Tinnitus: Ringing in the Brain | Josef Rauschecker | TEDxCharlottesville

I found this talk at TEDx today and found interesting the way that tinnitus is so much affected by feelings...

You may have a look:

Tinnitus: Ringing in the Brain | Josef...

 

@christinefisher Wow thanks for sharing that ! A great little talk that offers some hope. I love a neuroscientist ! So basically we are probably unlucky to get afflicted, but not alone. A solution is likely to be complex and related to brain chemistry. I cant wait for that day.
Wishing all you wonderful Hissssers a bearable day X

 

Great video. As discussed prior and in simple terms its excess cortisol (stress hormone) combined with loud noise and/or hearing loss that often makes the Tinnitus stick

 

This confirms the thoughts I've been having about tinnitus lately.

I think we modern people, in a pious-individualist manner, tend to prefer explanations that put blame somewhere. Our misery is our own personal fault for sinning. But if that were the whole truth, we wouldn't have tons of hearing deprived people without tinnitus. Many people get away with it. I'm always suspicious of explanations that start and end with personal guilt and blame. The world does not revolve around us, it's usually more complicated. Such is the case with T, even though it's entirely within us.

Both times I've had volume increases were when I was exposed to noise in a stressful situation. Once on a trade fair abroad - someone triggered a feedback loop on an SR system nearby, and lately while I was doing woodwork and being reckless with protecting my hearing while using power tools - in a period where I struggled with anxiety and sleep deprivation. Neither noise levels were what I'd call extreme, and I've been exposed to similar noises tons of times, but those two times an unfortunate level of stress combined with the noise to give me tinnitus. It wasn't "accumulated sins" that caused T, it was an unfortunate combination of factors.

This could also explain why people usually recover from post-concert/clubbing tinnitus. Those things are usually fun and pleasurable, and the brain thus "doesn't mind" losing those hair cells. But when you're stressed out, it goes "nooo, I NEED that perception" and then fouls up the adjustment.

There's another group of people highly susceptible to tinnitus, and that's offshore oil workers. Working long shifts, not getting regular sleep, while being exposed to those noise levels, pretty much like soldiers, I guess - it fits this theory.

I'm glad to say this video doesn't challenge my hope that T can be alleviated or even cured without medical intervention. My brain is in a state, and I just have to tell it to cut out the nonsense somehow. How remains to be seen, but I suspect it's got a lot to do with taking care of oneself, mentally and physically.

 

Great video, probably one of the best out there.

Now that we know the direct correlation between T and stress/cortisol it only seems logical that we need some kind of cortisol blocking supplementation to protect ourselves from getting worse. At least I think I do.

What's the best way to do this? DHEA, beta blockers? I know the best answer is to "just stay calm and try to reduce stress" but that's easier said than done.

 

Thanks, @christinefisher. Haven't had a chance to watch the video in full yet. But it's great to see a neuroscientist taking tinnitus seriously. Also, I always have felt that tinnitus for many people is coupled with stress, anxiety and/or depression. Dr. Josef appears to feel the same. Now, what's our solution until science catches up?

 

Honestly, after watching the video, I think the best way to handle it is to literally de-stress yourself as much as possible.

He goes over the plumbing of the brain and how it's maintained. There's 2-3x hyperactivity in a very little piece of the brain that controls pleasure/addiction and a major shrinkage in another part of our brain that perceives unpleasant sounds (gee, I wonder why lol). It's almost like obsessing over it (which we all know is very easy to do) messed with the addiction part of our brain. Like, we know we shouldn't listen to it, but we can't help ourselves.

This is also why when we're feeling relaxed and focused we notice it less. Just figuring out how to do that for weeks, months, years... that's the challenge for us.

 

Exactly what I also understand.. whanever I pay attention or start to talk for my problem it is always louder when I have happy activities I don't hear it that much or simply I ignore it.. I see brain parts as muscles and the one we focus on it becomes stronger .. So we sould try to train other brain parts instead.. have you read the back to silence thread? I think this is what he does.. instead of focusing on the sound level he turns it to emotion so that another brain part is triggered instead! Have a look it may help
It is hard to do it but it needs some faith! Good luck to all of us!!

 

Yes, I'm a big fan of his - he's a great member of the forum. Indeed his technique makes perfect sense.

This is why it's easy to relapse when you already have had tinnitus. Even if you get it under control, you still have the pathway potential to get it back, so you have to train yourself to relax.

 

A very interesting video. Great to know that "help is on its way". I've had T since June 2014. In my situation I know stress has played its part. When I wake up in the morning it is always loud. After a hot shower around 80% of the time it reduces to the point of not hearing it at all unless I plug my ears and listen for it. Other times it's loud all day. No rhyme or reason. I have just retired from school teaching (music) and really had a hard time at school with stress etc and even the piano causing discomfort to my ears. I'm a classical guitarist and fortunately I'm still able to play without it affecting my T.
Now that I've retired as of January this year I thought my T would ease, but I've been stressed out over money and in the past 7 days I've only had one day of "silence", which is unusual...normally one bad day every three to four. Today it is loud again, but my finances have been sorted out and so I'm less stressed out. Hopefully T will get back to its normal pattern of good/bad days. It is interesting to me that many people here, including myself, have T that is intermittent...and I'm grateful for the quiet days. I'm convinced therefore that how we feel is related to it in some way, as the scientist in the video alludes to. Hopefully there will be better treatment soon. I'm 63 years old and would so like to enjoy my retirement without this awful affliction. Here's to quieter times ahead.

 

This video confirmed my theories.

I've had T since 2 years.

Being a DJ for hobby since 1989 I was exposed to loud sounds since I was very young, but never had any problems. Also, a month before I slightly hurt my ears while descending with a plane (barotrauma), where my ears couldn't properly compensate the pressure change due to a flu, so I think that I damaged my ears with these two things. But none of the two caused any T. The airplane incident though left my ears blocked for weeks.

One morning 2 years ago I wake up after I had probably one of the most stressful evening of my life, and it was just after my ears had recovered from the trauma of the airplane. The stress was related to my job, I'm an entrepreneur and my last 5 years have been extremely stressful setting up and launching a new company, and I remember saying that night, before waking up the next morning with T, that I had reached the apex moment of stress and anxiety I've ever had. It was really stressful (I had a very strong discussion with one of my investors, after a couple years of tension with the board which led me to very difficult moments). Curiously enough I woke up the next day with this ringing, which hasn't stopped since.

So what triggered the T in my experience was the stress.

I hadn't associated the two things until a while after, and when I realised this connection I started to work on myself. I changed my diet, eliminating harmful substances (sugars, processed food, cocktails - I still drink wine occasionally, but overall I eat very healthy, which also led me to lose 11kg and make me feel very good with myself), and worked on my stress levels by learning how to relax myself, take my life in a more easy way, learning a couple of breathing techniques. I also do very hot showers in the morning, letting water fall on my head and neck for 10 minutes, and this relaxes me a lot (the hot shower alone probably reduces my T buy a lot, depending on the overall stress levels in that period). In order to forget the slight depression that my T might cause I always remind myself how lucky I am to not have had a more serious thing happen to me. I walk on my legs, use my both arms, talk, see, still hear well, I'm healthy. This helps me put things into perspective and this relevies my stress by a lot.

After a while, let's say 6 months after I began all of the above my tinnitus started to reduce a lot, to a point that most days I don't even hear it anymore, unless I cover my ear and try to find it. It comes back in the evening after a stressful day at work, but if the day was good, and I've eaten properly, and haven't worried too much, the sound is very low.

Watching this video confirms this. It's not only the damage in the ear but the stress. I'm sure that once I resolve all of the anxiety with my work it will go away, or at least it will be dealt by my brain in such a way that I won't hear it anymore.

I'm positive, and this positivity also helps reduce the T.

 

Zimen is right on with dealing with stress and relaxation. I've been all over the map with conventional treatments and medications and finally only achieved some level of peace by adopting a healthier life style, going drug free, supplements and prescription that is, and trying some acupuncture with electrical stimulation and began seeing a Kinesiologists. This has helped reduce my tension and stress and it's made a world of difference in my ability to truly enjoy all the things I did pre tinnitus. Tinnitus is still there but I now consider it the sound track or background music of my life.

 

Does anyone know when he says "help is on the way" how long he is estimating/predicting? 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, etc? I have emailed him asking that question and have gotten no answer.

 

He used the verb "is", which is present tense. Research is ongoing at the present time, so help "is" on the way. I don't think he was projecting when a cure might be realized with that statement.

 

But sure enough help is coming. I took a long two year break from this website and when I heard about this talk I was fascinated and happy about it.

 

Can anyone explain or find his slides he used in his Ted Talk? I am interested in looking at them.

 

I'm not entirely sure if T is directly paired to stress as there were some very high stress situations which immediately boosted my chronic facial pain but left my T alone. Also some very relaxing situations where my T was very high.
This could have been a build up of problems. But I'm not so sure about it.

 

Has anyone tried emailing him and see what kind treatment or response he imposes to do? Or maybe inviting him to this site?

 

That's a great idea.

 

I almost cried when he said "we are not there yet but help is on it's way". I pray to God there is truth in this.

 

Yes, it's great to hear that the help is on its way, It's just questions about when.

 

After "help is on the way" he says "we'll have something for you soon"

 

What does he mean by that? How can he say that? How would he know?

 

He is very confident about the studies he conducted.

 

What studies were they?

 

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...a-resting-state-fmri-study.22353/#post-257702

Besides linking to this this study in my first post on this thread - go down to post #16 and click on the small orange arrow towards the bottom of that post.

This research may still be far off in getting a drug developed.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904345/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3319920/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3489972/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4587397/

Maybe they were posted before on this thread, couldn't check, sorry.

 

I agree. But it always seems like the most reliable one to me.

Simply, we shouldn't be suffering with such a torturous thing unless we have serious hearing impairment/cochlear damage. Even some people with these problems don't suffer. In my case, I only have very little hearing loss above 12,000Hz(although the tests show no loss), and the only thing that can explain my T can be hidden hearing loss which I am not sure I have. In anyway, that damage doesn't cause any problems in my normal life, it is not even visible. Yet my T screams like hell.

Brain should have a plan for these kind of situations.

 

For those who would like to see the power point he did in his presentation.

 

At the end on the slides "where do we go from here" DBS and serotonin and dopamine are used then drug treatments? Was that what he meant when he said "help is on its way"?