Tinnitus - do you have ringing in the ears?

Larmann seems to be well versed on the subject. What little research I have done coorelates with what he is saying. And yes the H2O2 will probably not help with noise induced tinitus only with wax buld-up or such.

Chuck

Having known a number of people to suffer this before myself I believed that the only thing that could be done was distraction therapy. I am still skeptical about the herbal drops but this girl was adament that her farthers case was quite severe and added that his tinnitus returned a few months after he stopped using the drops only for it to go again when he resumed treatment. I wonder why if this treatment works why is it not known of world wide.

I have a question regarding this this frequency cancellation treatment. If it works by cancelling the ringing by matching the frequency would'nt it be then removing that frequency from your audiable spectrum?

Rockethouse

That would be my guess as it is based on noise cancelation technology. But I am not a physician nor audiologist so I am not qualified to comment. There is much on the web concerning this subject and I can only regurgitate what information I have found. Maybe others will chime in with more knowledge and experience.

I do know that the this appears to be a fairly common ailment especially with the lesser severe cases, more of a nuisance than a major handicap. And that it seems there is not much research being done in the States to alleviate it or cure it.

Chuck

What Rockethouse is referring to is called masking. This technique involves wearing an earpiece that emits a sound
designed to replace or "mask" the tinnitus you normally hear. All you're doing is repacing one bothersome sound (tinnitus) with what is supposed to be a less bothersome sound. These masking sounds played into your head are loud enough only to mask the tinnitus, which is not that loud compared to outside sounds, unless you're unlucky enough to have tinnitus in the 50-70db range. Whether you can hear sounds in the frequency range of the tinnitus or masker gets back to whether or not you have hearing loss in those ranges to begin with. There is something called Tinnitus Retraining Therapy which is different than masking. It involves wearing earpieces all day in both ears regardless of which ear the tinnitus is in. The volume is set just below that of the tinnitus volume and gives your brain an alternative to place it's attention on. This training or
"retraining" of the brain can take a couple of years and
occurs along with therapy sessions to deal with the psychological affects of tinnitus. This therapy has helped a majority of those who complete the program. When successful the tinnitus sufferer is no longer bothered by
the tinnitus. In fact they only notice it if they "listen"
for it. At this point the brain no longer finds the tinnitus sound interesting or threatening.

I've done a bit more research and have come across some info indicating that tinnitus could be caused by certain kinds of head trauma. It got me thinking. In mid November my wife and I went to the Philadelphia Kimmel Center to hear some jazz. As I'm pretty sure I recollect, on the way home I did not have any ringing in my ears. Just a short time after than I slipped and hit my head on a closet door. I passed out for only a few seconds, and had no bump on the head (the door fortunately popped open when I hit it, relieving some of the force). At the start of the year and our next visit to the Kimmel, it was the first time I noticed ringing as we were on our way home. Is it possible this could be causing my problem?

Larrman

You seem pretty knowledgable about the subject are you an audiologist or ENT?

Chuck

Czbbcl,
No, but I play one on TV. Just kidding.
As a sufferer of severe tinnitus I had to educated myself beyond what my audiologist even knew about it. This was out of self preservation. I needed to know everything I
could so I could at first learn methods to cope and second
develope a treatment plan to recover, which I did. None of this is easy and unfortunately as I mentioned earlier most audiologists and ENT's aren't well prepared to treat tinnitus sufferers, so we're kind of on our own.
I have tremendous empathy for anyone with severe tinnitus.

Larrman, can you tell us about any faciilties that specialize in this problem? I'm in the Philadelphia area, and I've been to two ENTs so far, with no real insight being given on what to do.

You may want to contact the American Tinnitus Association
www.ata.org for facilities near you that specialize in tinnitus treatment. There is a well known one at Emory University in Atlanta on the web it's www.tinnitus-pjj.com.
There's one in New Haven, CT too. I would highly recommend
first reading a book by Kevin Hogan called "Tinnitus:Turning Down the Volume. www.kevinhogan.com/tinnitus.htm
Good Luck

Larry

Thanks for all this info, Larry.

Larry

So your a TV star. I own my own brokerage firm in name only.

Thanks for the info as well very informative. Yes, I too share your empathy for anyone with this problem, especially the severe cases. I can only imagine how debilitating it must be. As I mentioned mine is very mild and in the left ear only; so I can easily block it out. Also the H2O2 has helped minimize it even more. Best of luck to all.

Chuck

Here is an article pretty worthless information

To all, I'm relieved to report that my tinnitus is gone. I suspect that the head trauma that I reported back on 2-3-05 really was the cause. I noticed about 1-1/2 months ago that my ears were no longer ringing. And on visits to the Kimmel Center after that, there was no post-show ringing. So I'm very thankful that it seems I'm better, but the experience was frightening, to say the least.

Here is something for tinnitus:
Bio-Ear has been shown to alleviate symptoms 85% of the time through its concentrated herbal formula

Has anyone on Audiogon tried this product or other herbal treatment and did it help? Please let me know.
Thanks,
Sgr

I had some success with grapefruit seed extract ear drops and butchers broom herbal capsules. I get some relief but it varies. I have ordered the Bio-Ear drops and will report back.

There are 2 types of tinnitus
1) objective which a clinician can hear with a stethoscope, can be one or both ears, and is typically pulsatile or heartbeat sounding. This should be evaluated by a professional because it could be a vascular tumor in the middle ear. It could be congenital thinness of bone located between the hearing portion of the inner/middle ear and the normal vascular channels that are located in close proximity (the internal carotid artery and the sigmoid sinus which turns into the internal jugular vein). It can be a venous hum, which is somewhat similar, but can be affected by turning your head and therefore decreasing the bloodflow through the offending vein.

2) Subjective tinnitus is the perception of sound when there is no actual sound. It can present as a variety of sounds including but not limited to "crickets", "wind", "ringing", "roaring", etc. If it is one sided it should definitely be evaluated by a professional because one can get a tumor on a hearing nerve and this is one of the more common presentations of this problem.
More commonly it is on both sides and is as a result of hearing loss. When one has sensorineural hearing loss, the brain for some reason "fills in" the hearing defect with the tinnitus. Clinical audiometers only test up to about 8 kHz, so if you have a "normal" hearing test, one can still have hearing loss above the limits of the testing device.
In the vast majority of patients, one is only left with masking the tinnitus. THis means that by having another noise around, the tinnitus is either not noticable or less noticable. This can be done by a "tinnitus masker" which is worn like a hearing aid and emits a sound to try to "cancel out" the tinnitus. If one does have demonstrable hearing loss on a hearing test, a hearing aid can improve their tinnitus in about 80% of patients while they wear them. THis is still by masking in that they are hearing things they weren't before.
NSAIDS can cause tinnitus, but this is typically very high doses as used for someone with rheumatoid arthritis, etc, instead of your typical 81mg of aspirin per day for cardiac purposes. If caused by NSAIDs then it should resolve after the medication has left your system.
Head trauma can cause tinnitus and unfortunately it is usually irreversible.
There are a number of homeopathic treatments, but none have proven to be consistently efficacious.
There have been some studies showing that tinnitus can be temporarily relieved (a few hours) by intravenous and transtympanic lidocaine. Unfortunatley transtympanic lidocaine can cause severe nausea.
Thiamine deficiency can supposedly cause tinnitus.
If memory doesn't fail me, the rule for industrial exposure to noise in terms of causing noise induced hearing loss and the associated tinnitus is : Ear plugs required for 90db for 8 hours and as the db increased the time limit decreases.
The only way that I can think of that H2O2 would help is for wax impactions.

reflexology and tinnitus is another way to help the problem.

this thread has been dormant for a while, and since I acquired a bout with tinnitus last year, which I recently managed to shake, I thought I would resurrect it, in case my situation if familiar to others.

My ears started ringing last year. At first I didn't know there was a name for the affliction, but good ol' Google helped me realize it was common. My first assumption was that it was because I listen to my rig 5-6 hours a day. The research I did both on the web, and consulting a physician made me realize that wasn't the most likely cause since my listening levels are typically 80-85 db at the loudest.

Indeed it turned out that in my case, the more likely cause was caffein. I like coffee, always have. I like it strong, really strong. I order quad latte's at Starbucks and they make fun of me.

On to the punch line - after putting up with the ringing that kept getting worse (I could hear it over the music, even when it was turned up), I decided to cut back on the coffee. 2 cups in the morning, that's all. It took about 3 weeks of low coffee intake and the ringing has stopped.

BDgregory

Thanks for the input. I too have a starbuck's addiction (super strong coffee) and a ringing left ear. I need to do what you have done and try cutting back on my caffein as the ringing is getting bothersome. Also I have read that alcohol can cause or worsen tinnitus. I enjoy drinking red wine, especially while listening to music. Like you, I also don't listen to my system at high levels but I do play the piano and it is a large grand and can be quite loud even if I play at low levels. So I will try to cut back on coffee and see if the ringing subsides. And again thanks for sharing your experience I think this is a bigger issue than most people realize.

Chuck

All salicylates will aggravate (or induce) tinnitus, not just aspirin. If you have tinnitus stay away from the worst offender--Pepto-Bismol (bismuth salicylate). I found out the time I took it and it kept me up all night listening to my ear sing LOUDLY (and it only knew one note)!

I've had it for about 4 years after an auto accident whiplash injury. I will be trying out Neuromonics. It's not cheap and insurance "might" cover some of the cost...........www.neuromonics.com. It's a company in Austrailia that invented it. This is a very big issue for me. Seems worse with the cold weather. About 5500 bucks in all. 3K for a Walkman like processor and return visits to have your personalized program adjusted and check progress. That's where the other 2500 goes..........

They match a hidden frequency within music that matches your Tinnitus. You listen 2 hours a day for 6 months. You turn up the volume as needed till your Tinnitus tone is washed out.It isn't a cure, but subliminal "reprogramming" for you brain. After that you still use it as desired. It in theory makes you much less aware of it.

I've searched for hours on the net and so far this is the most promisinng therapy yet..........The ATA is just a bunch of suits making money off of your misery with not much results.

Someone on here mentioned a doc who used the same matching Tinnitus tone and "cured" a patient in a few weeks. I'd like to know where that is.

I'm curious what brands of speakers you all have, and do you find some brands smooth and easy to listen to.

What are they?

From Pete Egoscue's "Pain Free" page 206:

Tinnitus is a condition that often accompanies headaches, poor balance, and positional vertigo. Like the others, its principal effect, ringing in the ears, can be addressed by repositioning the head. The ringing is literally an alarm that is telling us that the inner ear doesn't like the position of the head.""

There is a doctor here in NY that has developed a treatment whereby they determine the frequency of the tone, then generate that tone 5 degree out of phase for something like 30 seconds, then 5 more degrees out of phase for 20 seconds, continuing till it comes back to phase.

I have a tone generating program for mac (Audiotest) that can do that very thing (as well as generate any tones needed to test your gear).

I have not tried it, but perhaps I will, if i can ID the freq that bothers me.

Can also be due to a blocked eustacian tube

Home remedies

Or poor drainage of cranial sacral fluid. This may be adjusted by an osteopathic doctor or by cranial sacral release: a procedure where the doc moves your head to align your spine.

What worked for me: I have Tinnitus Tamer for Mac (PC versions available) and can say that it works if you stick to a few minutes a day. I recorded the tones as WAV files, added them to iTunes, and play them a few times whenever I put my headphones on. It's not annoying, yet, it doesn't seem to work if I play them on speakers and it doesn't work "for good". (And playing these thru a good set of speakers may just damage glassware.)

BTW- my tinnitus was considered moderate by an audiologist and had been prescribed Clonpin (sp?) for it which worked moderately and only for a short run of months. I can say that the drug minus the tinnitus made for a good listening mood, but wasn't something that I felt I could work my best while on.

I have had it in the past[Tinitus} and yes I did totally got rid of it! there are new 'Energy Medicines" topically applied coming on the market. A friend of my {a fellow audiogoner}Used it and Not only did it work but it actually improved his hearing.check out this website www.actherapies.com..:"Crystalsynergy"

Nstigator,
What if any is your connection to this company? If there is none, please describe your experience with the product. Short of this, I can tell you that your claim seems far-feched to say the least.

Nstigator,
What if any is your connection to this company? If there is none, please describe your experience with the product. Short of this, I can tell you that your claim seems far-fetched to say the least.

how about this?http://tinnitus-destroyer.com/tl/?aff_id=2&subid=wILBNTG52LBAQK641P2SPG8F

I decided to read " War and Peace " instead of that infomercial. 

I have found some temporary relief using a software frequency generator. Increase the tone until it matches the dominant tinnitus frequency. Then hold it there for about 20 seconds and fade down. 
Also avoid cayenne, paprika, metal dome tweeters and use ear plugs at loud gatherings.

Home remedies for tinnitus

Basil Leaves

You can also use holy basil as natural home remedies for tinnitus. It contains an antibacterial property which helps in treating tinnitus. Basil also provide instant relief from ear pain.

Ginger

Ginger contains and anti-inflammatory properties which help in reducing pain and swelling caused due to tinnitus.

Onion

Onion also used as natural home remedies to get rid of tinnitus as it contains antioxidant properties. Onion is also famous for its antibacterial features, and the combination of these properties helps you in treating tinnitus.

Ginkgo Biloba

Ginkgo Biloba, also known as Maidenhine Trees, it contains antibacterial and antifungal properties which can help in any conflicts of natural infections due to tinnitus. It can reduce the sensation played by improving blood circulation in your body and grow your ear functions, consume Ginkgo Biloba supplement daily for one month.

For more information check out the link given below

http://www.crazyhealthplan.com/home-remedies-for-tinnitus/

What did u "say?"  I can't "hear" u due to this constant ringing in my ears. I heard magnesium would help, but it took the fidelity out of my hearing. 

Home Remedies For Tinnitus: – Tinnitus is a disease in which individual experience the buzzing, ringing or whistling echoing your head all day long. Sometimes, these noises can occur within your head and usually, one or two of your ears, though the symptom is neither psychological condition nor an illusion, if this situation is prevailing, then the affected people There may be adverse mental and emotional problems within.

Pineapple

Pineapple is one of the best home remedies for tinnitus ear ringing as it contains an enzyme called bromelain. This protein helps in reducing the swelling caused due to tinnitus.

Apple Cider Vinegar

You can also use apple cider vinegar as a natural remedy. It contains an antifungal and anti-inflammatory property which help in killing all the infectious issue which cause tinnitus. In spite of this, you can also use apple cider vinegar to balance your alkaline level in your body.

Mustard Oil

Mustard oil is another home remedies for tinnitus. It contains an antifungal and antibacterial which will helps in treating an ear infection. Mustard oil also helps in increasing your blood circulation and even develop your immune syste.