Hi,
This is my first post and the mod can move to the correct thread if it's in the wrong place.
My backstory
Before I go into what appears to be helping me a lot, I want to explain my circumstances briefly. I was listening to a podcast about 8 days ago where someone talked briefly about having tinnitus - a 'ringing in the ears'. I assumed that would sound like an alarm clock. For some reason that I deeply regretted, I started looking into it and realised, with dread and much horror, that I had it to - although I wouldn't define that sound as 'ringing'. For me there are certain very high frequencies, but low in volume, sometimes a hiss, sometimes a tone, sometimes a bit of both. I've likely had it for many years without really noticing or being bothered by it - I assumed that noise was either, ironically, the sound of silence, or room tone or something. I've been in something of a state the past 8 days on occasion and now struggle not to hear it when indoors, unless I force complete focus on something else, which takes effort. There are some positive things; I've always had very good hearing and even now have the hearing range of a 30 year old (I'm 43), my condition is likely very mild, an ear person yesterday found 'very old and very dry compacted wax in both ears', which they're removing next week, and if that isn't it, I'm very confident I'll get on top of it. From reading around online about the condition I truly feel for worse sufferers - I don't know how ye cope.
What is working for me
After trying lots of things to deal with it in recent days, I happened across something that is really helping a lot, and I'm hoping it may assist someone else - I would like to know. It should be noted that I seem to have the tinnitus evenly in both ears, and as said, it's likely quite mild, albeit annoying and life-changing really. I needed to put olive oil in my ears before the wax removal next week and in my first attempt I accidentally put way too much in one ear - flooding the left ear. The canal was blocked and the tinnitus shot up in that ear. It's still a bit blocked now, two days later, but that's a different thing, and under control. The tinnitus is now so more dominant in my left ear that it has effectively gone in my right - everything has shifted to my left ear. But because I know the tinnitus I can hear in my blocked left is being caused by the ear being semi-blocked - and I've magnified that further with a form earplug - a physical object - it has a cause, and I can mostly ignore it. The biggest problem I was having with tinnitus was the volume of this invisible, sourceless noise (which is really in my head) - it was scary and depersonifying, if that's a word. What I happened across, for me, was that I magnified the tinnitus in my left ear - which of course you should only do with a form or wax earplug, which gave it a cause (the blocking of the canal), the tinnitus disappears from the other ear, and because that's my only good hearing ear, my brain is focusing much more on every-day/normal frequency sounds through it. It's also helped me that my window is on my right side too and I open it. Through this method I notice that my hearing-focus shifts naturally to the unblocked good ear, then through limited information it seems to force my brain to focus on sounds outside the high end, and my stress, anxiety, and especially lack of concentration has gone.
This is my first post and the mod can move to the correct thread if it's in the wrong place.
My backstory
Before I go into what appears to be helping me a lot, I want to explain my circumstances briefly. I was listening to a podcast about 8 days ago where someone talked briefly about having tinnitus - a 'ringing in the ears'. I assumed that would sound like an alarm clock. For some reason that I deeply regretted, I started looking into it and realised, with dread and much horror, that I had it to - although I wouldn't define that sound as 'ringing'. For me there are certain very high frequencies, but low in volume, sometimes a hiss, sometimes a tone, sometimes a bit of both. I've likely had it for many years without really noticing or being bothered by it - I assumed that noise was either, ironically, the sound of silence, or room tone or something. I've been in something of a state the past 8 days on occasion and now struggle not to hear it when indoors, unless I force complete focus on something else, which takes effort. There are some positive things; I've always had very good hearing and even now have the hearing range of a 30 year old (I'm 43), my condition is likely very mild, an ear person yesterday found 'very old and very dry compacted wax in both ears', which they're removing next week, and if that isn't it, I'm very confident I'll get on top of it. From reading around online about the condition I truly feel for worse sufferers - I don't know how ye cope.
What is working for me
After trying lots of things to deal with it in recent days, I happened across something that is really helping a lot, and I'm hoping it may assist someone else - I would like to know. It should be noted that I seem to have the tinnitus evenly in both ears, and as said, it's likely quite mild, albeit annoying and life-changing really. I needed to put olive oil in my ears before the wax removal next week and in my first attempt I accidentally put way too much in one ear - flooding the left ear. The canal was blocked and the tinnitus shot up in that ear. It's still a bit blocked now, two days later, but that's a different thing, and under control. The tinnitus is now so more dominant in my left ear that it has effectively gone in my right - everything has shifted to my left ear. But because I know the tinnitus I can hear in my blocked left is being caused by the ear being semi-blocked - and I've magnified that further with a form earplug - a physical object - it has a cause, and I can mostly ignore it. The biggest problem I was having with tinnitus was the volume of this invisible, sourceless noise (which is really in my head) - it was scary and depersonifying, if that's a word. What I happened across, for me, was that I magnified the tinnitus in my left ear - which of course you should only do with a form or wax earplug, which gave it a cause (the blocking of the canal), the tinnitus disappears from the other ear, and because that's my only good hearing ear, my brain is focusing much more on every-day/normal frequency sounds through it. It's also helped me that my window is on my right side too and I open it. Through this method I notice that my hearing-focus shifts naturally to the unblocked good ear, then through limited information it seems to force my brain to focus on sounds outside the high end, and my stress, anxiety, and especially lack of concentration has gone.