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We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

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Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#241

There are many calls for personal responsibility here. But I think the average person is not making a choice to sustain permanent hearing damage – most people don't know the risks. I used to own a decible meter. I brought it to a movie theater (large chain) and found sustained volume of 100+ decibels. It was physically painful. I was the only customer who complained to the theater. I asked what sound level they inten…

It's been my experience that most places can reduce volume levels (music, theaters etc) about 10-15% without loss of experience or fidelity and I have taken to actually asking managers to turn down volume because my ears actually hurt . It's loud for the sake of loud. I can't understand why the music in a restaurant needs to be so loud that I have to scream at the people at my table to be heard. Obviously we're screa…

I've gone to two rock concerts that the volume was so loud that is was distorting the music. Of course my ears hurt, so I took to covering them a bit. My friend often goes to concerts and wasn't phased at all. I imagine the people in charge of sound have already lost some hearing, and they don't care if it sounds great or not.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#242

There are many calls for personal responsibility here. But I think the average person is not making a choice to sustain permanent hearing damage – most people don't know the risks. I used to own a decible meter. I brought it to a movie theater (large chain) and found sustained volume of 100+ decibels. It was physically painful. I was the only customer who complained to the theater. I asked what sound level they inten…

I haven't attended a movie theater for the last five years for this very reason. I don't think the average person has a clue as to the damage being inflicted on their ears when they go to the movies and I believe the number of tinnitus cases in the U.S. will skyrocket in the years ahead, not only from going to the movies but from all the other "noise pollution" we're subject to on a daily basis.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#243
post #69

I would urge anyone that suffers from tinnitus to get their hearing checked if they haven't already. Getting hearing aids has given me significant relief from tinnitus and if my hearing aid battery dies the tinnitus comes back fairly quickly. It's as if my ear is trying to compensate for the lack of sound. Of course, there are multiple reasons for tinnitus to occur so your mileage may very, but it's absolutely worth…

>It's as if my ear is trying to compensate for the lack of sound. As I understand it, this is exactly what tinnitus is. Your ear becomes insensitive to a certain frequency, so your brain "equalizes" it, if you will, and over compensates to the point that you're hearing something that's not there.

There are multiple reasons for it, including nerve damage and effects from surrounding tissues and joints.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#244

Finding a cure or treatment for tinnitus would be awesome. I have a very mild case from a few too many loud concerts. What I find amazing is how we don't attack the source of the problem much that I can see. Concerts, clubs, fireworks, even movies blast away above any reasonable level, causing damage to large parts of the population. We all just get progressively damaged hearing bit by bit. And yet there's very littl…

Not all tinnitus is due to hearing damage, I think some is neurological. I had it in the past (after an apparent infection, but no true diagnostic on the root cause), and my hearing slowly recovered. I took all known treatments though (steroids during the crisis, Ginkgo Biloba extract for a while and Magnesium supplementation since then). The ringing comes back if I drink alcohol or too much coffee though, but maybe…

Another cause of tinnitus is otosclerosis, where bone continues growing around the stapes bone (the stirrup) until it moves so little that you have hearing loss, often accompanied by tinnitus.

After stapes mobilization surgery the associated tinnitus goes away.

So if you have hearing issues, and especially tinnitus, visit to an otolaryngologist. There might be solutions.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#245
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's as if my ear is trying to compensate for the lack of sound. As I understand it, this is exactly what tinnitus is. Your ear becomes insensitive to a certain frequency, so your brain "equalizes" it, if you will, and over compensates to the point that you're hearing something that's not there.

The brain can also confuse input from nearby muscles for missing sounds in some cases. My own tinnitus can get a lot worse if my upper back and shoulder muscles are tense.

Yes! Mine is connected with the jaw joint.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#246

I wrote this relatively recently in another comment. I think it applies here: I have tinnitus. I got it from going out too much. I wasn't the biggest party-hardy individual, but there were moments where I went out quite a bit. During that time I lived in Amsterdam and loved parties for: music, social experimentation and doing whatever. I wasn't too much into the drugs/alcohol thing. I think during my 'going out phase…

I also have tinnitus from chronic ear infections when I was a child. I find that the WHM doesn't get rid of the high pitched hum but temporarily adds a white-noise-like sound on top of it.

Thanks for your input.

While it is anecdotal, I'm happy to see n = 2 :)

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: if you are going to do this by yourself, please do let us know in this thread how it went for you! I hate to be an anecdotal n = 1 'experiment'. Note: this technique has some risks. Especially when you practice by yourself. The biggest one is that scientifically speaking, experts are a bit unfamiliar with it. I can only offer anecdotal experience. There are some articles written about it [1], but I wonder if th…

> Note: this technique has some risks. Especially when you practice by yourself. The biggest one is that scientifically speaking, experts are a bit unfamiliar with it. I can only offer anecdotal experience. I will also offer an anecdotal experience. I went to a "breathwork" seminar once that involved doing a form of hyperventilation (but without the breath holding part which is what Wim Hof also incorporates I believ…

I went once to a session like this out of curiosity. I had cramps. A friend who’s just finished Uni being a GP told what is going on:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_alkalosis Is the medical term.

Note this is not the “excess of oxygen” that you feel the effects of - but the lack of CO2. Human body keeps the Ph of the blood in a really tight band - and if it swings outside of it one or the other direction - “bad” things happen. (The opposite condition is called acidosis)

Note that this exact thing also happens during the panic attacks; so my running theory is that the “gurus” create a positive feedback loop in the weaker people that are in need of support.

Maybe there is some self-impact by the placebo effect; but most usually these “sessions” are just a brilliantly evil way to earn money by getting people high on thin air! (There is no legislation that prohibits deep breathing while with drugs of course there is).

Again, the feedback from a person who actually finished a uni to become a doctor: do not do this. If you are looking for spirituality, try meditation instead.

Hope this helps.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#248

I wrote this relatively recently in another comment. I think it applies here: I have tinnitus. I got it from going out too much. I wasn't the biggest party-hardy individual, but there were moments where I went out quite a bit. During that time I lived in Amsterdam and loved parties for: music, social experimentation and doing whatever. I wasn't too much into the drugs/alcohol thing. I think during my 'going out phase…

FWIIW I've always had tinnitus, and the Wim Hof Method does absolutely nothing for me regarding tinnitus (pretty cool trick for athletics though). Glad for you you've found some relief, but the other side of the coin is if you eventually get used to it.

n = 3

I figured, if it doesn't work, at least people learn a semi-useful skill.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#249
post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been my experience that most places can reduce volume levels (music, theaters etc) about 10-15% without loss of experience or fidelity and I have taken to actually asking managers to turn down volume because my ears actually hurt . It's loud for the sake of loud. I can't understand why the music in a restaurant needs to be so loud that I have to scream at the people at my table to be heard. Obviously we're screa…

I've gone to two rock concerts that the volume was so loud that is was distorting the music. Of course my ears hurt, so I took to covering them a bit. My friend often goes to concerts and wasn't phased at all. I imagine the people in charge of sound have already lost some hearing, and they don't care if it sounds great or not.

I've had this exact problem attending most concerts (only classical music seems mostly fine). The music sounds very distorted (like a damaged speaker or an audio recording with heavy clipping) and after a while it gets physically painful to listen. Movies are sometimes uncomfortable, but the volume level is less constant which helps a lot. I've asked around and nobody seems to share this experience. I didn't use to go to live events often and it actually took me years to realize that my hearing's at fault.

Re: We ‘may’ have discovered a potential remedy for tinnitus

#250

There are many calls for personal responsibility here. But I think the average person is not making a choice to sustain permanent hearing damage – most people don't know the risks. I used to own a decible meter. I brought it to a movie theater (large chain) and found sustained volume of 100+ decibels. It was physically painful. I was the only customer who complained to the theater. I asked what sound level they inten…

Agree

Awareness may hopefully be raised now that the Apple Watch measures sound exposure

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