Music Therapy

[object16]

Hi, I have read the articles, and started with MP3 files of "notched" Enya songs, which seemed to help, but not anything very striking.
So I roped my daughter in to help out. she used her Mac, with Audacity, and not MP3 files, but FLAC files. She then used "dynamic compression" to increase the level of the quiet notes, and cut down the peak loudest notes. This results in smoothing of the audio. Now some songs are louder than others, so she used the dB function to make the quieter songs louder and the louder songs quieter. Finally I had a file of Enya songs.

By now I am pretty discouraged, but anyway nothing has worked up till this point, so why give up now?

Friday night was the first night. I used a Yamaha blue ray player to play the FLAC files - a normal MP3 player will not work. The Yamaha was set at repeat, so away we go. On Saturday morning, there was a hint of impovement - the tinnitus was not so intrusive.

So Saturday night is the next test: I went to be early (like 6 p.m.), and then drifted off, thanks to heavy meds etc. The next thing, I seemed to be in a twilight, and the tinnitus had clearly changed from a high pitched scream, to a shimmering high pitch. so I think to myself: maybe my brain is rewiring.

then the next shock - i go to the bathroom, and see the clock is at 7 o'clock - and i think - What? did i just sleep 1 hour? or did i sleep 13 hours???? so i checked my p.c. for the correct time, and sure enough, i actually slept for 13 hours straight. The tinnitus has a much less intrusive character to it, and i feel totally great, like finally i have got some decent sleep, and it was entirely due to "modified music therapy". in addition to the music, i play Restful Rain CD on constant repeat, and a small white noise generator, to provide a constant hiss sound in the bedroom, to fill in between music tracks. the music is set very quietly so i can just hear it, and the Restful Rain is also set quiet, so that I can hear the tinnitus and Rain at the same time, about the same level, but always making sure the Rain is not too loud.

i am just so pleased, finally i am getting better. and something real and measurable has taken place, so it is not true that "nothing can be done".

 

[object16]

Also, I can provide a link to the drop box file of modified Enya tracks. Enya already is "new age" style, so the modification makes it "super new age". here you go:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l6g4yoku53l14c4/_XdepLIul6/EnyaFLAC/DC+DB

the "v2 files" have been "tweaked", meaning, i have made my suggestion to my daughter and she adjusted them by 1 or 2 db to properly equalize them. when you burn to disc, use the v2 version of the songs.

 

[object16]

I have added new music files to the dropbox server. These are the Charley Sayre Taliesin Orchestra "tribute to Enya", which made the Taliesin orchestra famous. Over a period of two weeks, it is helping me out. I added the Taliesin orchestra to my DVD Flac disc. The symphony orchestra rendition is highly nice.

Please note: my daughter put A LOT of work into these files: all you have to do is down load them. There is a Yamaha blue ray player that can be purchased on Amazon for 125$ that will play these files properly.

 

[kenji]

 

[object16]

thanks, that's a nice link to her complete best albums. I have gone through and picked the ones I believe are best for sleeping, but i'll go through the entire album and get more good "sleep music".

 

[object16]

Here's an update, I am gradually getting better. I now have constant "notched" Enya in my office, and I play Enya all night as well. gradually i'm getting better sleep and feel more alive.

 

[object16]

Friday night I slept the entire night through. Saturday night I went to bed at 6 p.m. I woke up around midnight, then went to sleep for another 8 hours. the tinnitus character has changed from steady high pitch to cicada-like, and is definitely quieter and easier to tolerate. I had the volume on the white noise turned down a notch, I hardly need any background noise beside the music now.

 

[Sherri786]

Good to hear that @object16 , thank you for updating, appreciate it.

 

[object16]

Hi all, I am for sure slowly getting better. The last weekend, I worked on house cleaning, and my tinnitus really did not bother me. When I was going to sleep, it seemed very mild.

I am very sure the music is doing the trick. My sleep is getting better, and if I wake up, I just listen to extremely pleasant music, and slowly get back to sleep.

I was very skeptical at first, but it seems like the music provides a clear "target" for the brain to focus on. Music is written in such a way as to be highly engaging and pleasant to listen to, so the brain naturally starts listening to it, and in the process, the tinnitus becomes less annoying, because the brain only can keep track of so much at the same time, so the music becomes a priority, and gradually I find my brain is habituating, and the tinnitus is clearly becoming less intrusive, and my reliance on meds to sleep is gradually getting less, and I am slowly cutting down my doses.

 

[object16]

o.k. so this is well over a month later. i had occasional spiking, and some periods of anxiety. However, my tinnitus is definitely getting better, i have had 2 weeks now of sleeping through the entire night without getting up in middle of the night, and i have been slowly tapering my meds back, so imovane has gone from 2 tab to 1 tab, seroquel steady at 1.5 tab, mirtazapine gone from 5 tab to 3 tab, lyrical from 10 tab to 7 tab. my tinnitus is clearly far less intrusive. i have slightly reduced the volume in my bedroom, because the tinnitus loudness has gotten less loud, and it is far less intrusive, it just is starting to sound like a normal noise, and the brain is not "focused" on it anymore.

when this first spike in Sept 2013, i thought i was going to be in a pine box, and i was really messed up. now i am getting my rest, and functioning well. even my meds for blood pressure have been reduced, so my whole body is getting better.

 

[cullenbohannon]

That's great news! Rember when things look tough and you feel like things are getting out of control you can't give in. You have to belive you'll overcome this. When you get knocked down get upand keep pushing it's a process and you'll make it through.

 

[ralph j begley]

Music is a wonderful mood elevator. Smartphone, Bluetooth earbuds, and Sarah Jarosz.

 

[object16]

I am slowly getting better. my Imovane has gone from 2 tablets, now to 1/2 a tablet. i am consistently sleeping the entire night. this morning i got up at 5 a.m. and then dozed off again till 8 a.m. a couple of days ago i suddenly freaked out because my Yamaha stopped working, and I am dependent on music to sleep. luckily, it started working again, after i re checked the rca cables, etc.

I am planning to take 1/2 Imovane for 10 days, then cut to 1/4 tablet for 10 days, and then discontinue. this will be very miraculous, because i have been on Imovane for 7 months, and it becomes VERY addictive, according to Wikipedia, to the point where it is impossible to stop, so this will take some willpower, as I go into drug withdrawal. that is the reason i am tapering it off so slowly.

 

[object16]

amazing result: i had audiogram yesterday, and there is now 10db improvement in my left ear, right ear still basically the same, but there is a measured improvement. this morning i notice my tinnitus is now getting better and better. my sleep is excellent, and my dose of imovane is 1/4 of what it used to be. i am going to cut imovane again to 1/3 tablet.

 

[cullenbohannon]

Congrats hopefully there will be more good news to come.

amazing result: i had audiogram yesterday, and there is now 10db improvement in my left ear, right ear still basically the same, but there is a measured improvement. this morning i notice my tinnitus is now getting better and better. my sleep is excellent, and my dose of imovane is 1/4 of what it used to be. i am going to cut imovane again to 1/3 tablet.

 

[object16]

cut my dose of Imovane to 1/3 tablet for the past 2 nights, plan to gradually taper to 1/4 over the next 10 nights, then maybe even discontinue, and see what happens. if necessary do 1/4 for another week, and then discontinue.

 

[object16]

my Imovane is down to 1/4 tablet. I feel I am started to do better. I still hear the tinnitus all the time, but it is just not as annoying and does not keep me awake the way it used to.

 

[seal]

great news @object16 your last posts have all been positive and I think you took great steps here! Be proud of yourself!

 

[object16]

it's roughly 1 week since my last post: my Imovane is steady at 1/4 tablet. 6 days ago my friend was "helping" me build a shelf, using power tools, and that briefly "spiked" my tinnitus, but that seems to have settled down. One more week at 1/4 tablet Imovane, and then discontinue.

for the last 2 weeks, I have been doing more and more physical work-out on my elliptical trainer, and my weight is going down, I am in much better shape, and my blood pressure is way down. I have cut back drastically on my blood pressure meds, but my pressure is now very normal most of the time.

my sleep has been mainly very good, last night I slept for around 11 hours, so that tells me I can keep tapering my meds.

 

[object16]

Hi, this is now 2 weeks since the last post. Last night, I took my last dose of Imovane. I took only a tiny piece of a broken tablet. Tonight I will be sleeping without Imovane. My tinnitus has now tapered off to being much much quieter and much less intrusive. I now sleep the entire night pretty well, and do not wake up in the middle of the night at all.

I attribute my huge improvement to Music Therapy, combined with a Bose noise cancelling headset.

 

[object16]

I've been off Imovane for 5 days now, I seem to be sleeping pretty well - so I think I am a success story. As you recall, I was expecting to be pushing daisies at this point, but I'm a lot better, and the tinnitus is far less intrusive. thanks for the very nice support along the way -

 

[object16]

I am off Imovane now for 2 weeks, no problem. My other meds are getting reduced as well. I think I am getting to be a success story.

 

[Louis-]

Hello object16, I came across this post when I was searching online for musical remedies for tinnitus, after I noticed (much to my surprise) that listening to Enya with earphones seems to calm down my tinnitus. (I am hearing several relatively low-pitched humming sounds, one (or more) in my right ear and one in my neck. I think that my tinnitus is not nearly as severe as yours, but it certainly bothers me a lot and causes a lot of trouble. My tinnitus is probably TMD induced, and I have been getting treatment for that, but so far nothing has had such an immediate positive effect as listening to Enya.) I have downloaded the songs in your dropbox -- thanks so much to you and your daughter for putting this together -- and am listening to the music regularly now; I'm curious to see what it will do.

I have a practical question for you: if I understand it correctly, 'notched' music is music where a certain range of sounds that match the frequency of one's tinnitus is removed. Can I ask which frequency your tinnitus is, and which frequencies you consequently removed from the Enya songs? If this frequency is very different from my tinnitus, then the files may not be useful for me. (In that case I'll just continue with the original Enya songs, or see if I can learn how to 'notch' these songs myself).

Thanks in advance for your answer, and I truly hope your progress has been persisting.
Louis

 

[object16]

Hi Louis, my daughter created notched and not-notched. The files in dropbox are labeled. The FLAC files are all *not* notched. The MP3 at the top of the page has an un-notched version, and notched version, and she labeled them. So *one* MP3 is notched for me at 4090. I use notched during the day, but however I am not sure if that is really necessary - I do it anyway, because I am extremely motivated to do anything possible. At night, I use the *not* notched file and I use a 31 band graphic equalizer (a fancy tone control, costs around $150 US) - I "play" with the tone control to adjust according to what it sound best for my ear.

So everything is clearly labeled for you. There is an MP3 at the beginning, a not-notched, and notched 4090 version, and then the remainder of the tracks are in FLAC (for extremely high fidelity, similar to CD quality), and the FLAC files are all not-notched. As I mention above, I don't really know if notch is always important, but however I like to use the graphic equalizer, so that I can adjust by "ear" to what I think will be most effective for me. have a nice day, pm.

 

[object16]

so, another 2 weeks gone by, off Imovane for a month. i seem to be getting very slowly habituated and improving little by little.

i don't seem to be posting and checking this forum out very much, which probably means I'm slowly getting better.

 

[cullenbohannon]

You were one of the more severe cases i saw on here so its great to see you getting better. This thread can show many others who think they'll never get better that its possible, congratulations.

so, another 2 weeks gone by, off Imovane for a month. i seem to be getting very slowly habituated and improving little by little.

i don't seem to be posting and checking this forum out very much, which probably means I'm slowly getting better.

 

[Frederick86]

@object16 I think that, although notched music is a big part of the treatment (it remaps auditory cortex), you're getting results from non-notched music because of another reason. I've read that Enya (and other new age stuff) has a 60 bpm rhythm, and that stimulates alpha brain waves.

We tinnitus sufferers have a disbalance in which our alpha and theta waves are reduced and our beta and delta waves are increased (if I remember it correctly). That's the reason why rTMS works, and even biofeedback sometimes does too.

So maybe what happens is that you've found by chance the right combination for you and you're rewiring both your auditory cortex and your wave rhythms, but probably you'll need a year or more of this treatment for the results to be permanent (and I say this as a good thing, as it seems is not being something difficult to you to keep doing).

 

[object16]

i agree, there is something about Enya compositions, when you listen to them, you get pure dopamine being released from all over the brain, and very likely the rhythm is very important - i specially selected the tracks that had a clock - like relentless rhythm, that kind of hypnotizes you into going asleep.

 

[object16]

i also agree that i have a pretty severe case, but i also read that tinnitus can be so bad that you cannot even carry on a conversation, so while i am pretty bad, it is possible to get worse. mind you, i had to take a whole BAG load of meds to tide me over, while the music treatment kicked in.

 

[poopoo]

Thank you object 16.

I had my T since 31 May 2014. I wanna to try as to dif kind of music does help or not. Downloading the song from your drop box now.