have chosen and this will help your brain not to focus on your tinnitus sound and help your brain to filter it out.
Through the night the sound therapy works its magic and this will help you during the day as helps your brain habituate to your tinnitus sound.
This does not mean you won't hear it if listen out for it but you will hear it and not give it any reaction other than it does not bother me no more hearing it and no unwanted emotion attached to it like in the beginning.
Make sure you eat well,sleep well and stay as healthy as you can and your mood level ok and you will find you will cope better as when we feel tired and rundown then the tinnitus seems more of a problem.

Tinnitus is challenging to most people but give sound therapy ago at night and find the sound that suits your tinnitus the best.....lots of love glynis

 

[Marie79]

Thank you guys AGAIN! I slept ok last night but I made a decision if I woke up with it I would make a conscious decision to just not freak out. Of course I hear it now early this morning waking up but I am just now allowing it to freak me out. Such a process!!

 

[Ed209]

@Marie79

Your tinnitus sounds perfect for habituation, but you have to stop paying so much attention to it and just ignore it completely. Don't be happy and don't be sad; be completely indifferent to it. Over time you will stop caring and at this point you will stop hearing it and it will have absolutely no impact on your life at all. I know this because I had tinnitus like you describe for around 15 years. At first I was anxious and annoyed, but I never researched it or gave it the time of day you are. After a few months I phased it out completely; I still had it because I'd listen for it from time to time and it was still there. Sometimes it would pop into my conscious thoughts but to be honest for around 10 years straight I totally blocked it out.

You maybe better suited to leaving the forum for a while as your constant posts show its all you're thinking about; which isn't helping your cause at all. The sooner you ignore it the better your situation will get.

Use what you now know as an education to protect your ears in future so you don't make it worse like I and many others have.

 

[Nonna]

But I want Marie to stay.

 

[rzhang]

I have mild t, I can hear it in the car. Smoked some weed that permanently bumped it up. That aside im gonna be going to hawaii and I plan on ditching tt and the earplugs for the time being. My plan is to go the entire time without thinking about tinnitus. If I do its the back to silence method for me

 

[Alue]

I can hear mine everywhere, but lying down at night is the worst (and when I wake up in the morning). I actually think my volume increases when I'm lying down...

 

[Marie79]

I can hear mine everywhere, but lying down at night is the worst (and when I wake up in the morning). I actually think my volume increases when I'm lying down...

Someone on here said its because lying down we are at a 90 degree angle and it lessens the noise we would hear standing up

 

[Genevieve]

At night masking is better using sound enrichment.
This means pick a natural sound and set it below your tinnitus sound as not to cover your tinnitus up.
Try to relax and let your brain work hard to pick up the sound you have chosen and this will help your brain not to focus on your tinnitus sound and help your brain to filter it out.
Through the night the sound therapy works its magic and this will help you during the day as helps your brain habituate to your tinnitus sound.
This does not mean you won't hear it if listen out for it but you will hear it and not give it any reaction other than it does not bother me no more hearing it and no unwanted emotion attached to it like in the beginning.
Make sure you eat well,sleep well and stay as healthy as you can and your mood level ok and you will find you will cope better as when we feel tired and rundown then the tinnitus seems more of a problem.

Tinnitus is challenging to most people but give sound therapy ago at night and find the sound that suits your tinnitus the best.....lots of love glynis

Hi Glynis, what do you mean by sound enrichment exactly? I wanted to start a new thread and ask you all a specific question about masking, but I found this thread. Since the onset of my T, I had a lot of anxiety and panic attacks at the beginning it lasted about 1 month, until my man bought me an mp3 and downloads me a lot of white noises, neuromodulation etc... At first it was a big relief, my anxiety decreased significantly and I could also manage my panic attacks better. But since I use the mp3 (for about 3 months now) I suddenly had the feeling that it was not good for my hearing, I had the feeling that my hearing has declined, but I am not sure (I have a hearing test next week), have you also had the same kind of experience?
Now I try as much as I can to reduce the use of my mp3 by day and I only use it at night. In fact my question to you all is do you think listening to white noise, music with an mp3 rather than our good old radio prevents habituation and can also have bad effects on our hearing??

 

[glynis]

Playing natural sounds set below your tinnitus at night will help your brain push through your tinnitus sound and pick up the lower sound you have chosen and train your brain not to focus on your tinnitus sound.
Free standing units are better or pillow speakers so you don't put earphones in for a long time while sleeping.
Sound therapy helps you sleep and carries on working through the night while asleep to retrain your brain to filter out your tinnitus..lots of love glynis

 

[Genevieve]

That is a problem that many people have. You can have the same nr of dB at night, you will hear your T. During the night T gets louder and above every thing. People tried to come with explanations.

Did it happen to you to fall asleep with tv on or the radio on, and to wake up in the middle of the night and get scared at how loud your TV is? The hearing gets more acute during night time, everything seems louder in our night time mode of the brain, when it works on different frequencies.

Also, T is considered by the brain a threatening noise, and during the night the hearing turns up the gain on noises that could represent a threat, so, in ancient times, we could have woken up to the tiny rustling noise made by the bear/wolf that was just about to come and eat us, so we remained until today with this trait of the auditory system, meant for surviving.

It's really, really IRONIC, isn't it? Sometimes I wonder if the brain is so SMART!! Because it's our lovely brain that produces this horrible horrible sound but at the same time another part of our smart brain is literally afraid of this sound!

 

[Dana]

Well, I am indeed afraid of this sound, and it is produced by my brain (unless I have a vascular problem, in spite of the angiogram, which said I do not).
And not only that I am frightened by this sound produced by my own brain, but this sound undermines the life that the brain works 24/7 to maintain. Not only that the brain is not so smart, but sabotages its own work. Behaves stupid and suicidal.