Sound Therapy

[Maxi80]

Hello 👋

Can you use just normal music in sound therapy? Or does it have to be a neutral noise for your brain to adapt?

Thanks

[catman68]

Hi Maxi80

I have severe tinnitus with associated hyperacusis. I use sound therapy at night via soundphones, currently have them on and using Beltone calmer pink noise as my hyperacusis is really bad, don’t know why, but it certainly gets your attention.

Regards

Catman68

[daverussell]

It's whatever works for you.

[Maxi80 in reply to daverussell]

I thought it needed to be a certain tone so that it mingles somewhat with your own tinnitus noise and thus enabling habituation 🤔

[daverussell in reply to Maxi80]

You may need to try different tones and types of noise e.g. white noise, music, ambient sounds, or your cat purring. The Beltone Tinnitus app has a lot of differemt sounds you can try and overlay. Maybe it's just me, but I find that I habituate to the noise and then the tinnitus takes over. If I vary it, it becomes less monotonous listening to the same thing

[Maxi80 in reply to daverussell]

Aren’t those noises just for relaxation as opposed to habituating?

[daverussell in reply to Maxi80]

I find sound therapy provides a distraction or just another sound to listen to, but the opportunity to learn how to zone out from it.

The BTA web site says, "[sound therapy] reduces the perception of tinnitus. This may be via reducing intrusiveness, aiding habituation, distracting attention or triggering neuroplasticity within the brain." - tinnitus.org.uk/tinnitus-an...

In reality, maybe we should do nothing and just listen to our Tinnitus and let be what be. More than often I can do this and it's quite satisfying to know that I'm not bothered by it; even when consciously giving it the time of day. In practice though, there are times that I just need a distraction.

Sound therapy may provide a short term relief, but it may not be the ultimate solution. An aim might be to start using it less often. I'm not saying sound therapy or other solutions aren't worthwhile - (though I'm very wary of costly treatments). In other words, we find ourselves in a rut, and just need a pick me up; a space or moment to feel better about ourselves.

"This worry and attentional focus lead people to change their behaviour in other ways, in particular, they understandably try do anything and everything they can to push tinnitus away. This might include using noise or sound generators to mask tinnitus, and avoiding quiet places where tinnitus may become more obvious. They may try to avoid noisy environments, which they fear will make tinnitus worse. Sometimes people may try to keep physically or mentally busy all of the time so they can ignore or distract away from tinnitus. This ‘fight’ with tinnitus may seem like the only option but it often makes tinnitus worse. Efforts to push tinnitus away paradoxically keep tinnitus in the centre of attention. Such a demanding mental effort can lead to exhaustion. And as tinnitus persists, the individual feels as if it is increasingly uncontrollable, as their usual ways of fixing a problem are not working."

tinnitus.org.uk/mindfulness...

[daverussell in reply to daverussell]

I want to be clear though. Don't feel like you have to do nothing and tackle Tinnitus head on. Let habituation work gradually, and in your own time.

[rabbits65 in reply to daverussell]

daverussell - your knowledge is very good and helpful , thanks

[nigelph]

I use SleepPhones bought from the BTA.I use a sounds app on my phone with nature sounds, It took a while to find what was the best sound for me.

[Maxi80 in reply to nigelph]

Is that to relax or too habituate though?

[nigelph in reply to Maxi80]

I wear the SleepPhones at night to allow me to concentrate on the nature sounds and not my T. I always have the sounds quieter than the T otherwise the the T will get louder to avoid getting drowned out! I do not use anything during the day.

[_Barnabas]

I guess any sound that helps you to relax and not focus on the T will help. To aid habituation the advice I have read is to keep the sound level set just below the sound of the T.

[Maxi80 in reply to _Barnabas]

Isn’t relaxing different to habituating!?

[_Barnabas in reply to Maxi80]

I think relaxation is the key to habituation. By reducing your level of arousal and stress you learn not to react to the Tinnitus and in in theory habituate. During the latest spike in my T I am trying to embrace breathing techniques and guided relaxation as part of a CBT programme. It’s early days but being more relaxed is helping with the T.

[TinnitusUKPat Partner]

As folks have suggested, whatever helps you to relax is a good starting point. In an ideal world, you can drop the volume level of whatever you are using to be audible, but not so loud that your tinnitus reacts to it.

Some people find ambient music helpful - binaural beats are a popular choice as a general stress reducer: healthline.com/health/binau...

My own preference is for podcasts, ideally of the "Welcome to Night Vale" ilk. That probably says more about me than you really want to know...🤓🤓

[rabbits65 in reply to TinnitusUKPat]

Thanks Pat , it’s good to see everyone’s remarks on here too.It’s a nightmare living with severe tinnitus , but I guess there’s people worse off than me , 😊

[Maxi80 in reply to TinnitusUKPat]

I thought it needed to be a certain tone so that it mingles somewhat with your own tinnitus noise and thus enabling habituation 🤔

[Luxjim]

I think its whatever works for you Maxi. Personally i have a babbling brook next to me at night and the radio is always on in the background in the day if im home.

[Maxi80 in reply to Luxjim]

Is that to relax or to habituate?

[Luxjim]

Thats more for distraction to give the brain somethings else to concentrate on but at a lower volume than the T. I think habituation is something that will slowly start to happen as you become more accepting and used to the T.

[T1nny]

You will habituate in time quite naturally - the trick is not to have the tinn as the centre of your attention. Admittedly, this is quite hard at first as the tinn does dominate your experiences/thoughts etc, but this does ease up.

There's a fab app out there which you shoud try - Relax Melodies. You can create many kinds of sounds to help and I find it v useful at night time just as your nodding off to sleep.

Hope this helps.

[Maxi80 in reply to T1nny]

What I’m guessing is that acclimatised to your T gradually? So masking it less and less over time? I think I dived in too deep. I was listening for it all day.

Does the brain get used to it bit by bit though? I just thought you had to listen to it all the time to habituate. I didn’t think you could habituate if you masked it.

[Pamfaye1948]

Normal music certainly helps