Sitting with the Sound, or Masking It?

[HeavyMantra]

I've been wondering about this. Seems possible that my tinnitus is here to stay, and so far I've been masking it and trying to occupy my mind with other things. I'm considering another approach: instead of trying to run away from the sound, how would it be to just sit and listen to the sound? If the sound is here to stay I personally would try to change my perception of what the sound "is", and try to become friends with the sound.

What's the best approach, especially in the first months of onset? Can it in fact get WORSE from not masking it and focusing on the sound while meditating for instance? This is of course highly personal, but on bad days my tinnitus cannot be masked by low level music or noise, and it actually feels easier to just listen to the sound rather than hearing the failed attempts at masking.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Leyla]

I'm personally trying to not mask the sounds in order to habituate more quickly and learn that the sound is just a sound and nothing more. Also my ears/head kind of ache slightly so I don't want additional sensory stressors.
But I imagine if it's the first month and your anxiety goes way up when not masking it, it'll do more bad than good right? Since stress increases the perception of sound?

Having said that, I've wondered too wether it's better to mask or to not mask and try to accept. Since I'm not a tinnitus veteran yet and am still trying to accept it, it'd be interesting to hear from someone a bit more experienced.

 

[HeavyMantra]

I'm personally trying to not mask the sounds in order to habituate more quickly and learn that the sound is just a sound and nothing more. Also my ears/head kind of ache slightly so I don't want additional sensory stressors.
But I imagine if it's the first month and your anxiety goes way up when not masking it, it'll do more bad than good right? Since stress increases the perception of sound?

Having said that, I've wondered too wether it's better to mask or to not mask and try to accept. Since I'm not a tinnitus veteran yet and am still trying to accept it, it'd be interesting to hear from someone a bit more experienced.

I'm at month 3 or 4 now. I feel anxiety when there is a spike (like today), but in general I'm getting used to it. As opposed to having panic attacks in public 1 month ago.

I'm kind of hoping that someone will jump in with some research on the subject. Michael wrote something along the lines of "not masking your tinnitus with noise can make it worse, and that too high noise volume can also make it worse". If I remember correctly.

 

[Aaron44126]

My take —

I masked hardcore for the first seven weeks and then I realized that I didn't really need to mask anymore. It took a few more months before I got to the point when it wasn't a total bother and I started to feel that habituation was possible. At the beginning, I thought that there was no way that I could get used to it. (I'm totally habituated now, I rarely even think about it, and when I do notice it there is no associated anxiety.)

I still use white noise at night. Not really to mask (I can clearly hear the tinnitus over it), but because the constant background noise is a big help for sleeping for me.

Anyway. It takes time. The of time varies from person to person and also maybe depends on just how bad/loud the sound is. Anyway, to your question, I think that masking during the early onset is certainly helpful if you can do it safely. Once I figured out how to do it, I was really glad that I could "take a break" from the tinnitus when I needed to. Long-term, I think that you should avoid masking and engage the sound when you feel that you can. You have to "change your relationship" with the noise. After some months, you'll hopefully find yourself just getting bored of worrying about it and it will become the "new normal". That won't happen as readily if you are constantly working to cover it up.

Once the anxiety goes away, the sound itself isn't really a big deal and can easily be tuned out. It's the same thing for OCD treatment (which I also struggled with), if you try to avoid or distract yourself from it then you are just feeding the symptoms and you will not make progress; facing it is how you come to terms and overcome it.

 

[JohnAdams]

Always masking.

 

[PDodge]

Only at night. Nowhere to run!

 

[cheyennes]

I masked and avoided the noise as much as I could for the first few months, but I eventually got tired of "running away" from it. (I've had T for nearly six months.) When I'm at home sitting around or trying to sleep, I turn on the TV/music/white noise to a volume where I can hear both my T and the external sounds. I'd be lying if I said it doesn't bother me, but exposing myself to it frequently has helped me get more used to it. I no longer avoid quiet areas, and there are times in silence when I don't even think about it even though I can hear it.

As tough as it is, your brain can't begin to accept a noise it rarely hears.

 

[Strife_84]

I don't mask it. I keep some sound source at low volume so I concentrate on that instead of T.

So I say no to masking.