For many years, even though my hearing is good, I have suffered with Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears. For me, it is a true “ringing” in that it focuses on a small range of frequencies in the 4khz range, a bit like a police whistle. For people without this affliction, it seems like a minor annoyance, but for those of us who live with it, it can be a terrible life-altering struggle to live with this noise. How can we deal with this?
Ask Not for Whom the Bell Tolls
Why do certain people get tinnitus, and others do not? While nobody really understands it fully, there are some factors that seem to lead to it.
- Musicians are exposed to loud noises, which can result in hearing damage. Unfair though it may be, some are genetically predisposed to react to this damage with a constant ringing, while others are not. Apparently certain ethnic groups are predisposed. My mixture of Polish, German, Ashkenazi, and other northern European genes makes me a prime candidate.
- Those with trained ears, both in music and recording (again, me) are way more aware of the sounds they hear, and thus are tempted to analyze what we are hearing, since it is our vocation.
- Artists are typically rather OCD types; we tend to fixate on something, often with great results. When this obsessive nature turns itself on the constant noise inside our head, great trouble awaits.
- We are also sensitive and emotional people. Thus we are prone to anxiety and self-searching. This growing anxiety makes the noise louder and more inescapable.
What it Is
Contrary to our intuition, most tinnitus doesn’t come from our ears. It is primarily a “brain” thing. Our brain creates the sound to “fill in” for the silence caused by a minor hearing loss, or simply in avoidance of a “too quiet” environment. Apparently in some of us, our brains don’t like total silence. Here are some “triggers” that can increase the noise or cause us to start listening to what has been there all along.
- The ringing you experience after a loud gig; at some point, it catches your attention, and thus never goes away.
- Stress and anxiety, especially about your hearing (something a musician or audio professional would experience)
- An ear infection or head cold that caused temporary pressure in the ear might cause us to start paying undue attention to our hearing.
- A sudden loud sound such as a balloon pop or feedback squeal causes a short-term numbness/hearing loss that causes our brain to start making noises.
What Not to Do
Here are some things I have learned (mostly the hard way) that make things worse.
- Don’t wear earplugs or other “occlusive” devices that fill the ear canal (except when playing loud gigs.) These will reduce the ambient sounds that normally hide or reduce the tinnitus.
- Don’t “test” your tinnitus or evaluate it constantly. This will lead to an increase in anxiety. I know it is difficult to “not” think about something; we will get to that in a minute…
- Don’t worry excessively about what you eat or do as a trigger. While there are certain foods, drinks or medications that can cause tinnitus, this is probably not why you have it. This kind of self-experimentation will simply draw your attention back to the noise.
- Don’t engage in constant internet research about “cures” etc. Most of these are quackery.
- Don’t “self-medicate” with alcohol or tranquilizers. While they may temporarily calm you down enough to forget the noise, it will be back, and possibly louder.
- Don’t stop practicing or working on your music; this will lead to phobias about sound and give you a feeling of hopelessness and paralysis.
While most people wish for a pill to take for the ringing, there has been little progress in this area; most medications for this are herbal remedies that aim to take your money at a vulnerable time in your life. There are, however methods that do work, and they are either very cheap or even free.
- Sound therapy is the number-one line of attack. When I have had a flare-up, I would use a white noise-generator all day, at a modest volume. This masks the sound and allows your awareness to “let go” of paying attention to the sound. Remember, your brain makes it, so if you aren’t listening to it, it isn’t there. The masking sound needs to be non-informational, so we can learn to ignore it.
- Pulse-therapy: this is similar, but creates an on-off pulsed noise that for some reason calms the brain’s hearing center. Usually a 2 or 3 minute session will give temporary relief.
- Counseling: I scoffed at this, but after a session of tinnitus counseling at a medical practice devoted to hearing, I felt my burden lighten. Knowing it can be solved is comforting.
- Electrical Stimulation of the outer ear can reduce the firing of the nerves. This is a session where a technician sends a mild electrical signal through the skin on the outer ear. Apparently there are nerve pathways to the inner ear that calm down. It is not too expensive and basically tingles.
- Lifestyle: All the things that lower anxiety and improve health: good diet, exercise, good times with friends.
Free Stuff
There are a number of noise-generating apps for your computer or phone; look for plain “white noise” rather than “ocean” or nature sounds, since they can draw your attention, or worse yet, you can begin to count the seagull cries as they loop over and over.
http://lets-beat-tinnitus.co.uk/blog/free-tinnitus-pulse-therapy/
- Does your tinnitus make you anxious?
- Do you obsess on it?
- Have you changed your habits due to the noise?
- Have you found something that helps?
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