What Are My Chances of Habituating Given My Circumstances?

[MountainCreek]

If there is the sound of a ventilation in the office where I am working, then I notice it immediately the first day on my new job. If I sit in that office for ten hours, I still notice it. If I work in that office for ten years, I still notice it and get constantly disturbed by the fan noise in the roof for ten years.

If I live in an apartment that has a quiet refrigerator in the kitchen, then I hear it. If I stay in that apartment for ten years, I still hear it. Actually that is what I did for ten years. I had a quiet refrigerator in the kitchen. I always closed the door carefully to the kitchen to minimize the sound. The refrigerator sound was constantly on my mind for ten years.

Given this, plus the fact that I have asperger, what are my chances I would habituate to tinnitus?

 

[Alue]

I have always been sensitive to noises as well, long before tinnitus. Noises would irritate me that didn't bother other people. I don't have any answers for you, but I know what you're talking about. It's been over a year and I have not habituated.

Out of curiosity, how easily can you mask your tinnitus?

 

[Michael Leigh]

@MountainCreek
The habituation process is different for everyone and I believe most people can habituate with time so don't give up. I have habituated twice in 20 years. The last time it took 4 years. Try to keep low level non intrusive sound playing in the background, expecially at night by your bedside. Music isn't the best source for sound enrichment at night and therefore, I recommed using a sound machine. Try to keep the sound level below your tinnitus. Unless you can hear your tinnitus above the sound enrichment your brain won't habituate to the tinnitus.

During waking hours at home for instance, low level relaxing music such as classical will suffice for sound enrichment but it's important that you allow your auditory system and brain to get used to sound enrichment and in time habituation will happen. Please read my posts: The Habituation Process. Answers to Hyperacusis and Habituation. What happens after Habitution. Tinnitus, A Personal View. They can be accessed by looking in my "started threads" click on my Avatar picture.

All the best
Michael

 

[Rings-a-Bell]

Morning doves constantly land on my house and coo loudly. No one else is bothered by them but me... and they drive me batty. They wake me up from a deep sleep in the morning and interrupt my concentration while working in the day. Until I got T, they were the most annoying noise I'd ever dealt with.

Perhaps a history of being annoyed by noises makes it more likely one gets affected negatively by T. I do know that in spite of this I am slowly habituating. It's been 10 months now and I've gone from thinking about my T a thousand times day to sometimes only noticing it 20 or 30 times. Still a lot, but a big improvement.