I Hear Distortions Over My Fan — Is It a Bad Idea to Continue Using It to Sleep?

Many of you may already know that ~3 weeks ago I suddenly developed new tinnitus tones, and I seem to also have distortions or reactivity (I’m not sure which) in response to sounds like my fans, the shower, toilet flushing, etc. I hear a tornado siren and beeps over those sounds. The beeps are there in silence, but I think they increase when I hear those external sounds.

I’ve slept with my fan on for over a decade now (it’s one that you plug in). My room is always hot, but I also have never liked sleeping in silence. I’m very used to the noise and I’m not sure if I could sleep without it.

Now onto my question - because I now hear these distortions over the fan, is it a bad idea to continue to use it to sleep? Could I be making things worse? Or could it maybe help to leave it on and acclimate to the distortions so they might go away?

 

This is all very familiar to me. It used to be really bad for me, for a long time. I had to turn off the fan for a short while but after I started with therapy/counselling for hyperacusis, I was told to make sure to have a low, audible sound (like a fan) on in the background while sleeping. But it was difficult for quite some time as it felt disturbing.

To me though, it never worsened my condition. To me, this was a part of my sound therapy. This was a fan that, to me, was just audible. So not a loud sound.

 

Did the distortions ever settle for you, or did you just adapt to them? I have some hyperacusis as well and from my understanding the distortions can be related to that (?). It definitely is disturbing, the soothing sound of the fan has been a comfort to me for so long and now it feels like that’s been taken away.

 

If your fan is not too loud to cause damage, it will not cause damage (even if you have it on the entire night, for 20 years...). It's simple science.

The sudden / new reactivity that popped up 3 weeks ago has another cause.

 

I know it’s not enough to cause actual damage. I was more so wondering if now that I have reactivity/distortions to this sound, if continuing to listen to said sound, despite the distortions, would worsen things for me because ears are finicky. Some people say to rest the ears, others say to push through.

 

It gave me no permanent worsening. Annoying and disturbing, yes. Pretty much all the time for at least a year before things slowly, although in a non-linear way, got better.

If you take a look at some of my former posts, you will see that I got much better over a span of a couple of years - with the help of counselling over equally long time. That constant fear of worsening is a vicious cycle you have to break, because that thought will hinder progression. For that you might need professional help, preferably with someone that is qualified within the field of hyperacusis.

 

It will probably go away or maybe turn into Musical Ear Syndrome. This is what mine was like before it turned into MES. I wouldn't sleep in silence if I were you, but rather keep the fan and try to control your anxiety response. Maybe add another sound into the mix like crickets or piano music or something to mitigate the horrible pattern or beeping. You are not alone and don't let doctors or anyone make you think you are crazy.

 

I don't know the answer to your question, but I switched from using a fan to sound machines. I'm currently using a LectroFan, which has non-looping sounds based on 10 fan types, as well as ten frequencies of white noise. I have several of these units and use them for both sleeping and during the daytime.

 

I have distortions; beeps over certain things, like flushing toilets, fans and other similar sounding things. I think I got used to it as I don't tend to notice them too much (they've either become intermittent or I've stopped noticing them). It's become my new norm if you will. It can be annoying during a flare up when it's more prominent or when I've somehow tuned into them again.

 

That is exactly how I feel right now. Air conditioner and fan sounds are distorted, kinda sounding like cicadas on top of my usual tinnitus, which is an old TV sound.