Tinnitus + Autism

I had a large blue fir tree at my last house and had the same issue. Pine needles are not good to walk over bare footed either. 

we have pine trees opposite and I do like wind sound - not the pine needles that clog my house gutter and cover the car 

Not that for me, had impacted wizzies out around 20 yrs ago, but understand for others it could be a connection

Interesting. I tried the hard bite thing and it's not that. I'm sure mine was loud music and noisy workplaces. However, what you mentioned could resonate (appropriate wording lol) with others. 

I was told by a dentist that there's a type of tinnitus that's caused by the pressure on the nerves at the back of your jaw caused by wisdom teeth and other things and that can be treatable.

The way to work out if it's this type is to bite down hard and see if the noise changes, also see if it changes when you move your jaw to extreme angles.

Mine does but I'm not sure what you'd do next, might mention it when I get wisdom tooth sorted eventually 

Good for you. I’m glad it helped and you managed to get a good nights rest. Please find below some others you might be interested in.

Purring cat

Mud volcano 

Tumbling rocks 

rainforest sounds

Crackling fire 

Crackling fire with distant thunder

Howling wind

Artic wind

Enjoy!! 

Actually last night before bed my tinnitus was quite loud.  I put "thunderstorm & rain" on Spotify, remember hearing a few rumbles a few mins of rain, before I was flat out !

Yes thunder and rain at the same time is my favourite and my go to audio for bedtime. Let me know how you get on with it. Be interesting to hear if it helps others. 

Maybe when the planets align and I somehow get a good night's sleep, usually through some form of prior accumulative exhaustion, then it lowers somewhat the following day! When it is loud all that helps is trying to be busy, which is frustrating as this is always when I'm at my lowest ebb and can't face the world. Temporarily, YouTube tinnitus frequency vids work but literally for as long as the vids last.

Interesting. It is a very similar situation

I get where you're coming from. It's like noise cancelling cancels the noise that distracts you from the tinnitus. There's no point! But, as you said, noisier environments, they may work better

As for me, the tinnitus had been there for ages (noisy workplace and watched live local bands at weekends). My actual hearing test showed up as mild loss, though. This is what made me curious about APD.

Gordon-not-Ramsay said:

I would hear a sentence that sounded like gobbledegook, although I was sure I had misheard. If I relayed back what I thought they had said, they'd go, "that was absolutely nothing like what I said!"

This happens very often to me and then followed by “are you deaf”. I had a hearing test and there was nothing out of the ordinary (for my age). For me this mishearing has always been an issue way before my tinnitus. 

Thanks Roy  sorry to hear you've had it so long.  does the pitch change rapidly or say just differ day to day ?

 Maybe I should give an audiobook or podcast a go if the tinnitus is bad at bedtime - I've not really listened to either.  Good they work for you

Take5  I think I'm going to experiment with some playlists on spotify - I tend to just use the standard sleep one, but will try some of your suggestions - I like the idea of listening to rain,  but think I read that deep sounds like thunder are good too 

Wordsmith  thanks - it;s interesting how our tinnitus shows as different sounds

Well done for using it to your advantage - perhaps I need to reset my relationship with it

Hi Gordon-not-Ramsay .  Interesting I've not heard of APD.  Do you think you had the tinnitus prior to hearing loss ? 

I think I know what you mean about internal sounds, I find that when I have tried the loop earplug things - which I'm saving for my daughters graduation , otherwise I don't wear them, especially as I want noise to mask the tinnitus when at home, but they may work is some busier settings.

I was told by the hearing specialist there was a fair bit in my left ear (which is the side I get the loudest tinnitus). I read up that a hydrogen peroxide based ear wax treatment is best. Once it touches the wax, you hear a crackling sound. That is the drops basically melting the wax. I bought some. They had it in Superdrug and it was the cheapest one! Bingo!

After a while, I found I had removed a lot of brown blobs from my earhole, which felt great. However, the tinnitus still remained. So, it's better out than in, but it doesn't really effect the tinnitus. 

But, its still worth trying thst treatment. Check the bottle for the words "hydrogen peroxide" and/or "urea" (which I thought was pee!)

Hope this helps 

I was convinced by my wife to seek a hearing test. She knew I already had tinnitus, but I was always asking her to repeat what she'd said. Also, I would hear a sentence that sounded like gobbledegook, although I was sure I had misheard. If I relayed back what I thought they had said, they'd go, "that was absolutely nothing like what I said!"

Then I read about "auditory processing disorder". I seemed to make sense. I had the hearing test, which showed a slight mid-range hearing loss. It wasn't significant but I could still try NHS hearing aids. I have hardly used them. If anything, they made the sounds from within my head, ie. chewing, clicking my tongue etc. louder! Outside sounds, like the TV, they made no difference.

Auditory processing disorder doesn't involve your ears as such. It involves hiw your brain processes what you hear. Therefore, things you don't hear, other people do, and sounds you do hear, such as spoken word, gets garbled and misinterpreted by the brain.

What's more, APD has been seen as linking to autism! So, you have touched upon something that's similar to, if not the same as, what I am experiencing

Yes, I have had tinnitus for some years – a sound of constant rushing water in both ears. Usually, I can ignore it by focusing on something else. Recently I have noticed that when the sounds around me start to get too much I can temporarily stave off shutdown by focusing on the tinnitus.

I’ve had tinnitus since I was a child, it’s mostly just in the background. I have noticed it being worse when stressed. I can sometimes hear it change pitch. When stressed it can be quite unbearable, in the night, if I can’t sleep I wear earphones and listen to audiobooks. I think if I have to be awake then I may as well be learning something, the distraction does help.