What's the Safest Way to Listen to Music?

[Autumnly]

I agree with @fishbone, I'd say start seeing a therapist for CBT (even better if that therapist is specialized in treating people with tinnitus/hyperacusis) and start sound therapy. I understand that you're worried of leaving your home, I'm also currently homebound (due to hyperacusis and tinnitus). So I'd say start slowly, maybe only go outside every two weeks to speak with a therapist. I'd also recommend you find things you can do at home: hobbies, exercising, maybe meditation, go to bed and wake up regularly (not sure if you're doing those things already). A regular daily routine might help. It is extremely hard to live with tinnitus when it seems unstable and to get permanently louder easily... hoping your situation will improve!

 

[Michael Leigh]

@another sean

Hi Sean,

Thank you for your detailed reply. I live in the UK and not the USA so cannot recommend any doctors. Ordinarily I would suggest trying to treat yourself and not seeking professional help, by using sound therapy at home and going out each day for a walk. At first just for 30 minutes a day, to allow your ears and auditory system to get used to normal everyday sounds. Not only that but getting fresh air into your lungs and body is so vitally important for overhaul health and mental wellbeing. It is not good to stay at home all the time and the fact that you live alone makes the reason for getting out in the fresh air more important.

Communicating with people can help relieve stress and reduce negative thoughts of the kind that you mentioned in your post. Try going to a café for a coffee and a sandwich and have a newspaper or a Kindle book reader to hand. Within a short space of time the regulars that you see, striking up a conversation should not be too difficult. I am retired and done this when I moved from London to Brighton and now feel quite relaxed and content. I make it a point of duty to go out each day even if it's just for a brief walk to get fresh air to my body and I feel energised by it.

Please note, even if you seek professional help you have to back this up with what I've mentioned above, as this promotes positivity. Your healthcare provider cannot do all the work. They can help show you the way but ultimately, you have got to reach down within yourself and find the will and determination to succeed. Anything worthwhile never comes easily in life. We only get out of something what we put in and the same happens in reverse. In 2010 my ENT consultant told me I was the second worst tinnitus patient that she had treated in all her years of being an Audiovestibular Physician. I asked for her candour because I felt I wasn't making any more improvement. She vowed to never give up on treating me. It was one of the lowest points in my life that I have experienced with tinnitus. It took 4 years for me to habituate for the second time but I done it with belief and determination and you can too but you have to try. Please click on the links below and read my posts, that you might find helpful.

All the best
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/is-positivity-important.23150/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-and-the-negative-mindset.23705/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/acquiring-a-positive-mindset.23969/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-ent-doctor-and-hearing-therapist.24047/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/inspiration.22894/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/can-tinnitus-counselling-help.22366/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-habituation-process.20767/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/a-change-of-lifestyle.20643/

 

[Localboy]

This is some real good advice.

I don't want to sound offensive and it's only my opinion but...
Do you really have to go to every topic praising Michael's cut n' paste, ahemmmmm... "advice"? You two should get a room.

 

[Michael Leigh]

I don't want to sound offensive and it's only my opinion but...
Do you really have to go to every topic praising Michael's cut n' paste, ahemmmmm... "advice"? You two should get a room.

The same way that you don't want to cause offence I will now do the same: Only someone with your debasement of mind would use such language, as you fail to see the mutual respect that one tinnitus veteran has for another. The only thing that you have to offer here is to be ill mannered and be disrespectful to your elders. I am many years your senior. Your conduct shows that you were not brought up to realize this is of any significance.
Shame on you.

Michael

 

[PaulBe]

Like I said: 3...2...1...

 

[devilinthedust]

I'm certainly no expert here, and I'm really in the early days of tinnitus (15 months), but I would think that your ears need sound to heal, at least to the level they can. It would seem that cutting off all sound would be detrimental to the healing process. Certainly you should use caution and hearing protection some times, but not for everyday sounds. Listening to music used to be one of my greatest pleasures and when I first got tinnitus, I cut off all music because the volume of my tinnitus increased when I listened to it. Call it reactive or whatever, it increased in volume and that was annoying to say the least. As I begin to read, here and elsewhere, I begin to realize that was a mistake. Your ears need sound to heal as well as they can, even with tinnitus. Certainly you must be smart about it and keep the volume at a safe level, but cutting off all sound, I believe is detrimental to one's overall recovery.

 

[another sean]

I'm certainly no expert here, and I'm really in the early days of tinnitus (15 months), but I would think that your ears need sound to heal, at least to the level they can. It would seem that cutting off all sound would be detrimental to the healing process. Certainly you should use caution and hearing protection some times, but not for everyday sounds. Listening to music used to be one of my greatest pleasures and when I first got tinnitus, I cut off all music because the volume of my tinnitus increased when I listened to it. Call it reactive or whatever, it increased in volume and that was annoying to say the least. As I begin to read, here and elsewhere, I begin to realize that was a mistake. Your ears need sound to heal as well as they can, even with tinnitus. Certainly you must be smart about it and keep the volume at a safe level, but cutting off all sound, I believe is detrimental to one's overall recovery.

So your T started to rise when you initially listened to music, but then it stopped rising trying to listen to music again? Can you explain what was the difference or why it would stopped rising the second time? This is what I am trying to understand. Because any daily sound say above 60db will spike my T an raise my baseline permanently. But people are telling me its what I should do. So I am still confused. My goal is to not make my T worse since its mentally stressful and cognitively disrupting. Maybe the goals are different? Maybe people are allowing it to get worse but depending on Habituation? Like I still dont know what is the factor preventing my T from getting worse using sound generators and TRT, verses it getting worse in the past with outside noise or speakers. What makes them different? What is the healing component that is in one and not the other?

 

[devilinthedust]

No, it still rises when I listen to music, but I think that as time has gone on, I have become more tolerant of the rise. Not sure if that makes sense of not, but you get used to certain things happening and they bother you less. At least in my case anyway. It's almost like I know it's going to raise it a little bit, and my brain prepares itself for it. I wish I could say that it's gotten a lot better, but it has gotten better in the sense that I don't notice it like I once did. At least on most days. Don't get me wrong, there are days that I want to throw all stereo's and cd's etc., out the front door. (Today is one of those days actually), but I refuse to give up. I may die, never enjoying music like I used to, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to at least try. The key is to use common sense. Keep the volume at a reasonable level, and play things for a limited time, to start. Don't over do it. If it hurts, or causes pain, stop. Your ears need time to heal, but they also need stimulation so they don't get any worse. The trick is to strike the right balance. Search around and find some music you can tolerate. In my case, I can tolerate some music better than others. I wish somebody could explain to me why music causes this rise in volume to happen, as nothing else affects it quite like that. Loud fans and hairdryers do sometimes, but not like the music does. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I have high frequency hearing loss, but I don't know. I asked my doctor if I should even be listening to music at all, he said "sure, just turn the volume down to a reasonable level where it doesn't bother you as bad. It's not going to go away, you might as well make the best of it." That's really the only thing any of us have. Life has thrown us this curve and we either deal with it, or let it destroy us. Personally, I choose to live.

 

[Joe4]

Personally I'd say it depends more on the quality of speaker/headphones than the volume to a certain extent. I have Bose headphones which were a gift before my tinnitus onset and at low levels I've found them ok and have extremely good sound quality. They broke for a few weeks and used apple's own and at any level they hurt and caused minor spikes. Same with car stereos etc. My mother who also has T has said this for a long time. She really struggled at a family birthday party with cheap bitty sounding speakers at about 90db but was fine at a classical music event which was closer to 100db.