After Years of Coping with Tinnitus, It's Now Transferred from High-Pitch to Static Noise

Hi family and tinnitus friends - after years of being good and coping with my tinnitus pushed to the back of my mind and my life being all good - it’s back and more fuzzy than ever, what was a high pitch tone is now constant static noise!

I’ve had some ups and downs and recently lots of personal downs. My stress is through the roof and with COVID-19, work and family life is just not what it was like.

Do any of my Tinnitus Talk family remember me? Any words of help to get me back to where I was - I accepted my tinnitus and life was ok.

I’m now not sleeping again and struggling so much xx

Cher xxx

 

Static noise is usually easier to bear than a high pitch tone...
Normally, a tone turns into static noise that then turns into a high pitch hiss which becomes a lower pitch hiss.

 

I'm sorry yours acted up again, but I believe you will again have a handle on your tinnitus. You might have to think of something new that might work for you, I get in my car and drive around with music on low. At work I get up and take a short walk. For sleep I take a shower, use a fan and a sound machine.

 

I'm sorry that your tinnitus is acting up again and I hope that your sleep improves. Sending positive thoughts your way.

 

Fuzzy is the golden sound! Think about it.

 

@dan
This sounds like a comforting positive association. How is fuzzy static tinnitus the golden sound? Please enlighten us. Thank you!

 

I have a high pitch hiss and static in both ears, and 4 kHz tone in the left. The static is by far the easiest for me to deal with. The tone is absolutely infuriating. Someone on here mentioned the hiss sounds like robots cooking robot bacon, and I think this is a pretty accurate and humorous description.

 

Think about it for a minute:

High pitched piercing tone that many people define as "painful" vs a sound of perhaps the same volume but more fuzzy fizzy... almost giving you a warm and fuzzy feeling like you're sitting by the fireplace at your cottage... the downside is when you go outside your mind is like why is there a fireplace sound by the lake?

 

@Cher69 I have had a relatively similar experience happen to me. For the duration of my tinnitus (6 months), I have had a bilateral head tinnitus tone at around 13.5 kHz.

I am fairly certain I have ETD, so 2 weeks ago I was trying a Nasonex/valsalva maneuver from a YouTube post here. Ever since then the bilateral tone has become more of a bilateral hiss. Which seems to be a bit louder in volume. I am not sure if what I am experiencing is a spike as a result of the valsalva maneuver, or this is just the new baseline. Previously I would get 3-4 days with the tone, then 1-2 days of barely noticeable. It has not let up in any way since I did the valsalva.

How are you holding up on your end? Any change, or still a new hiss?

@Bill Bauer I have seen your posts around for a while, nice to make your acquaintance. I had a question for you: You often mention going from the tone to the hiss is a good sign. Does that apply to ear based tinnitus, or does that apply to head based tinnitus as well? I of course am hoping it applies to both.

 

Hi all - I have to say this static fuzzy fizz is most annoying to me. I hear it over the usual noise that helped me distract from the high pitch tone I had in the early days.

My brain doesn’t allow me to associate this with anything positive. I cannot explain how I deal with it and what’s ’easier’ to habituate is personal x I will adjust again, intake the positives and the negatives and build on acceptance.

It’s tough though I ask my friends, do you really hear nothing in silence? I wish I did x

 

Robots cooking robot bacon! Love it. Though I don't think I could use it, as I'd get irritated with the robots, lol.

Static is what I hear the most, although mine has some new additions now, due to hormones, and that's quite an adventure. But I habituated to the static. Took a minute, but I know you'll have success. I predict it will get less and less noticeable every day. Best wishes going forward!

 

As others have mentioned, it sounds like you are moving along a continuum to something gentler and generally considered more tolerable. However as you point out, habituation is an idiosyncratic process - I hope that it either continues to change to something you find preferable or that you come to find this current noise less bothersome in time.

 

Hi Cher
I came to China to help me cope with mine. it is a busier environment, but the lack of sleep eventually led mine to getting louder. Treat your anxiety and lack of sleep first.


It too me 6 years to come up with various ways of creating a positive association of sleeping in a forest at night as a visual to get to sleep.
The meditation training I did helped too. When I was in Japan, they taught us to think about noises outside that interrupted our meditation. We often get up tight by thinking about interrupting noises. Another way to think is, the noise is not interrupting you. You are interrupting the noise.
If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is there to hear it, did the noise matter?

The letting go is the hard part and needs to be done in little spurts.
Regular massage, music, transition from teaching to more office based work, no booze, going to bed earlier, melatonin, it needs a lot of little strategies. I turn the lights off an hour before going to bed. All these things. I get up tight very easily because of this and have to pace myself carefully at work.

This covid period has been very hard and I am sure that is partly the cause for you.
Check in regularly as I am interested in how you are getting along.

 

Hi all, thank you for positive words.

I’m holding onto positive thoughts focusing on the sleep I do get and try to remove the negative thoughts over the hours I spend awake but it’s tough! X

Not sure where I am on the next stages of accepting this is part of my life and moving away from the focus it has a hold on me. Just right now it’s consuming my life but I will adjust again x

Any help welcome received from those who this resonates as familiar to their journey on the path to coping with tinnitus x

 

Before mine got worse it was static. I would kill for that.

Very easy to sleep to with earplugs in, it is way softer than tones or morse code, and it would over time transition to "twinkling sounds" and be completely gone for 30 min of silence in the morning with my eyes covered.

If you must get rid of it, any really high frequency noise should do, no?

 

Is static usually in the progression of changes?

 

@Cher69 very sorry you're struggling again. All I can say is, if you habituated completely once you can likely do so again, and, also, people generally find "static" less obnoxious than "high pitched noise". Right now the static is new to you which makes it scary, but it seems very possible to me you will push it again to the back of your mind, and once you do, you may eventually realize it's even further back there than it was as a high pitched tone.

There's no "usual", and no guarantee of "progression". This stuff works its way through each brain differently.

 

Yes. A switch from a high-pitch tone to static is a major development (indicative of your body healing itself).

 

Mine goes from high pitched ringing to high pitched static, it's a change throughout the day. It would be nice if it was healing.

 

I regained basically full range of motion looking up and down 3 days ago, but I still have issues with my neck. My jaw hasn't improved either.

My question is, say my neck and jaw went back to normal, does it still take time for tinnitus to go away or does tinnitus go away almost instantly?

 

This can happen even years in to the process?

 

It is likely that as time goes on, the "time you hear the static each day" will keep getting longer and longer (and the pitch will keep getting lower). But it will likely take over 2-2.5 years to get to the "can hear it only in quiet rooms" stage.

 

I've read of improvements after years of no improvement, but of course this is rare.

 

No it won't go away that quickly. It takes a long time for your neck to heal as well. There is a lot going on there in your neck area so just take it easy.

 

That would be a blessing!

Thank you,
twa

 

So does mine. I had high pitched static all day yesterday and the past few days. Last night it changed back to the original high pitched ringing and I still this morning have high pitched ringing.

I just feel so distressed and I don't know what it means.

 

I think that's the hardest part is that you feel alone in this and that doctors have very little to no information to give. I'm fighting two battles, an acoustic trauma with tinnitus and hyperacusis and then rheumatoid arthritis. I had to stop my medication in case it caused the tinnitus/hearing loss.

How long have you been going through this?