16,000 Hz Tinnitus!

I just measured after hours and it's about that frequency! It's far too loud for me to handle!

 

Is it loud? Or just high pitched?

Didn't you say it was 13000khz before? Maybe that is a good sign if it is moving all over. You can't hear the 13000 tone anymore?

 

Loud and high pitched. I thought it was 13,000hz but it's hard to get it measured right.

 

Yeah I have a hard time pin pointing mine too, I have a few tones but even finding the frequency of one is tough.

I think it's a bit harder to habituate to the high tones as they stand above normal everyday sounds but there are people here that have done it.

Mine is high pitched too, it feels painful a lot of the time and makes my ears hot, very strange.

 

Yep. So silly how we have this in our head....

 

Yup...bizarre. Sometimes think I'm just dreaming, hard to believe this is even a real condition.

 

Neither can I. I mean, why on earth would your brain want to make yourself suffer? You'd think the brain would be like, ok, that's not right and cancel it out...

 

@Telis , @Danny Boy
If 13, 14 or 16 kHz, I guess there is not much difference.
Here is my tone:

Dog Whistle Sound

The thing is we have hearing loss in those areas and our brain is making noise on those frequencies.
I think that loudness matters. If the volume is lower, much easier to handle.
If loud, it is hell.
I doubt we can change the frequency. The brain has chosen the frequency.
Question is how to become it a little bit lower. That's all that matters.

 

Do cricket sounds help you to mask your T? They seem to help many with high pitched T...

 

Mine is 12-13000Hz but not tonal. Comes in intermittent constant pulse. Like something in between firing a automated gun (high freq) and crickets. No everyday sounds masks it but the shower. Not to fun. Would say that I am conscious about my t 80-90% of the day. Still not too sure about how to tackle this one....

 

Yes. That is the only thing that helps.
But how pleasant is listening to crickets for hours or the whole day?
Feeling depressed and anxious. :-(

 

People have lived for ages in cricket areas where the sound is constant. I doubt many of them have paid any attention to the sound. This is actually the reason why nature sounds are often the best masking sounds - our brains are 'hardwired' to consider them normal through evolution.

 

Yes. I thought about moving to a place where there is 24 hours a day cricket sounds.
So I would get used to it and see it as my natural environment.

 

Well...I saw a counselor today and they told me I can hibernate to the tinnitus and this will lower the volume...I think it's tosh myself.

 

'Hibernate to the tinnitus' - what does that mean? Or did you mean meditate? That would make sense...

 

He means habituate.

 

Is it true that you can habituate to it?

 

Let me quote the one or other doctor I have met and read: "You can habituate to every loudness, tone and frequency."
Now you will ask: "Have you habituated after 13 months?"
No, I have not.
And then people reply: What hinders your habituation?
And I don't know.
And then I get the usual answers: You have a depression, you need to change your life, you spend too much time on support boards, you should do TRT, CBT, XYZ and so on. It is your fault, it is your wrong attitude.
Conclusion for me: I need more time for severe, loud, high-pitched T. But I don't know how much time I will give myself. That is the sad truth. Sorry.
But Danny, everyone is different. Some make it quick, some long, some never. Maybe you make it quick to habituation. I wish you all luck and strength for this.
Billie48 and Jeff M for example here habituated to loud T. So it is definitely possible.

 

They say in Sweden that 80% habituate within 6-12 month by them self. The pore 20% left can for example try TRT. Heard it got a success rate of 80%. But their is still 20% of that 20% that will have it more difficult.

A always wounder were those numbers came form....

 

.

Part of my not habituating is the pain, It feels like my ears are open sores or something. Also the way my ears process sound now is absolutely bizarre...certain things are distorted and certain things are WAY louder than they should be....everything sounds tinny and painful. Hitting a light switch can make my ear muscles go into spasms and not stop for days. And the tinnitus, yup loud and high pitched. I don't understand how someone walks around feeling even half way ok like this.

It's almost a year and the only progress I have made is accepting more and more the fact that life will be a never ending 24 7 battle until I am buried. The sadness is tough to take but the shock of this new terrible life is going away. Maybe this is the beginning to habituation ?

 

Telis,
I know that you are one of the hardest cases here.
Maybe in some months we can say that even the hardest cases can live a life again.
And we can lead the newbies through this battle.
I know, every day sucks, every minute sucks.
But I don't know myself. I don't know how I made it through my first year.

 

This is always an interesting question: Why do some people habituate at a different rate than others? Is it their tinnitus pitch? How they got their T? Other factors outside the disorder itself, like co-existing anxiety, depression, other health problems? Attitude? There's no way to tell for certain, although people do have their opinions on this. The one thing I always say is: Comparing your rate of habituation to another person's can be self-defeating and not helpful. Remember that we all are different and that even people who may take some time to habituate often can do so. Be gentle on yourself.

I am entering my 18th month post tinnitus onset, had almost a year of Neuromonics plus cognitive behavioral therapy and don't know if I would call myself "habituated." Truth is, there isn't even a medical definition for "habituation," so how do you know if you have arrived? Regardless, I am a hell of a lot better than I was 18 months ago, even though there are times (like last night, when I was super tired after a camping trip) that my tinnitus sucks.

Like @Danny Boy, mine is very high, about 16,000 HZ, measured by an audiologist (it's a little tricky to measure your own).

And hang in there, @Telis. We are here for you.

 

@Martin69
I have a new respect and love of crickets. I couldn't live without their sound these days...