What Is Habituation?

[Dave Neale]

I'm new to this tinnitus thing. I went deaf in December in my left ear, and have had tinnitus in my head ever since. The tinnitus on its own isn't too bad, except at bed times and when I am quiet. The problems I have is when I go in to loud areas, mainly bars, cafes etc, then my tinnitus spikes from the noise that my good ear picks up.

I'm just wondering about two things really:

1) If anyone on this forum has habituated to spiking variable tinnitus?

and

2) What is habituation - is it that the brain just lives with the noise, or does it really block it from our conscience?

Thanks.

 

[glynis]

Habituation means you are not emotionally bothered by tinnitus and can function normally and live a good life and adapted well.
You can hear it if focus on it like now for me-
My ears are loud but not bothering me and still feeling my happy self .

We can all get spikes and cause us problems but will settle down again and carry on as before.
Being positive in life is a big help as there is nothing positive in being negative....lots of love glynis

 

[Dave Neale]

@glynis Wow that sounds great. Especially since at the moment all i want is to be as I was previously. ;-(

I've been referred to a Tinnitus team at Queens hospital in Bham, and hopefully they will be offering CBT. Is that what you did, or di you just naturally habituate via brain neuroplasticity

 

[glynis]

I've never had CBT..
I do have maskers and hearing aids with maskers but since I was put on Nortryptaline a low dose it has helped alot and not needed to wear them .
I will always have tinnitus and hearing loss due to menieres
...lots of love glynis

 

[Rings-a-Bell]

So if someone has habituated, how many times per day would they normally notice their T? For example I used to notice my T over 1000 times per day, but lately (especially when I am working on something), I can forget about it for 30 to 60 minutes. The total number of times I notice my T has gone down to maybe 60-80 times per day. Not only that my emotional reaction when I do notice it is less strong. Is this habituation? Is this as far as it goes though? Or does a fully habituated person have days where they don't notice it at all?

The one place habituation hasn't helped at all is in the peaceful quiet moments... looking up at the stars at night or taking a moment of peaceful repose. My T can get forgotten when I am concentrating on work or talking with people but never when I am trying to be "in the moment".

 

[glynis]

I can hear mine most of the time in both ears and now just adapted I couldnt care less aproach to it now.
You are doing great and you will have hours,minites and even days where you might not notice it and get your life on track and enjoy it as we should.

Spikes can still come and give us a little wobble but we have to tough it out and put everything that helps us cope in to action and look forwards to better days...lots of love glynis

 

[I who love music]

This is ...
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/#post-81327

 

[david c]

I've never had CBT..
I do have maskers and hearing aids with maskers but since I was put on Nortryptaline a low dose it has helped alot and not needed to wear them .
I will always have tinnitus and hearing loss due to menieres
...lots of love glynis

Glad to hear that after all the TRT nonsense and maskers you've discovered that it's good old fashioned medication that can actually help with tinnitus. You are lucky your doctor pointed this out - most GPs don't know about medications for tinnitus - and the audiology industry naturally don't want them to find out. Hope the meds have helped you with your work as a school-teacher.

 

[MarioT]

I can only try to define habituation based solely on own experience:

It can be described as a state in which your senses, mind and emotions are focused on anything BUT your tinnitus. The effect is that it gets filtered out of your conciousness and, at least temporarily, it is as if it wasn't there in the first place. This can even happen in a totally silent room if your mind drifts off and you are in a state of relaxation.

It happens naturally, as soon as you get "used" to it over time and the "panic mode" dissipates.

BUT, and this is I think the bad news: habituation is not something that occurs once in time and after that you re
set for life. It reoccurs and vanishes continuously. Every day is a new battle and there are good and bad times.

 

[carlover]

Habituation is all about how loud it is ,,dont beat yourself up if you cant its not that your mentally weak

 

[dgray]

Does TRT work? I have been told that in TRT, they want you off these types of forums. These forums are hope for me, not discouragement. I do not read or pay attention to the horror stories or purely negative posts. I do not think they are healthy.

 

[david c]

Does TRT work? I have been told that in TRT, they want you off these types of forums. These forums are hope for me, not discouragement. I do not read or pay attention to the horror stories or purely negative posts. I do not think they are healthy.

There's very little evidence (solid research evidence that is rather than hearsay) for TRT actually being effective. White noise generators are now often regarded as doing more harm than good. They were certainly no use in my own experience. The counselling aspects are a nice little earner for the Counselling community but again apart from a certain amount of reassurance do very little.

The three things which can help are: 1. medication in the early horrible stages 2. Careful ear protection to avoid dangerous prolonged exposure to loud noise - that can involve major lifestyle changes unfortunately if you like loud music or even cinema visits 3. Time.

 

[dgray]

It's good that you are responding well - after seven months or so you are still in the early stages of the condition - there is a way forward but tinnitus definitely does change our lives in very many case, for better and for worse.

Thank you sir. This (7) months has been long. If I can ask, have you habituated? If so, how long did it take you to do so. Thank-you for helping me. - douglas

 

[david c]

Thank you sir. This (7) months has been long. If I can ask, have you habituated? If so, how long did it take you to do so. Thank-you for helping me. - douglas

I've suffered from tinnitus for nearly five years now. The first year was definitely the worst but the last four have been difficult also. Over time I think you do gradually get used to tinnitus but that doesn't stop it often being unpleasant and annoying. To repeat slightly what I said before I would say that medication can help in the early stages, taking each day step by step and learning that your relationship with sound is never quite the same again - I haven't been able to go to the cinema in years and avoid very noisy environments generally.

 

[dgray]

I've suffered from tinnitus for nearly five years now. The first year was definitely the worst but the last four have been difficult also. Over time I think you do gradually get used to tinnitus but that doesn't stop it often being unpleasant and annoying. To repeat slightly what I said before I would say that medication can help in the early stages, taking each day step by step and learning that your relationship with sound is never quite the same again - I haven't been able to go to the cinema in years and avoid very noisy environments generally.

Thank-you. I hope you get better.

 

[david c]

Thank-you. I hope you get better.

Thank you. I am better in terms of the tinnitus - most days thankfully it's only a minor irritant. I come on these websites mainly to offer advice and in particular to counter the long posts by certain forum members that you have to do things their way (the TRT way). You don't have to and for most people it doesn't work.

In terms of the avoidance of loud noise - that's never going to change because tinnitus does change our relationship with noise permanently.

 

[dgray]

Thank you. I am better in terms of the tinnitus - most days thankfully it's only a minor irritant. I come on these websites mainly to offer advice and in particular to counter the long posts by certain forum members that you have to do things their way (the TRT way). You don't have to and for most people it doesn't work.

In terms of the avoidance of loud noise - that's never going to change because tinnitus does change our relationship with noise permanently.

Dave, thanks. I personally appreciate the support. I haven't seen much substantial documentation of TRT being fail-safe on here. Do people on this site speak successfully regarding TRT?

 

[Rajin]

Is there anyone who has habituated and don't hear their tinnitus anymore. It is there but you don't hear it. This is an old thread. Thanks.

 

[Sam Bridge]

never quite the same again - I haven't been able to go to the cinema in years and avoid very noisy environments generally.

What happens if you go to the cinema? I haven't had any problems.