7 ms·

Apple Hearing Study shares preliminary insights on tinnitus

258 points by mgh2 2y ago

rustcleaner 2y ago
Tinnitus: the ringing silver bells of illumination and enlightenment!
cromka 2y ago
Wonder how will they deal with AirPods themselves losing ability to emit frequencies over time, to prevent false positives/negatives. AFIK they continue to replace AirPods after testing them for sound being out of range.
- jerlam 2y ago
  Do the Airpods perform some kind of self-diagnostic to confirm that it can emit needed frequencies for the hearing test? It would be a PR nightmare if Apple was giving diagnoses for hearing loss, when in reality people were being asked to hear a sound that the Airpods could not emit.
  - radicaldreamer 2y ago
    Pretty sure they will simply tell you to have a professional hearing test done.
  - fwip 2y ago
    Anecdotally, it can be a very distressing experience. When I was in elementary school I had a hearing test, and as the test went on I could hear fewer and fewer of the tones. The nurse got increasingly surprised and worried, "really, you can't hear that? what about this one? really?" I was nearly in tears, thinking that I was nearly deaf and somehow didn't know. Turns out my hearing was fine - the batteries in the hand-held device were nearly dead. (I do have some auditory-processing difficulties, but those were not measured by this test.)
- raverbashing 2y ago
  This sounds like it's caused by "naturally" accumulated gunk over time
Eumenes 2y ago
Interesting, so Apple is providing the cause (Airpods) and treatment (Airpods) for tinnitus!
- acdha 2y ago
  Where did you see cause? The paragraph in that section mentions noise but that seems like a weird criticism of a product which has a bunch of features to prevent excessive noise exposure. What would be more interesting to me would be research into whether in-ear designs or active noise cancellation correlate with this at all since those are something humans didn’t evolve with.
  - kmfrk 2y ago
    It's in reference to conversations like this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35023808 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35023808.
- ycombinete 2y ago
  Cynically I did wonder if they’re using Jennifer Lawrence’s arsehole trick to confound the search results for “Apple AirPods Tinnitus”.
- dylanmarshall 2y ago
  [dead]
- snakeyjake 2y ago
  All modern iPhones, when paired with Airpods, monitor listening volume levels and advise you if you are exposing yourself to too loud a volume too often. This information is tracked via the Health app. I do not know if other devices have the ability to monitor this, but I have had the feature turned on since it was released, at OSHA 8-hour exposure safe limits.
- diebeforei485 2y ago
  As far as I know, Airpods were the first to have noise level alerts built in, using an internal microphone etc.
outside415 2y ago
the newer generations of AirPods absolutely trigger tinnitus for me. The gen 1 AirPod Pros are the best. I really have to crank the volume to trigger it. The Gen 2 AirPod Pros are the worst. Even low volumes rip apart my ears. Constant ringing all of the time. The USB-C Airpod Pros Gen 2 are ok at low to mid volumes, can't use them at high volumes what so ever though, they also let in a terrible amount of wind noise for outdoor activity which makes them unusable since turning up the volume to mute the wind noise causes tinnitus for me. The AirPod Pro Max also get too loud, they are ok at low to mid volumes, high volumes = extreme tinnitus. HomePods are similar, I can only have them on at volume levels I appreciate for short periods of time or I get tinnitus. Compare this with my old sennheisers and audeze headphones, 0 tinnitus even at extreme volumes. Similar for my in ear Mochi headphones. Or compare the HomePods to my Panasonic Surround Sound Speakers for my TV from 12 years ago that I still use, I can make the walls shake with no tinnitus. If I turn up my homepods to a volume close to that my ears will be ringing for hours or days after. It really bums me out, I wish I understood what is changing about the technology. Like are they going from Analog to Digital and is digital more harsh or something? I don't know.
- radicaldreamer 2y ago
  There have been theories about ANC headphones, earphones, and in-ear-monitors causing tinnitus over the years, but nothing concrete with evidence.
  - smokel 2y ago
    There are also theories that they will prevent tinnitus because one can play music at a lower volume and still enjoy it.
    - outside415 2y ago
      I don't have tinnitus on most of my devices at medium to high volumes. only apple devices and more recently built wireless in ear monitors. victim blaming is great though. I personally like to pick apart all of the layers of music and hear all of the nuance/production. At low volume this is generally not possible. Not all of us have audiophile tendencies though I suppose.
extr 2y ago
I have mild tinnitus and the best advice I've ever read on the internet for it is: Stop reading. Don't look up information about tinnitus. Don't think about it. If you happen to notice it, try to distract yourself immediately. There maybe legitimate hearing damage but for the psychological aspect, the more you think about it the worse it becomes. I think I saw a quora answer somewhere where the doctor said "Nobody complains about tinnitus while playing Playstation". And it's very true. Until this post just now, I hadn't thought about it in weeks (months?).
- 101008 2y ago
  This applies to a lot of problems where you don't have control and can't do much as well. Sometimes ignoring some problems is the best solution.
- brainzap 2y ago
  true, once you learn about something you tend to focus on it. Once I associated my neighbours noise with a positive thoughts I stopped to notice it.
- ljf 2y ago
  This! Said it before here but also consider than right next to each ear drum is a huge artery. When you run you might hear your heart beating in your ears, but generally we totally tune it out. But it is always there. Once I realised that I could also tune out tinnitus, I did just that - but a big part of that was just not thinking about it/dwelling on it. Been nearly 20 years now and tinnitus rarely troubles me, in the way it used to really upset and stress me.
  - jfoutz 2y ago
    Decades ago I read about NASA's silent room, with the big wood spikes on the walls. All you can hear is your heartbeat and this high pitched whine. NASA figured out the high pitched whine was the nervous system (like, your brain). I've got some mild tinnitus. I always wonder if it's my brain listening to itself. That little recursive loop is enough to distract me, even if it's not true.
michaelteter 2y ago
Mine started in one ear after a problem while ascending during a scuba dive. Something remained different in the region around my ear afterward. Then COVID did some sh*t to my sinuses which left them changed. Now I have relatively low tinnitus in one ear and very noticeable tinnitus in the other ear. The pitch is high... reminiscent to the squeal that an old CRT or tube TV would make if it had no signal. The tinnitus is some function of my blood circulation, because I can clearly hear my pulse in the worst ear... just this constant pulsing squeal. On occasion it is so loud that I wonder if my head is about to blow open. Blood pressure is good when tested though. Who knows... that's all so complex and interconnected, and then there's the possibility that some of it is imagined or phantom.
- zzzeek 2y ago
  im familiar with this kind of tinnitus (and many others), what happens if you try a good sinus decongestant?
- matharmin 2y ago
  If it's pulsing, get it checked out. Pulsatile tinnitus is often a symptom of a bigger underlying issue.
  - michaelteter 2y ago
    Well that sucks. But thank you. I will.
- telchior 2y ago
  I have vertigo issues and have wondered whether scuba might have contributed to the inner ear damage that causes it. It was either that or, also like you, sinus issues. During the diagnosis phase of my vertigo I learned a few things about how primitive medicine still is when it comes to inner ear issues. If the problem isn't BPPV, some large growth they can cut out (e.g. a fistula) or something that can be "solved" by just destroying your inner ear (gentamicin therapy) there is almost nothing they can do -- and in fact they can't even really diagnose the issue, just test out different therapies to try to find anything resulting in some mild improvement. Most doctors have no idea what the possible diagnoses even are; the specialist who eventually helped me was a neuro-otologist, which already seems unreasonably specialized, and he said he only really had an idea because his son had the same issue as me.
zzzeek 2y ago
OK I'll bite (ha ha), why is Apple doing this? they think airpods cause tinnitus? eh
- evilfred 2y ago
  anecdotally, my ENT said he has had an onslaught of young patients w tinnitus who use them. but kids also tend to blast volume. unrelated: another big cause of tinnitus is Viagra. it drives too much blood to the sensitive ear arteries
  - whimsicalism 2y ago
    reported tinnitus is heavily anxiety correlated and younger generations are more anxous, it seems
    - evilfred 2y ago
      makes sense!
  - PawgerZ 2y ago
    > unrelated: another big cause of tinnitus is Viagra. it drives too much blood to the sensitive ear arteries Could pre-workout have these same effects? They usually contain vasodilators, although at much lower strengths than Viagra.
- ttpphd 2y ago
  To work on customers who are interested in over-the-counter hearing aids
  - astrange 2y ago
    The actual reason is that AirPods know how loud the audio they're playing is, which means it can be tracked, which means it can be used in a research study. I mean, how would hearing aids help with tinnitus?
- 2y ago
umpalumpaaa 2y ago
I had really bad Tinnitus for years. Then I took a hearing test. Doc concluded that I needed a hearing aid. Then I got the Lyric hearing aid which sits deep inside your ear canal 24/7 and it immediately did not only fix my hearing but also my tinnitus. Its an analoge but digitally programmable hearing aid which needs to be replaced every 3-4 months or so.
- beefman 2y ago
  Does your tinnitus return when you're not wearing the Lyric devices (or when they're turned off, if that's possible)?
  - umpalumpaaa 2y ago
    It returns when I turn them off. But this happens only for like 5 minutes every 3-4 months or so (ideally).
- lalalandland 2y ago
  I think I suffer from this. My theory: There are muscles in the ear canal that try to modulate the sound and those muscles tense up and cause issues. I also have sore muscles that get a lot better from use of magnesium supplements and the tinnitus also get slightly better from this use. (It get a lot worse if I stop taking it)
  - tartrate 2y ago
    how quickly does magnesium work, and how quickly does it get worse if you don't take it?
    - lalalandland 2y ago
      About a week both to start working and weening off
  - umpalumpaaa 2y ago
    The theory of my ENT is that the brain tries to make up noises when certain frequencies are not properly "used" because your hearing is bad. My hearing in the higher frequency spectrum is really bad – thus I hear high pitches sounds (tinnitus) when I am not wearing that hearing aid. I think it is pretty common that tinnitus gets better with any kind of hearing aid however some devices & hearing loss combinations tend to be more successful
pkaye 2y ago
I have tinnitus and hearing loss. I've found that wearing the hearing aids itself silences the tinnitus. I've read that the hearing aids add enough of the background noise back so your auditory system is stimulated and tinnitus is drowned out.
jerlam 2y ago
Only 20% of tinnitus cases caused by loud noises- seems like we have a lot more research to do.
- buffington 2y ago
  You claim that "20% of tinnitus cases caused by loud noises" without providing citation, then suggest there's more research do all in the same breath - well done.
  - Jtsummers 2y ago
    > You claim that "20% of tinnitus cases caused by loud noises" without providing citation, then suggest there's more research do all in the same breath - well done. GP didn't make a claim, they repeated a figure from the submitted article. Since you want to know where they drew the figure from, here it is: > Cause of Tinnitus >> While there’s no guaranteed method to prevent tinnitus given its complex causes, practicing hearing protection and managing stress levels can lower the chances of tinnitus. In the study, participants cited “noise trauma,” or exposure to excessively high levels of noise, as the primary cause of tinnitus (20.3 percent), followed closely by stress (7.7 percent). Source: Scroll to the top and click on the link to the article.
casenmgreen 2y ago
I had tinnitus as an adult, and it was cured. It turned out to be caused by an improperly filled root canal; some root material remained inside the tooth, the flesh above and around the tooth was inflamed and this was applying pressure inside the skull and bringing tissues which would otherwise not have been into contact, or firmer contact. I had the root canal re-made, and the tinnitus ended.
- focusedone 2y ago
  How was this discovered? Regular PCP, dentist or a specialist? Thanks!
  - casenmgreen 2y ago
    I had moved to NYC, had a new dentist, in our general initial discussion about my teeth I described the history of the tooth and that I still had some sensation (not pain, just sensation) on pressing the flesh of the gum above the tooth. He took an x-ray just of that tooth, and lo and behold, a big bloom on inflammation above and around the tooth. So it was easy to find, if you looked. Interestingly, the root canal re-drilling specialist who did the work told me he had over the many years a number of cases where patients had various issues such as dizzyness, where their issue went away when their improper root canals were re-made.
- codesnik 2y ago
  wow. It's a long way between jaw, sinuses and the inner ear. Was your inflamation that big?
  - casenmgreen 2y ago
    I can't say - I can't judge x-rays :-) But I'm thinking the head is pretty much solid-state; everything is packed in there. Apply pressure is one place and it ends up somewhere else.
- switch007 2y ago
  I also had tinnitus, as a result of a gum infection. It was a low grade infection for a while which made me not make much of a connection, but when I finally got antibiotics after the infection got way worse, the infection and the tinnitus cleared up within 3 days
ilayn 2y ago
As a former drummer who bashed way too many Chinas without proper ear protection, I had some scary tinnitus for quite a while. My advice; - First make sure that the frequency is not dancing around. If it is then probably it is one of those things your brain making up then it is relatively easier to fool yourself back again. Check it when it happens https://audionotch.com/app/tune/ https://audionotch.com/app/tune/ (disclaimer I am not related to website, just first google result). - If it is constant then try to counter it with noise especially when trying to sleep. Just give yourself one of those nice YouTube colored-noise videos like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SHf6wmX5MU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SHf6wmX5MU - Avoid in-ears altogether, especially the bass-boost ones make sure that it does not fit airtight. More bass does not mean you pulsate your ear-canal with an airgun. If you want proper bass sound, invest in hi-fi stereo and listen to it in a good room. - As mentioned, distract yourself. Even if it is chronic and actually has a pathological cause, the brain finds a way to cope with it, like the glasses on your nose not noticing the weight.
junglistguy 2y ago
[dead]
xoxxala 2y ago
I can ignore my tinnitus during the day fairly well. It just doesn't bother me that much. I've never really used earpods, no longer use over the hear headphones, and keep the volume down on my speakers. But at night it's a completely different story. With a quiet house and nothing to distract, it was causing a huge problem in my ability to get rest. The solution was to play Spotify all night long at a low volume. The music keeps the ringing to a minimum. The genre of music doesn't really seem to matter. It all works.
- mixmastamyk 2y ago
  Interesting. Would those rain/storm whitenoise relaxation sounds work as well? There is now one built into iOS.
  - xoxxala 2y ago
    I've tried those and found them incredibly distracting. I can't fall asleep with them on. I suspect they would work just fine to keeping the tinnitus under control, however.
    - mec31 2y ago
      For something similar but seemingly nutty, try the podcast ‘Northwoods Baseball’. It consists entirely of ‘broadcasts’ of baseball games in a fake baseball league. Sounds crazy, but works for me! Each ‘game’ lasts about 2.5 hours.
- knowitnone 2y ago
  yes, I listen to audiobooks and fall asleep that way.
hooverd 2y ago
Related, I wonder how YC23 Auricle is doing?
OutOfHere 2y ago
This is anecdotal info, but if you're suffering severe tinnitus to the point where it cannot be ignored, meaning ≥8/10, a short course of memantine for a few weeks could bring it down by about 2/10, making it more tolerable. The course may have to be repeated as needed about once a year. There probably exist other milder medicines that too could help make it less severe, e.g. mild SSRIs, but their effect usually goes away as soon as you stop taking them.
- genewitch 2y ago
  How come when i say "hey test your vit D and everyone probably needs more D supplementation" i get called out and downvoted, but this memantine comment goes unanswered? One of the side effects is aggression. here i'll try this, anecdotally my neighbor was prescribed 5mg (20mg is max dose) for short term memory issues, and he said "it's a good thing i wasn't prescribed more, i would have killed my wife." This was so out of character for him, i've never heard him raise his voice or say anything in anger in the 10 years i've known him. He and his wife are a normal happily married (like 4 decades!) couple of awesome people. So, yeah. I'm starting to notice a bit of a double standard on this site with more things than "google bad."
  - OutOfHere 2y ago
    The trick with memantine is to limit usage to three months max. Its dopaminergic aspect gradually takes over its anti-glutamatergic aspect. If the limit is not applied, people can engage in progressively riskier behavior. This manifests itself even after the second month, but depending on the condition, continuing to the third month can be necessary. In regard to tinnitus, just a few weeks (3) could be plenty. Amantadine could be a bit safer for longer-term use, but it too carries behavioral risks.
    - genewitch 2y ago
      my anecdotal reference didn't even finish 2 weeks out - he showed me the bottle so i could look up what it was in the PDR, then i started reading up to see if that side effect was uncommon. and yes, i carry the PDR on my phone when i'm not at home with the big blue and red books.
mrtksn 2y ago
I got a tinnitus which severely impacted my life only to find out that it is connected to my posture and neck issues, something which wasn't mentioned almost anywhere until I found out by myself and the specifically searched for. At glance, again I don't see mention about that in this article. Apple has accelerometers on AirPods Pro, I hope they incorporate head position into the study. Nothing helped until I got serious into fixing my posture. Now it's almost cured.
- cocacola1 2y ago
  Any advice for fixing your posture?
  - mrtksn 2y ago
    What I did was to sit like they tell on these brochures when you purchase a computer or something. I was using just my laptop, purchased a stand, a keyboard and a mouse and always use my computer sitting properly. I’m also doing neck exercises to strengthen my neck muscles, this one was a doctors advice. Lastly, I no longer sleep on stress inducing position. I used to do that a lot, would not be bothered to sleep on a small couch at friends house, now I don’t do that. If it no bed is available, would sleep on the floor.
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
Related from today's news: AirPods Pro 2 adds 'clinical grade' hearing aid feature https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41491191 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41491191
dr_dshiv 2y ago
1. Does everyone hear the same tone? 2. What tone or tones are typical? What frequency or frequencies? Sine wave? Sawtooth? 3. Can anything shift the tone? Eg, drugs? Attention?
blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
Has anyone else noticed that AirPods Pro’s noise cancellation doesn’t work if you have just one earbud in?
- Jtsummers 2y ago
  That's the expected behavior, if you want to use it with just one they have a solution for you: > To use Active Noise Cancellation with one AirPod only, use your iPhone or iPad to go to Settings > Accessibility > AirPods, and turn on "Noise Cancellation with One AirPod." Then press and hold the force sensor to switch between noise-control modes. https://support.apple.com/en-us/108918 https://support.apple.com/en-us/108918
- bobbylarrybobby 2y ago
  That's an intentional setting (presumably because it wouldn't really make sense?) and can be changed in AirPods settings
las_balas_tres 2y ago
I have had tinnitus since I was about 20 and I am now 50. Its always been there until last year when I had a slight reprieve for about 10 seconds. I was sick, the sickest I had been for years. I came down a with bad flu and was on a cocktail of drugs... antibiotics, painkillers etc. So there I was, lying in bed staring out the window when suddenly everything went peaceful and very quite. I then realised that i could no longer hear the ringing in my ears. I was sick but not delirious. Try hard as I could, i couldn't hear the ringing in my ears for about 10 seconds when suddenly as quickly as the ringing appeared, it re-appeared again.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- pas 2y ago
  one of my friend noticed that it's gone on MDMA.
zackmorris 2y ago
Random question for someone with tinnitus: do you hear the sound if you hum? Supposedly the mind doesn't think while humming, at least the inner monologue tends to cease, similar to meditation, and both can be used simultaneously: https://www.livestrong.com/article/13771650-bhramari-benefits-of-humming/ https://www.livestrong.com/article/13771650-bhramari-benefit... I find that even the act of beginning to hum, by tensing my throat without making a sound, quiets my thoughts. Some other things you might try: * tapping practice of the fingertips on temples, eyebrows, shoulders, etc for anxiety relief. * consciousness brain hemisphere shifting (don't know the name), where you cross your eyes slightly to look at two different images, then concentrate on bringing one image to your attention and then the other, causing focus to move between hemispheres. doing this while meditating on difficult thoughts can help the non-dominant hemisphere solve the problem. * head to toe relaxation: start with the top of your head and scan down your body, identifying any tense muscles and relaxing them, until fully relaxed. so real the forehead, drop the tongue from the top of the mouth, relax into the chair, etc.
- Kerbonut 2y ago
  Humming, I still 'ear it. But I can whistle and hum at the same time, so maybe my mind keeps thinking while humming.
bitwize 2y ago
I have eye tinnitus: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_snow_syndrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_snow_syndrome It's so subtle that I don't really notice it in my day to day life, and with corrective lenses I experience almost no vision problems. But God damn it, there was this one ophthalmologist I had. He became convinced that I was at high risk for glaucoma and kept subjecting me to visual field tests to assess my peripheral vision. The machine he used for such tests was so ancient it still took 5 1/4" floppy disks, and it worked by shining lights of various brightness onto a plain canvas. You were supposed to stare at a point and click a button held in the hand (like a Jeopardy! buzzer) when you saw one of these lights. Well, this exercise presents pretty much the exact conditions for my visual snow to put me at a disadvantage, and that meant I had bizarre, inconsistent test results with strange gaps in my visual field. Of course, that only further convinced my ophthalmologist that I was a glaucoma risk, and when I told him about the visual snow, he just looked at me like I was from space and ordered more tests. I was so glad to find a nice, 34-year-old ophthalmologist some years later who used the air puff machine during the standard eye exam to measure eyeball pressure and found I was nowhere near having glaucoma. No visual field tests, no visual snow confounding the results.

258 points by mgh2 2y ago

Tinnitus: the ringing silver bells of illumination and enlightenment!

Wonder how will they deal with AirPods themselves losing ability to emit frequencies over time, to prevent false positives/negatives. AFIK they continue to replace AirPods after testing them for sound being out of range.

jerlam 2y ago
Do the Airpods perform some kind of self-diagnostic to confirm that it can emit needed frequencies for the hearing test? It would be a PR nightmare if Apple was giving diagnoses for hearing loss, when in reality people were being asked to hear a sound that the Airpods could not emit.
- radicaldreamer 2y ago
  Pretty sure they will simply tell you to have a professional hearing test done.
- fwip 2y ago
  Anecdotally, it can be a very distressing experience. When I was in elementary school I had a hearing test, and as the test went on I could hear fewer and fewer of the tones. The nurse got increasingly surprised and worried, "really, you can't hear that? what about this one? really?" I was nearly in tears, thinking that I was nearly deaf and somehow didn't know. Turns out my hearing was fine - the batteries in the hand-held device were nearly dead. (I do have some auditory-processing difficulties, but those were not measured by this test.)
raverbashing 2y ago
This sounds like it's caused by "naturally" accumulated gunk over time

Eumenes 2y ago

Interesting, so Apple is providing the cause (Airpods) and treatment (Airpods) for tinnitus!

acdha 2y ago
Where did you see cause? The paragraph in that section mentions noise but that seems like a weird criticism of a product which has a bunch of features to prevent excessive noise exposure. What would be more interesting to me would be research into whether in-ear designs or active noise cancellation correlate with this at all since those are something humans didn’t evolve with.
- kmfrk 2y ago
  It's in reference to conversations like this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35023808 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35023808.
ycombinete 2y ago
Cynically I did wonder if they’re using Jennifer Lawrence’s arsehole trick to confound the search results for “Apple AirPods Tinnitus”.
dylanmarshall 2y ago
[dead]
snakeyjake 2y ago
All modern iPhones, when paired with Airpods, monitor listening volume levels and advise you if you are exposing yourself to too loud a volume too often. This information is tracked via the Health app. I do not know if other devices have the ability to monitor this, but I have had the feature turned on since it was released, at OSHA 8-hour exposure safe limits.
diebeforei485 2y ago
As far as I know, Airpods were the first to have noise level alerts built in, using an internal microphone etc.

outside415 2y ago

the newer generations of AirPods absolutely trigger tinnitus for me. The gen 1 AirPod Pros are the best. I really have to crank the volume to trigger it. The Gen 2 AirPod Pros are the worst. Even low volumes rip apart my ears. Constant ringing all of the time. The USB-C Airpod Pros Gen 2 are ok at low to mid volumes, can't use them at high volumes what so ever though, they also let in a terrible amount of wind noise for outdoor activity which makes them unusable since turning up the volume to mute the wind noise causes tinnitus for me. The AirPod Pro Max also get too loud, they are ok at low to mid volumes, high volumes = extreme tinnitus. HomePods are similar, I can only have them on at volume levels I appreciate for short periods of time or I get tinnitus. Compare this with my old sennheisers and audeze headphones, 0 tinnitus even at extreme volumes. Similar for my in ear Mochi headphones. Or compare the HomePods to my Panasonic Surround Sound Speakers for my TV from 12 years ago that I still use, I can make the walls shake with no tinnitus. If I turn up my homepods to a volume close to that my ears will be ringing for hours or days after. It really bums me out, I wish I understood what is changing about the technology. Like are they going from Analog to Digital and is digital more harsh or something? I don't know.

radicaldreamer 2y ago
There have been theories about ANC headphones, earphones, and in-ear-monitors causing tinnitus over the years, but nothing concrete with evidence.
- smokel 2y ago
  There are also theories that they will prevent tinnitus because one can play music at a lower volume and still enjoy it.
  - outside415 2y ago
    I don't have tinnitus on most of my devices at medium to high volumes. only apple devices and more recently built wireless in ear monitors. victim blaming is great though. I personally like to pick apart all of the layers of music and hear all of the nuance/production. At low volume this is generally not possible. Not all of us have audiophile tendencies though I suppose.

extr 2y ago

I have mild tinnitus and the best advice I've ever read on the internet for it is: Stop reading. Don't look up information about tinnitus. Don't think about it. If you happen to notice it, try to distract yourself immediately. There maybe legitimate hearing damage but for the psychological aspect, the more you think about it the worse it becomes. I think I saw a quora answer somewhere where the doctor said "Nobody complains about tinnitus while playing Playstation". And it's very true. Until this post just now, I hadn't thought about it in weeks (months?).

101008 2y ago
This applies to a lot of problems where you don't have control and can't do much as well. Sometimes ignoring some problems is the best solution.
brainzap 2y ago
true, once you learn about something you tend to focus on it. Once I associated my neighbours noise with a positive thoughts I stopped to notice it.
ljf 2y ago
This! Said it before here but also consider than right next to each ear drum is a huge artery. When you run you might hear your heart beating in your ears, but generally we totally tune it out. But it is always there. Once I realised that I could also tune out tinnitus, I did just that - but a big part of that was just not thinking about it/dwelling on it. Been nearly 20 years now and tinnitus rarely troubles me, in the way it used to really upset and stress me.
- jfoutz 2y ago
  Decades ago I read about NASA's silent room, with the big wood spikes on the walls. All you can hear is your heartbeat and this high pitched whine. NASA figured out the high pitched whine was the nervous system (like, your brain). I've got some mild tinnitus. I always wonder if it's my brain listening to itself. That little recursive loop is enough to distract me, even if it's not true.

michaelteter 2y ago

Mine started in one ear after a problem while ascending during a scuba dive. Something remained different in the region around my ear afterward. Then COVID did some sh*t to my sinuses which left them changed. Now I have relatively low tinnitus in one ear and very noticeable tinnitus in the other ear. The pitch is high... reminiscent to the squeal that an old CRT or tube TV would make if it had no signal. The tinnitus is some function of my blood circulation, because I can clearly hear my pulse in the worst ear... just this constant pulsing squeal. On occasion it is so loud that I wonder if my head is about to blow open. Blood pressure is good when tested though. Who knows... that's all so complex and interconnected, and then there's the possibility that some of it is imagined or phantom.

zzzeek 2y ago
im familiar with this kind of tinnitus (and many others), what happens if you try a good sinus decongestant?
matharmin 2y ago
If it's pulsing, get it checked out. Pulsatile tinnitus is often a symptom of a bigger underlying issue.
- michaelteter 2y ago
  Well that sucks. But thank you. I will.
telchior 2y ago
I have vertigo issues and have wondered whether scuba might have contributed to the inner ear damage that causes it. It was either that or, also like you, sinus issues. During the diagnosis phase of my vertigo I learned a few things about how primitive medicine still is when it comes to inner ear issues. If the problem isn't BPPV, some large growth they can cut out (e.g. a fistula) or something that can be "solved" by just destroying your inner ear (gentamicin therapy) there is almost nothing they can do -- and in fact they can't even really diagnose the issue, just test out different therapies to try to find anything resulting in some mild improvement. Most doctors have no idea what the possible diagnoses even are; the specialist who eventually helped me was a neuro-otologist, which already seems unreasonably specialized, and he said he only really had an idea because his son had the same issue as me.

zzzeek 2y ago

OK I'll bite (ha ha), why is Apple doing this? they think airpods cause tinnitus? eh

evilfred 2y ago
anecdotally, my ENT said he has had an onslaught of young patients w tinnitus who use them. but kids also tend to blast volume. unrelated: another big cause of tinnitus is Viagra. it drives too much blood to the sensitive ear arteries
- whimsicalism 2y ago
  reported tinnitus is heavily anxiety correlated and younger generations are more anxous, it seems
  - evilfred 2y ago
    makes sense!
- PawgerZ 2y ago
  > unrelated: another big cause of tinnitus is Viagra. it drives too much blood to the sensitive ear arteries Could pre-workout have these same effects? They usually contain vasodilators, although at much lower strengths than Viagra.
ttpphd 2y ago
To work on customers who are interested in over-the-counter hearing aids
- astrange 2y ago
  The actual reason is that AirPods know how loud the audio they're playing is, which means it can be tracked, which means it can be used in a research study. I mean, how would hearing aids help with tinnitus?
2y ago

umpalumpaaa 2y ago

I had really bad Tinnitus for years. Then I took a hearing test. Doc concluded that I needed a hearing aid. Then I got the Lyric hearing aid which sits deep inside your ear canal 24/7 and it immediately did not only fix my hearing but also my tinnitus. Its an analoge but digitally programmable hearing aid which needs to be replaced every 3-4 months or so.

beefman 2y ago
Does your tinnitus return when you're not wearing the Lyric devices (or when they're turned off, if that's possible)?
- umpalumpaaa 2y ago
  It returns when I turn them off. But this happens only for like 5 minutes every 3-4 months or so (ideally).
lalalandland 2y ago
I think I suffer from this. My theory: There are muscles in the ear canal that try to modulate the sound and those muscles tense up and cause issues. I also have sore muscles that get a lot better from use of magnesium supplements and the tinnitus also get slightly better from this use. (It get a lot worse if I stop taking it)
- tartrate 2y ago
  how quickly does magnesium work, and how quickly does it get worse if you don't take it?
  - lalalandland 2y ago
    About a week both to start working and weening off
- umpalumpaaa 2y ago
  The theory of my ENT is that the brain tries to make up noises when certain frequencies are not properly "used" because your hearing is bad. My hearing in the higher frequency spectrum is really bad – thus I hear high pitches sounds (tinnitus) when I am not wearing that hearing aid. I think it is pretty common that tinnitus gets better with any kind of hearing aid however some devices & hearing loss combinations tend to be more successful

pkaye 2y ago

I have tinnitus and hearing loss. I've found that wearing the hearing aids itself silences the tinnitus. I've read that the hearing aids add enough of the background noise back so your auditory system is stimulated and tinnitus is drowned out.

jerlam 2y ago

Only 20% of tinnitus cases caused by loud noises- seems like we have a lot more research to do.

buffington 2y ago
You claim that "20% of tinnitus cases caused by loud noises" without providing citation, then suggest there's more research do all in the same breath - well done.
- Jtsummers 2y ago
  > You claim that "20% of tinnitus cases caused by loud noises" without providing citation, then suggest there's more research do all in the same breath - well done. GP didn't make a claim, they repeated a figure from the submitted article. Since you want to know where they drew the figure from, here it is: > Cause of Tinnitus >> While there’s no guaranteed method to prevent tinnitus given its complex causes, practicing hearing protection and managing stress levels can lower the chances of tinnitus. In the study, participants cited “noise trauma,” or exposure to excessively high levels of noise, as the primary cause of tinnitus (20.3 percent), followed closely by stress (7.7 percent). Source: Scroll to the top and click on the link to the article.

casenmgreen 2y ago

I had tinnitus as an adult, and it was cured. It turned out to be caused by an improperly filled root canal; some root material remained inside the tooth, the flesh above and around the tooth was inflamed and this was applying pressure inside the skull and bringing tissues which would otherwise not have been into contact, or firmer contact. I had the root canal re-made, and the tinnitus ended.

focusedone 2y ago
How was this discovered? Regular PCP, dentist or a specialist? Thanks!
- casenmgreen 2y ago
  I had moved to NYC, had a new dentist, in our general initial discussion about my teeth I described the history of the tooth and that I still had some sensation (not pain, just sensation) on pressing the flesh of the gum above the tooth. He took an x-ray just of that tooth, and lo and behold, a big bloom on inflammation above and around the tooth. So it was easy to find, if you looked. Interestingly, the root canal re-drilling specialist who did the work told me he had over the many years a number of cases where patients had various issues such as dizzyness, where their issue went away when their improper root canals were re-made.
codesnik 2y ago
wow. It's a long way between jaw, sinuses and the inner ear. Was your inflamation that big?
- casenmgreen 2y ago
  I can't say - I can't judge x-rays :-) But I'm thinking the head is pretty much solid-state; everything is packed in there. Apply pressure is one place and it ends up somewhere else.
switch007 2y ago
I also had tinnitus, as a result of a gum infection. It was a low grade infection for a while which made me not make much of a connection, but when I finally got antibiotics after the infection got way worse, the infection and the tinnitus cleared up within 3 days

ilayn 2y ago

As a former drummer who bashed way too many Chinas without proper ear protection, I had some scary tinnitus for quite a while. My advice; - First make sure that the frequency is not dancing around. If it is then probably it is one of those things your brain making up then it is relatively easier to fool yourself back again. Check it when it happens https://audionotch.com/app/tune/ https://audionotch.com/app/tune/ (disclaimer I am not related to website, just first google result). - If it is constant then try to counter it with noise especially when trying to sleep. Just give yourself one of those nice YouTube colored-noise videos like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SHf6wmX5MU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SHf6wmX5MU - Avoid in-ears altogether, especially the bass-boost ones make sure that it does not fit airtight. More bass does not mean you pulsate your ear-canal with an airgun. If you want proper bass sound, invest in hi-fi stereo and listen to it in a good room. - As mentioned, distract yourself. Even if it is chronic and actually has a pathological cause, the brain finds a way to cope with it, like the glasses on your nose not noticing the weight.

junglistguy 2y ago

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xoxxala 2y ago

I can ignore my tinnitus during the day fairly well. It just doesn't bother me that much. I've never really used earpods, no longer use over the hear headphones, and keep the volume down on my speakers. But at night it's a completely different story. With a quiet house and nothing to distract, it was causing a huge problem in my ability to get rest. The solution was to play Spotify all night long at a low volume. The music keeps the ringing to a minimum. The genre of music doesn't really seem to matter. It all works.

mixmastamyk 2y ago
Interesting. Would those rain/storm whitenoise relaxation sounds work as well? There is now one built into iOS.
- xoxxala 2y ago
  I've tried those and found them incredibly distracting. I can't fall asleep with them on. I suspect they would work just fine to keeping the tinnitus under control, however.
  - mec31 2y ago
    For something similar but seemingly nutty, try the podcast ‘Northwoods Baseball’. It consists entirely of ‘broadcasts’ of baseball games in a fake baseball league. Sounds crazy, but works for me! Each ‘game’ lasts about 2.5 hours.
knowitnone 2y ago
yes, I listen to audiobooks and fall asleep that way.

hooverd 2y ago

Related, I wonder how YC23 Auricle is doing?

OutOfHere 2y ago

This is anecdotal info, but if you're suffering severe tinnitus to the point where it cannot be ignored, meaning ≥8/10, a short course of memantine for a few weeks could bring it down by about 2/10, making it more tolerable. The course may have to be repeated as needed about once a year. There probably exist other milder medicines that too could help make it less severe, e.g. mild SSRIs, but their effect usually goes away as soon as you stop taking them.

genewitch 2y ago
How come when i say "hey test your vit D and everyone probably needs more D supplementation" i get called out and downvoted, but this memantine comment goes unanswered? One of the side effects is aggression. here i'll try this, anecdotally my neighbor was prescribed 5mg (20mg is max dose) for short term memory issues, and he said "it's a good thing i wasn't prescribed more, i would have killed my wife." This was so out of character for him, i've never heard him raise his voice or say anything in anger in the 10 years i've known him. He and his wife are a normal happily married (like 4 decades!) couple of awesome people. So, yeah. I'm starting to notice a bit of a double standard on this site with more things than "google bad."
- OutOfHere 2y ago
  The trick with memantine is to limit usage to three months max. Its dopaminergic aspect gradually takes over its anti-glutamatergic aspect. If the limit is not applied, people can engage in progressively riskier behavior. This manifests itself even after the second month, but depending on the condition, continuing to the third month can be necessary. In regard to tinnitus, just a few weeks (3) could be plenty. Amantadine could be a bit safer for longer-term use, but it too carries behavioral risks.
  - genewitch 2y ago
    my anecdotal reference didn't even finish 2 weeks out - he showed me the bottle so i could look up what it was in the PDR, then i started reading up to see if that side effect was uncommon. and yes, i carry the PDR on my phone when i'm not at home with the big blue and red books.

mrtksn 2y ago

I got a tinnitus which severely impacted my life only to find out that it is connected to my posture and neck issues, something which wasn't mentioned almost anywhere until I found out by myself and the specifically searched for. At glance, again I don't see mention about that in this article. Apple has accelerometers on AirPods Pro, I hope they incorporate head position into the study. Nothing helped until I got serious into fixing my posture. Now it's almost cured.

cocacola1 2y ago
Any advice for fixing your posture?
- mrtksn 2y ago
  What I did was to sit like they tell on these brochures when you purchase a computer or something. I was using just my laptop, purchased a stand, a keyboard and a mouse and always use my computer sitting properly. I’m also doing neck exercises to strengthen my neck muscles, this one was a doctors advice. Lastly, I no longer sleep on stress inducing position. I used to do that a lot, would not be bothered to sleep on a small couch at friends house, now I don’t do that. If it no bed is available, would sleep on the floor.

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

Related from today's news: AirPods Pro 2 adds 'clinical grade' hearing aid feature https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41491191 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41491191

dr_dshiv 2y ago

1. Does everyone hear the same tone? 2. What tone or tones are typical? What frequency or frequencies? Sine wave? Sawtooth? 3. Can anything shift the tone? Eg, drugs? Attention?

blackeyeblitzar 2y ago

Has anyone else noticed that AirPods Pro’s noise cancellation doesn’t work if you have just one earbud in?

Jtsummers 2y ago
That's the expected behavior, if you want to use it with just one they have a solution for you: > To use Active Noise Cancellation with one AirPod only, use your iPhone or iPad to go to Settings > Accessibility > AirPods, and turn on "Noise Cancellation with One AirPod." Then press and hold the force sensor to switch between noise-control modes. https://support.apple.com/en-us/108918 https://support.apple.com/en-us/108918
bobbylarrybobby 2y ago
That's an intentional setting (presumably because it wouldn't really make sense?) and can be changed in AirPods settings

las_balas_tres 2y ago

I have had tinnitus since I was about 20 and I am now 50. Its always been there until last year when I had a slight reprieve for about 10 seconds. I was sick, the sickest I had been for years. I came down a with bad flu and was on a cocktail of drugs... antibiotics, painkillers etc. So there I was, lying in bed staring out the window when suddenly everything went peaceful and very quite. I then realised that i could no longer hear the ringing in my ears. I was sick but not delirious. Try hard as I could, i couldn't hear the ringing in my ears for about 10 seconds when suddenly as quickly as the ringing appeared, it re-appeared again.

deleted 2y ago
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pas 2y ago
one of my friend noticed that it's gone on MDMA.

zackmorris 2y ago

Random question for someone with tinnitus: do you hear the sound if you hum? Supposedly the mind doesn't think while humming, at least the inner monologue tends to cease, similar to meditation, and both can be used simultaneously: https://www.livestrong.com/article/13771650-bhramari-benefits-of-humming/ https://www.livestrong.com/article/13771650-bhramari-benefit... I find that even the act of beginning to hum, by tensing my throat without making a sound, quiets my thoughts. Some other things you might try: * tapping practice of the fingertips on temples, eyebrows, shoulders, etc for anxiety relief. * consciousness brain hemisphere shifting (don't know the name), where you cross your eyes slightly to look at two different images, then concentrate on bringing one image to your attention and then the other, causing focus to move between hemispheres. doing this while meditating on difficult thoughts can help the non-dominant hemisphere solve the problem. * head to toe relaxation: start with the top of your head and scan down your body, identifying any tense muscles and relaxing them, until fully relaxed. so real the forehead, drop the tongue from the top of the mouth, relax into the chair, etc.

Kerbonut 2y ago
Humming, I still 'ear it. But I can whistle and hum at the same time, so maybe my mind keeps thinking while humming.

bitwize 2y ago

I have eye tinnitus: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_snow_syndrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_snow_syndrome It's so subtle that I don't really notice it in my day to day life, and with corrective lenses I experience almost no vision problems. But God damn it, there was this one ophthalmologist I had. He became convinced that I was at high risk for glaucoma and kept subjecting me to visual field tests to assess my peripheral vision. The machine he used for such tests was so ancient it still took 5 1/4" floppy disks, and it worked by shining lights of various brightness onto a plain canvas. You were supposed to stare at a point and click a button held in the hand (like a Jeopardy! buzzer) when you saw one of these lights. Well, this exercise presents pretty much the exact conditions for my visual snow to put me at a disadvantage, and that meant I had bizarre, inconsistent test results with strange gaps in my visual field. Of course, that only further convinced my ophthalmologist that I was a glaucoma risk, and when I told him about the visual snow, he just looked at me like I was from space and ordered more tests. I was so glad to find a nice, 34-year-old ophthalmologist some years later who used the air puff machine during the standard eye exam to measure eyeball pressure and found I was nowhere near having glaucoma. No visual field tests, no visual snow confounding the results.