4 ms·

I have tinnitus so badly that some days I am incapacitated. It's bad. I use white noise machines to get through the day - it masks it but doesn't make it go awa

by Mizza 4y ago

I have tinnitus so badly that some days I am incapacitated. It's bad. I use white noise machines to get through the day - it masks it but doesn't make it go away. The thing that I've discovered that actually makes it go away: extreme bass. Massive, 18" speaker cabinets and kilowatt amplifiers for long periods of time, the kind that makes your whole body vibrate, while wearing ear protection. I discovered my first this after DJ'ing a club with a proper bass soundsystem and have confirmed it since. The effect lasts from weeks to months. I found a few things in the medical literature which support this as a real possibility and emailed a researchers about it who said the same thing. I am seriously considering opening up a crackpot bass-therapy clinic to help other sufferers, but need to have other people confirm it works for them first.

hackernewds 4y ago
That sounds so country intuitive because it seems likely that the loud base and DJing caused the hearing damage and tinnitus in the first place. Not saying it doesn't work but questioning, why it works if it does
dahart 4y ago
Whoa never heard this before! Thanks for sharing, will definitely be trying it. I’ll report back here when I do. Btw, how long do you listen to bass sounds? And do you have thoughts/opinions on what frequencies and how much variation is needed? Just wondering if I should use a tone generator or put on some EDM, and whether I should try at home or it’ll take long enough that I should go somewhere that the neighbors won’t hear it for hours.
- Mizza 4y ago
  The point is that it is _tactile subbass_, bordering on infrasound. It is a type of bass that most people probably haven't experienced unless they are going to real reggae or club events, and most clubs in the US don't have real soundsystems, just PAs pushed to the red. I've tried, I can't just listen to a low sin note on headphones to fix it (in fact maybe this makes it worse). I actually don't think the ears are important, it is being physically vibrated that does it. I tried with a SubPac transduction woofer and it maybe worked? But not to the degree I'm really talking about here. A strange phenomena. I don't even like reggae that much but I got to the monthly reggae dance here just to get vibrated.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - daggersandscars 4y ago
    I wonder if going to a top fuel drag race would have a similar effect[0]. The sound pressure levels are intense, to the level of moving one's internal organs around if one is close to the cars. It is something that has to be experienced. If one is going for the first time, I'd recommend going to the qualifying rounds. It's often cheaper and usually less crowded. Make sure top fuel funny cars or dragsters are racing -- the lower classes are significantly quieter. [0] Wearing hearing protection. I'd recommend the kind that go in the ear, covered by the kind that go over the ear.
hnfong 4y ago
That explains the (literally, no exaggeration) deafening music especially the subwoofers from the bars a couple streets below...
orzig 4y ago
The world needs more people boldly experimenting, I commend you! (And be careful)
cpeterso 4y ago
I’ve read about a proposed treatment of listening to notched white noise. The theory is that, by listening to white noise with a notch filter at the frequency that matches your tinnitus frequency, your ears or brain will become less sensitive to your tinnitus frequency. There are websites with reference tones to help find your tinnitus frequency and YouTube videos of white noise notched at different frequencies (supposedly, I haven’t verified). I have tinnitus and listen to white, brown, and pink noise throughout the day. I tried notched white noise for a couple months, but didn’t notice any change compared to regular white noise. My favorite noise these days is “space ship engine noise” videos on YouTube. I get to pretend I’m working on the Enterprise. :)
karmakaze 4y ago
That's so interesting and co-incidental that it's how I probably got it (18" speaker cabinets and kilowatt amplifiers but without the hearing protection). I'd come in for this therapy. I think the most bothersome of my tinnitus is that it makes hearing certain speech difficult and could detract from enjoying certain parts of music.
garganzol 4y ago
Low frequency physical vibrations of the body tend to improve other neurological conditions as well. Never was able to find any official explanations for it, but experienced this on several occasions. My personal hypothesis is that the vibrations may somehow stimulate local physical interconnectivity in damaged tissues leading to their improved recovery. Riding a car has a similar effect, especially when the road is a bit rocky.

by Mizza 4y ago

hackernewds 4y ago

That sounds so country intuitive because it seems likely that the loud base and DJing caused the hearing damage and tinnitus in the first place. Not saying it doesn't work but questioning, why it works if it does

dahart 4y ago

Whoa never heard this before! Thanks for sharing, will definitely be trying it. I’ll report back here when I do. Btw, how long do you listen to bass sounds? And do you have thoughts/opinions on what frequencies and how much variation is needed? Just wondering if I should use a tone generator or put on some EDM, and whether I should try at home or it’ll take long enough that I should go somewhere that the neighbors won’t hear it for hours.

Mizza 4y ago
The point is that it is _tactile subbass_, bordering on infrasound. It is a type of bass that most people probably haven't experienced unless they are going to real reggae or club events, and most clubs in the US don't have real soundsystems, just PAs pushed to the red. I've tried, I can't just listen to a low sin note on headphones to fix it (in fact maybe this makes it worse). I actually don't think the ears are important, it is being physically vibrated that does it. I tried with a SubPac transduction woofer and it maybe worked? But not to the degree I'm really talking about here. A strange phenomena. I don't even like reggae that much but I got to the monthly reggae dance here just to get vibrated.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- daggersandscars 4y ago
  I wonder if going to a top fuel drag race would have a similar effect[0]. The sound pressure levels are intense, to the level of moving one's internal organs around if one is close to the cars. It is something that has to be experienced. If one is going for the first time, I'd recommend going to the qualifying rounds. It's often cheaper and usually less crowded. Make sure top fuel funny cars or dragsters are racing -- the lower classes are significantly quieter. [0] Wearing hearing protection. I'd recommend the kind that go in the ear, covered by the kind that go over the ear.

hnfong 4y ago

That explains the (literally, no exaggeration) deafening music especially the subwoofers from the bars a couple streets below...

orzig 4y ago

The world needs more people boldly experimenting, I commend you! (And be careful)

cpeterso 4y ago

I’ve read about a proposed treatment of listening to notched white noise. The theory is that, by listening to white noise with a notch filter at the frequency that matches your tinnitus frequency, your ears or brain will become less sensitive to your tinnitus frequency. There are websites with reference tones to help find your tinnitus frequency and YouTube videos of white noise notched at different frequencies (supposedly, I haven’t verified). I have tinnitus and listen to white, brown, and pink noise throughout the day. I tried notched white noise for a couple months, but didn’t notice any change compared to regular white noise. My favorite noise these days is “space ship engine noise” videos on YouTube. I get to pretend I’m working on the Enterprise. :)

karmakaze 4y ago

That's so interesting and co-incidental that it's how I probably got it (18" speaker cabinets and kilowatt amplifiers but without the hearing protection). I'd come in for this therapy. I think the most bothersome of my tinnitus is that it makes hearing certain speech difficult and could detract from enjoying certain parts of music.

garganzol 4y ago

Low frequency physical vibrations of the body tend to improve other neurological conditions as well. Never was able to find any official explanations for it, but experienced this on several occasions. My personal hypothesis is that the vibrations may somehow stimulate local physical interconnectivity in damaged tissues leading to their improved recovery. Riding a car has a similar effect, especially when the road is a bit rocky.