What Is Silence?

Can you describe how does the silence feels or used to fell to you?
What is it? Does it exist?

 

I don't remember and never paid any attention to it

 

In my house I could sit in a room and hear all the low volume sounds from electronics very clearly. My T almost masks those sounds now.

 

@bwspot -

Most folks consider tinnitus in terms of the acquisition of a sound. In my experience, however, what affects tinnitus sufferers the most is not the acquisition of a sound but rather the loss of silence, an entity so precious and near and dear to them that they didn't appreciate its value until it was gone.

When I am invited to give tinnitus seminars to audiologists and to doctoral students in audiology, I really stress the fact that while they cannot remove the tinnitus sound from their patients, they can most assuredly return their silence to them.

Dr. Stephen Nagler

 

That's interesting but unfortunately something I still cannot comprehend.
I feel like my reaction to T is pretty good now, (sort of habituated with sad face) but the feel of being T free where silence exists is so strong. I remember when I was falling in sleep how pure the silence was. But there would be tough times when I would start hearing my neighbor below me to snore. It would drive me crazy to the point I could not fall in sleep and I would waste whole night. Now T replaced my neighbor. One might say it is the same to adjust to the snoring neighbor as to adjust to T. I wish, I still would only deal with my snoring neighbor only.

 

OK. But in 2014 it's what being an effective tinnitus clinician is all about.

As I see it, anyway.

Dr. Stephen Nagler

 

I find that for me, I would define silence as being able to sit in my living room and read, while the medium hum from my tv box masks my T.

Even before my T, that is how I would describe what silence is for me.

 

Silence for me was hearing nothing at all.
Silence for me now is hearing nothing that bothers me when I'm trying to rest

 

Great explanation.

When in silence, I hear my T, but often I do not notice it and it does not bother me.

 

The absence of that screaching and/or buzzing we with tinnitus all hear.

 

It's sad that as the months pass, little by little, I'm gradually forgetting what 'silence' sounds like...

 

"Silence" or sounds that are filtered by your brain as unimportant so you don't have an awareness of them? I ask this because i don't think ive experienced silence even before the onset of my t (unless of course i sat in a sound proof booth). Ive experienced the" quiet", but not absolute silence. I have moments of quiet again, as my brain has grown bored with monitoring the racket in my head. And even when i do hear the noise, i am much less bothered by it. I guess that's habituation.

 

Years ago I used to build HiFi speakers as a hobby. Of course, you need to used power tools, drills, sanding machines, saws etc etc. Good boy that I was, I used high quality ear muffs. Frequently I forgot to take them of If I was done with the power tools. I ended up wearing up to 2 hours longer then required. What did that sound like....? beeeeeeepppp EEEEEEEEEEEEEE SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS (yes indeed, Heller & Bergman ...). Although, at that time I did not give a single thought. I just did not care....

For me, true silence is just a perception and has nothing to do with the absolute sound levels in the direct environment. Even with my current tinnitus my mind still registers moments of silence.

Maybe another example for tinnitus sufferers (maybe we are a less pre-dispositioned on this one). What does darkness look like? For me: mostly black with white, purple rings. Some times I see some kind of light flickering if I am in darkness for long.

 

Without a doubt, I distinctly remember lying in bed in the dead quiet of night, and what is interesting is that after a while my brain would lock on to a very quiet solid tone. I believe everyone has tinnitus.

On another note, before my recent flare up, I could sit so comfortably in "silence" with my T that it really was silence to me.I could relax and be rested. Habituation is a great thing. I miss it and am determined to get back to that stage.

Ps: I agree with everything Sjoerd says above

Peace and quiet to all

sticky

 

Silence is the absence of sound.

 

stupid. you can return the silence we all experienced before tinnitus to us???
where is your nobel prize?

 

Whats the alternative?

 

The wording of your post is rude and offensive to me.

If you would like to phrase your question respectfully, I'll answer it.

However, if you choose to refer to my posts as absurd, ridiculous, and stupid, then I'll add you to the three on my "Ignore" list, the list of folks whose posts are not worth my time to read. Your call.

Dr. Stephen Nagler

 

I guess the member above must be terrified of your "threat" Dr. Nagler. But while you ponder about that, why don't I remind you of your own wording from a few previous posts - such as...

and...

and not forgetting...

Yeah, I know... you don't read my posts.... So by turning a blind eye to certain people, you think problems will just miraculously resolve on their own.

 

I can honestly say that this is true for me! A couple of months ago it just started to happen. I can sit and read a book without any sound registering right up until the moment I realize I am not hearing my tinnitus.

I can also understand that if your tinnitus is raging at the moment you can't understand an/or refuse to believe it.

 

Quite frankly I never like silence all that much before.
I would constantly produce backround noise, while playing games I would have a tv show running, while reading I would have songs playing.
Silence for me is being able to sit in a quiet room and relax, the Tinnitus does not take this away from me, after I'm habituated I will have my silence again, as I do even now a little.
It's not the Tinnitus that bothers me rather the emotions it produces me to feel.
Once I don't care about my Tinnitus it will be just another sound I don't care about and thus I will have silence again.

 

I loved climbing the mountains and enjoyed the silence there.
Now I have problems even climbing the stairs because of anxiety and depression.

And yes I know. It is my fault. Because I do not simply accept this dentist drill in my head.

 

Same for me, @Sjoerd. I now sleep in a dead quiet room and don't hear my tinnitus unless I purposely seek it. I can understand the skepticism. I was a skeptic too when I started out. What I do not understand is the rudeness. Tinnitus may give you license to be miserable, but it does not give you license to take your misery out on others.

Dr. Stephen Nagler

 

It isn't your fault, @Martin69. It has to do with how your brain processes sound - and you have no direct control over that.

But if you have not yet been in touch with @Dr. Hubbard to see what he can do to help you with this incredible burden you are carrying, now that's your fault!

All the best. I continue to keep a good thought for you and your family.

Dr. Stephen Nagler

 

Stephen, I know. And please don't push too hard. That is another stress for me, in particular if you tell me it will be my fault. That doesn't help me. As you said, I am in the eye of the storm.
We have vacation here and I need to care for the kids.
I want to give my wife time for herself, with her parents, her work and for all the doctors visits.
Therefore I do all the things at home, with the kids etc.
We are all a little bit paralyzed here because of her illness.
Of course we do everything for her that needs to be done.
I will try finding the time later this evening sending an email to Dr. Hubbard.

Thanks for your good thoughts. This means a lot to me.

 

@Martin69, you blame yourself for things that are not your fault, yet you do not take those reasonable steps that are indeed within your control, steps that will put you in a better position to care for your wife and kids.

But as you wish, I will not mention it again.

I wish you well.

Dr. Stephen Nagler

 

It's ok Stephen. I know that you want to help me.
And indeed, I had the impression I was on a good way.
I went back to work, doing my hobbies, caring for my family.
Tried to ignore T although not really ignorable. Tried having a positive approach and that time does the rest.
I was in better shape two weeks ago.
Then, a friend of mine died with cancer, my wife got cancer and a T sufferer killed himself. All within a few days. This was simply too much for me.

 

Silence was a very good friend, now it has become the enemy.

 

@attheedgeofscience,

I respect the contributions you've made to this board by sharing and documenting your attempted treatment experiences in regards to stem cells, LLLT and so forth. I also understand the frustration that you and many of us, including myself, have at the current state of tinnitus treatment and research.

However, I think you need to move on from this little war you have with Nagler. Whether or not you are a believe in TRT or his approach to tinnitus, or whether he sees any merit in Dr. Wilden's LLLT therapy; you can both make solid contributions to this board without having to derail threads anymore.

---

Now back to the OP, I don't even know anymore. I never cared for silence when I was younger - I used to have a low humming noise in my right ear that would come and go for months at a time as I was growing up. I would mostly notice this noise at night when I was in bed and looking back on it now the humming was pretty damn loud (when it was there) but I had no idea what it was and because I had grown up with it, it never bothered me. I only realized this was a form of tinnitus after getting a bunch of new tones a couple years back.

Now I consider silence to be anytime I'm able to be somewhere in the absence of significant noise and not notice my tinnitus, which has increased steadily over the past couple of years. I used to be too anxious to sit in front of my computer or work around the house without some form of background noise to keep me distracted, but I'm now finding I spend the majority of the time doing the opposite, I find it pretty amazing how the brain is able to adapt.

 

I'm not sure how my criticism of LLLT got into this conversation, @yonkapin. I haven't posted on the subject since back in May.

And I've got no war with ATEOS. He may have one with me, but I've got none with him.

Back to the subject at hand, which is silence.

Folks, think back to before tinnitus, back when you had your silence. You've never even heard of the word tinnitus, OK? Does anybody recall thinking a whole lot about silence back then? I realize we all appreciated the quiet times. But it wasn't something we particularly focused on, was it? Wasn't it more like something we sort of took for granted? I, for one, never thought much about the concept of silence. Why would I? Why would anybody other than a sound engineer spend much time thinking about silence??? Until tinnitus, that is.

Well that's the kind of thing tinnitus sufferers can return to. Through habituation we can return to that place, the place where you don't care about your tinnitus and where you don't yearn for your silence.

Dr. Stephen Nagler