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Ask HN: Has anyone gotten complete, permanent relief from tinnitus?

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Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gotten complete, permanent relief from tinnitus?

#331
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "My message is not to learn to live with that beep, but to train your brain to classify that sound as harmless, allowing you to forget about it" This is essentially what I do. I've had it tinnitus for some 20 years now. Both ears, a constant high pitched ringing. Most of the time I honestly don't notice it, even in quiet rooms. As soon as something reminds me about it, or I'm trying to listen for something quiet, o…

Exactly the same for me. I’ve had it for as long as I remember and chalk it up to going to too many punk rock shows as an angsty teen (and never wore ear plugs because I was “too cool”). It’s always there for me but I usually forget about it and only notice it when something draws my attention to it. According to an app I’ve used on my phone (Mimi Hearing Test), I have about 14db HL in each ear. Somewhat related, but…

> chalk it up to going to too many punk rock shows as an angsty teen (and never wore ear plugs because I was “too cool”).

The invulnerability of youth.

I used to do sound / PA stuff for live bands for some local events for older teens. One time we realised the kick drum was moving towards the edge of the platform it was on, with every kick. Dumbass that I was, a ran on stage with my trusty roll of duck tape, but without ear protection, and proceeded to duck tape the kick drum legs to the stage to provide extra resistance to movement. While the band was playing. I'd had a little bit of tinnitus before then, but that particular incident made it much worse, unsurprisingly enough.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gotten complete, permanent relief from tinnitus?

#332
Anyone's tinnitus can disappear completely at any moment. Don't despair. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33637222/

Mine was from getting squeezed from flying with a sinus infection. I got rid of mine almost completely most of the time with hyperbaric treatment. I had the journal article saying this is common practice in Germany that I used to convince my ENT to refer me to a hyperbaric chamber, but I can't seem to find it.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gotten complete, permanent relief from tinnitus?

#333

Not complete or permanent but it’s mellowing out over time to where I almost never hear it during the day, and it’s no bother at a quiet night, and easily masked by a fan or a podcast. The main things for me were - take a major break from djing and clubs. I was playing out a lot - get great earplugs. I have westone custom molds - talk to friends about it In talking about it I have been absolutely shocked to learn how…

> get great earplugs. I have westone custom molds I recommend using ear defenders whenever possible in louder environments. They're much more powerful than earplugs and much cheaper. A 30 decibel reduction for $30 is quite realistic.

Or cheap ear plugs are much better than nothing at all. I use simple wax ones which I prefer to some fancier option. You can adjust the effect by how much you squish them in.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gotten complete, permanent relief from tinnitus?

#334

I got tinnitus during a particularly stressful (job related) situation in my life. It stayed for about a year or two. Now it is completely gone. I did not do any therapy. It seems what helped for me was "just" to get rid of the stress. I was in my early thirties at the time when I had it.

I have exactly the same experience. It began in my early thirties during a few stressful months. It stayed for about a year but then it was slowly getting better and was gone a few month later.

All cures seemed like snail oil to me, or like placebos for people who can't handle the thought that they can't do much about it. So I simply accepted it, knowing that it will either go away on it own or it won't. My partner was actually more stressed over it than me.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gotten complete, permanent relief from tinnitus?

#335
I am Deaf and I have tinnitus from wearing hearing aids (they never helped me understanding people, for that I am too deaf). I always "hear" the audio feedback tone when putting them on even when my hearing aids were turned off. Because of that I never realized when the fitting was bad and in school I was ridiculed for always having that feedback noise with me.

Twenty years ago I gave up hearing aids.

But the tinnitus stayed with me.

I accepted the tinnitus.

It can be triggered easily, for example from very loud noises (120 dB and more), or just thinking about tinnitus. While writing this post I got tinnitus.

Usually I hear moaning swelling up and down.

Sometimes I hear high-pitched explosions.

Rarely I hear what I call cat music, a surprising and arrythmic melange of different noises.

When I hear tinnitus, I try to listen to it. Especially the cat music is interesting.

The explosions are not so nice. They sometimes work like audio jump scares.

The moaning is sometimes soothing.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gotten complete, permanent relief from tinnitus?

#336
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no permanent relief or treatment. Lots of snake oil. That's not what this recent book [1] says, at all. In Ducth, but [2] is a translation of the main point in an interview. As far as I'm aware, this guy is rather far away from snake oil. What is true though is that not all audiologists are caught up yet. Which is a bit weird because I already read about multidisciplinary approach working a couple of years a…

> "My message is not to learn to live with that beep, but to train your brain to classify that sound as harmless, allowing you to forget about it" This is essentially what I do. I've had it tinnitus for some 20 years now. Both ears, a constant high pitched ringing. Most of the time I honestly don't notice it, even in quiet rooms. As soon as something reminds me about it, or I'm trying to listen for something quiet, o…

Yeah--I've had tinnitus for at least 13 years now. No idea when it started because it sounds enough like cicadas that it flew under the radar for an unknown period. I first became aware of it one day when I realized "hey, this isn't cicada season, this isn't cicada country". I grew up in cicada country and learned to tune them out.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gotten complete, permanent relief from tinnitus?

#338

I hope this comment reaches anyone suffering from tinnitus. My tinnitus is so bad that I’d … well good news is, I found a great way to manage my brain melting tinnitus. Step 1: YouTube-dl this blessed sound: https://youtu.be/8indTo2ykPw?si=izyTOg4gYvnfsqZs (Plz tip the guy) (You should be able to tell just by listening to the sound that it immediately cuts out the tinnitus— if this sound print doesn’t work for you, t…

yt-dlp is the active/best fork of youtube-dl for anyone who needs it

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gotten complete, permanent relief from tinnitus?

#339

I’ve had tinnitus for about one year now. There is no permanent relief or treatment. Lots of snake oil. My hearing was tested by an Audiologist and my hearing was normal. The “sound” I observe is high pitched. Using a tone generator I matched it to around 16,500 Hz. Interestingly, if I play that tone I get temporary relief on the order of 2-10 minutes. As far as I understand my tinnitus is the result of something goi…

> I’ve had tinnitus for about one year now. There is no permanent relief or treatment. Lots of snake oil. Half of the 200+ post comment section reads like those bottom of the barrel YouTube ads with the AI generated voices: "Try this secret trick to cure your [condition]." It seems to always happen when someone comes here to ask for opinions on disease, food, health or fitness. People, don't go to HN for medical or n…

We don't know the workings of tinnitus, so tinnitus itself is in the realm of "magic", so there is likely not going to be objective solutions.

However, people still have to live with it, and it causes stress. What are you going to do, nothing, just because there's no treatment that lives up to the standards of hackernews readers?

The statement that there is no permanent relief or treatment is false, and it's delivered with the same confidence as some of the snake oil advice.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gotten complete, permanent relief from tinnitus?

#340
Not a cure, but mine naturally fades a bit if I avoid exposure to further loud noises by carrying earplugs. And I check sound levels sometimes with an iphone app - anything touching 100db, it's the earplugs.

I think the body's healing processes can be quite slow especially with nerve related stuff. Here's a guy on the tinnitus forum where it took 3 years to fade for example https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/my-tinnitus-is-almost-g...

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