Seeking General Advice on My Situation Plus Masking Noises and Devices

Hi,

I'm writing from England, the UK.

I was diagnosed by a high street audiologist on 22 September 2021 as having tinnitus.

As it stands, I don't have a definite diagnosis.

I have a hissing in my ears. It started in my right ear, and it appears to have spread to both ears.

I believe the stress and anxiety that I was going through in August 2021, including a false skin cancer diagnosis, triggered the tinnitus.

Since then, I've been to the hospital with a panic attack, had three blood tests, one ECG/EKG and two face to face appointments with my GP.

The three blood tests and ECG/EKG all came back normal.

My blood pressure has been persistently high for the past two years due to COVID-19 and personal matters (housing and finance issues).

I'm dealing with this blood pressure myself by monitoring it, stress and anxiety management, breath exercises, and meditation.

My GP prescribed Ramipril, but I declined it on my research that it causes and worsens tinnitus.

My GP doesn't appear to have a clue about tinnitus.

I had an appointment booked at the local hospital audiology department. Unfortunately, they cancelled it because of the huge numbers seeking appointments and advised me they would contact me "when they are ready".

My questions about masking are as follows (please note - I live in England, the UK).

1. Is sound masking a good idea?
2. What is the best way of doing this sound masking that wouldn't involve a hearing aid, headphones or earphones?
3. What level on the volume dial should I use - I keep things at 50% - should I go higher or lower?
4. Is there some specific sound or music - that I should play?
5. Can I play this sound or music on an iMac or iPhone?
6. How long should I play it per day?
7. Should I play it at night?
8. Is it okay to play it on an iPhone during sleeping hours?
9. Is it better to use a sound masking machine, and if so - which particular brand of sound machine?

I appreciate everyone's time but if anyone can help me with this I would greatly appreciate it.

Much love and thanks to to all.

Patrick

 

Hi there. Sorry to hear you're struggling. The situation will most likely improve, either by it reducing in volume or you will habituate to it in time. You need to find ways to cope with it and try out stuff carefully that don't worsen it.

I don't know much about medication, supplements or diet, since people have mixed opinions whether something can help or not, so you need to experiment with that. ENT doctors are almost useless for tinnitus, except if it's something obvious like an ear infection. I think you'll have way more luck looking into other specialties, like jaw surgeon, physical therapists, etc.

About sound therapy now. There are 2 ways to do it. 1) Masking it completely, if you have no problems like hyperacusis or reactivity (=spiking with external sound), to get relief from the burden. 2) Setting the sound therapy just under the volume of your tinnitus, to only distract yourself. This promotes long term habituation. Either way is fine, it's only a matter of helping you cope.

The sound selection is up to you. Either use music playlists, podcasts, e-books, or just nature sounds like water running, storms, waves, night crickets etc.

There are no limitations for how long you should play sounds or music, as long as it doesn't bother your ears and is set to low-medum volume. Headphones are not recommended by many, so high quality speakers or studio monitors are probably a better option. I believe having just the iphone speakers for so long could be quite irrititating, even for normal ears.

Also, you can use sound masking at night as well if this helps you sleep. Some people use pillow speakers, others speakers by the bedside and so on. I use studio monitors from a few meters away and sometimes put the phone under my pillow on low volume and on timer (1 hour or so) to play nature sounds on an app. But it's really a matter of experimenting to find out what does the trick.

Hope this helps!

 

To DimLeb,

Many thanks for taking the time to reply to my post and for your suggestions.

The sound masking has caused me a little bit of confusion because of the amount of advice out there and my concerns that I might cause damage to my ears.

My difficulty is that I don't have a definite diagnosis. I don't know whether this is physiological or psychological.

I know that it becomes a lot easier when I'm not stressed, anxious, and don't have high blood pressure.

So I'm focusing on dealing with my stress, anxiety, tension and trauma issues by way of a combination of the following:

1. EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
2. TRE - Tension, Trauma and Release Exercises
3. Meditation
4. Breathing exercises
5. Routine - sticking to a routine.
6. Decluttering everything and anything that was or is causing stress
7. Journaling
8. Posture
9. Sleep
10. Hydration - drinking 2 litres of water per day.
11. Exercise - mainly walking nothing that will cause a stress spike
12. Stress management - avoiding the news and social media, and politics.
13. Diet - avoiding salt, sugar, processed foods.
14. I haven't drunk alcohol in 30 years, never smoked and never did drugs.

But at the end of the day, you still need money to pay for good hearing aids, specialist treatment (audiologist and other medical specialists (physiological and psychological specialists).

So once again, many thanks for your help and advice - it is very much appreciated.

Love and best wishes to you all.

Patrick

 

Hi @Patrick Duggan.

If I understand you correctly, you were diagnosed as having tinnitus by a high street audiologist and not one that works for the NHS? There is nothing wrong with going private for this but be careful of spending huge amounts of money for further tests. You will get the best help and long term aftercare for tinnitus under the NHS that no private practice in the UK can match, that I assure you.

I realize the cancellation of your ENT appointment can be frustrating. However, since you are in the early stages of tinnitus, the best treatment for it is to do nothing, providing you don't have additional symptoms and those are: Balance problems, dizziness, acute pain in the ears or deafness. If you don't have these symptoms leave things as they are and wait for your NHS appointment. Ideally, a person that has straight-forward tinnitus without the additional symptoms I have mentioned, should not be seen at ENT too quickly. Preferably no sooner that 4 months from the onset of the tinnitus, 6 months would be better. There is a good reasons for this and they are explained in my posts: Tinnitus, A Personal View and New to Tinnitus, What to Do. The links are below.

Please do not try and mask your tinnitus. By this I mean attempting to completely cover it up with a sound so it can't be heard, as you risk making it worse. It is better to use sound enrichment and set this slightly below the tinnitus. The brain cannot habituate to tinnitus unless it can hear it. More about this is explained my post post. Please take your time and read them and better if you print them.

About your blood pressure. This needs to be managed as you are risking your health if it isn't kept under control. I have variable tinnitus that can reach severe levels. I take Amlodipine and Ramipril to control. Both of these medications are listed as being able to cause ringing in the ears. They haven't affected my tinnitus in the slightest.

Please take the medication you have been prescribed by your doctor for your blood pressure and try to stop reading online about medications that can affect tinnitus. This often causes more harm than good by reinforcing negative thinking.

Please go to my started threads and read the following articles: Tinnitus and the Negative Mindset. Acquiring a Positive Mindset. How to Habituate to Tinnitus. The Habituation Process. Hyperacusis, As I See It.

I wish you well,
Michael

New to Tinnitus, What to Do? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum
Tinnitus, A Personal View | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

@Patrick Duggan, that's all good to do, I mostly follow the same guidelines (diet, exercise) just to be safe. You need to experiment with different volume levels and see how much you can take. For a lot of people (especially those without obvious noise trauma), it doesn't spike with external (reasonable) sound.

Also, be careful about too much exercising and weight lifting as it can put stress on the delicate blood arteries in the inner ear. I was told by an otologist that my case came from brain pressure on the cochlea, so he advised me that.

At the end of the day, tinnitus is still a malfunction of nerves/brain/ears/whatever. I don't believe psychology has anything to do with it. Maybe high stress (combined with high pressure) can bring a lot of problems, but it is overused by the medical community to explain stuff they don't have answers yet.

It's good to have a positive look at it for your general good being, but don't fall into the trap of victimising yourself that tinnitus comes from deeper psychological issues. Posture, for example, is much more likely a possible reason. For my case, it happened on a period when I was happy, relaxed and creative with my art. So there's that..

 

1. Is sound masking a good idea?
   Personal choice, although many people seem to benefit from masking.
2. What is the best way of doing this sound masking that wouldn't involve a hearing aid, headphones or earphones?
   Speakers, low volume. Of course I mean when you are at home.
3. What level on the volume dial should I use - I keep things at 50% - should I go higher or lower?
   Low volume, same or lower than tinnitus.
4. Is there some specific sound or music - that I should play?
   No. Play white noise or music of your choice. For me classical music is the best for this.
5. Can I play this sound or music on an iMac or iPhone?
   I would use a good Hi-Fi equipment. You don't want music from lousy speakers, let alone cellphones, which produce the worst kind of sound.
6. How long should I play it per day?
   Personal choice.
7. Should I play it at night?
   I would not do it, if you can sleep without it.
8. Is it okay to play it on an iPhone during sleeping hours?
   It does not sound like a great idea to me.
9. Is it better to use a sound masking machine, and if so - which particular brand of sound machine?
   Use a Hi-Fi equipment with good quality speakers.

 

@Juan, many thanks for taking the time to reply to my question and for your precise and informative answers.

The help that I've got from you all the other people on this site has been truly amazing and very much appreciated.

Because money has been tight due to COVID-19, I've connected my iPhone to the speakers on my digital radio to play classical music from YouTube or Calm Radio.

I tried the white noise and wave sound, but I was not too fond of it.

I want to sleep without the music, but when I've tried it, I find the tinnitus increases in the evening, during the night and morning when my bedroom is quiet. At the moment my bedroom doubles as my bedroom and working from home office. It's not ideal, but it's a workaround until my finances improve and I move house and pay for the treatment and equipment I need.

Many thanks for your advice and help.

 

@DimLeb - many thanks for your reply.

I'm restricting myself to several 5 to 10 minutes walks around the block totalling about 30 minutes of walking and fresh air per day.

That's about my limit at the moment.

My GP has suggested Ramipril for my blood pressure, but I said 'No thanks' until I've got a definite diagnosis from the NHS audiologist.

Instead of the Ramipril, I'm doing meditation and breathing exercises etc, as mentioned above.

 

@Michael Leigh - many, many thanks for your detailed reply, advice and the links:

New to Tinnitus, What to Do? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum
Tinnitus, A Personal View | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

My wife and I appreciate all the advice that you and everyone have given to me.

I'm going to handle this tinnitus thing as a challenge and use it as an opportunity to change my life for the better and rewire my brain from negative to positive.

I'm in no doubt about the challenges that I'll face, but I've read your story and other people's stories on this site, and you've inspired me to deal with this positive manner.

This issue has already affected my wife insofar as she has had to helplessly watch my struggles from the sidelines when I know it's been tearing her up inside.

So I've going to use this as an opportunity to become a positive and better human being, husband, father and grandfather.

Once again, many thanks for your help and advice.

 

@Patrick Duggan, thank you for your kind comments.

Please print my articles in the links and refer to them often, this is the way you will become more positive. It is a process and takes time. I advise you not to use any type of headphones even at low volume.

Best of luck,
Michael

 

@Patrick Duggan, yeah that's alright. However, I am in no position to advise about the blood pressure med, it's up to you and your doctor. The worst thing in this shitty condition, it seems, is that anything may have an effect (good, bad, or none) so it's always a gamble about risks/benefits...