4 ms·

As someone with a rather annoying tinnitus, silence freaks the shit out of me. To stay productive, I need music. What kind of music I listen to really depends

As someone with a rather annoying tinnitus, silence freaks the shit out of me. To stay productive, I need music. What kind of music I listen to really depends on my mood. It could be dubstep (Excision, Teminite, PsoGnar, to name a few out of my current dub playlist), various forms of metal (anywhere from After Forever to Xandria, In Flames, you name it); some times even Happy Hardcore / Handsup. Generally, if I'm feeling well I prefer high BPM happy sounds, which -- together with some caffeinated drinks -- makes me incredibly productive. The darker my mood, the darker my taste of music gets, with also a few slower sounds. I can't really put numbers on my performance here, as on those days I prefer work that isn't easily evaluated performance-wise.

anon_cow1111 7y ago
Have you ever tried identifying the frequency of your tinnitus and removing that range from your songs(aka notch filtering)? I heard over time it can lessen the effects.
- missjellyfish 7y ago
  If you play live music as a hobby, you're not exactly getting that. I've made bad decisions in the past; namely playing in an orchestra next to the drums without hearing protection. I can't undo that, and while it wasn't the cause of my tinnitus, it certainly didn't help. Nowadays I wear in-ear monitoring on stage which helps quite a lot, protection-wise. I've recently read about a study (dunno if it was on hn) where they discovered that vibrations behind the ear lessend the volume of the tinnitus. I am so going to try that if I ever get my hands on such a device. I still have a very good hearing overall (especially in the base region), so I should not complain.
- zimpenfish 7y ago
  > Have you ever tried identifying the frequency of your tinnitus I have but since I don't have perfect pitch, I'm not getting anywhere. Plus it seems like the frequency has a certain amount of smear which might be hampering things even more. I would love to try notch filtering but without the key frequencies, I'm doomed (although the tinnitus stuff on mynoise.net does help knock it down for short periods).

anon_cow1111 7y ago

Have you ever tried identifying the frequency of your tinnitus and removing that range from your songs(aka notch filtering)? I heard over time it can lessen the effects.

missjellyfish 7y ago
If you play live music as a hobby, you're not exactly getting that. I've made bad decisions in the past; namely playing in an orchestra next to the drums without hearing protection. I can't undo that, and while it wasn't the cause of my tinnitus, it certainly didn't help. Nowadays I wear in-ear monitoring on stage which helps quite a lot, protection-wise. I've recently read about a study (dunno if it was on hn) where they discovered that vibrations behind the ear lessend the volume of the tinnitus. I am so going to try that if I ever get my hands on such a device. I still have a very good hearing overall (especially in the base region), so I should not complain.
zimpenfish 7y ago
> Have you ever tried identifying the frequency of your tinnitus I have but since I don't have perfect pitch, I'm not getting anywhere. Plus it seems like the frequency has a certain amount of smear which might be hampering things even more. I would love to try notch filtering but without the key frequencies, I'm doomed (although the tinnitus stuff on mynoise.net does help knock it down for short periods).