Vacuum Cleaner Sound Therapy

So, I woke up to loud T this morning. Dam this T sucks but you all know that.

Having some people over and so doing the usual quick clean up including running the Vac over the carpet to tiddy up.

After running the Vaccum for a couple of small rooms, I notice my T has reduced. My T seems to go down when exposed to sound…which btw includes me talking on my cell…being out in public chatting with people etc. For me at least it must be a mind thing…when my mind focuses on external sound, my T reduces. I guess you could say my T is reactive only in inverse…it tends to go down when there is sound exposure provided the sound isn’t damaging. I have noticed this on several occasions when my T is up a bit…my T is quite variable. T up, go get some sound exposure and T goes down. Sleep is even money or a bit more to spike my T…a nap or overnight can bring louder T. A fricking rollercoaster of fun.

Anybody else tried vaccum sound therapy?

 

Stophiss, I have also noticed a reduction in my tinnitus when using the vaccum or running the shower on occasions and it's quite a common occurrence I believe. The reason, I'm not quite sure. However, when I first got tinnitus many years ago and also had severe hyperacusis, I had to use earplugs when running the vaccum.
Michael

 

Pretty wacky isn't it Michael? But so is T and H.
Have a good week and thanks for your response!

 

I agree Stophiss that tinnitus is completely wacky. It comes in many forms and intensities and no two people experience it the same. Yesterday my tinnitus was very intrusive and I thought I'd have to take my clonazepam if the level increased. This morning it has reduced quite a lot without taking my meds but this isn't always the case.
Hope you have a good week too.
Michael

 

@stophiss ,
Welcome come and vacuum through my house for me ....lots of love glynis

 

Only if you get the whip out glynis.
Hope you are feeling better.

 

So glad your T came down Michael. Intrusive T is such a game changer. The uncertainty of this disorder..up and down is so disheartening. Hard to keep a steady keel.

I was in a greater state of dis-ease this morning until I became more distracted.
Hope they figure this out some day.

 

Hahaha....lol
Feeling loads better...lots of love glynis

 

Thought you may get a chuckle out of that.
So glad you are feeling better.
Be well glynis!

 

It's called residual inhibition. Nothing strange. Lots of people seem to get it temporarily from showering, rain sounds and other continous white/pink noise type of sounds. I've never experienced residual inhibiton myself though.

 

Ha, that's pretty interesting, @stophiss. The vacuum cleaner sound is one that drives my tinnitus insane. I have to leave the office if I am working late and the cleaning crew comes in. T definitely varies from person to person. I think a person's area of frequency loss might make a difference in what kind of masking sounds work best for them, but I have no idea if that's true. That cricket noise? My ears hate it. Water noises and the sound of a fan or air conditioners works best for me.

As @lapidus said, its part of residual habituation. Also is the basis for sound therapies like TRT and Neuromonics.

You should get a continuous recorded loop of vacuuming noise, stophiss, and install it on your phone so you can listen to it everywhere!

 

@PaulBe . Vacuum all the time ha ha ... keeps the wife happy.

 

When I have the hoover going I carnt hear my tinnitus...or maybe me singing with my cordless Hoover around the house... neighbours need their plugs in then ...lots of love glynis

 

Thanks Lady Di,
Yeah, crazy about how the vacuum spikes your tinnitus and it made mine quieter. Go figure.
I never experienced the cleaning crew running the vac because I was always first out the door. Kidding, I have been at the office when the crew came thru.

I will tell you what drove my hearing nuts was that chime video in a recent thread. That sound was hurtful so agree sound tolerance is probably specific to particular frequency hearing loss...an individual thing. Shower noise, fan AC...all good for me too.
Be well.

 

Masks tinnitus, exacerbates hyperacusis.

 

As you just said, Stophiss

 

I haven't experienced residual inhibition either. Instead of residual inhibition, I get residual exacerbation. lovely

 

Sound makes my T go quieter and the more I'm around sound the quieter it gets before reappearing later that night when I'm in silence.Thats why I struggle to use earmuffs with my H,if I wear them my T grows and grows to where it's just a cascade of noise but when I take them off my T drops drastically but my H suffers in return.Catch 22 situation for me.
Even sitting in silence is impossible as my T grows and grows along with pain to accompany it,even in silence I experience pain.

 

We both have T and H bill. In the case of my H, unless I am in an extremely loud environment where my ears can literally hurt at a much lower threshold than someone with normal hearing, I don't notice my variation in H so much. Not sure why. I just don't go crashing dishes around on the counter like I may have with more abandon in my youth out of respect this bothers my ears as it does others with H.

I wonder why our T grows quieter with ambient noise and many report their's goes the opposite way and gets louder...as their T reacts to their environment? Why should we be so opposite with the same disorder? I have mentioned I live in a warm climate and am an exercise guy. When I go out to the community pool where I live which is almost everyday, if my T is a bit up going out there, most of the time when I walk home, my T is down. It goes down as a result of swimming, chatting with others over the noise of the water and heater/filter pump that has a bit of a drone quality to it. As you, if I am in a quiet environment my T can but doesn't always, spike. Its about a 2 right now as I type this in the early morning having my first cup of coffee in a quiet room.

T should be named E....E for enigmatic. What a mysterious disorder...I suppose akin to a frequent form of hearing epilepsy of sorts...a neurological disorder bey0nd comprehension...perhaps as random as a person's thoughts.
Cheers

 

As mentioned to bill, why would you Alue, lapidus and Lady Di have your T spike to sound and bill and I...ours reduces?
One theory on ours reducing...and perhaps it pertains to the H that bill and I have is...H people have their hearing 'gain' aka amplification turned up by the brain inexplicably. This amplifies the natural sound we have in your hearing track...the process of hearing unrelated to ambient noise in the environment...our type of T. When ambient noise goes up, our brain turns the gain down, thereby reducing our T. So the culprit maybe the companion of H that bill and I have which is the underpinning of why our T goes in opposite direction.

 

Wish my H was that mild,I get unbelieveable pain from just talking nowadays.

Back when I got H in 2014 I never experienced pain with it,just a shock to my head or a general intolerance to it with maybe a headache now and again but I quickly improved.The pain started two years later as a stinging in my neck and back and of course I never associated the two until it was too late,I thought it was due to a neck strain I had but it later turned out to be neuropathic pain coming from ears.Sad really,wish I had of known what the hell was going on with me.

 

I have hyperacusis too. I'll have to think about this some.

 

I don't think H is solely in the brain in most cases, I think H has a biological basis as it commonly results from acoustic trauma, nihl, etc. When one's hearing has been damaged, it makes sense for them to be sensitive to sound/find sounds painful.

H can also/solely have a neurological basis, but still saying it's "in the brain" is oversimplifying it.

H which is solely "in the brain" may even tend to reach territory of Misophonia or whatever, a psychological condition, which may be viewed as an entirely different condition from the H people experience that have hearing damage.

It seems H may be a catch all term, that may be used by people experiencing different conditions. Although I guess one could say the same for T, but it's more like T is one symptom (with many manifestations) which is a symptom of various conditions...So yeah maybe T and H are both symptoms of various conditions.

I don't know, heres my thing. I have always been "sensitive to sound" and was familiar with the term hyperacusis, and have been told it relates to autism. but let me tell you, that sensitivity to sound is nothing nothing nothing compared to the hyperacusis and hearing issues developed after acoustic trauma. This hyperacusis feels like an injury being hurt, like your ears are raw and fragile, and it coincides how this H is so much worse in my bad ear that feels heavy, and has multiple tones, compared to the other ear that only has one mild tone. Hearing distortion in both though.

 

I sure as hell would not use a vacuum cleaner without muffs.

 

An insightful post SS thanks. Yes, the many faces of T and H. An enigma wrapped in a conundrum as the saying goes.
I agree that the vestiges of H are rooted in damage to the hearing apparatus due to either a shock or long term acoustic damage. When I was at a wedding recently, I literally felt ear pain from the over the top noise level at the reception near the dance floor in spite of foam ear plugs. I had to escape as quickly as possible. My H was through the roof as I wore inadequate foam ear plugs. In conversation with foam ear plugs, I had no trouble understanding others speak. My hearing amplifier is turned up for no reason I can discern. For some reason and perhaps unknown, some develop neurological damage based upon acoustic damage...or perhaps they aren't even linked but agree with you they generally are. Its speculated that the brain senses a hearing loss and cranks up the volume to compensate. I believe many with T and H have some level of neuropathy...nerves gone wrong in their brain...perhaps and many times not always led by mechanical damage to the cochlea or mechanical aspects of converting air percussion into an electrical stimulus. Damage to the auditory cortex maybe a neurological disorder based upon damage to the cochlea...or not.

So a complicated mix of options that colors the unique characteristics of our particular type of T and H which confounds the ability to solve it for even a subset it seems. When people recite their condition however I notice I share many common conditions as Vinny posted in his thread about acoustical shock.
Thanks again

 

Stophiss.
I too have this experience when using a vacuum cleaner.

 

For me the noise of a vacuum cleaner is one of the worst and makes my tinnitus spike, and my hyperacusis reacts to it too. It's a no no for me...