Masking High-Pitched Tinnitus for Sleeping

[Burnsie]

okay, okay.

Yes, I know we are not meant to mask sounds too much when sleeping.

However, I had an early start today (4:30am) and so was already a bit stressed trying to get to sleep early... and could have done without the left ear droning and the right ear eeeeeeeeeeing (and the muscles above my ears twitch...which is not related to tinnitus, but annoying as a side sleeper!!)

I used to use a combination of a fan and crickets app. However, I can now hear my high pitched through my crickets.

Any other suggestions?

I've got a feeling that it might not be possible now :-(

 

[Michael Leigh]

Hi @Burnsie

We are all different. Even though I and most Audiologists and Hearing Therapists advise totally masking tinnitus is not a good idea, as it can prevent the brain from habituating to the tinnitus. Setting the "sound enrichment" which is he preferred name to call it these days and not masking is advised. However, experiment and see what works for you when using sound enrichment. Remember though there is a risk of making the tinnitus more intrusive if you totally mask a sound or sounds of tinnitus.

Best of luck
Michael

 

[billie48]

I am with Michael that masking is not the final solution to tinnitus habituation. You need to set the masking volume to be slightly lower than T so your brain has a chance to get used to or hardened to the ringing. Saying that, if the sound bothers you too much to cause anxiety and sleeplessness, than try masking it for the time being is better alternative than taking sleep meds. Try to have the speakers away from your ears and at volume lower than your T. Cricket can't mask my T. I need cicadas, heavy rain, shower, even squeaky faucet for my high pitch T during the initial days. Blue or violet noises are also high pitch enough to help. Try these web sites and see if any sounds will help you. If you don't have laptop or desktop, then download tinnitus masking or relief apps. With laptop and PC, try some of these:

TT's excellent audio player: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

or this online sound library, particularly the self-mix nature sounds: https://mynoise.net

or download free sound generator 'aire freshener': http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

or click play to mix these sounds with this simple sound generator: http://asoftmurmur.com/

or search youtube with words like 'tinnitus masking sounds', 'white noise', 'rain sound' etc.

 

[Burnsie]

I am with Michael that masking is not the final solution to tinnitus habituation. You need to set the masking volume to be slightly lower than T so your brain has a chance to get used to or hardened to the ringing. Saying that, if the sound bothers you too much to cause anxiety and sleeplessness, than try masking it for the time being is better alternative than taking sleep meds. Try to have the speakers away from your ears and at volume lower than your T. Cricket can't mask my T. I need cicadas, heavy rain, shower, even squeaky faucet for my high pitch T during the initial days. Blue or violet noises are also high pitch enough to help. Try these web sites and see if any sounds will help you. If you don't have laptop or desktop, then download tinnitus masking or relief apps. With laptop and PC, try some of these:

TT's excellent audio player: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

or this online sound library, particularly the self-mix nature sounds: https://mynoise.net

or download free sound generator 'aire freshener': http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

or click play to mix these sounds with this simple sound generator: http://asoftmurmur.com/

or search youtube with words like 'tinnitus masking sounds', 'white noise', 'rain sound' etc.

thanks for the info.

Problem is...these are not early days for me... this is approaching 2.5 years and suddenly masking doesn't work like it used to

 

[Tweaker]

Maybe try rain sound.

 

[billie48]

this is approaching 2.5 years and suddenly masking doesn't work like it used to

Perhaps give the high pitch masking sounds a try. Cicadas, heavy rain, shower, blue noise, violet noise can do a good job. The audio player from Tinnitus Talk will give you most of those high pitch masking sounds. Give them a try. Also if those don't work, you can also give this one a try but make sure you turn the volume low first. It is cicadas plus some ACRN tones.

 

[Michael B]

I can relate. My cricket sounds don't always seem to help me and the only thing I can think of is that my tinnitus might be louder at times than it used to be. Some cricket sounds are different than others. I use one from Sound Oasis. It's available on their sound machine or as a mp3 online purchase.

 

[Lebber]

Normally an audiologist can help with that. They can analyse your sounds and then see which sounds can mask it.

Personally i never mask my t when i go to sleep. I do relaxation excersises everytime i lay in bed and then fall asleep during the excersise. It does take some pracrice though. Maybe thats worth trying?

 

[Pero1234]

Have not seen this one here before...



White fire works best for me... for enrichment, only to help me sleep.

 

[Tex]

I've been using a typical cheap 3-speed box fan on low for all ten years of this experience. I've gone through damn near ten of them as well. Sooner or later they vibrate and I get a new one. I tried a few different white noise apps that I didn't like and went back to the fan. I can still hear the T over it, but it is the ONLY way I can go to sleep. I even take it traveling.