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Constant tinnitus: Are there any solutions?
Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) | Last Active: Oct 30, 2023 | Replies (183)Comment receiving replies
.... it's amazing how tinnitus can affect our lives; I also have hyperacusit; moderate hearing loss (no hearing aides); eusatchian tube pain - no tubes for me; and to crown it all : musical tinnitus/aka auditory halucinations/aka musical ear.... so if its not one issue its another. the mucial ear sounds nice but it isnt as it comes on day or night in one ear or other and its the first refrain of any type of music; jazz; Christmas carol; national Anthem; nursery rhyme; and goes on an don and on for up to five hours and sometimes softer sometimes louder.... sometimes slower/faster sometimes garbled... i didnt think anything could be worse than tinnitus but I was wrong.... and no cure. (It'snot "ear worm"when you sort of think of a favourite song/music) its your brain actually hearig it!! Have read about it and they say its not a mental health issue - but it has become one. Along with other health issues and a Senior it does become hard to cope with and doctors/nurses have never heard of it! Anyone else? Now am not sure when its tinnitus or the bongo drums! or thunder, or our air conditioning unit ugh!!!
Replies to ".... it's amazing how tinnitus can affect our lives; I also have hyperacusit; moderate hearing loss..."
Hi Valerie, I have had tinnitus for 53 years since I shattered my eardrum so I know how annoying it can be. It has become louder and louder in recent years. I had never heard of the musical version which really sounds annoying because it would conflict with the real sounds. Anytime you hear something that isn't really there, it's not good. Sorry to hear you have this. From what I just read, it's your brain trying to fill in the hearing gap appropriately the same way our brain fills in the blind spot in our eye to match the rest of what it sees. Why it picks music, who knows? What a strange and annoying disorder.
I just got hearing aids. The audiologist thought it might help with the tinnitus among other issues. It does not. He said it would help with clarity -- not so far. What it does for me as far as I can tell is just amplify everything so I'm hearing things a person wouldn't normally hear like loud crinkling paper when I try to read. It's like a sitcom when someone has a hangover and they hear every little sounds magnified and annoying. So far it doesn't help with clarity on the TV. The last issue to test is if I can hear better in a crowded restaurant. Haven't tested that yet. With hearing loss in one ear mostly, it makes it hard to distinguish close voices from distant voices so I don't hear anyone clearly.
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@valerie have you read anything by Oliver Sachs? I wonder if there is a case like yours in his book Musicophilia.