# Possible help for Tinnitus? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2022, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122 "2022-08-05T01:06:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/21 "2022-08-06T16:36:46Z")
Hmm. Mine doesn’t get louder when I jut my jaw out, but on the way back in. And I seem to be unable to hold it in position to keep it louder. My bigger problem right now is sometimes waking up at ngith with a much higher pitch tinnitus that just happens to be the same frequency as some of the room noise. While it doesn’t go away, I find that just putting something that partially blocks the sound (e.g. basic earphones) tends to make it a lot better. I think it attenuates the pitch of the A/C and fans which are my usual source of “white noise.” (Actual white noise tends to sound too harsh to me. Fans sound a lot better. When I don’t have fans, I actually would look up fan sounds on YouTube. Or breathing sounds.) ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/22 "2022-08-06T17:04:33Z")
My tinnitus started after the fire alarm at work went off, and I happened to be standing underneath the one in my office. I don’t wear earbuds and rarely wear headphones because I find that makes it worse. Other stuff that makes it worse: allergies, stress, the Covid vax. I had tinnitus with fevers even before it became constant. I think pretty much anything that harshes my body’s mellow is going to ramp it up. I have found certain masking sounds that help, but that was a process of trial and error. When it’s especially loud I’ll play one of the YouTube videos from this guy: > **[Paul Harrison Tinnitus Sound Therapy White Noise](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0efv3dprkcBSc0V32zIGDg)** > > Tinnitus Masking Sounds and Therapy. > Listening to the sounds of nature like birds, crickets, rain and thunder is a great way to mask the constant ringing in your ears. Tinnitus can be hell for a lot of people and listening to these sounds that I... Water sounds seem to help me the most - there’s a vid there of just a shower running, and the rain and thunderstorm vids are good too. The medical system I go to here used to offer biofeedback training, but they no longer do because they decided it wasn’t effective enough to justify the time and expense involved. I think at this point the best thing you can do is just get Zen with it like @digs. I’ve also had pulsatile tinnitus, [which turned out to be a bad thing](https://ketteringhealth.org/conditions/carotid-artery-dissection/). So while it’s quite rare for that to happen, it’s always good to get that particular kind of tinnitus checked out. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/23 "2022-08-06T17:45:06Z")
I’ve had tinnitus since grade school. White noise generators help me a LOT. I recently was able to get some high quality hearing aids, and they produce a low sound that more-or-less cancels out the ringing. Good luck to you. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/24 "2022-08-06T19:06:32Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > I think at this point the best thing you can do is just get Zen with it like @digs. New title for my auto-biography! _ **Just Get Zen With It Like Digs** :_ _Life With Tinnitus and Kids and Dogs and Crap_ ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/25 "2022-08-06T23:08:35Z")
Mine does change when I move my jaw, but I don’t have TMJ and the tinnitus was a direct effect of chemo. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/26 "2022-08-08T14:40:56Z")
This is me too. It’s always there, but I don’t really notice it unless it’s really quiet and I think about it. Mine sounds like distant cicadas. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/27 "2022-08-08T14:54:40Z")
Yeah, distant cicadas is a good description of mine as well. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/28 "2022-08-08T15:24:12Z")
Mine sounds like incredibly high notes on an organ. One key held down with intermittent keys played at random. The worst thing that happens is when I talk to some tech support person that has a very thick accent. I wear hearing aids and a full headset. Still can’t make out a thing they are saying. These support sessions for work often have to be over the phone. The shitty phone connection to India or whatever, and their seemingly very poor headsets does not help. Oh, and a co-worker that I respect very much. She was givin a nickname ‘The Mumbler’ (not by me). But really, try to speak clearly. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/29 "2022-08-08T22:46:32Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > Yeah, distant cicadas is a good description of mine as well. Distant! I dream of having _distant_ cicadas! (For me, they’re about three feet away…) (and they’re drunk) . > [@enipla](#): > > She was givin a nickname ‘The Mumbler’ (not by me). When I went in for my first hearing aid appointment, the doc asked me why I was there. I very seriously said “My wife has started mumbling more and more…” ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/30 "2022-08-08T22:51:49Z")
Mine is like a cicada perched on each ear. ---
**Author:** ![Yosh99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yosh99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosh99)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2022, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/31 "2022-08-09T13:34:34Z")
When I push down on my fist with my jaw, my tinnitus volume goes down. I have a friend with a recent PhD in audiology who was shocked when I told her I could control volume by moving my jaw. My ENT was surprised as well. How could something that I suspect is common be so unrecognized? ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/32 "2022-08-11T20:26:06Z")
> [@Yosh99](#): > > I have a friend with a recent PhD in audiology who was shocked when I told her I could control volume by moving my jaw. My ENT was surprised as well. How could something that I suspect is common be so unrecognized? My assumption is their training and business model is too entrenched in ‘tinnitus is permanent and untreatable’ and ‘your hearing loss is in this range, so you need this hearing aid’. The notion that tinnitus can be variable and maybe treatable is like an alien concept, possibly because it hasn’t been particularly monetizable for their field. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2022, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/33 "2022-08-12T04:12:30Z")
My left-side only tinnitus started in the 80s when scuba diving - I surfaced too quickly and the high pitched shriek was immediately obvious, and hasn’t subsided. I have adjusted, and am glad it only affected one ear (I quit scuba diving right away). > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Similar to the concept used in sound cancellation headphones, phase shift therapy uses a sound wave that is phase-shifted 180 degrees from the patient’s endogenous sound wave. Well, I don’t quite see how you can phase-shift a noise that’s strictly a perception phenomenon; there’s no stimulus causing it and no microphone could pick it up. Not saying there aren’t strategies that work, but this doesn’t jibe with my understanding of how noise-cancelling devices operate. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2023, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/34 "2023-08-19T12:27:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > No hearing loss, constant ringing in left ear only, pulses with heart beat. I searched the boards for tinnitus threads, found this one, and came in to see what had been discussed. Your symptoms, **Czarcasm** , are mine to a T. Is it still with you, a year later? I have an MRI coming up in a couple of days. Weirdly, I made the appointment because I was having an unexplained localized head pain which wasn’t getting better. The doc thought it might be a pinched nerve or arthritis in my neck, causing referred pain, but he ordered up an MRI. Between the time I made the appointment for the test and now, the head pain has gone completely away. Yay! But in the meantime I’ve started getting tinnitus, rather badly in the left ear, and I see online that a head MRI is what a doc would use to rule out anything bad. So I’ll keep the MRI appointment and let them know what’s going on. In the meantime I think I’ll go get an earwax removal kit on the off chance there’s some wax down in there. Not likely - I’m not much of a wax-producer. But it’d be nice if that was it and it was an easy fix. ETA: it comes and goes. Sitting here and drinking tea this morning, I’m not hearing it at all, even in the quiet. I’m treasuring the moment of silence, since I expect it to come on again. The noisiness of a normal day aggravates and exacerbates it. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2023, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/35 "2023-08-19T14:04:53Z")
Great teela. I have not had a moment of silence in about 15 years. I work from home now, thank god. But TPTB would like every one together for a monthly meeting. That would be fine, but I can’t hear a damn thing that is being said. My tinnitus is bad. My audiologist says nothing can be done. Hearing aids do help though, and I’m in a job where vocal communication is not needed. In fact, I prefer an email or something for the record, and I can refer back to (what was that about?). There are a couple of us that work remote full time. Otherwise a hybrid outfit. We used Zoom for a long time, and now are on Teams. The Teams app has VERY good CC (closed captioning). I was surprised to see that it did so well with 16 people in a conference room with bad acoustics. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/36 "2023-08-19T14:57:44Z")
I somehow missed this thread last year. I’ve had it for a few years now. In my childhood, I’d sometimes get ringing in my ears that would go away in a few minutes/hours. I seem to recall that yawning would often make it go away. Now it’s “on” nearly all the time. Usually not too bad, sometimes very loud and annoying. Like others upthread, I can make it louder with my jaw, but doing that feels familiar, like something I observed in my childhood (in general, not necessarily when my ears were ringing). > [@Yosh99](#): > > How could something that I suspect is common be so unrecognized? Maybe they’ve only read about it, they don’t suffer it and/or haven’t spoken at length to those who do. > [@enipla](#): > > In fact, I prefer an email or something for the record, and I can refer back to (what was that about?). I have the same preference and, far too often, have to insist that clients inform me of project details or instructions in writing. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2023, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/37 "2023-08-19T16:03:46Z")
Is it a thing with tinnitus that outside sounds, like loudish talking or the television, can reverberate/exacerbate/increase the ringing sound? I remember that when I have a bad cold and my ears are clogged and congested, I become sensitive to noise in this way. Maybe what I have is an inflammation in the middle ear - I hope. At least that might be temporary or treatable with antibiotics. I did the earwax removal thing - no wax was in evidence, and the ringing still went on afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/38 "2023-08-22T11:56:03Z")
Yesterday I went to my PCP because the tinnitus was roaringly bad and I wanted to rule out the possibility that it was actually an ear infection of some sort. I drove to his office, and when I was almost there, I turned my head left to check traffic, and got a tremendous bout of dizziness. I’m never dizzy! This was profound. I crept the final few blocks to his office and requested an exam room right away so that I wouldn’t fall out of a chair in the waiting room. Long story short, he saw no sign of a bacterial infection, and thinks the head turning dislodged some crystals in the inner ear and gave me vertigo. He thinks it’s a viral thing in my ear that gave me the tinnitus. I’ll still do an MRI, but must reschedule until I’m sure this dizziness is totally gone. Mr. brown had to drive to my doctor’s and give me a ride home, and we must both go back there this morning to pick up the car we left behind. But ever since that bout of dizziness, last night and this morning, the tinnitus is tremendously reduced. It’s gone from a ringing roar to a background hum. Maybe my issue was a chunk of crud in my inner ear, now gone but causing a temporary bout of vertigo on its way out. Whatever - I’m just happy to have the tinnitus reduced and hope it stays that way. ETA: I just googled up “viral inner ear infection” and got pages describing [labyrinthitis](https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/ears-nose-and-throat/labyrinthitis#about-labyrinthitis). I have almost all the symptoms, but I haven’t had a cold or the flu or anything viral lately. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/39 "2023-08-22T12:32:16Z")
Did he say anything about [Meniere’s Disease](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9ni%C3%A8re%27s_disease)? After [my post above](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/13), the ENT I saw ordered two hearing tests six weeks apart, noted a change, and said I have it. I truly hope your vertigo does not return. (Mine has not returned since last year.) But see the link in my post for a discussion of vertigo and related conditions. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122/40 "2023-08-22T12:48:40Z")
He didn’t mention Meniere’s Disease. I did ask for a referral to a nearby, well-rated ENT just in case I eventually need to see one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-help-for-tinnitus/969122.md?page=3)