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Treatment for Tinnitus with Stimulation of Auditory and Non-Auditory Nerves

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Re: Treatment for Tinnitus with Stimulation of Auditory and Non-Auditory Nerves

#21

Post by tangoalpha »

jader201 wrote: post #16

Not sure why I click into comment threads on HN about tinnitus, hoping for positive news or anecdotes, but it’s almost always the opposite. So I’ll share my positive anecdote. I’ve dealt with it for over 10 years, and while I can’t imagine how happy I would be to find an effective treatment, I’ve learned to cope, and do what I can to protect hearing going forward. And once you realize you can cope with it, it makes f…

+1.

Got tinnitus due to injury to auditory nerve.

Those who are just starting with overcoming Tinnitus - Make sure to give time. Human brain is amazing at latent inhibition, ie capability to ignore things that it learns to be irrelevant.

That is your largest medicine. In my country, there are sugar cane refineries/factories that emit very pungent small that is very strong and spans across miles in radius. People who live around in that vicinity develop ignorance to the smell in a matter of months.

All I can say is - whether it is a decision to try some experimental medication or surgery, or otherwise - give it 9-12 months time after you acquired Tinnitus. There will be bad days, but there is a good chance that you will realize you could live with it. With an inconvenience (for comparison) as severe as your car's "check engine" warning beeping every 10 seconds.

Re: Treatment for Tinnitus with Stimulation of Auditory and Non-Auditory Nerves

#22

Post by BossingAround »

bryans wrote: post #15

Tinnitus is usually only described as a high-pitched ringing, but I think it gets far worse when it's on the lower end of the frequency spectrum. It's much more noticeable and can make discerning speech very difficult at times. But while the higher frequencies can be somewhat easily tuned out using white noise (like a fan), the lower frequencies are just always there, even when you're listening to music -- there is a…

> remember that noise-cancelling is NOT hearing protection

I fell for this one as well. I wouldn't be to surprised if noise-cancelling could actually cause tinnitus, or make an onset of it worse (though I haven nothing but biased anecdata to argue the opinion).

Re: Treatment for Tinnitus with Stimulation of Auditory and Non-Auditory Nerves

#23

Post by [deleted] »

paraph1n wrote: post #11
colpabar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have tinnitus and I can see it too. Tinnitus is a constant ringing in one or both ears. Constant, as in it is always there. There is no true silence anymore, because the ringing is always there. There is also no cure, and really no certified treatment. All we can do is distract ourselves with other sounds and try not to focus on it, but it can still be very mentally draining. Without the right mindset, it’s an extr…

Interesting... I have a lot of trouble understanding this (as someone who does not have tinnitus). For most things that are permanent, we adapt to the new baseline and, well, "get used to it". ie. "Oh, that ringing? Yeah, it's been there for years, I barely notice it anymore." I wonder what it is about tinnitus that makes it hard to adapt to (or filter out) for some people.

[deleted]

Re: Treatment for Tinnitus with Stimulation of Auditory and Non-Auditory Nerves

#24

Post by Nursie »

paraph1n wrote: post #11
colpabar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have tinnitus and I can see it too. Tinnitus is a constant ringing in one or both ears. Constant, as in it is always there. There is no true silence anymore, because the ringing is always there. There is also no cure, and really no certified treatment. All we can do is distract ourselves with other sounds and try not to focus on it, but it can still be very mentally draining. Without the right mindset, it’s an extr…

Interesting... I have a lot of trouble understanding this (as someone who does not have tinnitus). For most things that are permanent, we adapt to the new baseline and, well, "get used to it". ie. "Oh, that ringing? Yeah, it's been there for years, I barely notice it anymore." I wonder what it is about tinnitus that makes it hard to adapt to (or filter out) for some people.

When mine first hit it caused me a sort of despair - this cannot be fixed, stopped, anything. It interrupted my sleep and stole my attention. I searched pretty desperately for something to give me my quiet back, my silence. There's not really anything. I tried various theoretical things - blast your ear with the same tone to desensitise that pitch. Under a minute's relief when stopped. I tried the opposite, under-stimulation. I reprocessed all my mp3s to cut out any/all sound in the octave around the noise (notching) and increased my music listening to 8+ hours a day. This had a placebo-like effect if anything and looking back I think this was part of adapting my mental state.

Now, 15 years later, yeah I do barely notice it any more. Except when I do. Sometimes when I go to bed after a bit much to drink there it is loud and proud and unignorable. Right now I can hear it clearly because I'm thinking about it, a 13KHz whine that never ever ever stops. This is a reason I only sometimes read HN tinnitus threads, not thinking about it is a big part of living with it. Imagine "The Game" only when you think of it, instead of laughing and saying you lost, something squeals in your ear for a few hours.

It's ... trying.

And I'm lucky, it's not that loud, and it's not at a frequency that interferes with much else.

Re: Treatment for Tinnitus with Stimulation of Auditory and Non-Auditory Nerves

#25

Post by tux3 »

BossingAround wrote: post #22
bryans wrote: post #15

Tinnitus is usually only described as a high-pitched ringing, but I think it gets far worse when it's on the lower end of the frequency spectrum. It's much more noticeable and can make discerning speech very difficult at times. But while the higher frequencies can be somewhat easily tuned out using white noise (like a fan), the lower frequencies are just always there, even when you're listening to music -- there is a…

> remember that noise-cancelling is NOT hearing protection I fell for this one as well. I wouldn't be to surprised if noise-cancelling could actually cause tinnitus, or make an onset of it worse (though I haven nothing but biased anecdata to argue the opinion).

I have the same vague suspicion. Nothing credible to support it, but it'd be an interesting data point to collect among the affected population

Re: Treatment for Tinnitus with Stimulation of Auditory and Non-Auditory Nerves

#26

Post by Nursie »

BossingAround wrote: post #22
bryans wrote: post #15

Tinnitus is usually only described as a high-pitched ringing, but I think it gets far worse when it's on the lower end of the frequency spectrum. It's much more noticeable and can make discerning speech very difficult at times. But while the higher frequencies can be somewhat easily tuned out using white noise (like a fan), the lower frequencies are just always there, even when you're listening to music -- there is a…

> remember that noise-cancelling is NOT hearing protection I fell for this one as well. I wouldn't be to surprised if noise-cancelling could actually cause tinnitus, or make an onset of it worse (though I haven nothing but biased anecdata to argue the opinion).

That is interesting, I was using noise cancelling headphones a lot when mine came started.

Of course the morning it came on I was also recovering from being riotously drunk the night before, and I'm more inclined to believe something about that triggered it

Re: Treatment for Tinnitus with Stimulation of Auditory and Non-Auditory Nerves

#27

Post by gibs0ns »

paraph1n wrote: post #11
colpabar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have tinnitus and I can see it too. Tinnitus is a constant ringing in one or both ears. Constant, as in it is always there. There is no true silence anymore, because the ringing is always there. There is also no cure, and really no certified treatment. All we can do is distract ourselves with other sounds and try not to focus on it, but it can still be very mentally draining. Without the right mindset, it’s an extr…

Interesting... I have a lot of trouble understanding this (as someone who does not have tinnitus). For most things that are permanent, we adapt to the new baseline and, well, "get used to it". ie. "Oh, that ringing? Yeah, it's been there for years, I barely notice it anymore." I wonder what it is about tinnitus that makes it hard to adapt to (or filter out) for some people.

Imagine this, you're laying in bed at night, it's quiet outside just as it should be when sleeping, except for the constant ringing of your tinnitus.

You roll over, maybe you cover your ears or put a pillow over them, but the ringing sound doesn't change. In fact you realise nothing you do has any effect on the ringing sound - it's coming from within your head/ears, how do you block out a sound which is emanating from within?

You're tired, you just want to sleep, you have an early business meeting tomorrow, but throughout the perfect silence of the night, this ringing sound is relentless. You know you just need to ignore it and focus on something else, which might be easier if you weren't also trying to clear your mind so you could sleep. So you decide to get back up out of bed and take something, anything, that will knock you out.

Now that you're drugged up you get back into bed, laying there waiting for the drugs to put you to sleep, waiting while listening to that torturous sound, waiting while thinking about how easy it used to be to sleep, thinking about how you'll never know true peace and silence ever again. At some point you fall asleep, only to wake up in the morning feeling like shit from the drugs and lack of sleep.

I would give anything to be able to sleep in peace again.

Re: Treatment for Tinnitus with Stimulation of Auditory and Non-Auditory Nerves

#28

Post by teekay »

I have had tinnitus in both ears since September 2000.

There was no treatment then and there is no widely available treatment now. AFAIK the cause of it is poorly understood and there can hardly be an answer is we don't know what questions to ask.

Do I wish this study leads to one? Absolutely. I would pay an equivalent of a used car to get rid of my tinnitus. Probably not more than that since my case is thankfully rather mild.

I think getting used to it is unfortunately the only way out. For the first few years, I've had occasional panic attacks. Nowadays, I am aware of it in the morning when I wake up, and later only when I stop to check if it's still there (it is).

Circling back to treatments, I do wish that one eventually comes out. My tinnitus has not become worse over the years but I suspect it might once I exit the middle age.

Re: Treatment for Tinnitus with Stimulation of Auditory and Non-Auditory Nerves

#29

Post by syspec »

gibs0ns wrote: post #27
paraph1n wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting... I have a lot of trouble understanding this (as someone who does not have tinnitus). For most things that are permanent, we adapt to the new baseline and, well, "get used to it". ie. "Oh, that ringing? Yeah, it's been there for years, I barely notice it anymore." I wonder what it is about tinnitus that makes it hard to adapt to (or filter out) for some people.

Imagine this, you're laying in bed at night, it's quiet outside just as it should be when sleeping, except for the constant ringing of your tinnitus. You roll over, maybe you cover your ears or put a pillow over them, but the ringing sound doesn't change. In fact you realise nothing you do has any effect on the ringing sound - it's coming from within your head/ears, how do you block out a sound which is emanating fro…

That sounds really rough, I used to listen to my music very loudly when I was young and getting tinnitus is one of my fears as I get older.

How did you get tinnitus? Is the loud music thing a myth?

Is yours at least not getting progressively worse?

Re: Treatment for Tinnitus with Stimulation of Auditory and Non-Auditory Nerves

#30

Post by rojeee »

jader201 wrote: post #16

Not sure why I click into comment threads on HN about tinnitus, hoping for positive news or anecdotes, but it’s almost always the opposite. So I’ll share my positive anecdote. I’ve dealt with it for over 10 years, and while I can’t imagine how happy I would be to find an effective treatment, I’ve learned to cope, and do what I can to protect hearing going forward. And once you realize you can cope with it, it makes f…

Good to hear! (Jokes)

I also have tinnitus, mostly in one ear. It's difficult to have a conversation in a noisy place. My partner's voice frequency seems to resonate with the tinnitus ringing, so it's difficult to hear her sometimes!! I've had it for years but five years ago the ringing wound me up so much I went to the doctor. They did various scans but couldn't find any discernable cause. The doctor suggested I just try and live with it. Not really what I wanted but with no other options I took his advice.

I put in a fair bit of effort to try and cope with it and actually, now, most of the time I don't realise it's there. Only when 1) Someone is talking to me in a busy pub or restaurant or, 2) watching the TV on low volume in the evening, do I really notice it.

Getting to sleep used to be a nightmare but I genuinely don't have any problems now.

My advice would be to chillout and forget it's even there, and when you do notice it, just accept it and carry on. It could always be worse. Good luck to all tinnitonians.

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