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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

#201
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of plugs are designed for music? That's interesting.

There's something from Etymotic. It has a hole in it to reduce spectral distortion.

Yep, been using Etymotic ones for both concerts and riding motorcycle, and I love it. It works just right, and for $15 feels like worth every penny (ER20XS; went with that one over the regular ER20 because of a lower profile shape). They are nearly indestructable and super easy to clean too (relevant if your ears tend to produce a solid amount of earwax). Had to replace them once over the years and only because i lost my original pair.

Really comfy, non-descript, very easy to put in and remove, and only blocks out the annoying stuff while making the necessary stuff more prominent (with music, it would be amplifying guitars/synths as well as speech, while cutting down a bit on drums; with motorcycle, it would be amplifying breaking sounds, sirens/horns, and, again, speech, while cutting down on wind and engine noise). I can wear them for hours, eventually forgetting that I even have anything in, despite usually being really sensitive to earbuds and not being able to wear them for prolonged periods of time.

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

#202

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…

I'm sorry you hurt your hearing. I know quite a few with tinnitus, and some of them are borderline suicidal with how horrible it is for them.

I doubt legislation with help. As a drummer from my early teens till mid 30s (some of that time in a partially successful band), and attender of thousands of shows, I KNEW concerts were too loud, and ALWAYS took earplugs (except once to a Weird Al show). I think I still suffer from hearing loss, especially with the amount of times I say, "huh" to my kids and wife.

So, from a position of possible mild hearing loss, I think personal responsibility is the only thing here. From wearing protection at shows, while using power tools, and I sometimes do it on the subway commuting. No one will look out for your hearing, but you.

Again, I'm sorry about your ears. I can't imagine how terrible it is, but having seen all the ways venues work, I doubt legislation will do shit.

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

#203
Wow, this could be huge. My tinnitus is mild and generally is only audible in quiet situations with small bouts where it gets really loud. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a former co-worker committed suicide because he could not continue life with such debilitating tinnitus.

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

#204
post #2

This reminds me of the technique that went viral via Reddit a couple of years ago: https://lifehacker.com/this-weird-trick-might-give-you-brief... I don't suffer from tinnitus, but I know people who do and some of them have said that this helped them.

Had never heard of it, thanks for the link. Just tried it. I think it muted the tinnitus to about 20%! Pretty good. Though, it only lasted about a minute. Back to normal now.

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

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I find amazing is how we don't attack the source of the problem much that I can see. I always wear ear plugs at the very few concerts I go to. I otherwise avoid loud noises except for airplanes flights, where I've been on a few where I didn't have hearing protection. I only have problems at night. Had a hearing test, no hearing loss. Over 30 and I can hear up to 17,500hz. (Which also appears to be around the f…

Keep in mind that noise-induced hearing loss doesn't go from the high frequencies down -- that's presbycusis (hearing loss caused by aging). Noise-induced hearing loss creates a "noise notch" at around 4 KHz due to the anatomy of the ear.

It appears I got age induced hearing loss around the age of 5 then?

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

#206
post #99

I have mild tinnitus so that's what brought me here, but I wonder about something else from the article. They wanted to test for motion sickness while facing backwards. That's my minor pet peeve. I think that we can't realistically think of driving in something in a size of a car facing backwards, because it's just inherently dangerous. In case of an accident anything in your hands will hit you hard in your face, nec…

British black cabs have rear-facing seats, they make millions of perfectly-safe trips every day.

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

#207

Now to wait 5-8 years for an FDA-approved medical device, which will cost $3000. I wonder if you could achieve the same effect with a vibrating massager? Sticking a repurposed cellphone vibrator motor in an elastic band, like the North Paw, also sounds like it would have potential. https://sensebridge.net/projects/northpaw/

Just releasing what frequency they're using would be extremely helpful. For sea sickness some companies offer a wrist band with a pea sized piece of plastic on them to (supposedly) stimulate a nerve in your wrist. I do not think that they require regulation. I can see a situation where these devices could be sold for sea sickness purposes with little to no regulation. Vibrating motors are a pretty easy device to get…

> For sea sickness some companies offer a wrist band with a pea sized piece of plastic on them to (supposedly) stimulate a nerve in your wrist.

They don't really work. Or rather, they never worked for me.

> I can see a situation where these devices could be sold for sea sickness purposes with little to no regulation.

I agree that they might not require much regulation, but I would appreciate some tests to ensure they are safe and establish some thresholds. Tinnitus sufferers in particular, would end up wearing this pretty much all day. Making your skull vibrate for 16 hours a day, even at low frequencies, sounds a bit dangerous.

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

#208
I am a heavy sufferer from motion sickness, working exactly as described here. This device sounds like a godsend, if it works as they say. Even just used for short periods, it would ensure I don't have to suffer mild nausea and headache for hours after each and every flight (landing is hell).

My dream is to find something so effective, that I could travel by boat while awake. But that would have to last for hours.

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

#209

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…

In the latter case, I know quite a few people who bring earplugs with them to concerts, and I don't know of anyone judging 'em for that. Quite a few musicians wear 'em when performing, too, specifically out of recognition that their ears are pretty darn critical to music (not all of us are Beethoven, after all!).

I keep a bunch of earplugs in my car specifically for when I'm out shooting with friends, specifically so that if someone forgets one's hearing protection there's extras available. Ear and eye protection is one of those things that's both frequently overlooked and absolutely essential.

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

#210
post #208

I am a heavy sufferer from motion sickness, working exactly as described here. This device sounds like a godsend, if it works as they say. Even just used for short periods, it would ensure I don't have to suffer mild nausea and headache for hours after each and every flight (landing is hell). My dream is to find something so effective, that I could travel by boat while awake. But that would have to last for hours.

Small sample size, but I’ve had pretty good luck with giving people chewing gum to avoid motion sickness.

Something about the jaw moving seems to tamp down the motion sensitivity quite a bit.

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