Seven Months with Sound-Induced Tinnitus: Is Anyone Seeing Improvements or Finding Hope?

[Sonia554]

I think today may be the best day I have had yet. I really believe the fading is real. I will probably change my mind about that a million times today, but right now I feel pretty positive. I slept like a log last night. The temperatures are cooling off here, and I was so cozy in bed with the heat off, four blankets, and a nice fluffy pillow. I thought my "better" ear was acting up right after I woke up, but when I shifted six inches on the pillow, I could not hear it anymore, so it must have been a hum from an appliance.

Now that I am up, the volume of my tinnitus is maybe a 1 or 2. I am walking around the house, doing things, and not really noticing it. I notice it a bit when I sit down, but not much. I do have sound playing—a fountain sound from my Amazon Alexa layered with birds and river sounds from my phone—but the volume is low, so I only hear it when I am sitting. Looking back to where I was two months ago, this is a world of difference. The fading is slow, but I think I am on a positive trajectory.

I did have one of those half-awake, half-asleep dreams where your environment works its way into the dream right before you wake up. I dreamed I had gone to a tinnitus therapist, and the evaluation I got at the end said simply: Complaint: Tinnitus. Habituated? Not fully.

Hopefully, this will just fade into oblivion.

 

[MindOverMatter]

Now that I am up, the volume of my tinnitus is maybe a 1 or 2. I am walking around the house, doing things, and not really noticing it. I notice it a bit when I sit down, but not much.

Great news! Fading through habituation is real. If you are at a level of 1–2 out of 10 by now, that is very mild tinnitus, and it should become non-bothersome soon as it fades into the background. The way you described it earlier seemed quite a bit more intrusive.

Mild tinnitus usually makes the habituation process faster for most people.

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

Has it improved at all over the years? What did your doctor say? Do you have any hearing loss?

No improvement. It is quite consistent as well as constant. The doctors say there is no remedy for tinnitus. My hearing is still pretty good, though, even with some age-related high-frequency loss.