If You Can Mask Your Tinnitus When You Are at Home and You Don't Hear It Out and About...

If you can mask your tinnitus when you are at home and you don't hear it out and about (for the most part)... does it still upset you?

 

I don't quite follow what you mean? Tinnitus should never be masked. If a person is using a "sound machine" for example or "music" for sound enrichment then the volume of the sound should never Masked the tinnitus so that it can't be heard. Always set the sound that you using as therapy, slightly below the tinnitus.
Michael

 

mine fluctuates so the only way I can stand it is if I mask it completely. maybe that's the wrong thing. I don't know.

 

I bet what she means is that some appliances' sounds mask it. Or that she can play some music/noise and mask it completely so it can not be heard.

 

Thanks @maltese Once a person habituates hearing the tinnitus will cause no problems unless it is very loud. My tinnitus was completely silent yesterday and today it's very intrusive but it doesn't bother me in the slightest. If it should get louder and the level is sustained for a day or two, then I would probably have to take clonazepam.
Michael

 

Why should tinnitus never be masked? Is this because the masking sound might potentially cause harm to damaged ears?

 

Because it delays habituation. "The brain cannot habituate to the tinnitus if it cannot hear it".

 

Tinnitus should never be masked because the brain cannot habituate to a sound that it cannot hear. In other words, the brain cannot habituate to the tinnitus if it cannot hear it. Please read the post below.

The Brain cannot habituate to a sound it cannot hear.

Tinnitus is a complex condition and if hyperacusis (sensitivity to sound) is present it is even more. Many newbies have difficulty coping with tinnitus and understandably, getting rid of this constant intruder, that has suddenly invaded their life becomes paramount on their mind. In an attempt to do this, they will usually try every means possible to distract themselves from the tinnitus which will include masking it completely with another sound so that it can’t be heard.

However, tinnitus is quite resilient, any attempts to mask it completely are usually unsuccessful. As soon as the masking sound is removed or stopped temporarily, the brain will immediately focus back on it and often, it appears to be louder and more intrusive. This causes stress especially for someone new to tinnitus. For anyone that doesn’t know, the more stressed we are the tinnitus becomes more intrusive, and the louder the tinnitus is the more stressed we are. It can become a vicious circle.

Anyone that is seasoned to tinnitus and has habituated, knows that trying to mask it completely so that it can’t be heard is not achievable. A much better way and preferred method that Hearing Therapists advise tinnitus patients, is to use sound enrichment. One can use music or nature sounds from a sound machine and set the volume slightly below the tinnitus. By doing this, the brain over time will learn to no longer see the tinnitus as a threat and gradually push the noise further into the background giving it less importance, which is called habituation.

In-ear or BTE (behind the ear) white noise generators can also be used as part of TRT. They do a similar thing. By setting the volume slightly below the tinnitus, over time the brain habituates to the white noise and gradually pushes the tinnitus further into the background.

 

In cases such as yours Marie, you may need a higher quality of treatment than just "sound enrichment" I am afraid. One of the best is TRT which involves counselling and is very important. Sound enrichment is supplied by white noise generators. Another good treatment is CBT cognitive behavioural therapy.

More is explained in my post: Tinnitus, A Personal View. The link is below. Using masking/ sound enrichment does have its limitations when the tinnitus is very intrusive such as yours. Counselling is usually required, to help take away and demystify the negative thinking that often people have with loud intrusive tinnitus.

To those reading this post and depending where you live in the world, I know these treatments can be expensive but sometimes it is the only option.
Michael
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/

 

No.

 

I knew it wouldn't be long before you showed up @Foncky

 

Marrie,
Eating well,sleeping well and being emotionally strong and masking tinnitus in the day and sound enrichment at night and keeping ear plugs handy and have a flu jab is all that we can do.
Emotional support and building confidence and building social skills and having family and friend and doctors support and lovely forum members to support you will get you through hard times with tinnitus...lots of love glynis

 

I heard fasting can help out by enabling physical repair mode? Not sure though maybe someone can confirm. Fasting is definitely good for getting rid off toxins, nicotine sugars etc... a good fast that is.

 

Well you know me.

Marie, pardon my short (but honest and clear) reply, I just want you to get better

 

@MikeGreen I don't think fasting is a good idea.

Yes I know you Foncky and tinnitus talk wouldn't be the same without you....

 

Keeping your strength up is important and your immune system strong and dehydrated helps keep us healthy.
Keeping salt intake low and not to much of the junk food too gives us more chance in coping better . ..lots of love glynis

 

I don't know how to take it, but since you're mostly kind

 

It was meant as a genuine complement because you do offer some good advice here.

 

I do posit that a major reason why it doesn't bother you in the slightest is that you do know that you will get some relief at some point, because as you've stated before, your tinnitus varies a lot, and you do get completely silent moments (as you had yesterday). Basically, you do get breaks and relief every so often, which is very important, in my opinion.

I think a large part of the stress, at least for me, is knowing that my tinnitus will never give me a break. I can't predict the future of course, but in 10 months it hasn't given me a single second of break (in fact it's slowly getting worse), so there is a reasonable cause for concern and stress.

If I knew that there was relief in the offing, it would lift a big weight off my shoulders, and make coping quite easier.
I do believe it's only a matter of when, not if - because well, we just can't stop progress - but if the when comes when I'm either dead or unable to enjoy life for other reasons, then it's not that useful to me.

Good luck everyone.

 

if you can't hear it at home and mostly mask it outside too, you should consider yourself lucky. I hear it at home but I have habituated so I rarely think about it. I also love video games and there is nothing better than something that requires your brain to focus on the game and not on the sound.

 

Couldn't agree with you more.
It just proves once again that we are talking apples and oranges regarding what we experience.

 

Nothing masks yours?

 

I did some tests with an audiologist with different masking sounds and levels, and she ended up cranking the masking sounds so loud that it would be unsafe to use as a masker, and even that was not enough to mask it anyways, so we stopped.

There are some sounds I come across that don't necessarily mask it, but drown it a bit, which I'm grateful for - I'll take mild relief over no relief anytime. The shower is one of them. The other one I didn't expect is a frying pan with vegetables frying in it: that crackling sound also helps when I get my ear next to it, but watch out for oil burns! Then there's the faucet: run it at full blast and put my ear right next to it - that helps, and is less dangerous than hot oil of course. Just not very practical for longer term use.

 

@GregCA - try crickets, I have a sound oasis, quick on and off. Also get relief from sizzling sounds...

 

@GregCA

Faucets, showers, frying pan crackling noises, etc... They all have broadband frequency, significant amplitude and a pattern randomness that helps to break the synchronization of the neurons involved in the T sound.

 

Do what i do and record the sound of your sink on the white noise app...it will create a looped recording that you can listen to all day and all night....i play it at night to drown out the T a lil...it helps so much

 

Thats awesome! Got a source on this so i can read more?

 

@Marie79 - are you saying that you can mask it at home and don't hear it when you're out and about, or is this what your "goal" is, and your curious how others in that situation feel?