Tinnitus, Alexa and 'Sleep Jar' masking sounds

[mzkitty]

I noticed someone posted a question regarding apps to help mange their Tinnitus. I replied saying that I used Insight Timer on my phone, but another useful tool which I use a lot is 'Sleep Jar'.

I bought myself an Echo dot to use in my bedroom a few months ago. When I was having a sleepless night and having thoughts about things to be done the next day, I would ask Alexa to add a note to my to-do list. And that's worked well.

But I also discovered an app called 'sleep jar' which plays lots and lots of noises to help you sleep. They have about 100 sounds to choose from. It also plays stories if you find listening to someone talking more helpful.

To use it I say 'Alexa open Sleep jar'

Alexa then asks you what you want to play.

I usually reply with the sound that I've discovered works best for MY tinnitus which is 'Frogs'.

That soundtrack will play for an hour I think - but you can get it to loop by saying 'Alexa loop'

You can also say how long you want it to play for. So, for example saying 'Alexa set SLEEP timer for 90 mins' will stop the Frogs after that amount of time.

You can list the full range of sounds by saying 'Alexa list' after you've opened the sleep jar app.

Or if you ask it to play the first in the series (Thunderstorms) and are listening to that, then say 'Alexa skip', it will announce what the next sound is (rain) and play that. If that doesn't appeal just say 'Alexa skip' again and it will play the next sound (ocean) etc, etc.

I thought that traditional sounds like Rain, or Wind, or White noise would help, but it turns out that the ones that mask my Tinnitus best are Frogs (not Coqui Frogs which is another option), Blizzard, Fountain & Sleigh bells.

You can find more info and full list of sounds at sleepjar.com.

They mention a premium membership but I've been quite happy with everything the free version gives me.

I also sometimes get it to tell me a story. I open sleep jar and when it asks me what I want to play I say 'a story'. It'll then start telling me a random tale, but if I don't like the title or the sound of the narrator's voice I just say 'Alexa skip' and it moves on to another one. I just keep skipping until I hear something I think I'll like.

Sorry about the length of post - and if you're already an Alexa user you won't have needed me to tell you all these commands.

I'm sure there are lots of other great apps out there that do similar things, but just wanted to share the one that's working so well for me.

[Cookie24]

Thank you. This is very helpful

[Choralmusic]

Thank you so much for sharing this. Best wishes.

[Iwilldothisthisyear]

My friend recommended Insight Timer but when I looked a lot of things were only available if you paid the subscription.

My phone has built in white noise, ocean, rain etc sounds & I do find that if I play these through my earphones that this does help me concentrate at work.

My biggest problem is sleeping. I am so tired . I have tried using a sleep band but I find that I get really hot ears & then they get itchy ( I have mild dermatitis in my ears) & I end up with Otis externa.

[mzkitty in reply to Iwilldothisthisyear]

I use a band with headphones at night but a friend swears by her pillow with built in speaker which she uses to listen to music or audio books without disturbing her husband. Maybe that would work for you?

[Iwilldothisthisyear in reply to mzkitty]

I did look at them but the bands had a better review