Working around Tinnitus at 75yo

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cmc tom

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Yep. According to NIH (National Institutes of Health): "Although we hear tinnitus in our ears, its source is really in the networks of brain cells (what scientists call neural circuits) that make sense of the sounds our ears hear. A way to think about tinnitus is that it often begins in the ear, but it continues in the brain.

Scientists still haven’t agreed upon what happens in the brain to create the illusion of sound when there is none. Some think that tinnitus is similar to chronic pain syndrome, in which the pain persists even after a wound or broken bone has healed.

Tinnitus could be the result of the brain’s neural circuits trying to adapt to the loss of sensory hair cells by turning up the sensitivity to sound. This would explain why some people with tinnitus are oversensitive to loud noise.

Tinnitus also could be the result of neural circuits thrown out of balance when damage in the inner ear changes signaling activity in the auditory cortex, the part of the brain that processes sound. Or it could be the result of abnormal interactions between neural circuits. The neural circuits involved in hearing aren’t solely dedicated to processing sound. They also communicate with other parts of the brain, such as the limbic region, which regulates mood and emotion."
So you're saying my wife is wrong?!?! She swears I don't have a brain but I have tinnitus so I must have one. Life is good.
 

Snattlerake

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I’m 77 and have had ear noise for over 40 years. My wife thinks I’m hard of hearing but is nice and puts up with the tv or radio playing loud. What I hear isn’t exactly a ringing sound. It’s more like a symphony of insects most people hear when sitting out on the porch in the evening. Does anyone else hear noises like that?
Mine sounds like the louder and softer sounds of the cicada. Sometimes, like right now, I have a high pitched constant ring.
 

OK Corgi Rancher

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Yep... I have it. Bad. Spent years around airplanes and as in intercept operator in the AF. Some days after wearing headsets for 10 or 12 hours and working thru all the static and background noises to hear the target I was listening to my head would be "buzzing" for hours. It's really bad now to the point it aggravates my already significant hearing loss. I'm seeing a neurologist now for migraine issues and she thinks it may be related to the tinnitus.

The VA gave me some really nice hearing aids but I just can't stand to wear them. All they seem to do is amplify a lot of background noise like wind, paper rustling, dog toenails on the floor...the really annoying stuff. Drives me freakin' crazy to wear them and I still can't hear voices any better than without them. The VA doc says they're tuned or calibrated properly. If that's the case, I'll do without.
 

p238shooter

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Yep... I have it. Bad. Spent years around airplanes and as in intercept operator in the AF. Some days after wearing headsets for 10 or 12 hours and working thru all the static and background noises to hear the target I was listening to my head would be "buzzing" for hours. It's really bad now to the point it aggravates my already significant hearing loss. I'm seeing a neurologist now for migraine issues and she thinks it may be related to the tinnitus.

The VA gave me some really nice hearing aids but I just can't stand to wear them. All they seem to do is amplify a lot of background noise like wind, paper rustling, dog toenails on the floor...the really annoying stuff. Drives me freakin' crazy to wear them and I still can't hear voices any better than without them. The VA doc says they're tuned or calibrated properly. If that's the case, I'll do without.
Exactly the same as what I was going through and with my sucess at helping that situation is the reason for my original post of what seemed to be helping me. It is a nice day outside with things to do but will try to give a one week update of what I have observed for me later this evening.
 
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TerryMiller

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Yep... I have it. Bad. Spent years around airplanes and as in intercept operator in the AF. Some days after wearing headsets for 10 or 12 hours and working thru all the static and background noises to hear the target I was listening to my head would be "buzzing" for hours. It's really bad now to the point it aggravates my already significant hearing loss. I'm seeing a neurologist now for migraine issues and she thinks it may be related to the tinnitus.

The VA gave me some really nice hearing aids but I just can't stand to wear them. All they seem to do is amplify a lot of background noise like wind, paper rustling, dog toenails on the floor...the really annoying stuff. Drives me freakin' crazy to wear them and I still can't hear voices any better than without them. The VA doc says they're tuned or calibrated properly. If that's the case, I'll do without.

Back when my mother was alive, she always had the TV turned up so loud that the neighbors could hear her TV. I introduced her to a device that Radio Shack sold that was called a "listening amplifier." Basically, it was a receiver that picked up sounds and then amplified them through headphones. She loved the thing, so we convinced her that maybe she needed hearing aids, and she eventually got a pair.

Visiting her one time after she got them, I noticed that she wasn't wearing the aids and asked her about why she wasn't wearing them. She told me that she took them out because a flushing toilet, a faucet drip, and a few other things were just too annoying to want to listen to.
 

p238shooter

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OK, been one week since I tried doing something different that prompted me to start this thread I described in detail on Saturday concerning hearing loss and Tinnitus and my daily vicious circle of being pretty def by the end of the day. Some people start in the middle of a thread or at the end, that statement is for any of them that fits. Many here have replied with good information. Some might help me, some might help others. Any little bit of something that helps is worth a try. I will just use Usernames for my comments so this does not get too long.

First "Shadowrider". Yep, as soon as I saw your statement I knew I messed up. My hat size is 6 3/8. I read the reviews for this product about it being on the small side and kept on going because my head is small and tall and did not think to mention that. My apology.

"Jakeman" I quickly ordered a second $32 pair just to have a spare while recharging the first pair to quickly switch to. I will do some research on what most likely be better quality brands you mentioned. I will put a "Ham" comment at the bottom you might enjoy if you are one.

"Snattlerake" interesting, my loss of hearing overpowered by Tinitus gets better if I get into a quiet zone for a little while, like over night, but I have also noticed after an nap I do notice mine more when going back to trying to listen to sounds.

"Terrymiller" These are similar function, yes basically earphones but transmit more of the diaphragm vibration rather than having a gap to produce sound for the ear, and yes they are excellent for ham radio Morse code.

"Chuckie" I don't have VA, was allergic to wool, but I have tried 3 pair of traditional hearing aids over the years to compensate for my HF loss and all have had the same amplifier effect. Worked well to hear things for an hour or so, then were useless because the Tinnitus increased to offset it.

"Hunter966" as Shadowrider stated, look at comments for each one about head size to be more comfortable.

" 2busy" Yes very annoying, and can be dangerous to not hear some things. Mine started out at one level in the morning then increases as the day goes on. What I have found here is not in any way a cure, but it is a way I can drastically reduce it increasing during my normal day and lifestyle to a point that it is almost equal to what I have had each morning when it is at it's minimum.

"devak" Yes, everyone is different and/or describes it different. I tried a white noise generator years ago and it was very negative for me. My hearing gets better if my ears get a "rest" from sounds, but I do become more aware of my Tinnitus. The Tinnitus may not be changing all that much, because I do notice it more in the mornings at times, but my hearing decreases during the day and the Tinnitus sound is all I can hear. You might be on to something there. I need to research my self more and will report back.

"Decoligny" I still have not had time to research your post of a tone generator. I know my ears lack HF tones. I want to have time to try your method, and also be able to compare what my ears can hear vs what frequencies I might get through my bones also.

"gl89aw" Yes sir. That is exactly what we are discussing here. Some have light symptoms of Tinnitus, some like me have very harsh cases along with hearing loss. So much that we are intensely looking for solutions because it is interfering with our normal lives both for convenience and safety. I think I am on track of helping mine, yep a little inconvenient, but no more than having a broken leg and needing crutches.

"JH47" Yep, wish I had NC headphones back in my day also. With me using the $32 device I described, I am essentially doing the same thing to a certain extent with routing my TV, music, and ham radio "noise" around my ear drums that are producing my Tinnitus and injecting it deeper into my brain to hear it.

"JH47" Yes, thanks. I do need to do some more research on all this works and how I am bypassing some of it to not aggravate it during the day noises I am around.

"ElPablo" hearing protection was not invented (or considered) until about 30 years ago. It was too late for me by then. Yep, if we knew then what we know now, ya know?

"Shadowrider" Yes, U-Tube is all over the place along with many other sites. This is the same problem I have with ham radio daily except it is less than every three min for another person to talk. Different radios, different microphones, different levels of voices. Never know were to adjust until they key the mike. Almost like at a shooting range and take off your ear protection and someone fires off a shot, too late now. At the end of my night I just hit my power button on my radio. In the mornings when I hearing is good and hit the power button, first time someone keys up to say something it sometimes almost blows me out of the chair.

"TerryMiller" Yep, same effect as described above.

* "JH 47 and rheart" Interesting what you know or have found, can you pm me some links where you started with this and I will run with it when I get time. I would like to follow up more and understanding Tinnitus and the associated hearing loss at HF I have. Like me, I have been to three Audiologists in the past 5 years and now because of "intestinal fortitude" of I am tired of this "Incurable S" I have done more to help my situation in the past week with a $32 device than all of them combined. I would like to know and pursue more to understand and find ways to work around. Hell, I am open to even go stay at a Holiday Inn some night to get smarter and find ways to work this out more. ha ha

"OK Corgi Rancher" I already had a blue tooth transmitter that would plug into anything that had audio, mine was about $30 and this "headset" was $32 which fits a small head, others might be better. My situation might be different than yours. I am exposed each day to TV, computer U-Tube stuff, telephone, ham radio, phone calls and all in between as my normal day. I have reduced my exposure to known sounds direct to my ears and transferring it to vibrations on my temples to hear with this set up which has made a tremendous difference. Yep, do a lot of juggling. Getting up and going to listen to the news for the day, plug into the earphone jack to feed the BT transmitter on the TV while fixing breakfast to the "bone phone" to my ear. Later someone calls me on the ham radio. (your ears are totally open using this) I key down, "Hold on, give me a minute to reconnect to my radio. (I take my BT transmitter out of the TV and put it into my ham radio phone jack) and carry on there.

"TerryMiller" Yep, I can understand your Mother's situation and comments. Hearing aids will do this for me also for an hour or so, amazing what I have been missing after sticking them in my ear, but then and I need to do more research, either my hearing lessens after a while or as I suspect my Tinnitus gets louder and it overpowers any sounds and I am back to where I was not hearing well.

So, the topic of this post is that I have been a week now with two sets of ears. One set not able to hear much of anything after about noon in the past but now using the "bone phone" method and being outside at 8PM this evening with my ears after my normal day, hearing the train 3 miles away and the coyotes yelping this evening. By evening my hearing loss and Tinnitus had all that blocked out for the past several years.

Yes, a little mind twisting at times with seeming to have two sets of ears. But not unlike someone with earphones in and still hearing something going on outside them, except from a different source.

Like I told a friend of mine tonight. Having hearing problems for years and Tinnitus, now at 75yo, this week has been a life changer. Guess I nowhave something different, 4 ears. Ha Ha

Yes, this afternoon, got my noisy Jeep out today and took a window open 30 mile trip to a grocery store. Noticed I could hear stuff along the way that was in the past un hearable. Well worth plugging and un plugging a few times. Thanks for everyone posting. Like I stated earlier, not being able to hear stuff is not a good thing.

A very special thanks for all who have commented and contributed, even those who might have great hearing to reflect off of. This is some very important stuff in many parts of our lives to many of us.


Two very personal comments here that many might not be interested in.​


One to "Jakeman" I presume you are a Ham. After our club net tonight there was a gentleman key up asking for a radio check on our repeater. I felt like I was compromised, so waited a little. No one else came in so I threw out my call. He stated he just got his license (mic fright to not hit the net most likely?) with a Baofang UV-5. Sounded good as far as I could tell. Chit chatted a little welcomed him into ham radio and our other nets. ---- I did not think it was appropriate to tell him. I was listening to him out of my TS-2000 audio connected by my blue tooth transmitter to my "bone phone" earpiece but I was transmitting back to him using my UV-5 Baofang as a "mic" that was cross-banded to my TM-V71. Sometimes it might just be better to know what you know and not confuse the situation. Ha Ha He was good on the radio for a "newbie" kinda working into it.

And my second comment is "OKC BOB". Nope, I can not "Prove" anything is different this week to my hearing that it has been for the last 20 years like "I am still alive due to Ivermectin horse paste" and also I tried this because Audiorologists could not make this much difference. In the past week I am finding by hearing, the cyotes are sweeping this area again as they do every few months or so. If they get closer, I hope I can show you some .223 or .277 dead Yotes later. Now that I can hear them close to a mile or so away and use my night vision to spot them, and if they get closer, nail them, I will let you know. Sometimes sounds are important. Got to make the best of my hearing so I am working on it from a different angle than the Audiologists. Sometimes failure does not hurt as much a success rewards.



Yep long post. Hope anything I have thrown out might help anyone out here.









 

Fredkrueger100

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My hearing aids have a tinnitus function. It provides some white noise background at varying levels and frequency. It helps a lot.
My dad has it and it really bothers him a lot. I am gonna suggest he try this. I sure hope I never get it. I’ve heard of people wanting to kill themselves over it. Do you mind sharing what kind of hearing aid you have ?
 

p238shooter

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Don't mind at all. I tried two other brands years back and they only amplified the Tinnitus problem for me. The last pair I got a couple years ago was no better. I gave them to a friend and will have to contact him to get the brand name. I think they were similar to many others out there. The bone phone type I am using lets me keep my Tinnitus to its lowest level with any other sounds I can plug into them to avoid using my real ears most of the time. Good luck to you.
 

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