Found this on CNN - "Finally, a treatment for that buzzing in your ears"

[luvzmutt]

Just came across this article in the main news feed on CNN. (hope the link works!)

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/24/finally-a-treatment-for-that-buzzing-in-your-ears/?hpt=hp_t2

Your thoughts?

[Jim Scott]

Interesting. 

This is a cognitive behavioral approach.  The therapy involves, in effect, getting you used to hearing your tinnitus sounds.  It is a means of adapting to the sounds and may be useful for some folks.  I adapted to my mild tinnitus years ago, on my own, but some tinnitus sufferers have such a severe case that they cannot adjust and it negatively affects their quality of life.  This could help but it is not a panacea or a cure, simply a means of dealing with the tinnitus in a way that lessens it's impact on your quality of life.  I'm sure we'll be hearing more about it as tinnitus affects 20% of the population and there is a lot of interest in finding relief.

Jim

[luvzmutt]

It was also interesting to read about the different sounds people "hear".  Mine sounds somewhat like the low buzzing or humming power lines make.  I can tune it out sometimes, but as soon as I think about it, BAM, it's back again.  The fact that it is almost constant now doesn't help either.

[It is what it is]

I am also interested in the different sounds people hear.  Mine is a symphony of crickets. 

[jenichol]

I have downloaded an app onto my phone from the American Tinnitus Association.  The app simulates the sounds of tinnitus.  Mine is a loud buzzing/whistling like a tea kettle. Be careful when you sing " I'm a little tea pot.. ". Sometimes my tinnitus goes into a roar like a jet engine.  At times it is a loud high pitched ringing.  It is constant and unrelenting.  It used to be very distracting when I was working with patients as a home health physical therapist.  I  hated it when they would turn off the TV to begin their therapy session.  Of course I understood why they wanted the TV off, it just made it more difficult for me to concentrate. 

I have tried to make the tinnitus humorous now with my family.  I sometimes play the app at the dinner table so that we can all "share" in it.  They cringe and request that I turn it off.   Facing the noise in my head and playing that app, I believe, have helped me.  It has helped to be able to share with others what I hear.  It's funny to see their reaction.  It has enabled me to express what I am feeling and thereby not feel so crazy. 

[arizonajack]

I've had tinnitus in my left ear for about 7 years. It's a continuous monotone hissing like the sound of a tire forever deflating. That was accompanied by a moderate loss of hearing in that ear.

The tinnitus in my right ear is much more amusing because it changes periodically. It started mid December of 2011 at about the same time I discovered that I had almost completely lost my hearing in the right ear.

In December, believe it or not, it sounded like wind chimes playing Silent Night. Appropriate, I guess, for the Christmas season, but just as annoying as the relentless Christmas music from other sources.

Over the last 6 months (in order of appearance) it changed to a sound similar to the repeating tone of a tuning fork, then to a sucking noise, and currently sounds like the intermittent boop, boop of Morse Code.

Fortunately, the volume of my tinnitus has always been rather low and barely perceptable so it's been fairly easy to adapt to and ignore, especially when my attention is on other things and there are other sounds going on.

[arizonajack]

I had a thought while reading this thread.

What about hypnosis?, I asked myself.

Once I got past the hype of hypnotherapist's websites I found a couple of interesting articles.

Clinical Hypnosis for the Alleviation of Tinnitus from the International Tinnitus Journal:

http://www.tinnitusjournal.com/audiencia_pdf.asp?aid2=29&nomeArquivo=v14n2a10.pdf

If that link doesn't work, go to this one and click on the pdf english icon:

http://www.tinnitusjournal.com/detalhe_artigo.asp?id=29

Which also gives you links to current and previous issues of the journal.

And the following clinical study of Ericksonian hypnosis in tinnitus therapy at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Liège, Belgium.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18225612

Appears to be helpful to some but do your homework and draw your own conclusion.