Low-Frequency Rumbling Is Driving Me Nuts

I have discovered that low frequency rumbling, such as diesel locomotive, even several miles away, really disturbs my tinnitus, and makes it impossible for me to sleep. Low frequencies seem to "ignite" my tinnitus, and make it increase in volume, even when the low frequency is very faint, can barely be heard. I've tried taking various sleep aids such as clonazepam, but i'm looking for some kind of strategy to deal with this.

So far, I'm using a CD of rainfall, played through speakers, where I sleep, and I've increased the volume on the speakers to try to encourage or train my brain to not do this, and I also play quiet music through another set of speakers, but I'm getting very frustrated and upset, because I'm not succeeding, and without sleep, eventually a person will turn into a basket case.

I know, because I was once admitted to hospital, where they had no compassion for me, it was against my will, and i could not plead my way out. Eventually, due to lack of sleep, I went psychotic, they injected me with haloperidol and moved me to a lock down unit, where, at least it was somewhat quieter, believe it or not.

I am very frightened, because I know that different people react different to very low frequencies, even subsonic, such as 10hz, or lower. It just feels like a fluttering vibration, but it "wakes up" my tinnitus, and makes it impossible to sleep.

I have heard about situations, where even people without tinnitus, will go elsewhere to sleep, and come back to their house during the day, or even sleep in the garage, or other part of their house. So far, I haven't been able to arrange for this ridiculous sounding option, but I am willing to try anything.
I'd buy another house, but these vibrations can travel for miles, and I may just run out of money, and be in the same situation.

I think this calls for an expert to advise me, but who is that expert?

 

I wish I could give you advice on this

I wish you the best and please don't give up....

 

Hi, what I ended up doing, was asking a friend if i could move to their place temporarily, while i find a new house.

At my friends place, there was really no loud rumbling trucks, although occasional rail yard noise would wake me up and keep me up.

So I felt the diagnosis is as follows: low frequency hypersensitivity, due to being exposed to excess low frequency, combined with lack of sleep and fatigue.

My treatment was as follows: take the Enya soundtrack that my daughter prepared, also the Talleisin orchestra orchestrations of Enya, and carefully, using an SPL meter, set at dbC because this takes into account low frequencies, and i asked the audiologist, what SPL is safe for me. she said 65 db should easily be safe, so I set my playback to be between at first 51-56dbC and then after several nights, increase to 55-60dbC. sometimes you could really hear the low frequency bass notes in the music, but i was not worried because SPL showed I was definitely in the safe range, and this is not the thumping subwoofer that damages your hearing, just calm easy going deep bass, with bass melody, instead of thumping bass drum, that would kill my hearing.

what happened was as follows: after about 20 days, i was finally able to sleep through the night, and feel normal the next day.

my plan is to gradually turn it up so eventually my playback would be between 58-63db.

so far this method is working for me, so i thought i should post it, because i cannot find anywhere on internet what i should do, and no one really could advise.

in the meantime, i have found a more suitable house in a quieter part of town where people are more civilized (meaning they earn more money, and don't have to impress people with atrociously loud truck noise), and i plan to move there in another weeks time. of course i have to sell my current house, fortunately house prices where i live are affordable, and since i'm already a senior citizen, i've got enough savings for the down payment, and can handle the mortgage, until my current house sells, at which point i can pay the bank back for the loan.

just thought i should post this, because i am totally thrilled that i have been able to do something positive, also i was actually ready to be hospitalized or go psychotic, it was really that bad, i had completely disintegrated, and could no longer cope - my body/nervous system could just simply not go on. this was confirmed by several of my friends, who said they had never seen me so bad, and i was just about ready to go off the deep end (who knows what would happen, but i'm sure i was just about ready to crack- go psychotic - and have God tell me I can fly, and jump off the bridge into the river) - much better mood now, and much more optimistic. my wife is also quite happy because our new house is quite a bit nicer than what we were living in. of course it will cost me some money, but paying money is better than going into a premature grave.

 

I'm glad you were finally able to find some peace. Sleep is very important for tinnitus, and also just for a human being. The psych ward experience sounds terrible. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I'm happy for you that you're having better days

 

The low frequency sound is just more tinnitus like your other tinnitus. I have it too. I know how horrible it is. Sometimes I don't have it but if I get stressed out it ramps itself up. Just try to stay calm and it will quiet down.

 

Hi, the rumbling sound is a real sound, everyone here can here it, it is a diesel locomotive, it is probably putting out impact sounds at 6hz maybe, with multiple overtones. i can actually feel it, it makes my floor shake.

 

so i have moved to my new house, with the help of my wife, who made sure i was moving as far from the tracks as possible, and in as quiet of a district as possible.
the very low frequency rumble, is completely not apparent in this house.

very very rarely, i can detect a very faint vibration, which i am sure is a diesel locomotive opening up the throttle on full.

the audiologist tells me i am "sensitized" to sound now, and i have to get desensitized. apparently i am told, this is a multidisciplinary task, and of course there are no such facilities where i live.

however audiologist tells me i know more than 99% of his patients, so i think i can do this multidisciplinary process on my own - naturally i have no choice.

so i got a CD of Rainfall, and i play that in the office, to provide constant sound, which is similar to pink noise, but natural.

in the house, i already have sound set up in the bed room.

the rest of the time, i have my mp3 that i very very gradually, such as once per month, increase the db slightly.

actually i may ask my daughter to prepare sound track at various db levels for me, because the mp3 volume control is not precise enough.

 

I know what you are talking about! I started getting a low hum in my left ear andwhat sets I think off WORSE are motorcycles, especially Harley's and trucks etc. when I am in a quiet house with High ceilings it really helps. I put a quies wax ear plug in and that helped too. Hope Guy are doing better

 

Hi,

Do you know what causes these vibrations besides trucks and cars?

I recentlt rented a place and i can hear deep low vibrations all night long, it drives me crazy.. i had to go stay with a friend, and i don't hear it there.

Sometimes it's hard to notice before moving somewhere,

It makes me worried about buying a house.

 

Is the tv setting it off aswell?
Tonic tensor syndrom sounds like, mine was really unbearably loud last year and cars, tv, radio, low noises set it off, i am trying magnesium citrate and calamine tea to see if it stops the ear spasms

 

Hi, again, i see more replies, so i should have checked more often. low frequency sound have very high energy content and can travel miles so it is sometimes not possible to tell where they are coming from. where i live, they also originate from heavy industry/ factory, and rail yard diesel locomotives, which due to some kind of ordinance, are required to do their work at night, which is of course when it is most harmful for human trying to sleep. even if you can sleep, these noises create issues such as blood pressure/ stroke/ heart attack etc.
i have been very lucky that my new house is built differently, and is inherently quieter, due to the configuration of the building, and also being further away from the heavy industry and diesel locomotive. also, there is no through traffic where i live, so i have been gradually getting my health back.
i have been working on dropping my medications, and trying to swap out for microdoses of cannabis. cannabis, everyone already knows, will spike tinnitus, so i'm testing different strains. fortunately where i live, this is completely legal. i did find one strain, where a very tiny microdose, helped me relax/sleep and get me a good rest, while being able to discontinue seroquel and mirtazapine (I was taking lots of those two, and this was causing weight issues + blood sugar problems). my doctor also allowed me to take carbamazepine and lyrica, both have anticonvulsant properties, and possibly reduce the cannabis tinnitus spike effect. by microdose, i mean 0.1g taken through a vaporizer, or a very very tiny dose of edible (i have cut my edible dose in half, even with my previous dose, my urine screen in the doctor's office was neg for thc, believe it or not). as you can tell, i'm not in good shape, but at least i'm getting better.
i keep telling myself: i am getting better (true), i can get better (true), and i will get better (always good to think positive, and being in a new suitable home i think i probably will get better).