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The Organ of the Universe: On Living with Tinnitus

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Re: The Organ of the Universe: On Living with Tinnitus

#3
Tinnitus really is a horrible. I suffer from it and find the ringing detracts significantly from my cognitive abilities; my train of thought is often derailed because my brain is being goofy and fighting with the noise.

I also had headphones glued to my ears all through middle-school and high-school, and even though I was careful with the volume I can only assume this is the culprit for my current auditory state.

I wish I could make it go away.

Re: The Organ of the Universe: On Living with Tinnitus

#4
I think I've had it my whole life. It's that persistent high-pitched noise - almost like the imperceptably high sound old TVs used to make when they were turned on - when nothing else is making sound. If there's not a lot going on around me I can hear it quite well. I pretty much tune it out and it doesn't affect my quality of life.

I sort of understand where the author is coming from. About ten years ago I ended up getting a ton of floaters in my eye and I struggled to accept them for a few months. In the end my brain tuned those out as well... at least most of the time.

Most of this comes down to acceptance of something you can't change. It sucks. Nothing you can do about it.

Re: The Organ of the Universe: On Living with Tinnitus

#5
My tinnitus is a side effect of a double stapedectomy, replacing the stapes bone in my middle ear with a titanium replacement. I have no regrets, my hearing went from 20% of normal to 80% and allowing me to have mostly normal hearing.

At first, the tinnitus was maddening, I would wonder if I would rather be deaf then have the constant ringing. Then I read an article about counseling and training as an effective method. I ended up training myself to not focus on it, now it isn’t an issue unless I think thoughts like “wow, I haven’t thought about my tinnitus in a long time”, am asked about it or see a mention of it.

My ENT surgeon told me at my last checkup after surgery that the tinnitus is in the brain and that I would have ringing even if he removed the inner and middle ear. I sometimes wonder if the ringing is there if I am not thinking about it.

Re: The Organ of the Universe: On Living with Tinnitus

#7
Place the palms of your hands over your ears with fingers resting gently on the back of your head. Your middle fingers should point toward one another just above the base of your skull. Place your index fingers on top of you middle fingers and snap them (the index fingers) onto the skull making a loud, drumming noise. Repeat 40-50 times. Some people experience immediate relief with this method. Repeat several times a day for as long as necessary to reduce tinnitus.Dr. Jan Strydom, of A2Z of Health, Beauty and Fintess.org.

Re: The Organ of the Universe: On Living with Tinnitus

#8
This is another article about tinnitus:

> A Music Lover’s Guide to Tinnitus: https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/2985

It has great resources too:

> Hearing Wellneaa for Musicians: http://journals.lww.com/thehearingjournal/Fulltext/2017/0400...?

> American Tinnitus Association: https://www.ata.org/

(And warns about apps like this: Tinnitracks:

http://www.tinnitracks.com/en)

— UPDATE —

It was also posted to HN; here it is:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14618455

Post reply on HN