I’m starting to think there is, for me at least. Its a catch-22 though because I think my tolerance has been reduced because of it. Im going to try easing up on the earplugs a bit and see if that helps.
It definitely increases the perception of tinnitus, but I maintain that you can't do any permanent damage via "sitting in silence".
You should speak to my friend @Stacken77 about this.
He overprotected and neglected sound enrichment for a bit too long too; now he's climbing that mountain of lessening his reactive tinnitus and hyperacusis by exposure.
@Foamearplugssuck. I too agree, @Damocles, that silence doesn't cause damage to the auditory system, but I believe the sensitivity it can cause can be long lasting and a challenge to revert. After months of sound deprivation, it doesn't take "a few minutes" for the tolerance to get right, as some may believe.
@Foamearplugssuck I got H from my acoustic trauma. It resolved in a month or two. I firmly believe that during a week of pure sound deprivation my H came back and my T became hyper-reactive. In March I had a 2 hour conversation which set back my H real bad.
I still believe the H is maintained by the deprivation of sound, but since T is spiking to any attempt to reintroduce sound again, it's a Catch-22. If you believe your H stems from deprivation of sound, then easing the earplug use very gently is a good idea.
My tinnitus has also been getting worse, permanently, and I believe it is due to the constant temporary spikes that increases the baseline over time. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if the brain sees this constant deprivation of sound as more "emptiness to fill in" so as to generate more tinnitus, but I digress.
Overprotection can lead to TTTS, because you’re essentually telling your brain that all sounds hurt. If your T is reactive in relation to TTTS, then sure. If not, I don’t see the connection
@danielthor I firmly believe that sound deprivation over time can cause sensitivity to sound, not just TTTS. I'm a living example of that. For me, it was not primarily about TTTS. Over-protection increased my auditory threshold, making everything much louder. This made me vulnerable, and set me up for my setback from that 2 hour conversation which would not have been a problem 2 months prior.
I'm curious @Foamearplugssuck, can you tell us about your progression? Has the tinnitus been deteriorating seemingly without cause, or is it due to spikes? Have you had any acoustic traumas or setbacks from loud noises after the initial onset?
@Stacken77 It does make everything seem louder for sure. That’s true. But I feel like that’s fairly easy to override, to vean yourself out of. Not sure about a permanent decrease in treshold. Are you 100% sure your setback from that 2-hour conversation is related to it? No loud sounds in between that could have worsened your condition?
Good question, @danielthor, I'll probably do a full write-up of my progression in a thread someplace. My H crept back in beginning of Feb and my T became hyper-reactive; no unusual noise exposures. I was pretty stable though throughout Feb but shit hit the fan in Mar after a semi-loud noise and finally after that 2 hour conversation. It's indeed weird.
So rest assured @danielthor that I do know the dangers of noise exposure, I believe it's a fine line, ridiculous fine indeed. My TTTS is only in my right ear, but my "H" is bilateral; I believe it's a brain problem. I also believe neither silence or noise exposure are a "silver bullet" that solves our issues; we have to be very careful with both. Sorry if my claims comes off as dogmatic, it's all speculation.
@danielthor Could very well be related, but I still believe I would have been more resilient to both of these occasions had I not deprived myself of sound. And the fact still remains that I became very sensitive a month before, not due to a trauma, but most likely due to sound deprivation. That's just how I see it based on my, quite peculiar, case.
@Stacken77 thank you so much for sharing your progression. I had mild H symptoms, so I cut out all sounds then returned home to my parents. I was exposed to a smoke detector while wearing earplugs about two weeks ago.
I started wearing hearing protection constantly. over the past few days, my T has gotten exponentially worse--it's like a 90s call center that is blasting kraftwerk in my head. And I keep having doorbell hallucinations. I guess I'll keep protecting my ears, but I'm not sure what else to do.
@Foamearplugssuck Did you start protecting 24/7 before or after the smoke detector incident? How many days was it between the smoke detector incident and the exponential worsening of your T? Do you think the worsening can be related to the incident, just delayed?
@Foamearplugssuck In my case; when I started to practice sound deprivation in Feb, I also remember my T worsening, i.e. getting louder and with more tones for a week. Maybe coincidence, maybe not. I'm not sure.
@Stacken77 I started protecting 24/7 after the smoke detector incident, which was the 12th. I had a worsening on the 16th, and then Monday-today things have been getting worse every day.
@Stacken77 After the smoke detector incident I had some pain in my ear a few hours later, but then it subsided. It's entirely possible that this is all a delayed reaction to it I guess, but it's all been occurring after I started protecting my ears all the time too. hard to say.
@Foamearplugssuck I'm very sorry to hear that. It could very well be something delayed, but it's odd that it is getting progressively worse despite the protection. I see similarities between what I experienced in Feb and what you seem to experience.
@Foamearplugssuck I think we should be very careful to draw conclusions though since no two cases are the same, but I believe odd things can happen in the auditory system once we use hearing protection literally 24/7. I'd be very careful if I were you, but if you feel comfortable, try to just take in the ambient sound for some minutes every day.
@Wrfortiscue Hold up, are you insinuating that the spiking/reactivity you've referred to has been improving due to a reduction in hearing protection? If so, then that's some real good improvements in my book.
@Stacken77 usually I dont. lately though I hear a high pitched whistle whenever I flush the toilet, but that's the only sound my tinnitus seems to react to.
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