Did Old Tube TV's Help Mask High-Pitched Tinnitus?

Hi guys,

I always had a high pitched tinnitus since early childhood (age 30 now) and thought it was the sound of silence. I only noticed in when in bed or similar very quiet situations. However, in the past 7-8+ years it does seem more noticeable, even during the day but it has been stable. Stress definitely is a factor but I don't think it is all of it. One thought I had, was that mine is close to the pitch to those old tube TV's, which I could always hear as well. When I was young, I was always around these whether it was playing video games or watching TV. Even out and about, there are TVs in the mall, school, etc. Also, computer monitors, which I spent a lot of time on. What if they were always masking the tinnitus?

For a quick and dirty test, I obsessed on my tinnitus so it got really loud to a worst case. Then I did some tonal therapy and played the similar tube TV pitch on my PC for a minute or so. Once I stopped the tone my tinnitus was almost completely gone or very, very dim! I had to really focus on it and after 10-20 minutes I noticed it slowly came back but still wasn't as loud as it was when I was obsessing on it to get it louder.

Now days, we don't have those TVs or monitors anymore and the flat screen ones don't emit that same high pitched squeal. The time frame for when I noticed it more is about right for when the tube TVs were becoming a minority. I actually still had one till 2009.

I know tonal masking doesn't work on everyone but I just wonder in cases where it does, if these old TV's played a masking effect and made it less noticeable when we were younger.

Just a random thought!

Have a good day,
Dan

 

if old tube tvs masked your tinnitus, it must have been mild. loud tinnitus cant be masked by those things.

 

Good Post.
I truly believe that the hiss and general background noise on cassette tapes (and VHS) did mask much of my T through the years.

 

If the tv can mask it then it was really mild especially if only heard at night or really quiet situations. youll know when its bad it will pierce through everything/