[HN Gopher] Tinnitus Neuromodulator
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Tinnitus Neuromodulator
        
       Author : gjvc
       Score  : 368 points
       Date   : 2025-10-18 16:08 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (mynoise.net)
 (TXT) w3m dump (mynoise.net)
        
       | ronnier wrote:
       | If you are on iOS seems you need to unmute your phone.
        
       | scragz wrote:
       | I still want to try one of the ones with the cyberpunk pacifier
       | that shocks your tongue to stimulate neuroplasticity.
        
         | tombert wrote:
         | Is there any evidence that those things actually work? I
         | haven't done a lot of research on it, but I asked my ENT about
         | it and she said that they don't have a great success rate and
         | they're pretty expensive so I don't want to pay for it.
         | 
         | Maybe I could apply for a clinical trial.
        
           | mkp0 wrote:
           | If I recall correctly, the better form of bimodal stimulation
           | was found by Susan Shore et al.[1][2][3]. Lenire created a
           | quick and dirty version and got it approved, while Shore's
           | device is still stuck in limbo.
           | 
           | If it ever gets approved, it should be considerably better
           | than Lenire, but it's sure taking its time.
           | 
           | A HN user said they'd provide specs to reproduce such a
           | device, here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43920360
           | 
           | [1] https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/7
           | 229... [2]
           | https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/scitranslmed.aal3175
           | [3] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarti
           | cle...
        
         | nfinished wrote:
         | I had great success with Lenire, at the end of the six month
         | (twice a day, 30 minutes) treatment the intensity of my
         | tinnitus had definitely decreased, but almost more importantly
         | I'd been reconditioned not to focus on it as much.
        
         | cyberpunk wrote:
         | I... disapprove of this.
        
           | fragmede wrote:
           | ...why? Especially given your username!
        
             | cyberpunk wrote:
             | Purely for the username. A cyberpunk pacifier has err...
             | mental conjurations... I think are best left alone ;)
        
       | joshdavham wrote:
       | The way I personally manage my tinnitus is by having fans
       | constantly blowing in various rooms of where I live, for example
       | I have a fan in my bedroom when I'm trying to sleep or in my
       | office when I need to concentrate.
       | 
       | The fans don't totally block out the tinnitus, but they sorta act
       | as an undistracting distraction.
        
         | objektif wrote:
         | What type of fan is best for this? Box fans or the round
         | powerful ones?
        
           | emil-lp wrote:
           | You can buy an air purifier, like IKEA FORNUFTIG.
        
             | tptacek wrote:
             | Air purifier white noise is _the best_. I don 't know what
             | it is about it.
        
               | toast0 wrote:
               | It's cause the noise is _filtered_
        
               | hollerith wrote:
               | Agreed (provided it is a sufficiently large air purifier
               | like Austin Air's Healthmate).
        
           | tptacek wrote:
           | If you're interested in optimizing, the Dohm classic "sound
           | machine" isn't very expensive (maybe 2x what a decent fan
           | costs), is portable/packable, has tunable sound, but is
           | fundamentally just a fan that doesn't move air around your
           | room.
        
           | bwanab wrote:
           | It's different for different people. The air purifier method
           | suggested works for me, but any fan is better than no fan.
        
         | tptacek wrote:
         | Same, for going on 40 years now. I can sleep without some kind
         | of white noise, but it's really challenging. I have one of
         | those Dohm thingies, which has been relegated to my office; in
         | our bedroom we've got an air purifier and I have a tiny desk
         | fan on my nightstand.
         | 
         | I've found that stuff like this site and therapy approaches
         | like it tend to make me hypervigilant about my tinnitus, which
         | is exactly the opposite of what I want. My tinnitus is
         | moderate-severity (it's loud but never competes with real
         | sound) and just by keeping background noise around I'm at a
         | point where I think about it maybe a couple times a week tops;
         | most of the times I'm persistantly thinking about it, it turns
         | out I have a sinus infection or something.
        
         | DrewADesign wrote:
         | Have you tried the Dohm mechanical noise machines? The original
         | white noise machine AFAIK. Might be a little more power
         | efficient while still making sound by moving air rather than a
         | speaker.
        
         | amelius wrote:
         | Look up "pink noise".
        
         | riedel wrote:
         | While I can normally tune out my Tinnitus, i also love the
         | constant city noise and in my office I have a collection of
         | solar toys that keep clicking randomly, which help me focus.
         | Actually I tried the OP site and trying to tune the thing
         | actually made my Tinnitus pretty unbearable ATM. I guess the
         | trick is to use it without trying to directly hear the
         | effect...
        
       | Refreeze5224 wrote:
       | MyNoise.net is such a great site, consider throwing them a couple
       | bucks, it's basically a pay what you can model. I can't count the
       | number of hours I've spent programming listening to their
       | different soundscapes, rain on a tin roof, and cafe noise are 2
       | of my favorites.
        
         | mk_stjames wrote:
         | Absolutely. I have a person favorite setup... which is to have
         | these two playing at the * same time * and play around with the
         | combos of sliders / set to automate.
         | 
         | Pair:
         | https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/numberStationsRadioNoiseGe...
         | with:
         | https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/magicDuneArrakisGenerator....
         | 
         | I set the numbers stations to 'narrow' and Arrakis to 'wide'
         | and stereo field, mute the numbers stations that repeats german
         | numbers (those stand out to me too easily)... and it's like
         | some magical productivity hack of my brain.
        
         | sklargh wrote:
         | Many of my biggest professional achievements were enabled via
         | Irish Coast. I give them a few dollars a month.https://mynoise.
         | net/NoiseMachines/windSeaRainNoiseGenerator....
        
         | klondike_klive wrote:
         | We played the gregorian chant for about an hour every night
         | when my kid was newborn. Not sure if it had any effect on him
         | but definitely lowered our blood pressure!
         | 
         | The white noise generators were also a lifesaver when working
         | in a busy open plan studio with loud idiots.
        
       | tombert wrote:
       | I've had tinnitus in my left ear for about six months now. I was
       | hoping it was the result of an earwax impaction or something, but
       | after having several specialists look at my ears, test my
       | hearing, and getting an MRI to check for tumors, the overwhelming
       | medical consensus of the cause appears to be "I dunno", and at
       | this point I have given up on it being temporary.
       | 
       | About 95% of the time, I can fairly easily just tune it out and
       | it's no different than any other background noise. Living in NYC
       | helps, there's a fair amount of constant background noise even in
       | the best of times. I've found that finding 10-hour videos on
       | YouTube of TV static at a low volume can be helpful for the
       | remaining 5%.
       | 
       | Still I would really prefer it wasn't there. The ringing in my
       | left ear is still annoying, and I'm only in my mid 30's, so
       | assuming an average lifespan I have anywhere from 40-60 years
       | left to enjoy this constant ringing.
       | 
       | I'll play with this thing to see if it helps.
        
         | breendreams wrote:
         | I'm basically in the same exact situation as you, only ringing
         | in my left ear. MRI/hearing/etc tests have all shown nothing
         | and I haven't received any answer for it. I've had it for close
         | to a decade now. NYC definitely helps drown it out but life
         | would be better without it.
        
         | cnnlives8387 wrote:
         | I've noticed that if I'm eating more salt, don't sleep well,
         | under a lot of stress, or taking anything that increases my
         | blood pressure or affects vasodilation (supplements, some
         | foods, stimulants, etc.), it causes me to have tinnitus. Loud
         | concerts / music / sound-reducing headphone / noise can do it
         | also.
        
           | tmcz26 wrote:
           | Look into Meniere's disease . I got diagnosed recently and
           | those are all triggers for it. When undergoing episodes I
           | also have vertigo. There's medication for controlling the
           | bigger symptoms.
        
         | tptacek wrote:
         | If it helps: I've gone through years of coping strategies and
         | coming to peace with it; it'll probably annoy you a lot less a
         | year from now than it does today. (I had a really rough run in
         | my teenage years, but these days a cure for tinnitus is kind of
         | only academically interesting to me; I mean, I'd do it, but it
         | probably wouldn't change my life much.)
        
         | guilamu wrote:
         | A message of hope.
         | 
         | I got mine in my 30's too. The first week I thought I was going
         | crazy, and this was the end of my life. I was shocked, I
         | couldn't go to work for a whole week.
         | 
         | I then saw a doctor who said to me: "Man, I've got tinnitus
         | since 20 years and I barely hear it anymore. The more you
         | accept it, the more it'll fade."
         | 
         | A decade later, my own experience is exactly this. I accepted
         | it as one of the body malfunctions that comes with age for
         | everybody. I barely hear it anymore except in extremely low
         | noise situations and it doesn't bother me at all.
         | 
         | I wish you well.
        
           | glimshe wrote:
           | It's very much like eye floaters. They are always there, but
           | you can tune them out most of the time.
        
             | typpilol wrote:
             | Brains crazy
             | 
             | I had a slight crack in my windshield right at eye level
             | view. And after a minute of driving I don't notice it at
             | all anymore
        
               | ricardobeat wrote:
               | We have a projector instead of TV in the living room, and
               | there is a small outlet inside the projection area, top
               | right corner. We can go months without
               | realizing/remembering it's there, until it accidentally
               | matches a shadow or object in a scene... the brain just
               | deletes it.
        
               | BobbyTables2 wrote:
               | The fact we don't notice our nose is crazy! It's right in
               | front of us!
        
             | Alejandro9R wrote:
             | Completely agree. I've had some light/moderate floaters in
             | my left eye which were very noticeable under a white
             | screen, clean walls, or full bright sky in the evening. It
             | came pretty sure because of a very stressful period at 27.
             | 
             | Here I am, 31. I have to look for them really really hard
             | to see if they are still there. Only when I have a streak
             | of stressful days and bad night sleep, they will be visible
             | again. It comes without saying that I had to change my life
             | in many, many aspects, not only due to these floaters. A
             | much calmer life, better food, gym, financial security,
             | better friends and people around me, and cultivate a
             | spiritual being in some sense. The mind can be shaped in
             | many many ways it's fascinating.
        
             | a-dub wrote:
             | my floaters showed up when i was 14- it was kinda shocking
             | and scary at the time to be a freshman in high school and
             | suddenly there were massive sensory disturbances in my
             | eyes. ophthalmologists would just say to ignore them.
             | apparently there's a pretty crazy surgery where they remove
             | all the vitreous fluid from your eyeballs, but instead i
             | decided to follow the ophthalmologist advice and they
             | pretty much stopped bothering me.
             | 
             | tinnitus seems similar. maybe in the future there could be
             | some kind of functionally guided high intensity focused
             | ultrasound ablation procedure that could dull out some of
             | the malfunctioning percept, but for now probably the best
             | bet is to ignore it.
             | 
             | on a related note in interesting auditory neurotechnology,
             | vestibular implants seem pretty cool!
        
             | golem14 wrote:
             | Do check your eye pressure regularly -- if high, you have a
             | higher chance of detached retina, and in that case more
             | floaters all of a sudden warrant an immediate drive to the
             | ER. This can apparently happen when youi fall or hit yhour
             | head. Once that happens, up only have so much time to
             | reattach the retina before it dies off. According to my eye
             | doctor.
             | 
             | [Of course this is not be used as medical advice, as your
             | LLM for that ;)]
        
             | pasc1878 wrote:
             | I have both,
             | 
             | No you can't tune them out.
             | 
             | They are always there, sometimes if you are very lucky you
             | can get engrossed enough not to have them as the first or
             | second thing on your mind
             | 
             | But it is always in the top five you never can tune them
             | out you have always be aware as not to to certainn things.
        
               | thfuran wrote:
               | I have tinnitus, and this thread is probably the first
               | time I've thought about it this week.
        
           | radium3d wrote:
           | Yeah, it just blends into the background for me, I've had it
           | for decades. I blame the loud music as a kid.
        
           | gblargg wrote:
           | I also thought I would go crazy when mine started after some
           | ear infections in my 20s. It's gotten a lot worse over time
           | but I mostly only notice if I think about it, and when I'm
           | laying down to sleep, and when I wake up (it seems so
           | strong). I've slept with white noise all my life, and without
           | that I the tinnitus would definitely disturb my sleep.
        
           | bsimpson wrote:
           | I've always been someone who hears high pitched noises that
           | "normal" people don't. I'm also in my 30s, and I'm sure those
           | "teenage alarms" in Japan would work on me. I was the one who
           | would walk up to a CRT and turn it off when everyone else
           | thought it already was.
           | 
           | What helped me accept (and ignore) tinnitus was realizing
           | that I had already grown accustomed to tolerating that sound
           | indoors. When's it's something you have no agency over (like
           | "it's an old house and the wires just make that sound
           | sometimes"), you learn it's part of the environment.
           | 
           | Accepting it as part of the environment gets you past the
           | "OMG my body is ruined forever" anxieties and back to normal
           | life.
        
             | lucaslazarus wrote:
             | This is so relatable, though it has a strange downside.
             | I've had tinnitus for as long as I can remember and always
             | thought I was some superhuman child who could hear
             | electricity. Didn't actually realize it was tinnitus until
             | I heard it at the top of a mountain I was hiking in remote
             | New Mexico a few years ago. I probably got it from chronic
             | sinusitis as a child, but I'm still not sure what to make
             | of it.
        
             | NBJack wrote:
             | I heard older TVs being turned on and off as well as CRT
             | monitors. Now, its that very range I 'hear' all the time.
             | Part of me wonders if it was sensitivity to that spectrum
             | that damaged my hearing when I was around multiple CRTs so
             | much.
             | 
             | I have known people that have it much worse than I face
             | daily.
        
               | tombert wrote:
               | Yeah, for me it sounds almost exactly like the squeal
               | that CRT TVs make. Like, it's basically indistinguishable
               | from that for me.
        
               | BobbyTables2 wrote:
               | Me too!
               | 
               | I genuinely could hear CRTs when I was 5.
               | 
               | Tinnitus sound now is very similar for me too.
               | 
               | Hearing test showed high frequency hearing loss in that
               | range which is well above human speech and a lot of
               | music.
        
             | meindnoch wrote:
             | By the way, that CRT squeel is the sound of the flyback
             | transformer, which operates at 15.625 kHz for PAL and
             | 15.734 kHz for NTSC sets.
        
             | BobbyTables2 wrote:
             | Funny I could hear CRTs too. In teens could hear faint high
             | pitched noise in extremely quiet outdoor settings. Bad
             | tinnitus 15 years later. Slowly reduced and I'm less
             | conscious of it now.
        
               | senectus1 wrote:
               | huh. I could hear that noise as well and I have had
               | tinnitus for 30 odd years.
        
             | DrSiemer wrote:
             | That's actually not tinnitus but (from what I've been told)
             | cochloreal hyperacusis, another form of hearing damage.
             | 
             | I always have that, but I only hear a random high pitched
             | tinnitus noise in one ear, rising and falling in volume for
             | max 10 seconds, about once every few months.
             | 
             | I can still hear old CRTs in my forties, although it's less
             | maddening now. They had those mosquito devices, that are
             | intended to repel kids, for a while at a shopping mall near
             | me. They repelled me very effectively as well.
             | 
             | A friend once thought it was funny to try the 15.000Hz
             | silent ringtone on me, although I had told him not to. It
             | made me react without conscious input and I nearly broke
             | his phone.
        
               | kiddico wrote:
               | > I always have that, but I only hear a random high
               | pitched tinnitus noise in one ear, rising and falling in
               | volume for max 10 seconds, about once every few months.
               | 
               | Holy crap! I'm not alone! And now I have a name for it.
               | They've always freaked me out and I don't even know how
               | to describe it to people.
        
               | bartwe wrote:
               | I assumed everyone has that.. and that its the last
               | output of a receptor dying.
        
               | thekurst_ wrote:
               | I hope you're wrong but that's probably what it is :(
        
               | PeterStuer wrote:
               | CRT's and coil whine used to drive me crazy as well. It
               | was the number 1 factor in any electronics purchasing
               | descision.
        
               | sowbug wrote:
               | _I only hear a random high pitched tinnitus noise in one
               | ear, rising and falling in volume for max 10 seconds,
               | about once every few months._
               | 
               | I get these, too. I just looked it up, and it's called
               | "Sudden, brief, unilateral, tapering tinnitus (SBUTT)."
               | That's quite an SEO-friendly name.
        
             | noefingway wrote:
             | I'm 73, had tinnitus all my life, I am used to it. Some
             | days it seems louder than others. When I was 17-18 I worked
             | as a stock boy at a JC Penney store. I used to hear this
             | high pitched squeal near the front entrance. I mentioned it
             | to my compatriots who responded "What squeal?" I always
             | found a way to avoid the front entrance on my rounds. So
             | yeah, I get the alarms
        
           | otherme123 wrote:
           | For me, after 20'ish years with tinnitus, the only thing that
           | brings the buzz to the foreground is reading/hearing the word
           | "tinnitus".
        
             | jay_kyburz wrote:
             | Haha, its funny you say that because I've been reading a
             | novel at the moment where the main character has
             | debilitating tinnitus, and every time the author describes
             | it, I can hear my own.
        
             | piva00 wrote:
             | Almost the exact thing to me, 20+ years of tinnitus which
             | sits calmly in the background most of the time except when
             | I read the word tinnitus, or I'm feeling anxious for some
             | reason: when I can't fall asleep when I need a good rest,
             | life stresses, and those moments when a different pitch
             | shows up in one ear and louder. In those occasions I can
             | clearly hear the tone of mine.
             | 
             | It's mildly annoying but I've definitely learnt to live
             | with it pretty ok.
        
             | patricklewis wrote:
             | Same here! Just reading the title of this post made me
             | aware of mine for the first time all day.
        
           | drewcon wrote:
           | Same exact story for me.
           | 
           | Audiologist suggested treating it like a rock in your shoe.
           | At the time seemed like impossible advice but now I just live
           | with it and it's 100% fine.
           | 
           | Also the idea that it is actually made worse by anxiety was a
           | game changer for me. Literally, "don't worry about it" is the
           | exact right advice.
        
           | Crontab wrote:
           | I've had it for four years and I don't notice it most of the
           | time anymore. But for reason just reading about it makes me
           | notice it.
        
           | senectus1 wrote:
           | same here. now 51. I reckon i got it in my early 20's.
        
           | HippyTed wrote:
           | I have had it since I was a teenager like 30 years ago.
           | Honestly, I do not notice it unless someone points it out.
           | Yes it is always there but there is nothing I can do about it
           | so I don't worry about it.
        
           | spoiler wrote:
           | I've had tinnitus since... At least my early 20s. Or that's
           | the first time I found out about the concept. Until that
           | point I assumed it's background noises everyone experiences.
           | 
           | I only notice it when it changes abruptly (very rare), but
           | otherwise I just tune it out
        
         | GioM wrote:
         | I have had tinnitus from an infection, which (very thankfully,
         | and I admit very luckily) slowly resolved over a period of
         | years.
         | 
         | That said, I have experienced occasional reoccurrence. One
         | thing that helps is I ask my masseuse to concentrate on the
         | sides of my neck- there is a specific muscle that when tense
         | can cause ringing.
         | 
         | Does your tinnitus get momentarily worse when you tense your
         | neck muscles?
        
           | tombert wrote:
           | I just tried it, it does not change significantly when I
           | tense my neck muscles.
        
         | Aurornis wrote:
         | Once the major (though exceedingly rare) problems have been
         | ruled out, the best course of action is to start learning to
         | live with it.
         | 
         | It's not what anyone wants to hear, but it's the pragmatic
         | approach that works best from everything I've seen.
         | 
         | The people who become involved in tinnitus forums, support
         | groups, and chasing experimental treatments think they're
         | helping themselves but they're really only bringing it to top
         | of mind over and over again.
         | 
         | It feels frustrating to _give up_ and disconnect from all
         | things tinnitus related on th internet, but disconnecting is
         | exactly what helps with the process of letting it fall into the
         | background of your life. Constantly bringing it to the
         | foreground and reading about it only makes it worse.
        
           | xnyan wrote:
           | This is how it worked for me. I've had it in my left ear for
           | decades, the last time I thought about it was the last time I
           | read an article about tinnitus on hacker news.
        
           | pfortuny wrote:
           | Meditation, despite being a common trope, has helped me
           | accept it too.
        
           | sixtyj wrote:
           | Yes, the best way is to let it fall into background. Just
           | keep going.
        
           | diego_sandoval wrote:
           | In my case, this mindset + SSRIs have helped me tremendously.
           | 
           | I didn't want to depend on a drug, but after getting into a
           | really bad, quasi-suicidal mental state, I went to the
           | psychiatrist. I've been on escitalopram for 4 months and it
           | has really helped reduce the distress associated with
           | tinnitus in like 80%. Making an effort to not think about it
           | has also helped.
           | 
           | I hope to stop taking the drug at some point and see if the
           | mental improvement persists.
        
         | bad_haircut72 wrote:
         | Im curious did you also experience hearing loss? I started
         | getting tinnitus in my left ear almost 12 months ago, but 12
         | months before that I started noticably losing hearing in my
         | left ear (with audiology tests to back it up, Im basically deaf
         | in one ear now). Also mid 30s.
        
           | tombert wrote:
           | Nope! I haven't really noticed any significant loss in
           | hearing at a "vibes" level, but I actually got my hearing
           | tested in both ears to be sure, and my hearing is actually
           | slightly better than the average 30-something.
        
         | ectospheno wrote:
         | I have had tinnitus in my left ear since 2011. You do get used
         | to it. I really only notice when someone says the word or an
         | article on it pops up. I considered setting up some kind of web
         | filter just so I never saw the word again. I notice it now, for
         | instance.
         | 
         | To everyone who doesn't have it, wear ear plugs at concerts, be
         | careful when you remove the ear plugs, and use the max volume
         | limiters on your phones. Enjoy your hearing while you have it.
        
           | bluescrn wrote:
           | > I really only notice when someone says the word or an
           | article on it pops up.
           | 
           | Oh, exactly this. Haven't thought about mine in months, but
           | as soon as I actively think about the subject, suddenly the
           | high-pitch whine in my left ear is back and louder than ever.
        
         | oh_my_goodness wrote:
         | I got tinnitus in one ear after using music in headphones to
         | block out other noise. I was probably using the headphones too
         | loud and too often. This happened 15 years ago. It was pretty
         | bad at first. Since then, very slowly, it has mostly "healed"
         | or something. It's still there. But it's much less severe than
         | it was.
         | 
         | I also experienced significant hearing loss around the same
         | time. My hearing had always been absurdly good, but that
         | changed over about a year. Now I can hear well enough to get
         | by, but I really miss what I had. Protect your hearing!
        
           | bsimpson wrote:
           | Earplugs are like condoms:
           | 
           | They make a sensual pleasure less pleasurable, and they also
           | protect against life-altering consequences.
        
             | tbossanova wrote:
             | You can get earplugs that only lower the sound quality a
             | tiny bit these days. I bought some from the drum shop and
             | they're great. As you say, $20 or so to avoid lifetime ear
             | damage is a very very good investment. I feel like concerts
             | aren't quite so loud these days too, maybe audio gear
             | quality is better and the sound engineers don't feel the
             | need to turn it up quite so loud.
        
               | jskopek wrote:
               | I've also noticed that younger people seem to wear
               | earplugs at concerts a lot more often. I get the feeling
               | there's been a change in attitude towards hearing
               | protection. My guess is that instagram ads for earplugs
               | and AirPod hearing health features have had something to
               | do with it
        
               | BobbyTables2 wrote:
               | The last time I attended a concert, it was still very
               | loud even with earplugs!
        
               | YZF wrote:
               | Earasers is one brand. Concerts are still pretty loud.
               | 
               | I wish I took better care of my ears as damage is pretty
               | much irreversible.
        
               | ycombinete wrote:
               | Me too. My lifelong tinnitus is the result of standing
               | too close to a monitor at a single loud concert. If I'd
               | worn earplugs just that once I'd never have got it.
        
         | reify wrote:
         | I too had exactly the same constsnt ringing in my left ear.
         | 
         | I could not get to sleep because the noise was so loud and
         | intense.
         | 
         | It reminded me of those spy films where they torture someone
         | playing loud heavy metalcore all day and night.
         | 
         | I had a X-ray, ultra-sound and two Consultants had a look.
         | 
         | Both said that there was nothing wrong with my ear. No ear wax,
         | no damage, no issues at all.
         | 
         | They both mentioned that tense facial and neck muscles may be a
         | cause.
         | 
         | As well as the constant ringing, there is a sound like a
         | central eating system, thumping and groaning away, in both my
         | ears too. I initially thought the thumping and groaning was the
         | Mrs snoring.
         | 
         | I bought some earloops thinking my ears were too sensitive and
         | I was somehow hearing noises from the houses down the road and
         | the motorway traffic 3 miles away. to no avail, even with the
         | earloops blocking all exterior noise, I still had the high
         | pitched and low piched internal noises.
         | 
         | I found a way to reduce the noise.
         | 
         | I was laying in bed one night and I was relaxing my jaw when I
         | noticed that if I opened my mouth and let my jaw hang loose all
         | the noises stopped.
         | 
         | So over a month or so I tried to train my jaw to be less tense
         | and more relaxed.
         | 
         | For me it worked.
         | 
         | it was my jaw.
         | 
         | I'm 69, so have a few less years years than your good self
        
         | hyperpl wrote:
         | Another message of hope for anyone struggling with the
         | possibility of having tinnitus:
         | 
         | I may not be able to fully recount all the factors but I
         | believe my ears may have had some residual fluid after
         | recovering from covid (my covid symptoms were entirely
         | unpleasant and impacted me differently in many ways). Before my
         | ears cleared up, I took a domestic flight where I actually got
         | vertigo for a few 10s of seconds on ascent. My ENT believes my
         | eardrum expanded to touch the inner ear.
         | 
         | The following day I went to a gun range and did skeet shooting
         | for a couple of hours then shot really big guns and sniper
         | rifles. The earplugs I brought myself were likely not adequate
         | and taking them out and putting them in repeatedly in
         | relatively cool weather likely didn't provide the best seal
         | either.
         | 
         | That night or the next day I noticed lots of ringing in my ears
         | and I started to become worried when it was still there even
         | after a week. The worst was being in silent meeting rooms at
         | work where it was most noticeable. It was extremely depressing
         | and I nearly lost all hope.
         | 
         | I visited 2 separate ENTs and each just sent me re-take my
         | yearly hearing test. They didn't really provide any comforting
         | words other than to take the test and wear hearing protection,
         | etc..
         | 
         | Before the hearing test (~2 weeks after the gun range and
         | flights) I explained everything to the audiologist and he said
         | "Lots of people have various degrees of tinnitus/ringing, just
         | don't think about it. I have it and that's what I do. Don't let
         | it bother you and live your life."
         | 
         | Interestingly enough, my audio test came back better than the
         | previous 10 year results and since then I just don't think
         | about it. If I do I can certainly hear it. My only personal
         | takeaway is that the brain and body are very complex and have
         | an arsenal of mechanisms to deal with trauma and that for this
         | particular instance I've been very lucky.
        
           | rwyinuse wrote:
           | I have slightly similar experience. When I was a teenager, I
           | had a random flu shortly before two flights abroad. I didn't
           | feel that sick anymore, but apparently my ears were still
           | badly blocked. On descent my ears would hurt like hell, and I
           | was half-deaf for rest of the day. That was more than ten
           | years ago, and since then I've suffered from moderate
           | tinnitus.
           | 
           | I too got used to it, but I would really advice people to
           | avoid flying sick if they can help it (or at least use some
           | meds to unblock your ears while doing it).
        
         | manoDev wrote:
         | I feel you. Here's things you can try (in this order):
         | 
         | - Cut stimulant use (coffee, energy drinks) and alcohol
         | 
         | - Drink plenty of water
         | 
         | - Check blood pressure
         | 
         | - Talk to a dentist and check if you grind teeth or suffer from
         | jaw stiffness
         | 
         | - Supplement Magnesium (chelated/glycinate, 300mg/day)
         | 
         | I'm ignoring issues of the ear canal (wax, secretions) since
         | you mentioned it.
         | 
         | Studies point to tinnitus being either caused by changes in
         | blood supply on the inner ear, of neurological origin or
         | trauma. These are all measures I took and greatly improved my
         | case (and when I neglect one of those, it comes back).
        
           | tombert wrote:
           | I don't drink alcohol at all and haven't for quite awhile,
           | and my blood pressure is pretty low and hasn't changed
           | significantly. I did try cutting out caffeine entirely for
           | several months (and the tinnitus actually started when I
           | wasn't haven't any caffeine at all).
           | 
           | I do very slightly grind my teeth in my sleep, but in this
           | particular case the problem is basically solved (at least at
           | the dental level) because I have mild sleep apnea so I sleep
           | with a plastic mouthpiece every night anyway.
           | 
           | I'll look into the magnesium supplements.
        
             | manoDev wrote:
             | Yeah, caffeine is not the cause per se - the thing is it
             | has both vasoconstriction and vasodilation effects at
             | different times, so it can mess with blood vessels in the
             | inner ear. It totally makes sense if you get tinnitus when
             | you _cut_ caffeine after your body is used to it.
             | 
             | Magnesium plays a part on vasodilation regulation as well,
             | and many people are silently deficient on it. It's hard to
             | detect deficiency w/ blood samples, because the body works
             | hard to keep blood concentration stable. You will know you
             | do if you get muscle cramps or twitches.
        
           | mopenstein wrote:
           | Mine came on when I was about 12 years old and I'm convinced
           | it was brought on by severe anxiety.
           | 
           | At the time my life had changed dramatically. My parents
           | split. Moved to an area adjacent to government housing
           | projects, through which I had to travel everyday to school,
           | and I was, by virtue of unfortunately being wrong color,
           | beaten daily by gangs of hooligans. I ended up sneaking
           | through a slightly wooded area like a South American guerilla
           | until they caught me there.
           | 
           | I couldn't handle it as I was already a sensitive kid and,
           | the parent I ended up with, the other having gone to jail,
           | was compassionless due to their own horrific upbringing. So I
           | had no way of coping which led to total breakdowns and
           | anxiety attacks.
           | 
           | Tinnitus reared it's ugly head soon after which further
           | exacerbated the anxiety.
           | 
           | But the correlation is all speculation on my part because my
           | parent only took me to the doctor a year or so later after
           | much complaining. And only for the tinnitus, not the
           | crippling anxiety.
        
             | manoDev wrote:
             | Stress -> jaw clenching -> tinnitus.
        
         | everyone wrote:
         | I tried Lenire and it didnt do anything, probably made it
         | worse. Been doing CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and I
         | seem to be making some progress with it.
        
         | semolinachops wrote:
         | I got tinnitus about 4 years ago in one ear. At first I thought
         | it was stress with a new baby, moving house and a busy time at
         | work. I thought maybe it was wax.
         | 
         | I saw a few specialists, had hearing tests, MRI and CT, and
         | everything came back fine. Couldnt work it out so I gave up for
         | a bit.
         | 
         | Later I went back to my GP and got another referral. This time
         | the consultant asked the radiologist to focus on a specific
         | area. He explained it can show up on a normal scan but unless
         | they know what to look for it often gets missed.
         | 
         | That is when they found I have thinning of the bone over the
         | inner ear called superior semicircular canal dehiscence SSCD.
         | 
         | I wear sleep earphones at night which have been life changing.
        
           | 3shv wrote:
           | Is this an ad for Soundcore?
        
             | richwater wrote:
             | Yea i have no idea how that product relates to tinnitus
        
               | semolinachops wrote:
               | Inadvertent ad removed.
               | 
               | Sleeping with tinnitus can be very hard and increases the
               | anxiety. At least it was for me. I found specific sleep
               | earphones worked particularly well at reducing this.
        
         | mrblah wrote:
         | this is anecdotal and not medical advice, but i reduced my
         | tinnitus symptoms by ~90% by taking therapeutic doses
         | (1200-1800mg/day) of benfotiamine (fat soluble form of vitamin
         | b1) over the course of a month and a half.
         | 
         | i was taking it for unrelated nerve pain and was very surprised
         | that my sense of smell and hearing also remarkably improved, to
         | the point where i needed to reduce the long standing 'known'
         | audio levels of all my various listening gadgets a few clicks.
         | the ringing was a little worse for the first couple weeks, but
         | then reduced a couple more weeks, then almost completely
         | stopped 1 day.
         | 
         | from what i gather, high doses of the fat soluble form of
         | vitamin b1 can repair nerves and is used as first line therapy
         | in some countries for neuropathy, chronic pain and even
         | alzheimers.
         | 
         | i'm sure it won't help everyone, i can't even find any solid
         | research on tinnitus and benfotiamine, but putting this out in
         | the ether since it is a cheap and relatively safe thing to try,
         | i was completely surprised by this nice off-label side effect
         | (it did help with my nerve pain as well). there is much more
         | research based evidence on benfotiamine therapy for other nerve
         | problems, and it follows that hearing and smell would also be
         | affected, it's all nerves, good luck
         | 
         | edit * adding if you are taking high doses of benfotiamine, you
         | should also be taking magnesium with it, i just took zma (zinc,
         | magnesium and b6) at bedtime *
        
           | OutOfHere wrote:
           | Even 80 mg of benfotiamine a day is too potent for me, giving
           | me anxiety. 40 mg is more tolerable. I do take plenty of
           | magnesium, zinc, and P5P. Be careful taking the basic non-P5P
           | form of B6 because it risks causing serious neuropathy in the
           | long term. Benfotiamine is more for managing damage from high
           | glucose. I acknowledge your experience, but if your nerve
           | damage is not from metabolic concerns, I am skeptical.
           | 
           | Why not use lipothiamine or occasionally sulbutiamine instead
           | for this purpose?
        
             | mrblah wrote:
             | the older i get, and more in tune with my body i become,
             | the more i'm thinking everything is connected to
             | metabolism... it is, after all, the primary thing life does
             | as it relates to energy. the b vitamins, and specifically
             | b1 is a precursor/cofactor in almost every metabolic
             | pathway. i only high dosed it for a couple months, just
             | taking 150mg with ala daily now, but my tinnitus that i've
             | had for 20 years is gone unless it gets triggered by movie
             | or video game sound design during explosion or gun fight
             | scenes (ugh)
        
               | OutOfHere wrote:
               | You seem like a good candidate to try lipothiamine.
               | 
               | As for ALA, I take the r- fraction form.
        
           | cyberpunk wrote:
           | Absolutely anecdotal, but my left ear tinnitus recently
           | cleared up and ive been taking a b complex for a couple of
           | weeks for unrelated reasons... Wild.
        
             | mrblah wrote:
             | i did a good deal of searching after i noticed my
             | improvement, but only finding anecdotes, not a lot of real
             | research specifically for tinnitus and b1/benfotiamine.
             | 
             | the cynic in me thinks the research around an un-patentable
             | nutritional fix could only be funded in academia and
             | there's much more serious nerve ailments that get the
             | attention/dollars
        
         | victornomad wrote:
         | I started having tinnitus in both ears 10 months ago.
         | 
         | I don't know the exact cause, but I started noticing it during
         | a job-related burnout and a series of work-related events that
         | significantly increased my stress levels.
         | 
         | It was so bad to the point I had to abruptly quit my job (FYI,
         | freelancing without a safety net sucks).
         | 
         | My doctor gave me pills to help calm my brain and the noise,
         | especially during the night. I also have hypersensitivity, so
         | having a constant noise ringing was not ideal :/
         | 
         | Luckily my ENT doctor recommended that I do multiple things at
         | the same time:                   - tinnitus retraining therapy
         | (TRT), listening to white noise ~4 hours a day         - going
         | to a therapist         - daily meditation         - daily
         | exercise         - reducing salt, chocolate, coffee, etc.
         | 
         | The hissing is still there, but I can now ignore it most of the
         | time.
         | 
         | I started to see life a bit differently since then. Things that
         | disrupt your life can happen so suddenly...
         | 
         | I'm still trying to find a job, but I lost a lot of confidence
         | and developed a bit of a trauma since I don't want to
         | experience burnout again :/
        
           | mouse_ wrote:
           | You can do it.
           | 
           | It will be easy once you start.
        
         | sixtyj wrote:
         | Kids told me that I am losing my hearing. So I went to hearing
         | lab. When I told doctor that I have tinnitus in left ear for
         | almost 10 years, he recommended lorazepam in tough times...
         | that it works. :)
        
           | gridspy wrote:
           | Note - Lorazepam is one of those drugs which causes
           | dependance if you use it regularly. If you find you need it
           | often, get a substitute which is safe to use all the time.
        
             | johnisgood wrote:
             | So... what? Everything causes dependence one way or
             | another. What is the point of a substitute to "use all the
             | time". It even reads funny to me. I would like you to
             | explain what you meant by that. And what would you
             | recommend as a great substitute of benzodiazepines (that
             | are effective AND safe to use at all times)?
        
               | posix_compliant wrote:
               | Parent comment is right. I've used Lorazepam to treat
               | tinnitus. It's not worth it. In the long run it raises
               | your base anxiety level. Currently I'm experimenting with
               | Tizanidine.
        
               | johnisgood wrote:
               | That does not make parent right.
               | 
               | It might not be worth it to you, it might be worth it to
               | someone else.
               | 
               | I would still like to hear about this substitute that is
               | both effective and can be used "all the time".
               | 
               | Tizanidine causes "dependence", too, by the way.
               | 
               | Funny you mention Tizanidine, because that is what I want
               | to try as well for my MS-related muscle spasticity.
               | 
               | Alprazolam works, but I have been using it for years and
               | it would be great to finally get off of them. It does not
               | last long either, and longer acting benzos don't work for
               | me for some reason. I tried diazepam, which was supposed
               | to be just perfect, but it did not work at all. :(
               | 
               | In any case, hoping tizanidine will work for me, we will
               | see.
               | 
               | Let me know if tizanidine works for your tinnitus though,
               | my mom has been "suffering" from it for a long time now.
        
         | epolanski wrote:
         | I'm in your situation.
         | 
         | 38, came out of nowhere few months ago, seen any kind of
         | doctor, I hear this 24/7 whistle in my ear.
         | 
         | Being in silent rooms or trying to sleep is hard.
        
           | jskopek wrote:
           | It's been repeated a lot in this discussion, but don't loose
           | hope. I had a very similar situation and for a while felt
           | like I might not be able to keep living with this condition.
           | A few months later I suddenly realized that I wasn't thinking
           | about it anymore, and then I had to start straining to notice
           | it. The brain does adapt over time
        
         | Towaway69 wrote:
         | I had tinnitus before I knew it was tinnitus - I thought it was
         | normal. I literally thought that everyone had a constant sound
         | in their ears.
         | 
         | It was not until someone explained that they had tinnitus and
         | told me their symptons that I suddenly realised that I too had
         | tinnitus.
         | 
         | Since then it's become harder to ignore it but on the other
         | hard, its nice to know that it's not normal and that others can
         | truly hear _nothing_ - something I do wish I could do: hear
         | nothing. I did recently discovered that head under water helps
         | to reduced the sound.
         | 
         | Acceptance has been my treatment for years, I hear it when
         | there is mental downtime. So it does keep me busy (mentally) so
         | that I don't hear it - ironically tinnitus motivates me to do
         | stuff!
        
           | technothrasher wrote:
           | I've had it as long as I can remember. Like you, I thought it
           | was normal. When I was a little kid I thought that was what
           | the Simon & Garfunkel song "The Sound of Silence" was talking
           | about. Since I suspect I've had it since birth, it doesn't
           | bother me. It's just something that is. I feel bad for the
           | folks who get it later in life and have trouble with it. My
           | neighbor got it a few years ago and it keeps him up at night
           | sometimes.
        
             | mynameisash wrote:
             | > Since I suspect I've had it since birth, it doesn't
             | bother me. It's just something that is. I feel bad for the
             | folks who get it later in life and have trouble with it.
             | 
             | 100%. I remember being rather young - maybe 5? - and
             | listening to the deafening sound of ringing in my ears when
             | laying in bed. Never knew that quiet was supposed to
             | actually be quiet.
             | 
             | I wish I didn't have it, but I've literally never not had
             | it, AFAIK.
             | 
             | Possibly unrelated: I can fall asleep within a minute of
             | laying my head down, almost every single day. Built-in
             | white(ish) noise machine?
        
         | pests wrote:
         | Same situation, basically went away a year later on its own.
         | Every once in a blue moon or when I'm at the boundary of
         | wake|sleep or sleep|wake I'll kinda hear it again but I find if
         | I just acknowledge the sensation, move on and continue what I
         | was doing - it'll be days or weeks until I remember it even
         | happened. Focus on it less.
        
         | mft_ wrote:
         | Exactly the same story for me: right tinnitus just started one
         | day in my 30s; examination, hearing test, MRI all normal. ENT
         | specialist exhausted his diagnostic options then suggested
         | ginger tablets.
         | 
         | It rarely bothers me (although it's always there) but obviously
         | there's a cause and I'd like to find it. I have a suspicion it
         | may be somehow related to neck anatomy and/or postural factors
         | (it sometimes seems to worsen slightly with particular
         | positions) in bed but beyond that I'm at a loss.
        
         | wppick wrote:
         | Try experimenting with diet like cutting out/down on sugar or
         | salt and see if it makes any difference. There's no strong
         | evidence that EMF can cause tinnitus but would be interesting
         | to test that out somehow too (camping/cabin trip in a radio
         | free zone?)
        
         | geophile wrote:
         | I got tinnitus in my late 20s. Forty years later, it's still
         | there. Research into the causes, and treatments, has been
         | disappointingly slow.
         | 
         | I would really like to experience total silence at some point,
         | but that seems very unlikely.
        
         | WanderPanda wrote:
         | I have a strong Tinnitus on one ear after an ear surgery for 8
         | years now. And I usually don't notice it for months at a time,
         | even though it is there all the time (thanks for reminding me
         | :p) So it's not as bad as it might feel in the beginning. I'm
         | mostly bothered by my hearing being generally impaired by it.
         | It sits at ~9kHz but it somehow still makes it significantly
         | harder to comprehend voices.
        
           | r2ob wrote:
           | how did you came with ~9kHz number? I want to know my own LoL
        
             | rclkrtrzckr wrote:
             | I had mine measured a few years ago. I had given some
             | headphones in a quiet room, with a low frequency sinus wave
             | on it. Whenever I said I could hear the tone clearly, they
             | increased the frequency. At one point, the tone blends with
             | my tinnitus tone, that's the whole magic. They then measure
             | the current volume in dB, just by increasing/decreasing the
             | tone's volume.
             | 
             | I'm on 12kHz, vacuum cleaner level.
        
             | cpeterso wrote:
             | Just search online for tinnitus tone generator tests.
        
         | semitones wrote:
         | Remarkably, our experiences are _incredibly_ similar. Left ear,
         | about a year, got all those tests done, specialists don't know
         | other than "that's tinnitus for you - if I had a cure I'd be
         | rich", 98% of the time I tune it out, I live in NYC, early
         | thirties.
         | 
         | If you ever find something that works for you, please reply
         | here @tombert, I'll do the same :)
        
           | ay wrote:
           | Back at some point on HN, I saw https://generalfuzz.net/acrn/
           | - and it seems to be useful at least temporarily - in my and
           | others' anecdata. FWIW.
        
             | dahart wrote:
             | Was going to post this too, I bookmarked it after seeing it
             | on HN and I use it often. Yeah it seems to help me a bit.
             | It seems handy just to identify tinnitus tones, when you
             | have clear tones (I not not everyone with tinnitus does).
             | I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's had more than
             | moderate success with ACRN.
             | 
             | I already posted another comment, but will mention here for
             | GP that the 'White Bursts' noise generator on mynoise.net
             | is where I've experience the strongest tinnitus reaction. I
             | can audibly hear the tinnitus drop with every cycle, and
             | after listening to it for a few minutes, my tinnitus is
             | quieter for maybe a half hour, then it comes back later.
        
         | emeril wrote:
         | maybe see "Won-Taek Choe" - he's a legit smart hearing
         | specialist ENT on UES
         | 
         | that said, prob nothing to do other than wait and hope for the
         | best really
         | 
         | when i had tinnitus following an ear infection years ago, it
         | lasted several months and gradually went away but I always had
         | at least white noise around me and some people say "notch"
         | therapy can be helpful...
        
         | BobbyTables2 wrote:
         | I first got pretty bad tinnitus about 10 years ago while still
         | fairly young. Didn't go to concerts, shoot guns, hammer nails,
         | or any activity typically associated with hearing loss.
         | 
         | At one point it was so loud, it would drown out the sound of a
         | dryer when right next to it.
         | 
         | This was party from impacted earwax but still pretty bad after
         | cleaning.
         | 
         | Hearing test showed substantial high frequency loss (well above
         | speech frequencies)
         | 
         | A few suggestions:
         | 
         | 1) Listening to light music helped me stop focusing on it.
         | 
         | 2) Tried Taurine. Unsure if it helped, didn't hurt. Make sure
         | you aren't low on Vitamin D. That alone causes enough other
         | problems too.
         | 
         | 3) Make sure you don't clench teeth or have dental issues. I
         | think that might be able to aggravate the nerves.
         | 
         | It never went fully away but I'm no longer overtly conscious,
         | just faint in the background. Always aware of light
         | pressure/muffled feeling in affected ear. Changes were slow and
         | gradual but did happen. Doesn't bother me much anymore. Do miss
         | the "sound of silence" but light background music while working
         | is enjoyable .
        
         | jv22222 wrote:
         | I have found notch therapy to be quite helpful. It's basically
         | where you tune a note to your exact tinitus pitch and then
         | create white noise that has every khz EXCEPT your pitch. Then
         | you listen to the notched sound at about the same level or
         | slightly higher than your tinnitus. So, basically your
         | "tinnitus" is notched out of the sound. The theory is it can
         | retrain your brain to not produce the fake sound. I also just
         | find it helps to alleviate the symptom.
         | 
         | My own tinnitus is 15khz which is annoyingly high. And I
         | suspect the reason why tools like Tinnitus Neuromodulator don't
         | help much in my case.
        
           | cpeterso wrote:
           | There are expensive apps and devices to create notched music
           | or white noise. Fortunately, there are also free YouTube
           | videos with noise notched for different frequencies. Identify
           | your tinnitus frequency using one of the web-based tone
           | generator tests, then find and bookmark the video notched for
           | your frequency.
           | 
           | I like "tinnitusreliever610". TBH, I haven't found the
           | notched noise to be any more relief than full spectrum white
           | or pink noise.
           | 
           | https://youtube.com/@tinnitusreliever610
        
         | LeoPanthera wrote:
         | > 10-hour videos on YouTube of TV static
         | 
         | Please consider a local noise generator. Static is
         | incompressible so you're using quite a lot of data.
        
         | stubish wrote:
         | Did you have Covid a short while before noticing? One of the
         | not uncommon but under reported side effects is permanent
         | hearing loss, which associated fallout such as tinnitus.
        
         | butler14 wrote:
         | Another message of hope: I'm mid-late thirties and had the
         | exact same. Daily tinnitus from December 2024 through to around
         | August 2025.
         | 
         | I went through MRI etc to no avail.
         | 
         | Then one day I felt something (extremely deep in my ear) just
         | 'release', like a tube unblocking or pressure equalising. And
         | the sound went away and (fingers crossed) hasn't come back
         | since. This was after daily issues for 8-9 months solid.
        
         | IndySun wrote:
         | There are lots of interconnecting bits inside and around the
         | ear, and with that in mind...
         | 
         | Can you try something? Find a very quiet place, one where you
         | do hear the tinnitus.
         | 
         | Move your jaw as far to left, and then to the right, and notice
         | if the tinnitus stops, changes, or alters at all.
         | 
         | Next, get a firm hold of your earlobe of the tinnitus ear, and
         | pull and hold it away and at various angles from your head; you
         | can do this earlobe move separately or in combination with the
         | jaw movements.
         | 
         | Do any positions improve the tinnitus?
        
         | nobleach wrote:
         | I'm on that same journey. 8 months ago, I was sitting at my
         | desk and all of a sudden my left ear just went out. The ringing
         | was there. I figured the same that it was wax. I've always had
         | wax issues with that ear that require a doctor's office visit.
         | (trying the home kits has only made it worse!) But this time
         | the doctor came in, looked in the ear and said, "there's no wax
         | at all in that ear". What followed sounds much like your
         | journey. Visits to ENT, CT Scans - waiting on an MRI to ensure
         | there's no tumor... All the while I went from having great
         | hearing to having to say, "say that again" all the time.
        
         | thekurst_ wrote:
         | I've had it for years in one ear as well as measured and
         | diagnosed hearing loss in the same ear. At first it would come
         | and go and then it became permanent.
         | 
         | In my experience, I barely notice it on a day-to-day basis.
         | 
         | What I have noticed is that it's worse/noticeable when after a
         | night of drinking and if I'm tired/stressed.
        
         | nswest23 wrote:
         | I am pretty sure I've had it my entire life and for a long time
         | I just thought it was the background noise of the universe.
         | Never bothered me till I figured out that wasn't the case.
        
         | mjsabby wrote:
         | I got it at 39, still have it, you'll be fine.
        
         | xtiansimon wrote:
         | Have you had dental work recently? Do you have a stiff neck?
         | I've heard from other here that inflammation from dental work
         | caused their tinnitus.
        
       | nostromo wrote:
       | Here's my hot take on tinnitus:
       | 
       | First and foremost, ignore it. When you find yourself listening
       | to it, distract yourself and immediately move on.
       | 
       | Secondly, add more white noise into your environment. The best
       | approach I find is just opening a window or adding a little fan
       | or water feature to your desk. White noise generators don't work
       | as well for me, but they can help in a pinch.
       | 
       | I believe that our modern day indoor environments are honestly
       | just too unnaturally quiet anyway.
       | 
       | I'm not joking when I say that the only time I really get annoyed
       | by my tinnitus is when the monthly "cure" for it gets posted on
       | HN. ;-)
        
         | ionwake wrote:
         | Dont know why you are getting downvoted
        
         | wizzwizz4 wrote:
         | While "white noise" is the _colloquial_ phrase, it 's also a
         | technical term that refers to a different noise spectrum - one
         | that _will_ do serious damage to your hearing if you listen to
         | it loudly enough to do anything about tinnitus. (When played on
         | ideal equipment, white noise has _infinite energy_ - which is
         | clearly not what you want to deliver to your ears.) You 're
         | probably thinking of brown noise, pink noise, or perceptually-
         | weighted grey noise.
        
       | janmo wrote:
       | The only way to temporarely get rid of my tinnitus (completely
       | gone or at least very reduced for up to 30 seconds) is to listen
       | to this beep tone from 8 to 12 KHZ:
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNf9nzvnd1k
       | 
       | apparently the phenomenon is called residual inhibition. If only
       | there was a way to make this work permanently...
        
         | tptacek wrote:
         | Whoah, that's weird. I listened to the whole sweep just so I
         | could match it to my tinnitus (turns out: about 10khz), but
         | when I paused it to re-evaluate my own tinnitus, it wasn't
         | there. I mean, it's back now. But still, weird.
        
         | conception wrote:
         | https://youtube.com/shorts/YyT9ZwWy5Jc?si=PoDNVQ4ox24_RW-l
         | 
         | Also works pretty great. If I need a few minutes of actual
         | silence I use that. I think people using TENS and other
         | therapies are basically stimulating the same nerves to treat
         | it.
        
         | atombender wrote:
         | Works for me, too. Interestingly enough, playing the Tinnitus
         | Neuromodulator for 20 seconds (with certain sliders set and
         | some off) also works.
        
         | sumedh wrote:
         | I dont hear anything about 13K Hz while my kid claims he can
         | hear it :(
        
       | timmg wrote:
       | One thing that seems to help me with tinnitus is the Airpods Pro
       | when you customize it for your hearing. Like they have a tool on
       | the iPhone/iPad that will (essentially) set up an equalizer in it
       | that matches your (lack of) hearing.
       | 
       | I think actually stimulating the parts of your hearing that match
       | the tinnitus is what helps. That's why this white noise thing
       | works. But, also, listening to music or watching movies with the
       | Airpods Pro (after configuring) -- I assume -- does something
       | similar.
        
       | kstenerud wrote:
       | I tried it out but it did absolutely nothing for my tinnitus. All
       | it does is put out a bunch of changing tones (my tinnitus never
       | changes tones, so I'm having trouble figuring out what this is
       | supposed to do?).
       | 
       | Lots of people giving good feedback on it, though. What exactly
       | is it about this site that works for other people?
        
       | Arch-TK wrote:
       | I've had a low grade (although who knows, it's not like I can
       | hear someone else's tinnitus to compare) tinnitus for as long as
       | I remember. For my childhood I thought it was just normal to hear
       | this noise when there was no external source of other sound.
       | 
       | Honestly, I never felt particularly negative about it.
       | 
       | I guess if you never know what true silence sounds like, you
       | never know what you are missing.
        
         | VPenkov wrote:
         | Same here. A few years ago I thought maybe the ringing isn't
         | normal. It hadn't occurred to me before that.
         | 
         | I found a YouTube video of a "tinnitus demo" with the right
         | sound and frequency. I could only start hearing it at about 80%
         | volume. I gave my headphones to my partner and she said it was
         | unbearable. I guess I'm used to my normal.
         | 
         | I slightly regret knowing about it, I seem to be paying more
         | attention to it now.
        
         | Barrin92 wrote:
         | I think that's most people. I never even knew that I had
         | tinnitus (still don't know if I do frankly) because if you've
         | put me in a dead silent room I've always heard some very low
         | kind of 'static' for a lack of a better term. Most people I've
         | ever talked to say the same thing, very few people have ever
         | told me they hear absolutely nothing. Only after I kept reading
         | about it did I start to notice it more, I think there's a
         | really big psychological element to it.
        
           | Arch-TK wrote:
           | Tinnitus (at least mine) sounds like a quieter version of the
           | high pitched noise that movies like to use to emulate
           | tinnitus due to a loud noise (explosion).
           | 
           | It's a quieter version of the tinnitus you can personally get
           | if you are close to a loud noise (don't do this
           | intentionally, it is an indication that you've caused
           | yourself some hearing damage).
           | 
           | I've never heard static, I think that honestly sounds closer
           | to what might actually be termed a noise floor. I know what a
           | noise floor sounds like, and I've never heard a noise floor
           | just due to quiet conditions...
           | 
           | IDK, like I said, unfortunately science hasn't found a way to
           | easily and temporarily swap ears.
        
         | EvanAnderson wrote:
         | Similar story here. I hear something like CRT whine all the
         | time (except higher than the typical 15Khz NTSC tube whine).
         | When I was a kid I played with the SOUND statement in GW-BASIC
         | and figured out my tinnitus s was between 17 and 18 Khz
         | (listening for bleating interference between my laptop speaker
         | and the tinnitus). Today my hearing tops out between 12 and 13
         | Khz but I assume the tinnitus whine is still the same old
         | frequency.
         | 
         | My daughter has it, too. My wife doesn't, but my daughter has
         | described it to me.
         | 
         | I haven't felt negative about it except for the time I visited
         | an anechoic chamber exhibit at a local museum (COSI in
         | Columbus, OH) in my early 40s. It really messed with my
         | perception and the tinnitus was much louder than normal for
         | days after. Even thinking about it makes me edgy.
        
         | brandonmenc wrote:
         | Same.
         | 
         | I'm half convinced it's something like blood vessels too close
         | to sound receptor thingies in my ear. Or something similar.
         | 
         | I had a hearing test done a few years ago and my hearing is
         | actually slightly above average for my age.
         | 
         | It would be nice to not have it, but whatever.
        
           | Arch-TK wrote:
           | My hearing is still great, and I haven't noticed it
           | deteriorate (I'm 29, and I've always been careful with my
           | ears as I value having good hearing). I can hear switching
           | noise (from power supplies) and those animal/human deterrent
           | devices.
           | 
           | I don't think my tinnitus is from hearing damage.
        
       | Nux wrote:
       | White noise is key here. Luckily I do not have tinnitus, but I
       | have small children and they sleep great with this on. And so do
       | their parents, especially handy when going on holiday in noisy
       | hotels etc. I can't go on holiday without it now! :)
       | 
       | I've just downloaded this audio track with yt-dlp, placed it on
       | an sdcard and I play it in a loop on a small speaker.
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMfPqeZjc2c
        
         | netule wrote:
         | This appears to be brown noise, not white noise.
         | 
         | I have no affiliation with this macOS app, but I use it for the
         | same reasons you do. It's paid, but worth it IMHO. It generates
         | the noise on your own machine, and you can pick what kind of
         | noise you want to hear: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/brown-
         | noise-ambient-noise/id15....
        
           | dahart wrote:
           | Note that the site that hosts Neuromodulator also has free
           | client-side color noise generators, white, brown, pick, etc.
           | https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoiseGenerator.php
        
       | foxfired wrote:
       | I'm so happy mine is gone. It came in waves for me and funny it
       | enough, it sounded like ocean waves crashing [0]. I used to play
       | ocean sound for my kids to sleep, so I didn't notice that a good
       | part of the sound wasn't coming from the device, but from me. It
       | was unbearable for several weeks before it just disappeared.
       | 
       | [0]:https://idiallo.com/byte-size/nightmare-on-ocean-street
        
       | tarr11 wrote:
       | The drumming technique works for me for a few minutes if I need
       | some temporary relief
       | 
       | https://treblehealth.com/tapping-technique-for-temporary-tin...
        
       | y-c-o-m-b wrote:
       | This is pretty cool, but unfortunately I have somatic tinnitus,
       | so this doesn't work as well. The frequency/tone is very dynamic
       | with my version of tinnitus and I can even change it by moving or
       | massaging my neck (especially at the base of my skull) in certain
       | ways. The good news is that also means there are brief windows of
       | time where I have zero tinnitus because my neck and muscles are
       | in a position to temporarily fix whatever underlying issue is
       | causing it.
        
         | charleshn wrote:
         | I can relate.
         | 
         | I had tinnitus for over 10 years. My tinnitus was not the usual
         | ringing type, it was some sort of humming, low frequency noise.
         | The frequency was not constant, it could vary. It could
         | sometimes stop for 5-10 minutes, e.g. after a hot bath.
         | 
         | Went to see many specialists, tried everything, to no avail.
         | 
         | One day I started experiencing recurrent tension and light pain
         | in my neck and shoulder blades, so I started doing some neck
         | and shoulder blades stretches several times a day.
         | 
         | After a few weeks, the pain was gone, and I realised the
         | tinnitus had stopped. This was maybe 2 years ago (I am still
         | doing those exercises multiple times a day).
        
         | joe_the_user wrote:
         | I assume that I have somatic tinnitus because my tinnitus seems
         | very associated with tension in my jaw, should and head. But
         | every medical practitioner I talk to about this just seems say
         | "uh...huh...what" and makes no effort to understand or
         | investigate the phenomena.
         | 
         | I have found doing the Alexander Technique helps me quite a bit
         | with the tinnitus.
        
       | gikkman wrote:
       | I've had tinnitus since I was a child. It's probably due to a
       | procedure they used to do around here an children with ear
       | infections. Nowadays, I rarely notice it. But I remember in my
       | teens, it sometimes was absolutely excruciating because I had no
       | way of coping or tuning it out. This is very interesting. I might
       | consider trying it. If there's something I'd really want to
       | experience at least once, it's that "absolute silence" so many
       | mention when being out in the forest it country side.
        
         | CGMthrowaway wrote:
         | Ear tube surgery?
        
           | WarOnPrivacy wrote:
           | > Ear tube surgery
           | 
           | Almost certainly. My Dr feels mine created a weakness that
           | enabled tinnitus to develop 4 decades later.
        
             | gikkman wrote:
             | Yeah, thanks. Didn't know the English term. I had them for
             | years, and I've been told by my doctor that's the likely
             | cause to me having it for as long as I can remember.
        
               | WarOnPrivacy wrote:
               | I'll add this. When I first mentioned it to my Dr (GP,
               | not ENT), he looked in my ears and saw scar tissue. That
               | was all he had to go on.
               | 
               | I was also driving an old car w/ heavy cabin noise and
               | the timing fits. I recently moved into a different old
               | car and will see if anything changes.
               | 
               | edit: The last time I tried to gauge my freq, I put it at
               | about 1150Hz. Today I would say it's closer to 5300Hz. I
               | guess ignoring it includes ignoring changes.
               | 
               | ref: https://onlinetonegenerator.com/
        
       | larrykubin wrote:
       | For me personally, looking for solutions like this and
       | researching tinnitus makes it more noticeable and worse. The best
       | approach for me has been to pretend it doesn't exist and is
       | insignificant, and even though it's still there after 7 years, it
       | doesn't bother me as much anymore.
        
         | tinnythrowaway wrote:
         | One of the insidious things about anxiety and panic disorders
         | is the feedback loop of focusing on the distressing symptoms,
         | which causes more distress, which creates more symptoms, etc.
         | For many the "way out" for anxiety is to create space and
         | simply allow the unwanted sensations and feelings to exist.
         | 
         | Tinnitus and anxiety are comorbid. It's healthy to just
         | practice letting it be if you can.
        
         | WarOnPrivacy wrote:
         | > looking for solutions like this and researching tinnitus
         | makes it more noticeable and worse. The best approach for me
         | has been to pretend it doesn't exist and is insignificant
         | 
         | This is me. I have a mental distance worked out. Posting in
         | this thread will require a bit of recovery time.
         | 
         | However, I recently learned by best friend (lives distant now
         | but we chat daily) has tinnitus to the point where it affects
         | discerning speech - so it's up there. But it doesn't bother him
         | at all to think and talk about it. He's never felt any distress
         | from it.
         | 
         | I'd never heard anyone say that. I changed the topic because I
         | didn't want to put his zen at risk.
        
       | reify wrote:
       | I too had exactly the same constsnt ringing in my left ear.
       | 
       | I could not get to sleep because the noise was so loud and
       | intense.
       | 
       | It reminded me of those spy films where they torture someone
       | playing loud heavy metalcore all day and night.
       | 
       | I had a X-ray, ultra-sound and two Consultants had a look.
       | 
       | Both said that there was nothing wrong with my ear. No ear wax,
       | no damage, no issues at all.
       | 
       | They both mentioned that tense facial and neck muscles may be a
       | cause.
       | 
       | As well as the constant ringing, there is a sound like a central
       | eating system, thumping and groaning away, in both my ears too. I
       | initially thought the thumping and groaning was the Mrs snoring.
       | 
       | I bought some earloops thinking my ears were too sensitive and I
       | was somehow hearing noises from the houses down the road and the
       | motorway traffic 3 miles away. to no avail, even with the
       | earloops blocking all exterior noise, I still had the high
       | pitched and low piched internal noises.
       | 
       | I found a way to reduce the noise.
       | 
       | I was laying in bed one night and I was relaxing my jaw when I
       | noticed that if I opened my mouth and let my jaw hang loose all
       | the noises stopped.
       | 
       | So over a month or so I tried to train my jaw to be less tense
       | and more relaxed.
       | 
       | For me it worked.
       | 
       | it was my jaw.
        
       | vinc wrote:
       | I started hearing tinnitus a decade ago in a quiet room at night
       | when I came back home after two years traveling the world at
       | around 30 yo. Over the following months it became louder and
       | noticed it more, then after maybe a year I could hear it all the
       | time. During the day I could live with it but in the middle of
       | the night I could not get back to sleep after waking up. It was
       | causing a lot of anxiety because I was afraid of how much louder
       | it may become.
       | 
       | I was thinking that maybe I cough something during my travels so
       | I went to see a few specialists but they found nothing.
       | 
       | What I understand now is that the cause is probably all the
       | vipassana meditation I did and some psychedelics I experimented
       | with during my travel which opened some filters I had in my mind
       | blocking sensor noise. It's the most plausible explanation for
       | me.
       | 
       | The noise was probably always there, or maybe it got louder when
       | I become older, but I never noticed it until it became
       | disturbing.
       | 
       | A decade later the noise is still there, all the time, but it's
       | not an issue at all anymore. It's not louder than before, and I
       | have no negative feelings associated with it. I made peace with
       | it and I can now easily ignore it, or to be more accurate, I can
       | live with it and it'll disappear on its own after a short time
       | until I put my attention back to it (voluntary or not).
       | 
       | As I'm writing this in a quiet room it's very loud, but that's
       | fine, it just sensor noise. Soon enough I'll stop hearing it if I
       | don't focus on it.
       | 
       | I hope reading this can help. I wish I had someone back then
       | telling me that it would turn out okay to just accept it after
       | doing some medical checks.
        
         | WarOnPrivacy wrote:
         | > It was causing a lot of anxiety because I was afraid of how
         | much louder it may become.
         | 
         | Been there. After a few years of slow increase, mine suddenly
         | cranked up to 11 (due to an infection, it turned out). There
         | were a few rough weeks while I worked out counter & coping
         | measures. I still need those measures from time to time.
         | measures:beltone app & speakers at the head of my bed.
         | A half doz (non-controlled) insomnia meds to rotate thru.
         | I discovered UK Great Railway Journeys vids;             they
         | interfered with distress feedback loops
        
       | jounus wrote:
       | My tinnitus is at 14khz, so every tone in this generator is too
       | low.
        
         | stubish wrote:
         | Do the sounds actually need to match in pitch? My understanding
         | is these sounds attempt to stop your brain noticing or perhaps
         | generating the tinnitus, rather than masking the noise with
         | something louder (like people do with a fan or noise
         | generators)
        
       | stacktraceyo wrote:
       | My AirPod pros gave me or really exacerbated my tinnitus
        
       | 3shv wrote:
       | Why is everyone here having tinnitus in their left ear? Including
       | myself.
        
         | munchlax wrote:
         | Because I can't hear you over the sound of stereo tinitus
        
         | epolanski wrote:
         | Left ear too. Was noticing disproportionately more left ear
         | sufferers but thought it was a bias.
        
         | senectus1 wrote:
         | huh... me too
        
       | rufus_foreman wrote:
       | A bunch of people with tinnitus in their left ear. That's kind of
       | weird. That's what I have.
       | 
       | Anyone with tinnitus only in their right ear?
       | 
       | And yeah, I've had it since the early 90's and it mostly only
       | bothers me now when someone brings it up. Thanks Hacker News!
        
         | BobbyTables2 wrote:
         | I only have it in right ear.
         | 
         | First kid had colic and measured crying at close to 100db,
         | basically two months exposure to a jackhammer... Always held on
         | right side -- maybe a coincidence...
        
         | YZF wrote:
         | Right ear here.
        
       | throwaway8902 wrote:
       | Lots of people posting in here about how they can't figure out
       | the cause of their tinnitus.
       | 
       | Mine was ear wax. I went to an ENT doctor for an unrelated issue,
       | he pulled a big plug of wax out of my ear, and my tinnitus (which
       | was quite bad and had a very sudden onset) totally disappeared.
       | 
       | If you have it, go get a doctor to look in your ear before you
       | give up and decide to try to live with it.
        
       | ufko_org wrote:
       | I have mine since 2007 in both ears. Simply accept it.
        
       | bookmtn wrote:
       | Suggest trying Brown Noise for a bit of relief.
        
       | benbojangles wrote:
       | 36yrs with tinnitus, but this website looks like what happens
       | when chatgpt and a tinnitus sufferer vibe codes better than
       | nothing I suppose ... Or is it?
        
         | jonway wrote:
         | No, it's pretty old and created by an Audio Engineer.
        
         | fragmede wrote:
         | Sounds like it's not, but even if it was made by a doctor that
         | desperately wants to bring relief to the tinnitus sufferers of
         | the world who used AI to create it, what difference would it
         | make?
        
       | upcoming-sesame wrote:
       | I started having tinnitus right after a COVID infection.
       | 
       | it's not too bad, only one ear and it comes and goes pretty
       | quickly.
       | 
       | For me the COVID correlation is 100%, but I haven't found too
       | much literature about it and wonder if anyone experienced it as
       | well
        
         | cyberpunk wrote:
         | Mine started after covid also, see further up tho it actually
         | recently stopped and i couldn't figure out what had changed
         | apart from taking a complex b supplement for a couple months..
         | Cant hurt maybe?
        
         | stubish wrote:
         | Partial hearing loss is a not uncommon side effect of COVID
         | infection, and tinnitus a not uncommon side effect of hearing
         | loss. Anything that causes inflammation in the wrong areas can
         | do it, but COVID is the main one right now and why audiologists
         | are busy. There is a steroid treatment that apparently can help
         | if prescribed almost immediately (48 hours?), but it didn't
         | help in a family members case.
        
       | cryptoegorophy wrote:
       | Whoever is suffering with tinnitus, try this - firmly press on
       | your jaw muscles - if your tinnitus amplifies then it is related
       | to your clenched jaw muscles! A therapy on these muscles will
       | either reduce the tinnitus or will completely make it go away!
       | Wish my doctor told me that years ago instead of doing useless ct
       | scans and hearing checks. Wish you all silent nights!
        
         | aivisol wrote:
         | Can you please tell what kind of therapy you did ?
        
           | fragmede wrote:
           | physical therapy exercises, eg https://youtu.be/lwWDbZrGDPg
        
             | cryptoegorophy wrote:
             | Yes. This pretty much. As soon as you know where to dig it
             | becomes so much easier.
        
         | elric wrote:
         | My tinnitus gets louder when I press my jaw/cheek, but no
         | amount of neck/jaw therapy, exercises, or dry needling has made
         | any difference.
         | 
         | The scans and hearing tests are not useless, they help rule out
         | the nastier causes of tinnitus. Calling them useless and going
         | straight for jaw therapy is potentially dangerous advice for
         | some.
         | 
         | Sure, give it a try, but don't skip the rest of the diagnostic
         | process.
        
       | sayrer wrote:
       | It is striking that it sounds like Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)
        
       | pipes wrote:
       | Bit off topic but anyone here use white noise with their young
       | kids, as a sleep aid?
       | 
       | I'm really paranoid about giving them tinnitus. I am just back
       | from holiday with extended family, I mentioned to my brother that
       | the white noise he is using with his kids is extremely loud, he's
       | using a phone app. To the point my daughter moved rooms out of
       | his kids room. Google ai agrees with me that hearing damage is
       | definitely a risk. I mentioned this to him and it went down
       | really badly. I'll not mention it again.
        
       | BraverHeart wrote:
       | How would replacing a buzzing sound problem with a synthetic
       | buzzing solve the problem of... not hearing any buzzing?
       | 
       | It's like trying to put out fire by lighting more fire, what am I
       | missing?
        
         | dag11 wrote:
         | Because the brain is really weird, and tinnitus is often a
         | completely internal neurological phenomenon.
         | 
         | The sound machine linked here was really helpful for me when I
         | had some distressing tinnitus due to concerts several years
         | ago. If I listened to this somewhat loudly for several minutes,
         | I'd then get about 2-3 minutes of what felt like pure silence.
         | And for a little while after that as the tinnitus came back, my
         | brain interpreted it as a gentle white noise instead of a
         | continuous high-frequency tone. Then it went back to the tone a
         | little while later. So if I was having trouble sleeping due to
         | hyperfocusing on the tone I'd first pop in some airpods and
         | listen to this for a few mins.
         | 
         | Nowadays my tinnitus is much less bothersome. Probably a
         | combination of objectively getting a little better, and me
         | getting more acclimated to it. Plus I've been using good
         | musician's ear plugs for all my concerts and raves since then
         | which stopped it from getting worse.
        
         | alt187 wrote:
         | It's like how swimming is confortable but having a wet spot on
         | your shirt isn't. Your tinnitus dilutes in the harmonic
         | background noise.
        
       | exasperaited wrote:
       | Like others I have tinnitus that only now really rears its head
       | in extremely quiet environments or when I see the word "tinnitus"
       | or someone says it. Then I am reminded I have it.
       | 
       | I think I have always had it; I became more aware it was abnormal
       | and unusual in my twenties when I realised that TV dramas use a
       | similar high pitch sound to indicate someone who has had sudden
       | hearing damage (after an explosion etc.) and then it really
       | bothered me for a while because I was living in a very quiet
       | area.
       | 
       | About six years ago now I was at a gig at a local venue when I
       | experienced hearing loss due to a freakish bit of bass feedback.
       | I was in a particular corner of the room and clearly experienced
       | an overtone that almost nobody else heard at all, and at a volume
       | nobody else experienced; pure bad luck. The sound made me run
       | away automatically. I was thirty yards away before I even really
       | comprehended that I was leaving.
       | 
       | I experienced considerable hearing loss -- muffled, incomplete
       | hearing -- for several days. Nearly complete for the first day.
       | 
       | But when my tinnitus came back I realised I felt sure I was going
       | to get my hearing back essentially entirely. It was curiously
       | reassuring. I've never really been stressed by it since.
       | 
       | So I have what I expect to be lifelong tinnitus. But also
       | earplugs now.
        
       | throwaway233927 wrote:
       | There is a company called Auricle that is working on releasing
       | their tinnitus treatment device. To my knowledge, they are the
       | only tinnitus treatment device company with a properly blinded
       | study showing efficacy. They have started taking outside
       | (accredited) investors for those interested:
       | 
       | https://www.auricleinc.com/joinourmission
        
       | lexx wrote:
       | Have tinnitus 20 years now. Very loud. Can hear it in cinema
       | while watching action movies. First year was depressing. I
       | couldn't believe I will never enjoy silence again. Now I don't
       | care. It's my little friend. Really. Life can be amazing even
       | with extreme tinnitus
        
         | megadopechos wrote:
         | Same. I got it when I was 19 from recording music and the
         | audiologist said, "This is something only old people get, and
         | even then very gradually. You will either go crazy or
         | depressed." But I've gotten used to it and I wouldn't say it's
         | been a huge detriment.
        
           | diego_sandoval wrote:
           | > This is something only old people get
           | 
           | Such a lie. I started getting mild tinnitus at 20 from
           | playing in rock bands. Then at 24 it got less mild from
           | partying. Then at 27 it got worse, I don't know why.
        
       | brianhama wrote:
       | I suddenly lost the hearing in my left ear at the age of 24. One
       | moment I was fine, eating a slice of pizza, the next moment I
       | suddenly could sense something was wrong. I tried to stand up and
       | walk, but my balance was gone. My ear felt full and there was a
       | strange metallic echo. I waited about 24 hours and it hadn't gone
       | away, so I went to the urgent care. By that time, just standing
       | up was enough to cause me to vomit. I've had a pretty healthy
       | life, so everything that was happening was rather disconcerting
       | to me!
       | 
       | The doctors at urgent care erroneously diagnosed the problem as
       | dehydration as a result of my telling them I had played tennis
       | earlier before the incident. They sent me home with instructions
       | to drink lots of water. After waiting another 48 hours completely
       | unable to hear or even stand up, I went back to the urgent care.
       | This time, they diagnosed it as an ear infection and gave me
       | antibiotics. Over the next two weeks, my balance slowly returned,
       | but what little hearing I still had slowly deteriorated further.
       | About a month after it started, I finally was referred to an
       | audiologist that concluded that I was completely deaf in my left
       | ear, possibly due to a viral infection, but there isn't any way
       | to know for sure the cause. Had it been treated with steroids
       | immediately, it might have saved my hearing.
       | 
       | I am now 40 years old and have lived with being single sided deaf
       | for half my life. Initially I didn't think much of it. I've
       | slowly realized it has had a profound impact on my personality
       | and sense of identity. I am much less social due to the
       | difficulty I have hearing in group settings. Conversations are
       | frustrating because it takes so much effort to hear the other
       | person properly. I am reluctant to tell people about my condition
       | because I don't want to be seen as handicapped in any way.
       | Usually by the time I do end up telling someone, they say they
       | had already figured as much.
       | 
       | Tinnitus is a major daily issue as well. I can't seem to
       | understand how this website helps though.
        
         | Cerium wrote:
         | My wife is deaf in her left ear as well. She doesn't usually
         | tell people, but does tell people that she likes to walk on the
         | left and sit on the left side of rectangular tables.
         | 
         | One interesting effect is that I have developed a preference
         | for sitting or walking on people's right hand side, especially
         | with good friends or people I respect.
         | 
         | The most interesting effect is I have noticed how much people
         | take for granted the ability to sense where sound is coming
         | from. Early on in our relationship I would occasionally perform
         | "magic tricks" where I know immediately where a sound is. She
         | would ask: how did you know where it was?
        
         | nozzlegear wrote:
         | > One moment I was fine, eating a slice of pizza, the next
         | moment I suddenly could sense something was wrong. I tried to
         | stand up and walk, but my balance was gone. My ear felt full
         | and there was a strange metallic echo. I waited about 24 hours
         | and it hadn't gone away, so I went to the urgent care. By that
         | time, just standing up was enough to cause me to vomit. I've
         | had a pretty healthy life, so everything that was happening was
         | rather disconcerting to me!
         | 
         | This mirrors what turned out to be the onset of my pulsatile
         | tinnitus - especially the "strange metallic echo". I remember
         | sitting at my desk listening to the radio when I noticed it
         | sounded like the radio's speakers were slightly out of sync
         | with each other. I took my headphones off and listened, and my
         | coworker's voice sounded metallic and robotic, almost exactly
         | like a dalek from Doctor Who.
         | 
         | By the time I got to the doctor (same day), the metallic echo
         | had passed but I had that fullness feeling in my ear that you
         | describe and my doctor couldn't diagnose. Long story short, I'm
         | not completely deaf but I have reduced hearing and permanent
         | pulsatile tinnitus in my right ear.
         | 
         | I've had regular tinnitus since I was a kid, and I've
         | thankfully been able to adjust to hearing the sound of my own
         | heartbeat in my ear at all hours of the day without too much
         | trouble. But when I describe what it's like to friends and
         | family, I like to joke that it's like the heartbeat in Edgar
         | Allan Poe's _The Tell-tale Heart_.
         | 
         | > I am now 40 years old and have lived with being single sided
         | deaf for half my life. Initially I didn't think much of it.
         | I've slowly realized it has had a profound impact on my
         | personality and sense of identity. I am much less social due to
         | the difficulty I have hearing in group settings. Conversations
         | are frustrating because it takes so much effort to hear the
         | other person properly.
         | 
         | My reduced hearing has affected me more than I thought it did,
         | and I've only come to realize it very recently. It's difficult
         | for me to help my wife with her birding hobby because I'm
         | always pointing in the wrong direction, for example. It also
         | takes a lot of my patience not to get irritable when she's
         | trying to talk to me while we're watching tv or listening to a
         | book in the car, because I have a hard time tuning out things I
         | can hear in my good ear and focusing on her with my bad ear.
        
       | Cold_Miserable wrote:
       | I have low pitch rumbling in my right ear. MRI was useless.
       | Hearing test "perfect". Its hard to sleep without background
       | noise. I think its a damaged blood vessel in my brain or neck:
       | veinous stenosis.
        
         | elric wrote:
         | It could well be that. An MRA and MRV could confirm or rule out
         | those suspicions. If the damaged vessel can be found, it might
         | be treatable by stenting.
         | 
         | Check out whooshers (dot com) or /r/pulsatiletinnitus for two
         | supportive communities with some good advice.
        
       | r2ob wrote:
       | I've had tinnitus since 2018. I got used to it. it's not the
       | worst thing for me. I'm 5'2" bald guy LoL
       | 
       | If you're suffering from tinnitus, remember, at least you're not
       | bald and 5'2" tall.
        
         | gigatree wrote:
         | My condolences. At least you're jacked.
        
         | grugagag wrote:
         | Tinnitus is extremly annoying when you remember about it but as
         | soon as your attention goes elsewhere it's almost not bothering
         | at all, you're so used to it that it's hard to notice it.
        
         | jamiek88 wrote:
         | Well shorter guys live ~5 years longer it appears so you've got
         | that going for you!
        
       | shinycode wrote:
       | I thought I was alone but there is so many comments I wonder how
       | much people is there and if it's really random or if there is
       | common sources like some stress, airpods or some kind of
       | psychoacoustic event. I have like 3 different frequencies and it
       | << exploded >> in a stressful event at work. I always thought it
       | was music all day with AirPods but it might be stress actually
       | because everytime I'm tired and stressed it's unbearable. A
       | nightmare that we learn to live with. I often ask myself what the
       | sound would look like if demodulated and de-pitched if that makes
       | sense. It might seem weird but a voice modulated at a very high
       | frequency and pitch might look like those kind of noises or I am
       | wrong ?
        
         | elric wrote:
         | Stress and "posture" are certainly big contributors. Any kind
         | of pressure on the veins and nerves around the ear can cause
         | tinnitus, which includes the muscles in your neck, many of
         | which attach to your shoulders. Sitting at a desk all day, or
         | looking down at a phone, is probably a big contributing factor
         | for many of us.
         | 
         | Stress can also cause us to subconsciously clench our jaws,
         | which again can contribute.
         | 
         | Feeling stressed or fatigued certainly lowers my mental
         | tolerance for annoying bullshit like tinnitus.
        
       | fernly wrote:
       | None of the sliders sound anything at all like my tinnitus, which
       | is a very high complex hiss, maybe up around 6-9Khz? and steady,
       | or varying slowly in volume. But no beeps or boops like this
       | system.
        
         | austinjp wrote:
         | It's not meant to mimic tinnitus, it's intended to help you
         | cope with tinnitus. Tweak the settings until you find an
         | arrangement that helps you. Of course, there are no guarantees.
         | Personally, I like it.
        
       | altairprime wrote:
       | I wish this would have more upper range sounds; it barely touches
       | on the >15khz range at all and is at least two octaves below my
       | tinnitus across the board.
        
       | abrichr wrote:
       | See also: https://audionotch.com/app/tune/
        
       | rhyperior wrote:
       | Periodically my tinnitus will disappear. When it does, it often
       | takes a bit of time to consciously figure out what's different
       | and then I realize my constant buzzing companion has gone away.
       | The last time it disappeared I had a head cold and congestion and
       | that was enough to provide glorious, complete silence.
        
       | dahart wrote:
       | The white burst generator reduces my tinnitus for a while. It's
       | less effective than it used to be, but when the silence part of
       | the cycle starts, I can hear my tinnitus drop in volume.
       | https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteBurstsNoiseGenerator....
       | 
       | Neuromodulator certainly masks my tinnitus, but doesn't reduce
       | it. Sometimes I feel like it's a little worse when I turn off the
       | sound.
       | 
       | Mynoise.net is great though. The speech jammer is awesome in
       | noisy places, and layering noise and thunderstorms helps me work.
       | I'm a happy subscriber.
        
         | Enk1du wrote:
         | I play with the timers to layer different sounds in and out.
         | It's the best pomodoro timer out there, for me.
        
       | doganugurlu wrote:
       | I've noticed that my tinnitus increases significantly with
       | intense exercise, specifically exercises that affect the
       | neck/shoulder area like pull ups.
       | 
       | If you have tinnitus, it's worth a try to massage or work on
       | relaxing those areas.
        
         | mickelsen wrote:
         | Yup, I had massive success with a theragun around the traps,
         | and gentle massage around the SCM area for the ocassional flare
         | up. Also caffeine use, vigorous exercise, loud fans, teeth
         | clenching and sleeping on the side with the neck bent almost
         | reliably triggers it back. But interestingly, after the initial
         | flare during the pandemic and allergy season, the noise
         | subsided with oral steroids. Now it's the occasional reminder
         | maybe a few times a month, always the right ear, then it goes
         | away.
        
       | roninski wrote:
       | For me, getting tinnitus was most likely me being dumb and
       | standing right in front of a massive wall of speakers without
       | earplugs, when I went to see The Bug performing. It was somewhere
       | around 2010 and I wasn't nearly as aware of what it could've
       | caused as I am now. I got this ringing in my right ear ever
       | since, and just learned to live with it.
        
       | PeterStuer wrote:
       | I got tinnitus from a wornout hardisk bearing in a Toshiba laptop
       | over 20 years ago. You don't realize how loud and close they are
       | to your ear until it is too late.
        
       | harvey9 wrote:
       | I like that they chose sending an email newsletter over having a
       | social media channel - avoiding another type of unwanted noise.
        
       | beingfit wrote:
       | I'm confused. What if none of the tones or sliders match the
       | sound of my tinnitus? Mine is a very low frequency hum or buzz. I
       | find all the sliders on this page to be a high frequency sound.
        
       | skopje wrote:
       | My first reaction to this was, "this is dumb and annoying", and
       | then I played with it for a few minutes and found a set of levels
       | that were causing my symptoms to briefly go away. It still isn't
       | perfect, but a combination of Steve Seq and Pulses High creates
       | "gaps" in my tinnitus, where my brain seems to "forget" about it
       | briefly and I don't hear it. But then it comes back a millisecond
       | or so later. I don't think I could get work done with this on all
       | day, but it has more effect on my symptoms than other websites
       | I've tried. It's really interesting, like there are brief
       | (millisecond) periods of no tinnitus. [I've had it in my left ear
       | for probably 35 years (I played in a punk band in the early 80's
       | with no hearing protection but it didn't show up until a decade
       | later).]
       | 
       | Keep at it, I think you're on to something!
        
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