Thread: TINNITUS - an interesting read from a science journal today.....

As someone who has had Tinnitus for over 30 years 24/7.
With a hearing loss of over 20/30 percent.
I would jump at chance to try this.

Like a lot of sufferers I have good days an bad days, the mostly bad days are in the evening.
Normally after a hard days work and stress.

I normally in such cases just need to be left alone(it’s even harder to hear correctly)
and attempt to zone out !!

I would not which Tinnitus on my worst enemy,the suicide rates from the disease are alarming high.

Yet help from governments is pathetically low.

Cheers Matt.

Originally Posted by Simplicity

As someone who has had Tinnitus for over 30 years 24/7.
With a hearing loss of over 20/30 percent.
I would jump at chance to try this.

Like a lot of sufferers I have good days an bad days, the mostly bad days are in the evening.
Normally after a hard days work and stress.

I normally in such cases just need to be left alone(it’s even harder to hear correctly)
and attempt to zone out !!

I would not which Tinnitus on my worst enemy,the suicide rates from the disease are alarming high.

Yet help from governments is pathetically low.

Cheers Matt.

Brother, you are amongst friends! Mine has only been in the last ten years. I don't know what finally triggered it. I had significant hearing loss from my time in the Royal Australian Navy (turbo jet military aircraft doing touch and goes 4m above your head can do that...) and then the buzzing as well means I find it extremely difficult in social situations. I can barely understand anyone in a pub or restaurant. I watch television with subtitles on even when it is in English!

Then I acquired pulsatile tinnitus as well. Dodgy plumbing in the head and it can be heard in a stethoscope. I've had this for about five years. Just started spontaneously.

I can't sit in a quiet space because it drives me absolutely [rhymes with] clucking nuts. Right now I'm listening to rain sounds on YouTube. I sleep with headphones playing white noise to drown it out.

It is sheer bloody torture!

The thought of being trapped in a silent place fills me with fear, they say that the Antarctic can be absolutely silent so I am definitely not going there for any money. My came from rifle shooting when I did National Service, they gave us some cotton wool and I guess in combat nothing but I never had that pleasure thank god.

I was talking with a scientist on Reddit the other week.

She said she was ASTOUNDED with the LACK of people who contact her directly about her science (its not Tinnitus, but another life changing thing not relevant here).

People go to the doctors, read about such things in papers, etc, but don't EVER ask the people doing the tests/science and ask questions about their doings... or ask to be involved... or ask to be kept up to date. She publishes in journals, behind pay-walls, but said that 100% of any fees paid go to the journal, the submitting team sees zero of it..... she advised to contact them directly and they are hyper-enthused to talk about their work.... SEND you the papers and whatnot for FREE.

She was quite right.... two months ago I found a fascinating article on Venus slowing its rate of spin. Various satellites and observations have shown the planet has slowed ~12 seconds over the decade. That's A LOT of angular momentum lost !!!!! So I wrote (emailed) to the two lead scientists (after reading their papers and some decent background first!) and they responded like kids at Christmas! Super keen, answered my questions, I asked some more hypotheticals and sought their opinions on things... they spent a huge chunk of time outlining everything and doing a mind-dump. Top blokes. Two new friends now!


So, for those who are affected, WRITE to the people in the papers.... ASK them if you can participate. ASK to be kept up to date.

I'd wager they would be more than happy to help out.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

The thought of being trapped in a silent place fills me with fear, they say that the Antarctic can be absolutely silent so I am definitely not going there for any money. My came from rifle shooting when I did National Service, they gave us some cotton wool and I guess in combat nothing but I never had that pleasure thank god.

Yeah, the SLR is not the quietest of tools!

The best thing I can say about the Navy some 40 years after leaving (I did seven and change) is that; the nightmares are much less frequent now!

I had the misfortune to work for an IT company here that was populated with people nearly as toxic as those I had to share a ship's mess with. I lasted a whole six months; and that was a monumental feat of endurance. A friend of mine (that is an IT recruiter) said to me; "There must have been something good about it".

My reply (delivered completely deadpan): Never having to explain why I left!

I feel the same way about the Navy!

As for my friend; I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance because he laughed so much he turned red coughing and choking and on the verge of hyperventilating!

> I sleep with headphones playing white noise to drown it out.

I've bought a pillow that had a little speaker inside it for my kid (who has sensory issues). Seemed to work OK. Google tells me there are similar things for people with tinnitus - might be more comfortable than headphoens?

https://www.sleepsolutions.com.au/audio/pillow-speakers

I learned I had Tinnitus while watching an ABC doco on the ailment and the laboratory concerned was playing with injections of Adrenalin which apparently gave the sufferer complete relief for about one minute. This was over 30 years ago now so I have no idea of any details at all. Mine has reached such a loud level it masks quite speech and the only time I can't hear it is when I have machines going. I had a loudness test done about 10 years ago and the Audioligist reckoned it was the loudest he had tested and mentioned that peolple had suicided with less noise. I was offered reading matter on it and declined because I don't want it to be in the forefront of my life and the more I read about it the more I become annoyed if that makes sense. As things are now I am forunate that it recedes into the background most of the time and I don't dwell on it too much.

Mine started 27 years ago - "you'll just have to learn to live with it" he said! . . . came close to shoving his headphones up his . . . somewhere nasty! I joined the Tinnitus association but got sick of reading about suicide prevention and gave that up but they did recommend listening to Enya to go to sleep by and I've been doing that ever since on ever-evolving technologies - having anything else to listen to also does the trick but her music somehow does it better - 'Silence coloured in' I once heard it called. These days I use my mobile phone bluetoothed to a little speaker with nice sound and it doubles as my alarm clock - too easy. Found an app called 'Tasker' and built my own app so all I have to do is hit one button and it puts the mobile in 'Do not disturb' mode and plays ten random tracks from my 'Chill' folder - usually nodded off by the time it finishes.
Nice to see somebody is actually working on a treatment and I would give it a shot if it were available here but I doubt our government would do anything to help such an invisible ailment, even though it costs them millions every year. I gave up looking for treatments years ago as all you find online is quackery at ridiculous prices.
Ok, I've had my moan . . back in my box for a while

I had very bad Tinnitus a while back and was referred to the Tinnitus Clinic at Concord Hospital.
The long and short of it was they recommended I buy a "Sound Machine" which had a function "White Noise".
I was to play this at a very low level at night in the bedroom while sleeping to retrain my brain to ignore the Tinnitus.
It for the most has worked.
Cheers, crowie

I love tinnitus -- Not

For me it's the result of a hyperbaric accident 30+ years ago affecting my right ear. Above about 2 Hz my right ear can't even hear a chain saw.
I managed to be able to block the ringing out for about 20 years. My only issue was noisy environments -- pubs, restaurants, conferences, etc
the fix ( ?? ) was being fitted with a hearing aid about 8 years ago. The aid is programed to shift the higher sound frequencies downwards into a range I can still hear.
The most notable thing about the hearing aid is after it was fitted, I could suddenly hear the clicking of women's heels and pencils dropping.

I have had it for at least 10 years, though by the sounds of it, mine is not as bad as some others who have commented. In quieter environments I can constantly hear cicadas. And it’s hard to relax in very quiet environments.
My Mum also suffers from it, and my Dad had it for many years, but reckons his disappeared after he sat through cyclone Yasi.
It would be great if they could cure it, or at least relieve the symptoms.

I had no idea that so many of you had this problem.

It seems prolific.

Its one of those non-visible injuries that deeply affect people.

I'm going to write to the scientists who did this study and ask for the price on a few of their machines. I'll post the results here. I am no doctor, but I'd wager they'd be happy to have a few people included in Round 2 under appropriate supervision.

Dr Hubert Lim @ Neuromod | Home

No harm in asking. Asked. Will LYK.


EDIT - Here are the ARTICLES and Details of clinical trials in FULL...... read away friends.....


Phase I – Safety and Feasibility Study: Download --> phase 1- safety-and-feasibility.pdf

Phase IIa (TENT-A1 Protocol Paper) – Parameter Optimisation and Patient Subtyping Study Download

Phase IIa (TENT-A1 Results Paper) – Parameter Optimisation and Patient Subtyping Study View --> Phase 2a - e018465.full.pdf

Phase IIb (TENT-A2 Protocol Paper) – Parameter Optimisation and Patient Subtyping Study Download --> phase-2b-protocol.pdf

Originally Posted by ian

I love tinnitus -- Not

For me it's the result of a hyperbaric accident 30+ years ago affecting my right ear. Above about 2 Hz my right ear can't even hear a chain saw.
I managed to be able to block the ringing out for about 20 years. My only issue was noisy environments -- pubs, restaurants, conferences, etc
the fix ( ?? ) was being fitted with a hearing aid about 8 years ago. The aid is programed to shift the higher sound frequencies downwards into a range I can still hear.
The most notable thing about the hearing aid is after it was fitted, I could suddenly hear the clicking of women's heels and pencils dropping.

Interesting that you found the aids helped you Ian. I had some on trial for a week last year and didn't notice any difference to the tinnitus or much else but I am aware they were not tuned right up and it would take longer to appreciate the full effect - but I pulled the pin at $5500 bucks for something I could, and most likely would, lose in an instant . Don't know how many times I moved my glasses and managed to send them flying in that week ! Have since found the same units for about $2500 so I might give them another think , especially if they can relieve the tinnitus. The audiologist did tell me they would help but he is basically just a salesman out for his cut so I would rather take advice from a fellow woodworker

Originally Posted by lyricnz

> I sleep with headphones playing white noise to drown it out.

I've bought a pillow that had a little speaker inside it for my kid (who has sensory issues). Seemed to work OK. Google tells me there are similar things for people with tinnitus - might be more comfortable than headphoens?

https://www.sleepsolutions.com.au/audio/pillow-speakers

I've tried lots of things. The cheap pillow speakers from Jaycar are, somewhat surprisingly, the second best option of all the things I've tried.

The best was the Bluetooth SleepPhones (also available on that same site) but they only lasted a few months. The battery lost its ability to hold a full charge.

I tried the Bose Sleepbuds (the first version) but the problem with putting earbuds of any kind in my ears is that the pulsatile tinnitus is even more of a problem. The Bose buds did not have enough volume to compensate.

The current best thing I am using are these from Banggood: Wireless bluetooth 5.0 stereo eye mask headphones earphone music sleep headset Sale - Banggood.com

It is everything it says on the tin and if it carks it in six months, I don't care. It was less than $20, delivered! In fact I am going to order another one as a spare just in case.

Don't expect a lot in sound quality but it does not matter. I'm playing white noise!

The only slight downside is that the left side is all in one control battery and speaker which makes it bulkier than the right side. May be a problem if you sleep on your side with a firm pillow.