Link Between Vision and Hearing? Thinking of Blindfolding Myself for a Week

I was watching some videos on YouTube about hearing loss, tinnitus, etc. and I came across this video from Johns Hopkins that had research that stated with visual impairment the auditory cortex in your brain rewires itself to heighten your sense of sound.

Simulated Blindness Can Help Hearing Loss

I'm not sure if this would effect tinnitus or not. But it sounds like tinnitus is a malfunction in your brains auditory cortex and with this you could potentially rewire your auditory cortex. So I'm interested in trying it out and giving it a go. I have the means and people around me to support me.

My tinnitus is annoying.

They don't know how long it is necessary for the changes to occur, but it's stated as little as a week some changes should show up, so maybe I'll start for a week. Re-evaluate and then try for longer.

Anyone know anyone that is blind and has tinnitus? Tried googling it but to no avail.

 

I love this idea. It just might work. I can't try it now, as I right now I am home alone. But I will keep this in mind and will possibly try it too.

The only problem is how to keep the mind occupied. Books on tape would be great, but listening to books on tape (even if not through headphones), might not be good for tinnitus...

Please share your experience with us!

 

Very interesting - wonder if it works in reverse too? I am extremely nearsighted and last year developed a macular hole in my R eye. Which healed w/out surgery thankfully a month before the T reasserted itself in my R ear. I had I think 20/70 in the right eye for a while (central vision is damaged with MH) which could not be corrected. I was bothered by a sound that others didn't even notice and have attributed the problems with T with that. Maybe my ear was primed and so more sensitive. A lot of ifs but still interesting. Thanks.

 

Looks like the original study was done with mice.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S089662731301091X

But there is some evidence for humans too:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00441-015-2175-y
"Although the age at which vision is lost has a bearing on the subsequent crossmodal plasticity in
the brain and the way perceptual abilities change (Lazzouni and Lepore 2014), superior sound
localization has been observed following both early and late visual deprivation (King and
Parsons 1999; Voss et al. 2004; Fieger et al. 2006). Even more striking is the finding that
blindfolding normal-sighted adult humans for short periods can result in a transient increase in
sound localization accuracy (Lewald 2007). Since a 5-day visual deprivation period can lead to
behaviorally-relevant tactile responses in the occipital cortex (Merabet et al. 2008), it is likely
that these short-term changes reflect the unmasking of existing connections between brain
regions that process inputs from different sensory modalities."

So it may take as little as 5 days to notice some changes.

One may want to try to focus on hearing as one simulates blindness (as opposed to the sense of touch). One may want to be outside, in a field, and focus on the sounds there. Or have the loved ones make sounds that one tries to localize.

Sometimes I would admit to myself that I keep coming to this site, as if subconsciously I was thinking that I could find a cure here. I was coming here in the hopes of seeing ideas like the one shared with us by @BraveNewWorld . This idea is simply perfect - there is scientific evidence that it might work, common sense tells us that it might work, and it is something that one could actually try at home.

I wish I could try this right away, but I will have to wait about two weeks before I can try it.

 

I believe the reason so few people are looking at this thread is that it was posted in this unpopular section of the forum. I think more people would see this thread if it were located in Support or in Alternative Treatments...

I just made a thread in "Alternative Treatments" linking to this thread.

 

When do you plan to try it?

 

Starting tomorrow. I actually live in a basement with no external light sources, but I also found a good eye cover and blindfold to use.

Just coordinating with my family the details and yeah preparing for the long boringness. I also thought about audiobooks too.

I read they started studying MDMA as cure for Tinnitus because some people randomly blurted out to researchers they took it and it got rid of their Tinnitus. That and this video got me thinking. We have to do a bit of research and discovery on our own. I know I can't do a perfect scientific trial on myself, but if it has some good effect on me then maybe other people can try it too and down the line researchers can actually put it to a vigorous scientific test.

I read or saw something as a kid that if you lose one sense then the other senses get heightened, so I definitely knew this has some solid scientific insight behind it.

 

Good luck! Imagine how amazing it would be if this were to work, if only a little?!

I think I will want to try this too, no matter what.

And thank you for sharing your idea here. I feel a little better knowing that there is a small chance that there might be something that could be done about this horrible condition.

 

@BraveNewWorld Did you try it? Have you noticed any improvement in your T?

 

I temporarily lost my eyesight a couple years ago. It lasted a few months. My other senses were not heightened in terms of improvement, but I did have to rely on them more which made me more aware of them.

Since losing part of my hearing, I have relied more on my eyesight. I'm paying closer attention to gestures and facial clues (even trying lip reading a bit). My eyesight certainly hasn't improved to account for my lacking hearing, but what has heightened is my awareness of that sense.

 

They are linked indeed. I have herd it from doctors before. The last time i heard it was when my otoneurologist gave me n advice with the attempt to restore some mild loss in the hearing with my left ear. She told me to stay as little infront of the TV or PC as possible and perform long walks along the sea(some clean air). So that, if not a solution, can be a big help with our recovery indeed. Too bad my job is mostly with PC ...

 

I decided to test this out for longer than was planned because i noticed a trend of it getting less and less loud. In the first week and a half there was very little improvements, but after that there was slow and steady changes. The frequency didn't seem to change it just got quieter. Additionally, I seem to have habituated to it now, but it's also nearly inaudible except if i'm in a completely silent environment.

I can't say if confounding variables had any play on this. I just ate like normal, slept like normal, but did a bit less exercise. I did in addition to the lack of vision, supplemented with a lot of ACRN, sound therapies, binaural beats, notched therapy that i found on youtube and in which i made a long youtube playlist and had it repeat.

This also had a lot of drawbacks as it's harder to exercise, harder to clean yourself, harder to move around, harder to do basically everything. Lonely and boring to sum it up. The craziest thing were these i want to say visual ghost images where i was seeing random lights and circles and patterns. I'm not schizoprenic or took any drugs or was extremely anxious. I can't explain what that was. That was freaky but i'd have to describe the whole experience as... peaceful.

I can't say my hearing is better, just that it seems it's more attuned. Like i'm more experienced and saavy using it. Whereas before it felt just like autopilot. If that makes any sense.

I'm planning to be normal for now and see what happens. This has really made a significant impact in my tinnitus or perception of it and my response to it. Whatever way you want to put it, its much better now. We'll see if it stays.

 

Thank you so much for sharing!

Have you experienced any improvement between how you felt at the beginning of your nightmare (in February and March) and May (just before you began the experiment)? How loud would you say it was in March and at the end of May? http://www.noisehelp.com/noise-level-chart.html

Please share with us whether your T remains at its current level at the start of August.

 

Given that you did the above, it's impossible to say whether prohibiting eyesight impacted your tinnitus. Those are all things recommended to help. I guess you could maybe gauge by continuing with the above but keeping your sight the same.

 

I disagree. I has been doing the above for four months before the experiment began.

 

I'm afraid blind people too get tinnitus. Maybe it's less likely, but they do.

 

The theory that the author of this thread had been testing is that when one simulates blindness, one's brain begins to rewire itself. He was testing whether this rewiring has an impact on the neurons that are stuck in a loop that is causing tinnitus.

If this theory is true, then if those blind people with tinnitus were to regain their sight, they might get cured of their T as well.

 

You guys are right. I'm not a scientist. This wasn't a clinical trial. It was me just trying to fight back against tinnitus instead of feeling helpless. Maybe my stress levels went down and that effected my tinnitus? Maybe something else?

I did a bunch of research on this and searched online for blind people with tinnitus. Could not find anyone that had tinnitus and then went blind. Only blind people that developed tinnitus. The gist of the research i was going off of was that prolonged sensory deprivation leads to your brain remapping itself. Since i actively had tinnitus, i thought that this remapping could change my tinnitus. I can't speak much to the inverse. But again i'm not a scientist. Your understanding of this is as good as mine.

Day 1 and the tinnitus is still inaudible. Had brunch at a loud diner and was surprised i could hear and follow conversations instead of them getting drowned out in all the noise.

Forgot to mention that i had a medium level of hyperacusis before this. It seems to be completely gone now. I can clink my mug on my plate and no pain. Rattle my fork, spoon, and knife together and no pain. Although, i've heard with most cases hyperacusis can just go away.

 

This is the kind of hearing loss that they can't test for - ability to make out sounds in a loud environment.

May I ask you to reply to the questions below, please?
Have you experienced any improvement between how you felt at the beginning of your nightmare (in February and March) and May (just before you began the experiment)? How loud would you say it was in March and at the end of May?

 

Sorry for the late response i've kinda forgotten about this stuff.

From february to may, it was pretty consistent. A ~9000 hz ringing in both ears that was audible even with a fan on. The shower masked it. And sink masked it. Not much else. The only difference from the start and may was the anxiety. When i got it i had humongous anxiety and stress. Still pretty high in may and high during my experiment too, but generally trending downwards.

It has seemingly gone away for me. And i'm back to silence. I'll cross my fingers that it doesn't come back ever and always be aware to protect my ears from loud sound, ototoxic medication, and the like. I feel like a second lease on life. God bless all of you on tinnitustalk and may your tinnitus subside, you learn to live with it, or they develop a treatment.

 

Thank you for answering those questions and for sharing your experience.

Congratulations!

This is incredible! If in the future I will see new people posting on this forum, asking whether T can go away, I will make sure to link to your post.

It had to have something to do with your experiment! Normally, T fades away gradually, and not over just a month.

Just to double check - you spent a month simulating blindness and then about a week after you stopped you were back to silence, right?!

 

No. I spent a month simulating blindness and i had a ton of sound therapy going on. I live in a dark basement, so the acoustics are good. The first week and a half or so no real changes, after that it was gradually going down each day. I didn't exactly do a month. (I think like like 29 days?) Just when it went away i stopped. From since i stopped to now the tinnitus hasn't returned.

I'm not going to make the claim that my experiment worked. Who knows what happened? Maybe it was going to happen regardless. But i did it and now i don't have tinnitus.

If you google there's a lot of research out there involving "blindness" and "auditory neural reorganization". Nothing involving tinnitus and blindness.

I figured to give it a shot. If this lady can discover something by chance, maybe i can discover somethings too. I was at wits end and felt helpless. Tinnitus made me feel powerless and i could do nothing, but take benzos and "not think about it". When i first got tinnitus i took nasacort to treat ETD, took b12, zinc, magnesium for any deficiencies, did facial massages and neck exercises because of maybe it was TMJD or some forward head posture, had chiropractor sessions where they decompressed my spine and acupuncture. If you don't try to find a remedy and you leave stones unturned you won't get the problem solved.

 

Would it at all be possible for you to paste those YouTube links here? I am sure I would not be the only one who would appreciate it very much.

Have you tried seeing whether you can still hear it if you insert earplugs, or wear Peltor muffs?

Thank you!!!

 

How are you feeling now?

 

Interesting. Might want to try this out.

 

good thing my car has cruise control so I can try this while driving.

 

If the brain reacts to eyesight deprivation the same way it does to hearing deprivation, this experiment could become "interesting".

 

.

 

Interesting. Do you have tinnitus and hearing loss, or hyperacusis?

 

Please let us know what happens.