For Those Who Have Habituated or Actively Trying to

My understanding of the concept is to push T into the background by retraining your brain thru exercising it by deliberately focusing on other sounds or senses. So in theory, or perhaps the practise of focusing on sound(s) for 5 mins, then 10 mins etc, gradually extending the focus time each day or periodically during the day, the brain will eventually adapt to every day sounds more than the T? Am I on track or way out in left field?

Blair

 

This is a great question. I too would like everyone's input! I have been practicing meditations per my CBT. My therapist has me listening to mindfulness body scan meditations and breathing meditations. The idea with this is to accept whatever sound, body pain, etc...comfortable or uncomfortable that I recognize. Then do NOT chase any thoughts that come with it, nor dwell on it. Just recognize it and move on to another part of the body and focus on it. Then if I have difficulty with T, for example, I can just accept it for what it is and focus on another area of the body. I am sure the same can be tried with sound.

 

As I view it through my own experience, habituation is when the sound you hear in your head is the sound of everday life. It is common, a normal part of living, not some extraordinary assault against you. One's perception of what is ordinary has changed, and that process, for me, began when I started to listen to tones/sounds/recordings that mimic the predominant noise in my head (I have several) over a period of years.

Never allowing myself, if I could help it, to experience silence, no matter where I was: shopping, working, walking, watching TV, doing anything, was the key. Always having sound around me and preferably the sort that mimicked what I hear in my head. My entire house used to be one big sound therapy room in the days prior to MP3 players. Even when I watched TV I had crickets playing in the background, and even when I wanted to listen to my favorite songs, crickets would be playing over them, and as little as possible would I permit the volume of my device to be above what I hear in my head.

Eventually, the hyperacusis quit bothering me, and it was then that I had only tinnitus to deal with, but my course of action remained the same. Keep sound in my life. These days, I can sit in a quiet office without having to resort to turning on my MP3 player, although it is a comfort when I do. To a great degree, I've grown to think what I hear in my head is what is normal.

My hearing is bad on both sides, but very bad on the left, which keeps me out of balance when I am without my hearing aids on. When my hearing aids are in need of repair or cleaning, I have to walk with the person who is talking to me on my right side or I won't hear them very well. On those days, there is less ambient sound around me, and so the T can noticeably heighthen, demanding I use an MP3 player, but without balance it's a challenge to get the quality of distraction I'm looking for.

I'm not a hundred percent habituated, maybe more like seventy percent, and I doubt I will ever get there, but neither am I where I was at the start of this constant symphony in my head. Also, keep in mind, I'm now forty five years older. Other health issues, mostly pain related, have developed that too often overtake whatever else might me going on with my hearing and the T, so now there exists competition for my attention.

 

@UserID ,

My question regarding your quote is, I often have silence in my house...mainly because my T is currently fairly low. Should I keep my environment "sound rich" even when the T is not bothering me? Just curious.

Thanks

 

@UserID just curious if you have any idea what started your T and also at what age? I am going on 6 months of T and the LOUD whistle/cricket sounds simultaneously are so annoying. So do you your earplug with music blended with the crickets? I am just curious how you worked all this out. I am presently considering hearing aids with masking capability ( if I can afford them!!!) let me know if you would recommend this or do you feel your hearing aides themselves have helped you? I have very high frequency range loss in both ears but more in left.

 

I like this approach. It is a topic I read about after being given a book by one of the VA psychologists, but without a guide, I was unsuccessful in adapting it to my life. How to skip from one thought to the next was a challenge since so often the mind may for only for a second go to someplace else and then right back to the previous painful or worrisome thought. Doing anything, when one has T, in a quiet surrounding is normally not suggested, so sound, I'd say, would have to be added to the sessions.
David

 

@Teri I have some meditation music I acquired this weekend, do you have any self guided exercises or can point to where I might find some sample exercises on the internet? I am trying to get into CBT myself, six month wait list, scoured the internet for any CBT self help or handbook and cant find anything, I guess it must be therapy assisted?

 

@UserID Thanks for the insight. I am in the process of starting to convert our house into a sound room as well, and as you suggested in an earlier post, now carry an mp3 everywhere I go, its certainly helpful when you get someplace and its quiet, except for your head! Thanks. I'll try to embrace " I've grown to think what I hear in my head is what is normal, the sound you hear in your head is the sound of everyday life. It is common, a normal part of living, not some extraordinary assault against you", its hard when you got it screaming in your ears, but I guess that is the road I have to walk!

 

@Blair14

Simply go to Youtube, search mindfulness meditation, body scan meditations, breathing meditations and you will find some selections. Just build a favorites file of those you like.

 

@Terri So the videos will have a step by step vocal guide, not just the music?

 

At

Stay with it, Blair. Throughout most of those years I wrote about I lived a single life, had little home obligations, and even when I had a girlfriend who would stay over, I played crickets at night time for the both of us. It didn't suit her after a time, so I wore a headset, always at the volume below the ringing. I wish you all the best in your endeavor, Blair. Write to me as often as you wish. It's the first step of a trip around the world.
David

 

From what I've been able to tell the habituation process is undertaken in a number of ways. As @UserID did, some surround themselves with sound through the day/night. Others spend time listening to their T to "accept" it, if you will. There are likely many strategies. The important part is the end goal which I view as simply treating T as not a threat. Many new onsets or those of us that experience spikes will often feel the fight or flight response kick in. This often involves the limbic system contributing to louder perceived T, sleep disturbances, etc. Minimizing or eliminating the treat response, an essential survival mechanism, is the key to becoming habituated IMO.

 

Absolutely, I would agree 100 percent. "Minimizing or eliminating the threat response, an essential survival mechanism, is the key to becoming habituated..." That is it in a nutshell, and as for my preferred approach I found keeping sound in my life was the key to acceptance.
David

 

If it's not bothering you, that is a degree of habituation. If it wavers to where the volume of what you hear in your head could be bothersome if you allowed it, then reach for your sound therapy device.

 

Did I reply to this? Artillery and pneumatic tools caused the T (I don't like to call it mine, so you will find I normally say "the T" or it. I've been this way for years, not wanting to own it. It's there, but not by invitation.) I worked in a 5"38 gun turret while we played war games and grinded floors with a pneumatic tool that was very loud. I was 19 when it the ringing became noticeable. I'm now 62.

There is a adaptor that is able to play two sounds at once to you, with a male end that would go into a transmitter that can send the signal to bluetoothed ear phones and two female ends at the other end into which you plug both your sound devices. Dynex makes it. For me, the recordings combine as they go through my iCom transmitter that sends them into my bluetooth hearing aids. For others, they would have to change the male end to a female one with an added adaptor or purchase one of these with the male end that is female.

 

@UserID , I am with you I refuse to own "IT" also. The only time I say it's name is when I try to describe to the rest of my normal friends who really have no idea what in the world I am trying to describe. I am not certain what the audiologist is going to suggest but my guess is it will be something customized in inside the hearing aid similar to this for 5x the cost for me. I am going to look into this suggestions before getting a loan! According to my audiologist one hearing device at the lower end is 3500.00 and that is w/o the masking option. I need to shop around and of course I want the masking option. It is starting to depress me realizing I can't really afford them. I have already spent 1000's of dollars just trying to get a diagnosis, MRI's, X-rays, ENT's, GP's and soooo many supplements. I am so tired of it all at this point and it has only been 51/2 months. I can't imagine how it would have been for a 19 years old to deal with this. I actually have a 19 year old son and I am cautioning him about his music listening habits. Thanks so much for your helpful information and I appreciate any tips your have for "IT" to help me thru this journey that has so far been, not one bit enjoyable. Best regards. Ty

 

Ty, your post reads like you have no healthcare insurance. If so, that sucks. I have a govt. job with excellent benefits, plus, because artillery caused the T, all of my ear aids are paid for by the govt. I even have a transmitter connected to my TV that sends the sound to my hearing aids as far away as my driveway.

I'm very much a promoter of myself, so, if I was without benefits, I would probably find out what it would take to place jars in stores asking for donations, with my photo and the word "Tinnitus" spelled out with a dreadful font. But, that's me. I've always been willing to go the extreme.

About ten years ago, the American Tinnitus Association was giving $1500 to help anyone who planned to purchase a Neuromonics unit, to help defray their costs. That was when I bought mine, but I'm not sure if they do that any longer. The money came from various donors. Maybe another group is offering help for those needing equipment. It would take some searching online, I'm sure.

All of the MRIs, X-rays, and CAT Scans I ever had done regarding T revealed NOTHING. And only one ENT was truly a godsend, a professional in the know, and very much on my side, truly compassionate and knowlegeable. The rest weren't worth the time of day.

The VA audiologisits who serve me are worth their weight in gold. Never is there a time when I see any one of them that I don't praise their work and dedication to my needs. They're top of the line in my book.

So, you're looking to get bluetooth enabled hearing aids with masking ability? Why bother with masking when it is only white noise and you can play any number of recordings from an MP3 player through your transmitter to be relayed into your hearing aids? Unless, of coures, white noise helps you. If it does, stick with it, but make sure you'll be able to turn off the white noise if you want to listen to something else. I don't know what sort of sound best mimics what you hear in your head, so that's a call you need to make. For me, it is crickets that best mimic what I hear predominantly.

Do you pray? One suggestion, if you do. Do not, everyday, plead for healing in an obssessive way. Instead, use that time to calmly lean on Him for patience and decision making. But, even when you're all wired out, pray. Keep in touch. Just let Him know you know He's there and that you appreciate His friendship. I got into pleading like a madman day in and day out for healing, promsing everything in regard to good behavior if only healing would be given to me. All along, it was through a PROCESS that a degree a habituation began to manifest, not through an instantaneous miracle. Work with the process and let the Lord help with your thought patterns. What a great verse: "He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusts in thee." I learned that truth the long, hard way.
You are in my prayers, Ty
David

 

Amen brother !