So I've posted separately about my diagnosis. I've got a vascular problem where some arteries in my head are pressing on the vestibular and cochlear nerves. I will be seeing a neurosurgeon soon. My question today is around whether or not to try to mask the tinnitus (it's pulsatile and VERY intrusive).
I am confused because I had a session with a psychologist who said try and get used to it because (in his view) the risk with masking with a sound generator day or night is that on the occasions where you don't have access to sound to mask, it can be very unwetlling to then have to hear the tinnitus. I sort of get that but surely if the sound is VERY disturbing (mine is), isn't it better to have some sound device going such that you are distracted a bit? I literally have an electricity sub station and train brakes going in my head 24/7 and I need some way to manage.
Written by
SueX
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Hi, we are all different and obviously you have got to try and find what works best for you. Personally I agree with your psychologist as I wonder what chance to some people have of possibly habituating when they are always trying to distract from what they are perceiving. Obviously if people find it preferable and more comfortable to distract that is their choice. We have to do what we find is best for us.🤷♀️ Good luck.
I think that I wouldn't worry too much about what to do (in other words do what you think is going to help you the most) until after you've seen the neurosurgeon because depending on what he or she tells you things may change. If surgery is a possibility, probability or necessity and you have surgery the whole question may be moot.
Thanks that's helpful. I'm literally counting the days until the consultation with the neurosurgeon as the pulsatile tinnitus is just so bad. I might have to experiment with some way of trying to co-eixst with it!
Hi Sue, I'm a 5 or 6 year sufferer of PT, interesting diagnosis you have there. I have been unable to get a diagnosis myself, but I have always said "I cant help but think that something may be coming into contact with a vestibular and / or cochlear nerve". My sound is a "thump thump, thump, thump" totally in sync with my heartbeat. Could you please describe your PT sound to me? Thanks
Gosh sorry you have pulsatile tinnitus. When I first got tinnitus (Sept 24) I just knew it was not 'normal' tinnitus. It came out of the blue, like an earthquake and literally my head was going thump thump thump. The GP kept saying is it your left or right ear and the only response I could give was IT'S JUST IN MY HEAD, NOT MY EAR. It has taken me several months to get a diagnosis. The first set of scans were on an 'open' 1.5T MRI machine. Firstly the 'open' component means you don't get such good images and then the 1.5 bit refers to the stregnth and I was told by a neuro radiologist that if you want the best images of the brain it has to be on a 3T closed MRI machine. So despite the claustraphobia that's what I did and the results were clear on that. Certainly in my case I just had a sense that something was VERY wrong.
Claims for treatmentThe maker claims that it reduces the perception of tinnitus. This may be via reducing intrusiveness, aiding habituation, distracting attention or triggering neuroplasticity within the brain.
What is the treatment?
The treatment is sound therapy via device (either hearing aid, sound generator or combination hearing aid), external device (CD player, MP3 player, mobile phone) or environmental sound.
The treatment patterns vary as to number of sessions, duration of sessions and to type of sound used.
What are the downsides of this treatment?
The treatment is regarded as safe[1].
The cost, if accessed proprietary device or tailored sound used.
Has there been research into this treatment?
Yes, including several systematic reviews.
What does the research say?
We did not find evidence to support or refute the provision of sound therapy as the primary intervention for people with tinnitus.
We did not find evidence to suggest that one type of sound therapy device (i.e. hearing aid, sound generator or combination hearing aid) is better than others.’ [1]
Current tinnitus management guidelines do not make strong recommendations regarding use of sound therapy [2-4] , and personal preference should play a part in the choice of this management option.
Your psychologist is absolutely right. Ive become overdependent on my sleepband. But having said that, it's better than 3 or 4 hours sleep (including when taking sleeping tablets).
In my case the deterioration in my hearing has led to hyperacusis, which is my brain not adjusting to the changes in my hearing. In a similar vein, masking devices will cause the brain to habituated to the noise you use to mask, so when you don't have access to it or find yourself in a different environment your brain will react negatively.
As stupid and counter-intuitive as it might sound, "making friends with your tinnitus" isn't such a bad idea. This can be a simple as just sitting and listening to it, and reason with it.
My tinnitus is truly impossible to adjust to - I do now have a diagnosis (vascular problem in my brain) but as the tinnitus is pulsatile I am finding it impossible to adjust to. I guess for all of us we are going to experience T differently and so different things might help. I think I am going to have to find some kind of sound aid. When I'm tired and stressed then as we all know, T seems even more intrusive. I think in those times using some kind of sound therapy for a while might be helpful. Who knows though. It feels like one great big experiment sometimes!
Yes the problem is that it's subjective so (almost) impossible to cure. We have to learn adjust and treat the comorbidities. It took me 5 years to find an antidepressants that agree with me.
Hello, I think the general advice from Professionals is to try and avoid silence. Not that I ever hear silence, they say to have some background noise going, either a radio or TV or fan, etc. Part of tinnitus retraining is to wear a device that plays a sound at the same frequency as your tinnitus, you wear it every day for 18 months or so, and they reckon after that period you won’t notice the T so much or you would be habituated to it.
Hi Sue. It IS a big experiment. I wear danalogic hearing aids with a tinnitus setting during the day & I've used them at night too. I have high frequency static electric substation tinnitus, non-pulsatile. I sometimes go to sleep with them in too, and remove them at some stage during the night becauae they dig in, and resort to you tube maskers through a headband, which doesn't work so well. Here's the thing. Last week after a morning shower I went straight out the door for a meet up and all with a friend and FORGOT to put the hearing aids on. I left them in the bathroom. I realised as I was pulling in to her drive. She lives half an hour away. 2 things happened: firstly meltdown panic and the thought that I needed to go straight home (which would mean cancelling the walk) and then secondly the realisation that I had been sufficiently distracted after the shower not to be worrying about the noise, which was as loud as ever I swear. Once I became focused on it again, I started to feel the panic, racing heart, pins and needles etc. So I think I must have experienced a short spell of habituation. I managed the day well enough, with spells of not being distracted, but was still distracted especially in the quiet pub we had lunch in. Bear with me. That night I decided to experiment and see whether I could fall asleep without the masker hearing aids, by just listening to a podcast about something or other. This would normally be a recipe for disaster. But very very surprisingly, I fell asleep unencumbered by the hearing aids, still very aware that the static was there. In explicable. I slept for 6 & half hours NON STOP. First time in ages. What I noticed that night was a sort of "don't care" attitude about the noise which I've never had. Last night was 4th night sleeping without maskers! I'm not counting chickens, because with tinnitus there are so many variables that floor you. I'm wearing the maskers through the hearing aids during the day, because I can't concentrate without them, but if Im in a place with lots of ambient noise, I'm turning the masking sound right down so that I get used to focusing on the surrounding sounds. I have to emphasise, the noise hasn't gone away, but I'm wondering whether strategic use of the maskers instead of full dependency is helping me to habituate. I have no idea if I'm doing the right thing. Experimentation, as you say.
Wow, that's quite a story. Fantastic that you had that experience of falling alseep without masking . I can imagine your panic when seeing your friend and realising you had no aids with you. For me each day is a learning experience. Anyway, it's really interested to read about your experiences.
PT, like you. I don't mask, I distract form it at times. I find my tolerance of it goes up and down - sometimes I don't care it's there, other times it really gets to me, puts me on edge, pisses me off quite frankly. At those times I'll employ the distraction tools such as YT live streams, people doing stuff in workshops - you know, or talk radio, I'll get out in to the garden and work hard. Others hit the gym or the bike or the running shoes.
I don't like masking sounds for the same reason as your phychologist doesn't. PT is one of the hardest T's to habituate to - but I have! and if I can - you can.
I remember so well the day I took myself off to the hills and just decided to sit there in the woods with the T and wait and see what would happen. I sat there for 5/6 hours in a battle of wits with it. I was at the depths of my despair with the T. I called on all the strength and resolve I could muster to try and preserve my sanity. I asked myself why I was so disturbed by it? What was it trying to do to me? I tried to 'meditate it away'.
Then, I slowly started to become aware of other noises in the woods and on the hillside; birds, the wind through the trees, very distant traffic sounds, human voices of walkers on the hill above, and it occurred to me that none of these things were diminished by the T. In fact none of the World was dimished by the presense of the T - it was all still going on around me - unchanged, remaining what it always has been.
I started to regard the PT as simply an overlay on top of everything else. Like a membrane stretching over my senses. And I realised at that point that it did not need to interfere with my perception of reality. It was just an unwelcome hitchhiker coming along for the ride.
As time has moved on so that T as an overlay has slowly changed into an underlay. It is beneath everything - and true reality - what my senses are feeling and what I am hearing and feeling is back on top where it's meant to be.
This is the nature of habituation.
The other thing to touch on is how revolutionary my hearing aids have been - particularly with the PT as the hearing aids flatten it out somewhat. Have you been investigated for hearing loss at all?
Hi Jimbob, I have only mild hearing loss so have been advised to not have hearing aids. I love your story of 'forced' habituation, or rather I guess more of an 'acceptance'. What you've done will be my new goal!
My hearing loss was fairly hefty but over a very narrow range of frequencies. My T was so loud that I hadn't noticed this loss until I got the hearing aids. Boy, what a difference they made.
The biggest thing they do is to help externalise the focus of my listening. What I mean by that is the PT and T does it's best to trap my focus inside my head. The hearing aids amplify the outside World in a way that takes my focus out there. The T is in my head but my attention is outside. Sounds odd but they just do that and this really helps with the T especially the PT.
Just to note - the aids have automatic volume cut if they detect really loud sounds - blue light, sirens, alarms, loud traffic, etc. They also have various masking sounds I can select - you know, the usual, white/ brown/ pink noise, waves, wind but I never use these - I just don't need to. The ambience of the aids are quite sufficient to block my attention from the PT.
Give them a go. I describe my hearing aids as being transformative with coping with my condition.
I am about to look into the masking route (white or other colour noises as well as sound cancelling) as I see this as one more tool to management of my tinnitus. I meditate, have massages, do all the right things to get used to it but it still can become overwhelming so I have thought "why not?" I hope that helps!
Dont take much notice of the psychologist, these 'professionals' know virtually nothing about tinnitus and that goes for ENT consultants too, do what ever it takes to live best with the tinnitus.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Catastrophic Reactive Tinnitus and Severe Hyperacusis - My Experience
Acceptance 
Newbie, tinnitus or not?
Normally I am positive and try to keep my head up.. 
It stops when I press my neck - what does it mean?
