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I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

blog.greg.technology

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Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#111

I can hear the high frequencies of cathode ray tubes, and generally feel like I hear much higher frequencies than others. That’s just normal, but when I’m tired or stressed, my blood pressure is up, or I’m sick, it’s what most people probably classify as tinnitus and is at a much lower frequency, more of a high pitched tone.

I also used to be able to hear CRTs. I didn't know what it was for a long time, and then I figured out I could "hear when the TV is on".

Oh, yeah. 15 kHz whine from NTSC CRTs did used to be a thing for me. Eventually I lost that range of my hearing.

A few years ago I fired-up a 15 kHz monitor for my Apple II and my then 5 y/o daughter held her ears and complained that there was a terrible screeching sound that hurt her ears. Between losing the top-end of my hearing with age and the end of CRTs being mainstream display technology I'd forgotten about tube whine.

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also used to be able to hear CRTs. I didn't know what it was for a long time, and then I figured out I could "hear when the TV is on".

Oh, yeah. 15 kHz whine from NTSC CRTs did used to be a thing for me. Eventually I lost that range of my hearing. A few years ago I fired-up a 15 kHz monitor for my Apple II and my then 5 y/o daughter held her ears and complained that there was a terrible screeching sound that hurt her ears. Between losing the top-end of my hearing with age and the end of CRTs being mainstream display technology I'd forgotten about tu…

The whine you hear is not actually from the tube itself, but generated by the flyback transformer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyback_transformer

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids doing weird shit to stand out, like every generation. It makes reading harder, and with modern tools it certainly isn't any easier to write—with both those things working against it I doubt it'll stick around.

Somebody just discovered E. E. Cummings and thought "I'm gonna be original just like that guy!"

Years ago I made a "poetry generator" web app stylized like a piece of music synthesizer gear (an "Angst Modulator"). In the "filters" section I had an "ee cummings" filter that removed punctuation and made everything lower case.

(All the silly thing did was chain together stanzas randomly based on subjective "scores" I'd given to each stanza and the position of the "knobs" the user set for various "feelings". It was a fun gimmick 30 years ago. God. I'm old...)

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#114

There was an earlier thread on tinnitus https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21572827 where people had some techniques for relief. Maybe this could be useful.

Several! In this one I shared what I did to deal with my case: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33905368

For those with unilateral tinnitus that seems influenced by neck stretches or TMJ issues, try sleeping on your back or on the opposite side to avoid pressure on the affected ear.

Also, consider getting an MRI to check for possible causes; in my case, a vascular loop was found contacting the vestibulocochlear nerve inside the internal auditory canal.

While I consider my case largely managed, it still flares up a few times per month, usually triggered by irritation or inflammation (allergens, getting sick, poor neck posture, loud music for hours)

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#115

Think you mean plugging, not plucking, your ears, unless sirens make you remove hair, in which case they did you a favor. I got some nice ear plugs designed for concerts (Loop) because I go to a concert and I already have mild tinnitus and don't want it to get worse. I do not know why concerts have to be SO LOUD. Loud, sure. Permanent ear damage loud, why? It should tell you something that the guys on stage wear ear…

Young people like intense experiences, blasting your ears out is fun when you're 18-24.

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I remember reading this story about some woman in a scandinavian country who chose medical-assisted suicide because hers was so bad. I'm surprised there is not some method to surgically disconnect the brain from the ear.

Tinnitus is sometimes neurological, seemingly caused by the brain compensating for a loss of sensation. I can imagine a horror story in which this just makes it a thousand times worse, on top of permanently losing all hearing. Now, being able to use a hot-swappable audio sensor instead of an ear made of tissue would be pretty dope.

Louder than you think, Dad! Louder than you think!

proceeds to rip off ears

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#117

I have it from being a death metal singer/guitarist 30 years ago, but it gets much worse when tired or higher blood pressure (handy though ; most people don't have an actual audible alarm for that). It's indeed not recommended, it is, however very clever how the brain mostly filters it out unless I actively think about it. I am in my 50s and the most notable 'side effect' is that I must avoid conference calls; it see…

I'm in my 30s and I have tinnitus since my 16 caused by playing drums with my first band. From that day on I always wear earplugs to minimize extra damage. I really recognize the conference call thing. When i'm in group and I can't see people well or there are a lot of people talking at the same time I also noticed I lip read more than I thought.

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#118

I “got over” mine after many months of “tinnitus meditation” (there’s a short book on this written by a guy who has some crazy disease that causes extra-bad tinnitus). Basically, you meditate by purposefully focusing on your tinnitus. It starts to flip your brain’s response from one of fear to one of relaxation. Even within the first session, you’ll find that when you try to focus on the noise for as long as you can…

I’ve had it since I was a kid. One day I just noticed how strange it was that silence sounded like this. I was maybe 6 or 7? Eventually just got used to experiencing silence like this. However, I usually only become aware of it when I’m alone - more so indoors at night time.

But that isn’t tinnitus right? I noticed mine right around the same time and I call it the “aether noise”.

To me, regular tinnitus (which I also had for a few days after concerts) could be matched and recreated with a tone generator, and is much more “in your face” despite being the same volume by the end of my ears healing.

Aether noise on the other hand sounds multi tone, not a buzz or a hum. I have not yet managed to recreate it. I can hear it all the time if I can focus on it, but it only calls attention to itself in dead silence.

Do you have visual snow by chance too?

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#119

I “got over” mine after many months of “tinnitus meditation” (there’s a short book on this written by a guy who has some crazy disease that causes extra-bad tinnitus). Basically, you meditate by purposefully focusing on your tinnitus. It starts to flip your brain’s response from one of fear to one of relaxation. Even within the first session, you’ll find that when you try to focus on the noise for as long as you can…

Thank you for recommendation. My tinnitus become quite severe now. For past three years it's almost impossible to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night. Overwhelming ringing is hard to ignore.

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#120

I get a weird transient tinnitus where my hearing drops out in one ear or the other for about 15 seconds, and is replace by a tone, which slowly fades as my hearing comes back. It sometimes happens multiple times per day, and sometimes not for weeks at a time. I've seen a couple specialists about it, but no known cause. I also notice a low-level tinnitus when I'm in very quiet places. I keep white noise machines arou…

I have permanent tinnitus and have this too, though it very rarely happens on its own. When it happens, for me, this sound is usually a signal to immediately change my posture when sitting in a chair.

When I reach flow, I tend to not notice until later that I'd now be sitting cross-legged, or that I've tucked one leg under myself.

That pressure tends to trigger the sound you describe after a while. I imagine because of bad blood circulation, though I have no idea why it's that sound signalling that for me.

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