Unhabituated — Ultra High Pitch Sound

Hello all.

This is my first post for few years. I got tinnitus after a cold (I think) in the summer of 2015

In my left ear I have that constant kind of fridge noise. A relatively low pitched dulk noise.

My right ear sometimes sounds like clicking or water trickling.

However over all of this in my right ear (I think) I have an ultra high pitched sound which is constant.

I came on here to ask advice about it initially because this noise cuts through a lot of other sounds such as the TV or people talking.

The advice was that cricket sound at night would help mask the tinnitus. My left ear tinnitus is masked by fan I have at night and that I've always used even before I developed tinnitus.

For the past couple of years whenever someone asked me how my tinnitus was I simply replied"it doesn't affect me at all, I might only notice it in a silent room".

Recently I have started to notice my tinnitus slightly more however I do not think that it has got any louder. In fact I know that it has not got any louder.

However, over the last couple of days I have found it increasingly hard not to notice the ultra high pitch noise in my right ear. I have just moved jobs (ironically to make my life less stressful as I was a teacher) and can hear it when sat in my new office, when talking to colleagues, when walking around the huge complex at, or for example, as I am sat at home now watching TV.

I've also noticed that I can hear it slightly more over my white noise crickets sound at night.

I don't want to give the tinnitus the pleasure of stressing me out. I had the crickets sound through headphones very quietly today at work. However I am sure this is a very bad habit to get into.

I'm there for hopeful that someone has any advice to give me regarding how to get over this little bump in my resilience.

Thank you for your time in reading and I wish you all the best in your own personal journeys against this annoying phenomenon

 

Hi

Habituation can be a reality for anyone that suffers from tinnitus. Some folks have low tones/hiss to LOUD annoying/high pitch tinnitus. Habituation basically comes down to accepting what your truth is and what your situation is like. Once the acceptance is there, we try to figure out just how we can make this thing work (habituation/coping). It can take lots of patience and soul searching but it is very possible to habituate and cope and simply move forward.

I'd suggest that you stop using headphones. Even at low volumes it can still have an impact on your ears and possibly give you louder tinnitus. There are many techniques that folks use to cope and habituate to tinnitus, read them and see what can possibly work for you.

We will never know what works, till we try things. Be safe, be blessed and keep pushing forward!

 

Here is a post I made on acceptance, It was helpful to some of the members of this forum.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-power-of-accepting.25551/

 

Thanks for the replies.

The annoying thing is that I can't seem to make my brain consciously or subconsciously stop focusing on the noise.

As I said above I'm one of the lucky ones in that my tinnitus affects me very minimally.... It's how I go about getting my brain to subconsciously ignore this noise again. I don't want to go on the slippery slope that others may find themselves on (indeed some may argue that posting on this forum it's also not a good idea, as I am almost giving credence to my tinnitus)

 

I have had tinnitus for six months, and am not completely habituated yet. I have learned that by sitting still and practicing mindfulness, while listening to the outside sounds that are present, then deliberately and objectively focusing on the inner tinnitus sounds without judgement or trying to change them, and finally listening to all the sounds together, can provide considerable acceptance and calm regarding tinnitus - and the more you do it, the better you get at it. I was made aware of this technique by my therapist.

 

I noticed when u got my t originally that most noise would have a tinny sound to it. For example, even a water noise on a app had a horrible noise over it.

I reckon that was purely due to the anxiety.

The interesting thing is I have a similar issue now.... But it's almost like my brain is making it up as it's very suitable and doesn't happen over white noise like it does originally.... This happened before I started to noise the high pitch sound more.

Stupid brain

 

I look at it this way. My real issue is not the loud tinnitus, it's the poor hearing I have. I treat my tinnitus as a friend and not a foe. That's huge, by treating this ordeal as a friend, then we reduce our stress and anxiety that tinnitus can cause. No one likes to hear sound coming out of their head, but if this is the case and you are stuck with it. Then accept it and don't fight it. Acceptance is something that can go a long way in life, not just with tinnitus.

My tinnitus is impossible to ignore and is just loud and ugly. It is ,what it is.....I can hear it as I type to you and I hear it on a loud freeway. For me, it will NEVER go away. I have accepted it and just live my life. Sure I been at this for 30 years, but all folks can eventually cope/habituate. Don't be harsh on yourself, tinnitus is not easy to deal with. Takes lots of patience, love and courage to move forward, but it can be done

 

When I first got t, I went to see a hearing nurse.... She tested my heart and said my high pitch hearing was the best she's ever tested! Win!!

 

"whatever you do, don't think of an elephant!"

I am strongly of the belief that meditation and other contemplative practices can be very useful to people with our problem -- not necessarily because they actually reduce the intensity of the tinnitus (though there is reason to think they might), but because ultimately we're all victims of our own minds, and basically most people in Western culture are hedonists that just let themselves play that victim role, chasing one fleeting pleasure after another. Many people who don't have tinnitus or any other awful problem, none the less become very anxious or despondent when they approach contemplative practice, because it's so alien to our culture to just sit an observe and attempt to exert strong control over mind and body.

You're stronger than you know, and you're capable of states of existence that might seem unimaginable now. Listen to yourself. Work with yourself. Love yourself.

 

If you try to ignore your tinnitus @Burnsie then you are actually attending to it. I'm hearing my tinnitus all the time now as it did get louder but I just acknowledge it and go back to what I'm doing and I'm re-habituating as I'm not distressed. I'm not 'ignoring' it--I'm saying that I know its there. Do you see what I mean? I'm doing relaxation exercises that I used at onset--especially at bedtime. I'm meditating and taking walks. It reduces my anxiety. Maybe you could try that? I'm also using sound enrichment again and avoiding silent rooms. I always have Pandora playing on my computer at work. Right now I have the Billie Holliday channel.

Be kind to yourself. It takes time. Someone told me something that I really had to think about. She said TIME takes TIME, and it's true.

 

Thanks for all your replies guys.

I must say one thing, I do accept that I have tinnitus. In fact I accepted it quite quickly a couple of years ago and then have pretty much been leading a normal life.

When I got tinnitus the first time for the first couple of weeks one of my bad habits was too lightly put my fingers in my ears to try and isolate the sound. I don't know what I was trying to achieve, probably hoping that it had gone away.

It was a week or two after that that I first noticed this high pitched sound that I couldn't mask. I heard it over the TV and it really panicked me.

For the next couple of weeks I can hear a high-pitched sound on occasion over the TV or the radio.

But that was pretty much it, and for about the last two years I've never even give it a moment' notice.

The strange thing is about this sound (the high-pitched one) is that it is hard to isolate and mask. For example a bit ago I was sat on my phone and I could hear it in my head over the radio. I turn the radio off and the sound doesn't get any louder or more noticeable... In fact if anything it gets quieter. Indeed, right now I'm sat here typing this in a silent room. I can't hear or I'm paying notice to my tinnitus in my left ear (the textbook tinnitus ear).

Even now, if I'm try and isolate this high pitch noise by lightly putting my fingers in my ears it doesn't seem loud... Moreover it doesn't even seem that it's coming from either ear, seeming instead to come from my head.

It's not that I don't accept that I have this tinnitus... What I'm struggling with he's trying to understand why my brain now suddenly wants to hear this noise (indeed this started this week when I was changing the radio over in my car and heard a tinnitus noise in my left ear... This is made my brain Focus more on tinnitus noises), and why and how this admittedly quiet noise when isolated, can superimpose itself over the radio or TV or my extractor fan when cooking.... Again I wonder if this is almost phantom tinnitus that my brain is playing on a loop

I know that in a couple of weeks I will (hopefully) be back to normal, once again my brain not paying attention to this noise....