Brain "Copying" External Sounds and Replaying Them...

Hello everyone. First time poster. I apologize in advance for any wonky English; I am not a native speaker.

So, I've had a weird change in my Tinnitus lately, and I was curious if anyone had experienced anything like it.

I am 34 years old and have had mild tinnitus for many years now. The high-pitched, ringing-after-consert-kind. I habituated to it early on, and it has never really bothered me. I have noticed over the years however, that my hearing have gotten gradually worse. I had a standard hearing test done about a month or so now, that pretty much confirmed it. Nothing major though, and nothing strange about it.

But then, about two weeks ago now, something happened. I was doing laundry, and the washing machine was going through its final cycles. At this point the machine was fairly loud. There were only a few minutes to go on the program, so I basically just stood near it and waited. Then I finished up, grabbed my laundry and left.

A few minutes later, I noticed that I could still kind of hear the washing machine, Even though I was in a different building by now. The sound was more faint, but it was clearly the same sound, and the same rhythm. It was still there when I tried to cover my ears.

Well, two weeks later, and the sound is still there. However, it has changed slightly over time. Early on it was just "sort of there", in both ears. But for the last few days, it seems to have settled into a steady, droning, pulsating hum in my right ear. There is also another, weaker sound in my left ear that's clearly related to it, almost as if the sound have "split in two" if that makes any sense.

To add insult to injury, I noticed a faint, high-pitched beep when I was in the shower yesterday, but only if I held the shower head over a very specific point shortly below my neck. And of course, once I was done showering that sound had decided to remain as well... not nearly as annoying as the "washing machine", but still there.

Now, the weird thing about all this, is how very similiar these "echoes" are to the original sounds. Droning and beeps are nothing unusual with Tinnitus of course, but this feels so... detailed. As if my brain have decided to replicate these external sounds as close as possible, and replay them for me. Over and over. The volume can differ over the day, thankfully.

So, yeah. Have anyone experienced anything like this? Any advice? I have an appointment with an ear doctor, but that's still some time away from now. I'm feeling anxious about this whole thing, and my main worry is that my brain will decide to add even more sounds before that...

Sorry about the wall of text...

 

@Sensible Viking

Hi,

I had this when I first got T and it was a nightmare. I believe people without tinnitus get a similar thing they call earworms, like when you listen to a song and it loops around your head for days on end, but in this case we actually hear the sound that is looping.

The way I counteracted it was to never give any attention to the sound, as that makes it far more present in your mind. Also I'd distract myself constantly with other sounds. Always have a radio with you perhaps and the song may help your mind break the looping pattern, this kind of masking doesn't work with rain and nature sounds as they are also repetitive. It has to be something that your brain can concentrate on and that changes it's rhythm and melody frequently.

Good luck anyway, I hope this helps. Mine went away through the constant practise of distraction I hope yours does to.

 

I just went through this.. It went away..It was new to me too, not sure what it is though..Sorry couldn't be more help.

 

When you say "went away", do you mean that you learned to ignore it, or that you actually got rid of it? I'm holding on to some small hope these "echoes" are just temporary since they differ so much from my normal Tinnitus sound, and that they keep changing in intensity and volume (while my "normal" Tinnitus remain constant). I do try to distract myself with a radio, and should probably try to expose myself to more normal, non-repetetive sounds.

 

OK..would not allow me to post here a min ago..Posted on your wall. It has subsided (for now) When one has high anxiety the brain also does loops..maybe it is connected?

 

Thank you very much. Not sure how hopeful I dare to be that it will be the same for me, but that information really brightened my day at the very least. I would be over the moon with joy just to get rid of the "washing machine" loop...

Out of curiosity, How long did you have your "loops" or "echoes" or whatever they should be called?

Thank you again.

 

It lasted for a few weeks...I am glad it helped I hope it subsides for you soon!

 

I was using some Qtips the other morning and one of these fell out of my brain..

 

Heh. Yeah, if only...

 

Seriously though, certain strong sativas have caused "replicating sounds" effect in my brain. This goes way back.
I'll hear a bit of a song or dialog and it can repeat in my brain distinctly for some time afterwards.
So yeah, the brain can create this in the right environment..

 

Yeah, from my random googling it seems like repeating voices and music is actually fairly common, but I couldn't find much about repetetive sounds "sticking" to the brain like this.

 

I had this too! It's called musical ear syndrome. It lasted a few weeks as well. It seems like the brain can record monotonous sounds as long as you listen to them for some time.
At the time, I experimented with this and I was able to overwrite one monotonous sound/music with another. At some point when my hearing came back though not completely, I could not record anymore! Some noises stayed but changed over time. And still do.

This indicates, that there might be away to overwrite T.

 

Thank you NineNails and everyone else.

Things have settled down a lot for me, and no new sounds have been added. The existing sounds have changed a bit over time, but most importantly they have lowered considerably in both volume and intensity. I am feeling a lot calmer now as well, which probably helps. This might not be the end of the world after all...

 

Hello friends!! I get the same hahaha
It is quite annoying. It is an obssessive thought represented as this repetitive sound. When my anxiety rises or focusing on it, the sound plays over and over again. Since month i am experiencing this. My dr says that it is related to anxiety and obssession issues. The thing to do is not pay attention, but sometimes it is hard to do and get scare.
Are you feeling better?