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9th October 2020, 06:05 PM #16
Evan, there is a reason why many do not seek treatment ... because there are so many charlatans who promise a cure and cannot deliver. The Internet is full of them.
I do have a suggestion that may help others as it has helped me.
My tinnitus reared its head almost over night (although no doubt it was growing slowly) some 15 years ago. Within a couple of weeks it was LOUD, and I felt like I was helpless, as in a prison with no where to escape. It was an overwhelming shock, and I felt like I was suffocating.
No doubt like many others, I visited an audiologist, who noted that I had lost about all sound about 5000Hz (average in youngsters in 20000). I was aware that background noise was an issue - trying to hold a conversation in a restaurant was a struggle, and it the microwave (in our open plan house) was on while watching TV, I could not make out what was said.
Over a few weeks it got worse, and I had a rising sense of panic. I can understand the high levels of suicide.
The audiologist prescribed hearing aids ($6000), which I purchased. The idea was to raise the sound levels and drown out the tinnitus. Also, I began a course of Sound Therapy, which was music geared to my audiological profile, which aimed at re-training the missing areas. I was so desperate I purchased the $6000 program. This was 15 years ago. One got less for the $ then.
I did all this dutifully for 12 months. No change. I will say that the promise of improvement kept me going. But finally it dawned upon me that it was not going to work, and it was time I put my psychologist's hat on.
I decided to throw it all away. Hearing aids gone. Auditory programme gone. Just glorious tinnitus.
Why? Because I realised that these "cures" were making me focus on dealing with tinnitus, and that it made every second of my day a moment when it remained in my consciousness. That made it real. I also knew that the tinnitus would stop being "foreground" and fade into the "background" eventually. Just be patient. It will go out of consciousness if I stop forcing it to stay there. In other words, get used to it.
The next day I was at Carbatec and bumped into two woodies who were discussing their tinnitus. They were talking about their new hearing aids and how much they helped them. I did not have the heart to say that I no longer used mine.
It has been about 15 years since that day, and I would say that it took about 18 months before it all began to click. My tinnitus is still there, and some days are louder than others. The difference is that I do not notice it at all (unless I am in a discussion about it, which is infrequent). It has faded into the background so much that it has no emotional impact at all. I can go for months without being aware that it exists. My hearing seems to have improved slightly. I am very conscious of hearing health in the workshop and wear hearing muffs at all times machines are on. Interestingly, I can tolerate more noise around me. There was a time near the start, over about 2 months, when I developed hyperacusis. This is a heightened sensitivity to noise - a motor car driving past me had me blocking my ears. A motor bike going by left me in a pool of stress sweat. All gone. I have run machines without hearing protection and no affect. I seem to hear the TV better than my wife now! I am not kidding myself that my hearing has improved. Just that the issues here are no longer an intrusion.
Regards from Perth
DerekVisit www.inthewoodshop.com for tutorials on constructing handtools, handtool reviews, and my trials and tribulations with furniture builds.
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9th October 2020, 06:43 PM #17GOLD MEMBER
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I have quite bad hearing loss, and tinnitus. I’ve been wearing hearing aids for about 4 years, snd they have changed my whole world. Mine have a tinnitus masking program which actually works quite well, it’s adjustable and after learning to drive them after a couple of months, I actually really notice when I don’t have them on. They cost about $9k, but are a lot cheaper now, and they are controlled from an app on my phone, the people in the shop can customise everything to how you like, then you can fine tune them yourself. They are brilliant, I would recommend anyone with issues to go and try a set for a week, they will definitely improve your quality of life.
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9th October 2020, 08:13 PM #18GOLD MEMBER
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Derek's solution mirrors my experience, don't dwell on it by reading literature etc and simply ignore it. The only time I have been aware of mine today is when I have been reading this thread so I will choose to bail out and forget about it. I spoke to the Tinnutis people at Concord years ago and suggested white noise because Nissan had used it in cars to lower noise levels and at that time they had not considered it as a solution.
CHRIS
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9th October 2020, 08:21 PM #19
I think you are correct, for the most part, but it does kind of depend on how bad it is. I know of one man whose tinnitus is more like an industrial hammer drill. Not the gentle buzzing that I am experiencing!
I am able to blank out the worst of the regular and pulsatile tinnitus with white noise. That poor man would still be hearing it over a 747 at V1, standing next to the runway!
Of the two, the pulsatile is the worst to listen to but the easiest to mask out.
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6th March 2022, 07:16 AM #20GOLD MEMBER
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My hearing aids have a program built in to cancel it out, it works well enough to notice. The modern hearing devices are so good, you’ll wonder why you didn’t get them years ago. And perfectly controllable from an app on your phone.
Well worth the investment, for many reasons.
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6th March 2022, 09:07 AM #21
My Dad passed away in January, I asked him late last year about his tinnitus, he was still saying that the big cyclone cured it for him, and he hadn’t heard the cicadas in his ears since that eventful night.
Mine hasn’t seemed to have changed much, I just try and ignore it as much as I can.
I always run the aircon in my bedroom, the fan noise seems to mask it enough that it doesn’t bother me while I lay there trying to go to sleep.Brad.
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6th March 2022, 09:40 AM #22Senior Member
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Fascinating! I also hear cicadas in my head although I am most fortunate in that it is not constant. My mother also suffers tinitus. I never considered to seek medical help as I have never heard of anyone else hearing cicadas.
When I hear them, (or should I say it ) its usually at night long after the insects have stopped.
Just now as I started to think about it in the quiet of my room it faintly returned. Stuck my head outside - only sound is birds calling.
I can understand why people chose not to think about it or pursue medical help. Too often people are given poor advice, outdated information, or not offered a referral to a specialist who may actually have something that will help.
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6th March 2022, 05:56 PM #23.
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No tinitus but am starting to get have 1or 2 small coloured lights that sweep rapidly past my peripheral vision when I move my eyes/head quickly from side to side eg checking traffic. It only happens at night when there are at most a couple of bright lights surrounded by darkness in my field of view eg car headlights, or brightly lit signs or the TV. first I blamed some sort of reflection/refraction effect from my new glasses but a quick check without glasses shows the effect is still there.
I'm not sure how long its been there but its starting to be quite distracting when I least want it to be eg night driving.
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