I have tolerable tinnitus. It does impede my enjoyment of music, but not to a massive degree.
Anyone have any experiences of treatments that work…make it more manageable?
There is s really good thread in HiFi Corner called Hearing Loss- Can’t ignore it any longer.
Well worth a read.
Got there before me
That is a great thread on this matter
I am suffering from pulsating tinnitus in my right ear, possibly caused by live fire during my time in the service.
In addition, I have been diagnosed with a slight hearing loss in the higher frequencies on the same ear.
Listening to music at moderate volume relieves the symptom.
I was told by my doctor that there are hearing aides, particularly made/tuned for this condition in case my condition deteriorates.
I can only advise you to consult a specialist in order to find an individual solution for your specific problem.
Hearing aids help tinnitus in two ways. Firstly by providing gain to compensate for hearing loss, the brain can adapt by “turning down” the attempt to hear those missing frequencies that causes tinnitus and tinnitus can reduce or even disappear. In general I believe this works better in younger people than it does with older people.
Secondly if tinnitus is keeping you awake at night, you can get a hearing aid that will play anti-tinnitus noises that can mask or reduce the annoyance of tinnitus. You wouldn’t have that turned on during the day or when listening to music of course. The control of such tinnitus feature is normally via a smartphone app.
Best
David
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Since my cancer treatment, as a result of a side effect of one of the chemo treatments I have some hearing loss and a bit of tinnitus, which can be a bit of a hassle at times.
Loud music can make it worse, especially if distorted, which makes going to many live concerts out of the question, unless they are outdoor and I stand at the back of the audience. However, listening to good hi fi system even at highish volume levels is much less likely to set it off. I am now wondering if I can get my GP to prescribe me a 5 series system 
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Hearing aids make a massive difference. Purists are somewhat dismissive of the idea - likening it to using a graphic equaliser. If you have 20-20 hearing that’s fine. Sadly, age’s consequence for many is some loss of high frequency hearing. I find that without them there is some deadening of the music: with them the music comes to life. Good ones are not cheap, but they are invaluable
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I believe there is a couple of things worth mentioning
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Lazer treatment of the ear drums
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Playing a tone into your ears of the same frequency as the perceived tinnitus noise
… causing the brain to eventually ignore the sound
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Thanks for your replies so far. I will refer myself to an audiologist or similar.
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Good plan
Thank you for the feedback David.
It sounds reassuring.
I developed very slight tinnitus just before Christmas 2019 in my left ear, it was barely noticeable at that time. I went to my GP here in Oslo in January 2020 to see if it really was tinnitus or perhaps something else that maybe causing it. My GP was basically very blasé about it and said it was incurable and there was nothing that could be done.
However, after examining my ears, he said that I had a large amount of wax in my left ear, which could be irritating the ear drum, but this was very unlikely. After an unsuccessful attempt to dislodge the offending wax clump by the nurse, I was told to bath it in Olive oil to soften it and come back the following week to get it removed…then Covid kicked in.
I have not been back to the GP yet and the high pitch noise has got progressively worse. This is obviously worrying now as I do notice it more, almost all the time. It’s not at the stage where it stops me from sleeping but I would like to see a specialist about it. I was/am quite annoyed at my GP for being dismissive and non-constructive about it…perhaps he is waiting to remove the wax before he offers up further advice.
So I am at the stage where I am trying to dislodge this wax before making another appointment with the GP. Does anyway have any good tips for removing stubborn/hard wax clumps in the ear other than lying on my side with Olive Oil dripping from my ear, or is that the best solution?
I have it pretty bad in my left ear - I am amazed that I can ignore it as well as I can. About 7 or 8 years ago I went to an EENT, and they did the whole soundproof booth hearing test thing, and said I was down about 35 dB in that ear.
Wanted me to come back next year, but inasmuch as they offer nothing in the way of treatment short of the hearing aid route (which is the ripoff of the century in the USA and not covered by insurance) I have not returned, just so he can charge me another $250 to tell me what I already know.
My left ear is a fair bit limited for treble sounds, due to sand breaking my eardrum way back, but no tinnitus thankfully. Must be horrible…my sympathy to anyone who has it.
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In the UK you can pay to have wax removed by so-called micro-suction. It costs about £50 per ear. It would be done privately obviously.
Best
David
Thanks David, I will do some investigations here.
…at the time my wife complained that I was wasting the good Olive oil and that I should use Rapeseed oil…not for these ears.
My audiologist recommends using a sodium bicarbonate based ear drop in preference to “old fashioned” olive oil.
She then used micro-suction to clear a heavy build up of wax in left ear took one treatment.
Right ear had a build up of wax attached to the ear drum and after 3 treatments she referred me to a consultant ear nose and throat doctor for him to remove to offending wax, again using micro suction (the exact same equipment manufacturer as the audiologist but to quote the audiologist “he has a different skill set”.
She has a policy that she repeats micro suction until wax removed for only 1 fee.
Definitely turned the volume up on my hearing and the tinnitus decreased for a few days and now comes and goes some days worse than others.
Now lockdown has been lifted awaiting appointment for hearing test and my “electric ears”
Seems there’s a lot here that suffer from tinnitus. I’ve noticed over the last 12 months or so that mine seems to getting more annoying. So far it hasn’t effected listening to music and it comes and goes. I’m not looking forward to it becoming a permanent thing and louder though.
Another vote for micro suction. I have had it done a number of times. Quick and pain free. Although here in the U.K. there will be a cost. I need another session right now, right ear badly blocked.