Tinnitus sufferers: ever find anything that helps?

Yeah, my ENT told me one week ago that I had the hearing expected from one person of my age (45) nothing below the average. I went thru two tests, one normal audiometry and another test where I was just passively listening to unilateral noises produced by earplugs.

So I assume we all lose some hearing with age.

But I have read so many times about people with excellent audiograms having horrible tinnitus, that I can just think it is very multifactorial.

Mins for example is exacerbated with neck problems and bruxism, I had no tinnitus until I began to have neck and jaw issues and I suppose my audiogram didn´t change from one day to the other.
 
Mohi said:
Yeah, my ENT told me one week ago that I had the hearing expected from one person of my age (45) nothing below the average. I went thru two tests, one normal audiometry and another test where I was just passively listening to unilateral noises produced by earplugs.

So I assume we all lose some hearing with age.

But I have read so many times about people with excellent audiograms having horrible tinnitus, that I can just think it is very multifactorial.

Mins for example is exacerbated with neck problems and bruxism, I had no tinnitus until I began to have neck and jaw issues and I suppose my audiogram didn´t change from one day to the other.
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Essentially not everyone with tinnitus has hearing loss, but most people with hearing loss have tinnitus. Usually as the hearing loss increases the tinnitus perception increases. Outside world gets quieter, tinnitus seems louder.

I’ve definitely seen a lot of tinnitus perception related to muscle/skeletal issues with the neck and jaw, real common with TMJ, cervical issues etc.

Bottom line as far as musicians go though is we know noise exposure can damage hearing, and often results in tinnitus. You don’t want to have to deal with either, especially if it’s largely preventable, so protect your hearing, even if you really love standing in front of that cranked 4x12 lol
 
Yeah, we unfortunately too often learn only the hard way. Even if mine was only muscle/skeletal induced or exacerbated, since got evident I play at home with a SPL meter, always below 75 db, and have stopped going to concerts, I think I have become even a bit paranoid by taking with me always a set of Earpeace plugs.

And also, listening to the Axe by monitors makes me feel ear fatigued; I have found myself much comfortable with my good old combo amp, maybe need a external cabinet for my Axe too.
 
Mohi said:
Yeah, we unfortunately too often learn only the hard way. Even if mine was only muscle/skeletal induced or exacerbated, since got evident I play at home with a SPL meter, always below 75 db, and have stopped going to concerts, I think I have become even a bit paranoid by taking with me always a set of Earpeace plugs.

And also, listening to the Axe by monitors makes me feel ear fatigued; I have found myself much comfortable with my good old combo amp, maybe need a external cabinet for my Axe too.
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Monitors can be fatiguing no doubt, but often it’s a symptom of a harsh mix. With a cab your getting less high end content and it’s also usually not on axis. Monitors are often at ear level and accurately produce those highs, so what might sound smooth with the treble turned up via a cab can sound like icepick city via near field monitors.

you can always dial the monitors back a little too, I run my Scepters with the highs down -2dB. Less accurate but more pleasing to my ears. I’m not doing critical mixing though for paid clients so am willing to trade off a little absolute accuracy.
 
Yeah the off axis thing is totally true, I have my set a bit outwards, not in that triangle where they and your head are a triangle. Maybe I just miss the amp in a room thing :)
 
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Mohi said:
Yeah the off axis thing is totally true, I have my set a bit outwards, not in that triangle there they and your head are a triangle. Maybe I just miss the amp in a room thing :)
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put them on the floor, face one backwards, “amp in room” for days lol
 
lqdsnddist said:
Essentially not everyone with tinnitus has hearing loss, but most people with hearing loss have tinnitus. Usually as the hearing loss increases the tinnitus perception increases. Outside world gets quieter, tinnitus seems louder.
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That’s my situation.

Yesterday I spent an hour with my audiologist. There are two theories about frequency matching, notching and the opposite. Neither is going to work. I measured my tinnitus fifty years ago. It has frequencies which my ears can no longer hear.

Mohi said:
Most hearing aids barely reach 10K Hz and there is a great percentage of people with good audiograms until 8K and some damage beyond.
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Now here’s an interesting thing which I learned about some modern hearing aids. Frequencies in the 6 to 9 kHz range are detuned towards 6kHz. The principle is that people who have lost the top end of their hearing are helped to hear aspirants. For anyone who can hear that high it just adds artifacts. Last week I spent time trying to find an annoying buzz/rattle on my acoustic guitar. I checked the fret heights, checked the bridge, even put a camera inside to look for a loose wire. With the detune feature turned off the problem went away. It reminded me of the way that some AxeFX firmware upgrades would remove artifacts which had been annoying me.
 
There is a lot of the marketing dept involved when it comes to HA features and spec sheets. Some models will claim 10-12khz response levels, but the fine print reveals only being able to put out those tones at like 40dB, making those frequencies rather inaudible to most people’s loss. So why claim it ?

because it sounds better than the brand that does 9hkz. It’s just like monitor speakers etc, it’s all about having a spec that appears superior to another brand, like saying they are “flat” to 22khz. Would anyone hear a difference or would it make a meaningful useful over 20khz ? Not really but it reads better so they put it in the ad copy.

kind of a shame about HA’s, they are essentially medical devices but they are marketed just like consumer electronics.
 
I discovered something else about tinnitus, baby's cries can make them louder for hours !
Part of me is laughing, but part of me hurts :D
 
Roland said:
That’s my situation.

Yesterday I spent an hour with my audiologist. There are two theories about frequency matching, notching and the opposite. Neither is going to work. I measured my tinnitus fifty years ago. It has frequencies which my ears can no longer hear.



Now here’s an interesting thing which I learned about some modern hearing aids. Frequencies in the 6 to 9 kHz range are detuned towards 6kHz. The principle is that people who have lost the top end of their hearing are helped to hear aspirants. For anyone who can hear that high it just adds artifacts. Last week I spent time trying to find an annoying buzz/rattle on my acoustic guitar. I checked the fret heights, checked the bridge, even put a camera inside to look for a loose wire. With the detune feature turned off the problem went away. It reminded me of the way that some AxeFX firmware upgrades would remove artifacts which had been annoying me.
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WOW, 50 years with tinnitus, a lifetime ..... great info about hearing aids, thanks
 
Mohi said:
WOW, 50 years with tinnitus, a lifetime ..... great info about hearing aids, thanks
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There are a surprising number of kids with tinnitus, and it goes undiagnosed often because no one asks about it and they don’t know it’s not normal so they don’t mention it anyone. It’s like “wait, you mean you all don’t hear that noise constantly..?”
 
Longer than that. I’m 66, and my ears have always whistled. When I was 16, and measuring my hearing range with oscillators in the school physics lab, I asked other people what frequency their tinnitus was. Until then I thought that it was a natural part of hearing, and that everyone had it.
 
I'm mono. :rolleyes: I suffer from terrible ringing in just one ear which has been a burden for years.
A week or two back I decided to buy some in-ear bluetooth headphones and once home with the battery charged I gave them a try.
"Strange," I thought, "One of them is broken..." So they were switched from left to right ear and vice versa. Still the same. It seems as if my hearing has been going downhill in my right ear for ages and I seem to have gone mono.
The tinnitus varies though with its intensity and volume (in my head) from day to day.

A few years back a surgeon suggested that he could do an operation that would basically destroy my inner ear but he could not confirm 100% if it would get rid of the ringing noise so I elected to give the operation a miss. (God bless the free NHS (National Health Service)) in the UK!. I suffer by the way with Meniere's disease which was the reason for the suggested surgery.
Bedtime is often the worst time of day (night?) when the noise drives me crazy.
Never mind though, I'm still on the lookout for a pair of decent studio monitors to use with my AX8. My wife can listen to me in stereo. :)
 
Hello Folks;

For the last few months, I've been taking a supplement especially designed to address tinnitus: https://soundbites.com.

I've had very good results from these supplements.

Previously, I was using an Oxytocin nose spray, which worked pretty good, but I was having inconsistent results. I believe due to the mechanism of delivery.

Again, my tinnitus is not gone, but it is ameliorated even more than the Oxytocin nose spray.
 
Mine's gotten worse during pandemic I think due to staying home more in a quiet environment - I have noticed that my level of social interaction is somewhat inversely related to my level of tinnitus perception - definitely some psychology at play.
 
...ahhh ..tinnitus, my Old Friend.. No-matter where I am, there you are. :0)

Had it since I was a kid. I still remember going for those hearing tests as a kid; locked in a sound-proof booth with a window.. "Now.. press the button when you hear a tone" ... ... ... ...Only when you hear a tone, okay" ..Look! JUST When you hear a tone!"

"...But..B..But!" :0)

My hearing was eventually destroyed by allergies - blocked tubes leading to ear infections they couldn't get rid of (for thirteen years), which ate away at my hearing apparatus and surrounding portions of my skull (which they had to grind-out). Eventually they created an antibiotic that killed off that infection, then, I had to get a complete rebuild - I have two eardrums left-side now. Dr. John Macias - Genius.

Anyway.. Even though I can hear pretty-well these days, I Still have tinnitus to varying degrees. I made my peace with it long ago - had it all my life pretty-much. But, for-me it's become greatly minimized and kept under control by keeping my sinus clean. I use daily sinus irrigation for that. This was something I started out of pure desperation to get a sinus infection under control, and, as it has turned out, that daily sinus irrigation has worked better to control my allergies than all the medicines, and all the years of exposure therapy, and all the steroid nasal sprays and whatnot, combined.

Irrigating my sinus also seems to help keep my eustachian tubes working as they should. My inner-ear pressure is better equalized for that, and I can hear properly.

Sinus irrigation also minimizes my colds to very-mild and a couple of days, once every two-three years, and not had the flu - not-once, since I started.. Nothing but upside :0)

Anyway.. works for me. YMMV ...Helps with my tinnitus, greatly minimized my sinus allergies, insanely improved my hearing, and has minimized colds and whatnot. ....aaaaand ...I would never have stumbled upon it without that heinous sinus infection I got that one-time. :0)

I use a Sinupulse Elite, and make my own rinse with distilled water, pure salt and Xylitol.
 
Mark-B said:
...ahhh ..tinnitus, my Old Friend.. No-matter where I am, there you are. :0)

Had it since I was a kid. I still remember going for those hearing tests as a kid; locked in a sound-proof booth with a window.. "Now.. press the button when you hear a tone" ... ... ... ...Only when you hear a tone, okay" ..Look! JUST When you hear a tone!"

"...But..B..But!" :0)

My hearing was eventually destroyed by allergies - blocked tubes leading to ear infections they couldn't get rid of (for thirteen years), which ate away at my hearing apparatus and surrounding portions of my skull (which they had to grind-out). Eventually they created an antibiotic that killed off that infection, then, I had to get a complete rebuild - I have two eardrums left-side now. Dr. John Macias - Genius.

Anyway.. Even though I can hear pretty-well these days, I Still have tinnitus to varying degrees. I made my peace with it long ago - had it all my life pretty-much. But, for-me it's become greatly minimized and kept under control by keeping my sinus clean. I use daily sinus irrigation for that. This was something I started out of pure desperation to get a sinus infection under control, and, as it has turned out, that daily sinus irrigation has worked better to control my allergies than all the medicines, and all the years of exposure therapy, and all the steroid nasal sprays and whatnot, combined.

Irrigating my sinus also seems to help keep my eustachian tubes working as they should. My inner-ear pressure is better equalized for that, and I can hear properly.

Sinus irrigation also minimizes my colds to very-mild and a couple of days, once every two-three years, and not had the flu - not-once, since I started.. Nothing but upside :0)

Anyway.. works for me. YMMV ...Helps with my tinnitus, greatly minimized my sinus allergies, insanely improved my hearing, and has minimized colds and whatnot. ....aaaaand ...I would never have stumbled upon it without that heinous sinus infection I got that one-time. :0)

I use a Sinupulse Elite, and make my own rinse with distilled water, pure salt and Xylitol.
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Thanks for relating this - gives a little hope wrt T - I first noticed my tinnitus about 15 years ago in my 40s, but was never comcerned much about it until more recently when it seems to have gotten worse. I have some comfirmed hearing loss - never got hearing aids but considering it now - I point to Van Halen as a possible origin of my hearing loss. We foolishly did not care about ear protection for concerts back in the day and I remember 2 Van Halen shows (79 and 84) that were blisteringly loud and significanly impacted my hearimg for a couple of days after each show - the 84 one in paricular, I could not make out normal conversation for a couple of days - scary - I used to attend a lot of concerts but those Van Halen shows were by far the loudest - over the top volume arena shows (maybe it was the seating location, dunno, as big fans we would upgrade our seats for VH above other shows we attended, though I also attended a lot of early days Rush and Triumph shows sitting in similar location and those were not nearly as loud).. The tinnitus component may be hereditary as my father had it.

Going to try the regular sinus irrigations you mention as I tend to get that plugged up feeling which makes the tinnitus seem worse.
 
Most mornings I awake with a hideous T, but I have discovered that if I train with high intensity, it really gets tamed until being bearable. I mean the kind of Crossfit WoD, really hitting your body, if I just only go to lift stuff with the typical 60secs rest, it remains unaffected. I suspect it may be because my T either is caused by my neck or TMJ or at least exacerbated by it, and training with high intensity normally pumps a lot of blood, oxygen, and mobilises a lot my spine. The same way if I work seated or I drive, my T will just get louder and louder.

So well, until an effective treatment is actually found, I guess I'll have to hit the gym every day if I want to have liveable days :)
 
The minute I saw this post resurrected, my tinnitus increased 10X. Lots of great suggestions here with diet, exercise, sleep, abstinence, etc., but I think the main thing is just doing things that distract from it. The minute it gets your attention, it's all consuming.

I happened to have the ear of a well known Nashville recording guy one day. He allowed me to listen to something he was doing. I noticed he had the mix cranked up pretty loud. I asked him how he managed his tinnitus. He gave me the finger over the lips "whisper signal", leaned over and turned up the mix a little louder.
It was probably the best advice.
 
AndyOrr said:
The minute I saw this post resurrected, my tinnitus increased 10X. Lots of great suggestions here with diet, exercise, sleep, abstinence, etc., but I think the main thing is just doing things that distract from it. The minute it gets your attention, it's all consuming.

I happened to have the ear of a well known Nashville recording guy one day. He allowed me to listen to something he was doing. I noticed he had the mix cranked up pretty loud. I asked him how he managed his tinnitus. He gave me the finger over the lips "whisper signal", leaned over and turned up the mix a little louder.
It was probably the best advice.
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Exactly - it's a perceived sound, so drawing attention to it does cause one to "perceive it louder".
 
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