If Tinnitus Is Equally Loud to a Human's Voice, How Do People Cope?

I can't imagine that. In terms of volume, my tinnitus is softer than most things. A fridge is probably louder. But I always hear it, over everything, except the shower. That's why it's so awful, it's always there.

Some of the examples I see on YouTube, how do people live? I'm falling apart due to my tinnitus, yet people with it much worse say "I just live with it." How?

 

I can only speak from my experience, and that is after so long, it's like your brain just becomes uninterested in it. I used to be obsessed with it because it’s there nonstop, but now I rarely think about it.

 

Same exact reason why some people have OCD and hyperfocus and others don't - some brains are just better wired to cope with afflictions that are thrown at them than others.

 

What really changed things for me was acceptance. Once I started to accept that my tinnitus was a part of me now, at least for the foreseeable future, I stopped resisting it and started to think, "Okay, now that it's a part of my daily experience, what do I do next?" That's when I began to not see it as an intrusion, and I started to focus on things beyond it, like my hobbies again, and just living life again. It took a long while to accept. It wasn't a one-and-done thing. I had to practice it daily, convincing myself to accept, and then it got easier over the course of a few months. Now, my anxiety toward it is pretty low. I still get annoyed by it on the louder days, but I don't react negatively to it, and I very often focus on other things.

 

I would like to hear more answers! ❤️

 

I accepted mine immediately in 2015. No drama or neuroticism at all. Since reaching severe levels in February 2022, I am still struggling and have not reached habituation.

How do you habituate to something that instantly gets louder with sound exposure? It's difficult but can be done, I'm just yet to achieve it.

All the talk of masking, residual inhibition and notched music therapy is of no use or interest to me!

 

My tinnitus is loud, and it recently got louder. It is so loud it works the opposite to yours and masks the fridge!

I can't mask it anywhere, in any venue or with any sound. I can't mask it in the shower, and it is reactive to artificial sound meaning I can't enjoy TV, music etc... and I couldn't hear what was being said at a recent medical appointment due to the volume of my tinnitus.

I don't have much emotional attachment to it (other than being fed up). I work full time, I try and socialise and go to bars (with custom molded earplugs) and am trying to return to doing things I never thought I would (like traveling - and I have recently booked on a 3 day stargazing event in dark skies).

I have had tinnitus for 45 years, and for 44 of those years it was like yours, and could be masked with a fridge - but because I had that control of masking, I lived a very happy life.

I am not 100% habituated but I would say perhaps 70% there.

You ask how - the only thing I can tell you from my experience is I developed something worse than tinnitus and hyperacusis, which prevented me from eating (I lost a lot of weight), breathing has been and continues to be a problem and at times a constant feeling of strangulation and throat spasms.

This 'worse' condition is also unknown in the medical world and I got more sympathy from having tinnitus than I do this. I am constantly dismissed with anxiety due to their incompetence - even though I have none (apart from when I can't breathe).

My hyperfocus turned to this other condition due to have bad it was, and it was also 24/7, and I barely noticed the tinnitus as a result. It was there screaming away but my attention was on other ailments.

So the only advice I can give is that hyperfocus on something else can shift the brains attention. My attention shift was forced upon me due to negative other ailments, but I guess it is possible to shift focus away.

I think it is less about that awful word 'trying', but immersing yourself in to things you enjoy (or used to) every waking moment. Keep things changing, different, different sights, different sounds and things to look forward to every day.

 

Calling attention to my tinnitus just makes the perception of it worse. Fortunately, there are some masking sounds that allow me to sleep when it amps up. A totally quiet environment is the worst because then all I notice is the ringing in my ears. Out on my eBike and almost anytime I'm outside, I rarely notice it. Not noticing it is the same as not having it, it amounts to the same thing.

It's important to stay busy doing things I enjoy and just go on about my life. Tinnitus is one of many health issues when you get into your early 70s, that's just how it is. A lot of people love to complain about it, which doesn't help at all. It surely makes it worse by calling attention to it. You just have to let go of it and move on. I'm not sure that habituation really exists, but letting go things is definitely the path. It works.

 

I've had tinnitus since 1996. It started as a high-pitched hissing, and the a few months later, a low-pitched hum was added to the mix. I habituated to the hissing, but the humming nearly drove me to suicide. I could feel it in my ears as well as hear it. I hear the hissing all the time, but it doesn't interfere with my life anymore (took about 4 months for that to happen). I don't like it, and I certainly hope that it will go away someday, but it no longer keeps me awake or gets me down like it used to.

I know this is controversial, but the only thing that ever made the humming go away was various antidepressants. People have stated that antidepressants can make their tinnitus worse, but I've never had that experience. I had good luck with Lexapro and then later, Pristiq. I'm not suggesting this will work for everyone, but I'm convinced the humming in my head stemmed from depression from which I've suffered in one form or another since I was a teenager.

If the noise in your head is ruining your life, I would suggest talking to your doctor about an antidepressant. I resisted doing it for years until I had no other choice. There are some really good ones out there, and the side effects are not as bad as the older ones. In fact, I've had virtually no side effects at all.

Just my two cents. Hope this helps.

 

I tried most antidepressants and found that they slowly increased my tinnitus. My life goes on and so does my tinnitus. For me, acceptance is my only means to continue to live.

 

This is what I did until a setback happened a couple of days ago and now I feel basically deaf in my left ear. But great that you are doing better now! I hope it continues that way. I'm just so angry at everything right now.

 

What caused the setback?

 

I have accepted that I will have good days and bad days. Even on my good days, my tinnitus is very loud (high pitched and I hear it over most things) but it is less intense. Sometimes I hear my tinnitus, pause, and tell myself, wow this is so loud. I go back to whatever I find interesting like work, TV, etc. and I forget about it awhile. I also think a lot about various topics and that distracts me. I keep to-do lists so I am always working on something.

 

I'm thinking a long car ride on the highway because I didn't wear earplugs. I've never worn earplugs in the car anyway so I didn't think it was a big deal. I have a hard time believing it was just that but maybe it was. I don't know. All I know is that this sucks.

 

The loudness certainly plays a part, I'm not doubting that. However, when all is said and done, you will have people with mild tinnitus in meltdown and people with loud and variable tinnitus in complete control and stable minded. An objective test will, fairly soon, differentiate us into groups.

We will no longer post audiograms, and instead will be able to post the results of our severity levels.

 

No way a long car ride made you deaf in one ear, unless the car was a Ferrari Aventador with straight pipes.

 

You're most likely right. But I woke up one morning and the tinnitus was much louder in my left ear. So I wonder what caused it, more likely it's just stress and anxiety I think. And I overreacted by saying I'm deaf but it feels like the hearing in that ear is definitely diminished and it was actually diminished before. I'm just afraid it's even more now since I'm noticing everything just sounding off. Like for example music sounds odd and out of tune now. When I play electric piano, it sounds horrible, like a bell which is out of tune, voices also have a weird undertone and sound out of tune

I don't know what to do anymore

 

I cope and enjoy life because what other choice do I have? I was lucky enough to get enough stability to do most of the things I love again, I'm not going to wallow in sadness and roll around screaming because I have tinnitus and hyperacusis - that won't change a thing. Might as well enjoy what I got and wait for Dr. Shore.

 

Same.

 

Do you wear Peltors when going out? Or just Hearos? Or can you handle car honks, etc. without hearing protection?

 

I can handle quite a lot without protection, including car honks (unless it's right next to me). If I'm going to the store or something, I won't take earmuffs, but if the trip is longer I'll definitely keep them with me.

 

I'm at the point where I can no longer distinguish between my sound sensitivity and phonophobia.

 

How are you doing now @Ed209?

 

My conscious brain can forget about the tinnitus at times, but since it becoming louder 18 months ago, my sympathetic nervous system still keeps my anxiety up, which brings on depression, plus the hyperacusis is brought to attention due to external sounds, and that requires some ongoing awareness to protect against.

Yeah, the sound sensitivity seems to be the cause of the phonophobia when you don't want it to get worse or cause pain. And just in the last week or so, I'm much more aware of sounds now that I used to not give a thought to, like the sound of the shaving creaming coming out, the sound of wrappers/bags, and more, some seemingly pretty low as not to be a threat.

 

I could have written this myself.

Is it the noise driving the reaction, or is it just my reaction to the noise... no idea.

 

The same, Watasha. I’ve got other health issues which are more of a concern at the moment.

 

I am sorry to hear that and can relate to some degree, I'll say a prayer for you.

 

My tinnitus is the volume of a loud TV. A super high-pitched screech. It's louder than conversation. My best guess is it's about 20% louder than a person talking.

With respect, I'd barely call what you have tinnitus at all lol. You can easily overcome it with some positive attitude and mindset strengthening.