Lost

Hello everyone - I really hope someone is able to provide some persepctive for me. I´m happy to be here.

So....where to begin? Last week I was told I had mixed auditory laterality to quite a severe extent. I was also told this could be the cause of a range of symptoms I´ve been experiencing throughout my life. I won´t go into these symptoms in this post, because I don´t want to influence anyone´s answer. Suffice to say, that they are enough to disturb my everyday life.

Anyway, my scepticism was confused because they asked me about tinnitus. I´ve suffered from the traditional (or what I thought was traditional) high-pitched tinnitus on and off since my early 20s, which I thought was a consequence of being a musician. However, after questioning from the therapist, I´ve also identified another tinnitus noise, which I´ve had for as long as I remember. I previously thought this noise was completely normal but now I´m beginning to doubt this.

It´s hard to describe. It is like a very low level white noise, which seems to go across 2 frequencies, one low and one high. The lower one is stronger, which is why I probably thought it was normal ear noise. However, now I´ve identified it I can definitely hear both frequencies. I was also informed that this tinnitus could affect a range of cognitive processes, from attention to social interaction.

I´ve been told I should try both biomagnetism and an auditory therapy like Tomatis or Berard. However, Tomatis is extortionately expensive while biomagnetism seems like pie-in-the-sky pseudoscience. I hope someone can relate to the tinnitus I´ve described or even be able to say this isn´t tinnitus. If so, are there any success stories in helping it?

Many thanks to all
Martyn

 

@Martyn72 - First of all: Welcome!

If you hear something that nobody else does (i.e. that doesn't result from an external stimulus) then it's called Tinnitus. The causes can be varied, and if I were in your shoes I'd probably go deeper in the diagnosis process before embarking on a treatment.
There's a lot of fluff out there in terms of treatments, but also some things do work for some people.
Here's a flowchart to help you (and your doctor).

Good luck!