How I Cured My Tinnitus
Summary
TLDRIn the transcript, Vic Veer, an ENT surgeon, shares his personal experience with tinnitus and his successful journey to manage it. He explains the common misconceptions about tinnitus, emphasizing that it's not a lifelong condition for everyone. Veer discusses various coping mechanisms, including distraction techniques, medical therapies, and relaxation methods. He highlights the importance of understanding tinnitus and seeking professional help, while also offering hope and encouragement for those suffering from this condition.
Takeaways
- ๐จโโ๏ธ The speaker, Vic Veer, is an ear, nose, and throat surgeon who has personally experienced tinnitus and managed to alleviate it.
- ๐ฃ๏ธ Tinnitus is not a life sentence; many people, including the speaker, have successfully managed or resolved their tinnitus symptoms.
- ๐ง Tinnitus is not caused by an issue with the ear, but rather is a result of the brain's auditory cortex processing sound differently.
- ๐ The condition often arises from a 'feedback loop' in the brain, where attention to and reaction to the noise makes it more noticeable and persistent.
- ๐งญ The brain's plasticity allows it to adapt and filter out noises, but when it focuses on a particular sound, such as tinnitus, it can amplify the perception of that sound.
- ๐ง A technique to manage tinnitus involves using distractions like white noise or engaging activities that shift the brain's focus away from the tinnitus.
- ๐บ The speaker found relief by watching TV shows with subtitles, as it required focus and was a calming distraction from the tinnitus.
- ๐ฎ Playing fast-paced computer games also served as an effective distraction, reducing the intensity of tinnitus symptoms for the speaker.
- ๐ง Relaxation techniques like meditation may help manage tinnitus by calming the mind and reducing the stress associated with the condition.
- ๐ Medical therapies such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and lidocaine patches have shown promise in some cases for treating tinnitus.
- ๐ It's important to consult with healthcare professionals and seek appropriate treatment, as tinnitus can be a symptom of other underlying health issues.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic of the video is tinnitus, specifically the speaker's personal experience and methods he used to manage and eventually overcome his tinnitus.
How did the speaker initially react to his tinnitus?
-The speaker initially thought he had left a TV on due to the noise he was hearing. It took him a while to realize that he had developed tinnitus.
What is the speaker's profession?
-The speaker is an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeon working at the Royal National ENT Hospital in central London.
What percentage of people have severe tinnitus that intrudes on their life, according to the speaker?
-Only 0.5 percent of people have tinnitus that's so bad that it intrudes on their life and makes their life difficult to cope with.
What does the speaker suggest about the location of tinnitus?
-The speaker suggests that tinnitus is not originating from the ear, but is found within the auditory cortex in the brain.
What is the speaker's approach to dealing with tinnitus?
-The speaker's approach involves distraction techniques, such as listening to the shipping news, watching TV with subtitles, and playing fast-paced computer games to shift focus away from the tinnitus.
What is the speaker's recommendation for people with tinnitus who also have anxiety or depression?
-The speaker recommends that people with tinnitus who also have anxiety or depression should seek medical help to treat these conditions first, as they can make it difficult to cope with tinnitus.
What is the significance of the brain's filtering mechanism in relation to tinnitus?
-The brain's filtering mechanism is significant because it normally suppressesไธ้่ฆ็ไฟกๆฏ, allowing us to focus onๆด้่ฆ็ไฟกๆฏ. In the case of tinnitus, the brain may incorrectly assume that the noise is important due to an emotional reaction, leading to increased focus on and sensitivity to the noise.
What is the speaker's view on the use of white noise or masking for tinnitus?
-The speaker believes that while some people find white noise or masking helpful, it did not work well for him as it felt like replacing one annoying noise with another. He suggests using distraction techniques that engage the brain with something other than the tinnitus noise.
What is the speaker's advice for people who believe they have caused permanent damage due to tinnitus?
-The speaker advises not to assume permanent damage and to seek help from a doctor or a tinnitus clinic. He emphasizes that tinnitus can be managed and that there are many success stories of people overcoming it.
How long did it take the speaker to completely get rid of his tinnitus?
-It took the speaker around three to four months of consistent distraction techniques and focusing on other activities to completely get rid of his tinnitus.
Outlines
๐จโโ๏ธ Introduction and Personal Experience with Tinnitus
The speaker, Vic Veer, introduces himself as an ear, nose, and throat surgeon at the Royal National ENT Hospital in London. He is known for discussing snoring and sleep apnea but today, he shares his personal experience with tinnitus, a condition he suffered from in 2008 and managed to alleviate. He emphasizes that while he has no professional interest in tinnitus, his story might provide some useful insights. He also mentions other professionals who specialize in tinnitus and encourages seeking medical advice for any tinnitus symptoms.
๐ง Understanding Tinnitus and Brain's Role
Vic explains that tinnitus is not a condition everyone constantly experiences, but it's something everyone has to some degree. He describes an experiment where people in a soundproof room eventually hear ringing or other noises, illustrating that our brains are constantly suppressing unimportant sensory information. He emphasizes that tinnitus is not a product of the ear but rather a result of the brain's auditory cortex processing. He also addresses the misconception that tinnitus is 'all in your head', explaining it as a feedback loop rather than a symptom of mental health issues like depression or anxiety.
๐ The Cycle of Tinnitus Perception
Vic delves into how tinnitus can become more noticeable due to a cycle of attention and emotional response. He uses the example of an ear infection causing temporary hearing loss, which may lead the brain to release suppressed noises. When a person becomes emotionally reactive to these noises, the brain, misinterpreting the importance, increases their volume. This cycle can lead to a worsening of tinnitus. Vic shares his personal experience, linking his tinnitus to a stressful life event, and describes the mental loop that can exacerbate the condition.
๐ง Distraction Techniques for Tinnitus Relief
Vic discusses various techniques to distract the brain from tinnitus, such as listening to white noise or engaging in activities that require focus. He shares his personal strategy of listening to the shipping news, which he found boring and thus effective in distracting him from his tinnitus. He emphasizes the importance of finding something personally engaging and fun to aid in this distraction, which can help reduce the perceived volume of tinnitus over time.
๐ฎ Utilizing Fast-Paced Games for Tinnitus Management
Vic talks about using fast-paced computer games as a more aggressive form of distraction when tinnitus becomes particularly bothersome. He explains that games like Sonic the Hedgehog or Temple Run require quick reactions and instinctive play, effectively taking his mind off the tinnitus. He suggests that any activity that fully engages the brain and is enjoyable can serve as a distraction, aiding in the management of tinnitus symptoms.
๐ฅ Seeking Medical and Therapeutic Help
Vic suggests seeking medical advice if tinnitus is affecting one's quality of life. He mentions various therapies such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (RTMS) and the use of lidocaine patches to alleviate tinnitus. He also discusses the potential benefits of relaxation techniques, meditation, and self-awareness practices. Vic encourages viewers to explore different avenues of treatment and find what works best for them, even if it's just a 20% improvement.
๐ฌ Final Thoughts and Resources
Vic concludes by reiterating the importance of finding personal strategies to manage tinnitus and encourages viewers to share the video if it could help others. He offers a free tinnitus white noise masker for those who sign up for his newsletter, providing a way for viewers to potentially find further relief. He hopes that his video has been helpful and wishes viewers well in their journey to better manage their tinnitus.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กTinnitus
๐กHearing Aid
๐กMasking
๐กDistraction Techniques
๐กStress and Anxiety
๐กBrain Plasticity
๐กRepetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
๐กLidocaine Patch
๐กRelaxation Techniques
๐กPlacebo Effect
Highlights
Vic Veer, an ear, nose, and throat surgeon, shares his personal experience with tinnitus and how he managed to alleviate it.
Tinnitus is not a life sentence as many believe; Vic managed to overcome his tinnitus after several months of dedicated effort.
Vic emphasizes that tinnitus is not caused by an issue with the ear, but rather is a result of activity within the auditory cortex of the brain.
The brain's ability to suppress unimportant information is key to understanding why tinnitus can become so noticeable.
Vic suggests that tinnitus can be a result of a 'feedback loop' in the brain that can be exacerbated by stress and anxiety.
He shares his journey of using distraction techniques, such as watching subtitled TV shows and playing video games, to manage his tinnitus.
Vic also discusses the potential benefits of medical therapies like 180 phase reduction and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (RTMS).
He highlights the importance of addressing any underlying hearing loss and the potential use of hearing aids to reduce tinnitus.
Vic encourages those with tinnitus to seek professional help and explore various methods to find what works best for them.
He stresses the significance of maintaining hope and not being overwhelmed by negative experiences or opinions found online.
Vic provides practical advice on how to retrain the brain to filter out tinnitus sounds, effectively reducing their impact over time.
He shares his personal timeline of tinnitus reduction, emphasizing that it took several months of consistent effort.
Vic discusses the role of relaxation techniques and meditation in managing tinnitus, suggesting that they can provide significant relief for some individuals.
He mentions the use of lidocaine patches as a potential treatment for tinnitus, based on anecdotal evidence and some clinical trials.
Vic concludes by encouraging viewers to share his insights with others who may be struggling with tinnitus and offers a free tinnitus white noise masker for those interested.
Transcripts
hi my name is vic veer i'm an ears nurse
and throat surgeon working at the royal
national ent hospital in central london
now many of you know me as someone who
talks about snoring and sleep apnea but
today i'm going to talk to you about
tinnitus because some of you may know
that in 2008 i got tinnitus and then
after a few months of work i managed to
get rid of it so this is my story my
experience of how i solved my tinnitus
and hopefully i can impart some of that
information to you now i haven't heard
my tinnitus for
10 15 years now but that doesn't mean
that you watching this video will be
completely cured i mean this is just my
experience my personal story and if it
works be fantastic and if it doesn't
work for you look i'm really sorry at
the same time what i plan to do in this
video is explain to you what i normally
tell my patients when i see them in
clinic about tinnitus so in effect if
you watch this video you don't really
need to come and see me about tinnitus
anymore because it's all going to be
hopefully in this video you see tinnitus
isn't really my special subject i have
no professional interest in it at all i
normally talk about snoring sleep apnea
and sort of ear surgery
but if you are interested in seeing
someone about tinnitus there's some
really good people out there there's
people like nish patel
dipesh mystery people at the highly
street tinnitus clinic
also i got to say that the tinnitus
clinic at romford queens hospital the
royal national ent hospital audiology
clinics the tinnitus clinics they are
absolutely amazing so if you see some of
those people they can really give you
good advice good help with the
alternatives i think it's important to
say also that i'm not going to tell you
some new miracle cure or some new
technique it's not that sort of video
this is just me explaining tinnitus in
the way i normally explain it what i
would do is if you have tinnitus go and
see your doctor get checked out for all
the things that may cause tinnitus and
at that point if you have just the sort
of normal tendencies a lot of people get
then go and see a tinnitus clinic and
they'll be able to help you out okay now
that i've said that what i'd like to do
is go through a few myths about tinnitus
and go through them one by one
so this first thing that a lot of people
seem to say if you get tinnitus you've
got it for life i mean that's just not
true a lot of people hear tinnitus all
the time even transiently so a lot of
people here oh can you hear that and it
sounds like a tv left on or something
like that that is tinnitus sometimes
people hear a ringing noise or a sort of
a drumming noise first thing in the
morning or when they get back from a
concert they hear their ears sort of
making this ringing noise all of these
are forms of tinnitus sometimes they
last short time or a long time
you know happens a lot to a lot of
people and
most people when they get tenses even
after a week or so two weeks it seems to
go away after a bit and if you look at
the data only 0.5 percent of people have
tinnitus that's so bad that it intrudes
on their life and it makes their life
difficult to cope with there are an
awful lot of people who get tinnitus and
then it dies down to a point where they
can still hear it but it doesn't bother
them anymore so even if you do have
really bad tinnitus and it's really
affecting you i'd see a tennis clinic
and it should settle down with time
there are things we can do to help you
and i hopefully like something like this
might help you as well so you may be
looking on the internet seeing really
sort of scary and posts about people
with tinnitus and it's really ruining
their lives and once you've got chances
you can never get rid of it that's not
true there are lots of people who get
rid of their chances i got rid of my
tinnitus 13 years ago i've not heard any
tinnitus now for 13 years so it can be
done and a lot of people out there say
the same thing so so have some
hope that this could happen for you
now a lot of people think that tinnitus
comes from you it's it's actually not
true actually there is a really really
rare syndrome where you can actually
hear if you put your ear to someone
else's ear you can sometimes hear their
tinnitus like sometimes the clicking
noise or something like that um but you
know i've never even tried that i've
never seen a patient with that problem
it's really really rare to get that sort
of thing most tinnitus
is found within the auditory cortex
within your brain it's not from your ear
at all
one way to prove that is to look at the
studies where
people have had their nerve cut or
they've removed the cochlear you know
remove their ear completely and their
tinnitus doesn't get better it actually
gets worse so that includes all the
people who've had um exposure to loud
noise musicians uh people have had an
explosion nearby they've taken
chemotherapy that's damaged their ear
all those people
believe that it's their ear that's been
damaged and that's true that it has been
damaged but the tinnitus doesn't come
from the ear it comes from
some part of the brain the limbic system
auditory cortex all those sorts of areas
so a lot of people hear that last
statement and say to me oh well you're
saying it's all in my head then and i
don't like saying oh it's all in your
head because it implies that it's uh
that you've gone mad or you've got
depression and anxiety and that's why
you've got utensils i don't think it's a
a symptom of depression or anxiety i
think tinnitus or i personally believe
chances is more of a sort of bad
feedback loop that you get yourself into
and when you're in that sort of loop and
you're spiraling away with the noise
getting louder and louder depression
anxiety can speed up that process or
make it worse because when you have
depression anxiety it's very hard to
extract yourself from that bad feedback
loop which i'll explain later on
anyway so enough of that what i'd like
to do now is explain what tinnitus is
now i think this chapter this part of
the video is really really important
because if you don't understand this bit
that the bit where i try and explain how
to get rid of the tinnitus won't make
any sense so please watch this bit first
and understand it before you move on to
the next chapter
the first thing to say about why people
have chances is that we all have
tinnitus everyone can hear tinses all
the time and the way to prove this is
that if you get a bunch of people and
put them into soundproof rooms you can
tell them to stay in that room until
they hear a noise like a ringing or
whatever any noise and come out when
they can hear that noise within 15
minutes 90 plus people percent of people
will come out of those rooms and say oh
yeah i can hear a ringing noise and what
was that or electrical wine or something
like that
everyone can hear these noises all the
time just that we're not aware of them
so another way to explain this is that
our brains are constantly suppressing
information from us so for example when
you put on your shoes or your socks in
the morning you can feel that your shoes
are on your feet and you can walk around
but after
five minutes or so one minute even you
stop your brain stops telling you oh by
the way you're wearing shoes it's not
important information your brain will
let you focus on things like oh wow i
think i'm a bit late for work or the
kids are
late for breakfast or you know those
sorts of things so your brain suppresses
the information that isn't that
important like you know the the pressure
of this jacket around my my collar or as
people with earrings or glasses after a
you know a bit of time your brain gets
used to it and stops telling you about
that information the same thing happens
to sound a lot of people realize that if
you're on an airplane after a bit you
zone out that sort of background noise
which is quite loud or if you're working
at your office and there's a
road by you or lots of other people
talking you can zone all that noise out
that's your brain allowing you to focus
on what you want to focus on and
suppressing all the other sound
information so another way to describe
is that if you pause the video right now
and then
listen down to what you can hear you'll
hear people talking maybe in another
room or road noise or something like
that there'll be some sort of sound in
the background normally even birds
tweeting and if you played the video
again and listened to me talking to you
you might still be able to hear those
birds tweeting or people talking but you
realize that your brain previously was
suppressing that those sounds away from
you you can still hear them because i'm
talking to you now and you can still
hear them now but the point is that your
brain was suppressing that information
so that you could focus on this video i
think this all starts when we're babies
perhaps so our brains think to ourselves
oh look this child is only sort of
listening to the parents and that cooing
noise that those parents are doing it's
not listening to say something like the
heartbeat
we can all hear these noises all the
time so what the brain does is start
saying okay i'll because he's reacting
to those voices i'll increase those
noises but i'll suppress this boom boom
noise because it never pays attention to
that and so if you look at people and
their hearing tests you'll see that
hearing tests are sort of like a
straight line but it's not true it's not
a straight line our hearing is more of a
spike like this and the hearing is best
at the top it's not that our hearing is
uniform you can hear all sounds the same
it's a spike so what our brains do is
allow us to focus in on the small number
of frequencies just here which is around
about two kilohertz and those
frequencies are where we can hear speech
allowing us to communicate with each
other all the other noises are slowly
suppressed out the way because so our
brains are focused in on those noises to
allow us to understand speech and all
the sort of normal noises we hear in
everyday human life so only when you go
to a completely soundproof room where
there's no noise at all does your brain
go well there are a bunch of other
noises here like this hissing noise or
this heartbeat noise and if you watch
youtube videos about people going to the
quietest room in the world all those
sorts of things you'll see a lot of them
will say oh i can after about 10-15
minutes i can hear my heartbeat and some
people can actually feel their heartbeat
boom boom thumping away in their chest
and it's quite common you know a lot of
people just suppress that feeling of
your heart pumping away in your heart in
your chest
it you know we got so used to this
happening that we don't really feel it
but you can actually if you're in a
really quiet room you can start feeling
the the
the arteries pulsing around your body
it's a really amazing you feel like oh
my god i have an actual organism not
just a head attached to some legs
it's amazing what you know body is like
but our brains have filtered that
information out from most people who
don't we're not aware of our heart
beating anymore the point is we only
hear these noises when it's really
really quiet when you've walked into a
soundproof or a really quiet room or
sometimes when people have an ear
infection or and it's dropped their
hearing for a short time
your brain gets bored it has no idea
that you have an ear infection it's not
as clever as we think it is our brain is
just a bit of flesh sitting inside a
skull
just sort of getting all these nerves
and stimulations and sort of
inputs from the outside world and its
job in this sort of bony casing is to
try and interpret all these signals and
all it will know is that oh i'm not
getting as many signals from this here
and he doesn't know that either you've
got a lot older and there's a bit of
wear and tear you can't hear quite as
well or you're a musician and you've
lost a few frequencies at about 6k all
those sorts of things the brain has no
idea
it assumes that our hearing is great all
it's all it's noticing is there's less
coming into it the brain doesn't really
realize what's going on it just says
well i'm not getting any sort of
information from this ear anymore but i
am suppressing all these other noises so
perhaps if i uh
release one of these noises but maybe
he's trying to listen to it so that is
the start of you hearing something and
you're going oh wonder what that is so
what can happen when you start hearing
these noises for whatever reason that
your brain can fall into this jasper off
or jasper off cycle where you can go
round and round that sort of loop that i
was telling you about earlier it's a
very common or a good example of this is
that
someone young for old doesn't matter
gets an ear infection they lose the
hearing one ear for say two weeks or
something like that because the ear is
all clogged up or maybe wax or something
like that eventually the wax gets taken
out but during that time when the
hearing had been reduced the brain gets
a little bit bored like i said before
and starts releasing some extra noises
so when you've got an infection and then
you start hearing this high-pitched wine
or something like that a lot of people
will think oh god i've got this terrible
infection it really hurts and i can't
hear anything and now i've got this
extra noise on top maybe there's some
permanent damage happening here maybe
i'm stuck with tinnitus i don't know
what's going on here i really need to
see a doctor and that worry that
emotional context to an ear infection
can start off this cycle i was telling
about the jasper of cycle see what
happens is that the brain listens to
what you're saying and the emotional
context to the responses that you're
having to things and goes oh wow i've
been filting this noise out since he was
a child
why all of a sudden is he focusing on
this it must be really important i'm so
silly i shouldn't have filtered this out
since he was a baby maybe i'll get him
to focus in on this and so the brain
incorrectly assumes that you want to
hear it because you've got an emotional
reaction to it an emotional reaction is
really important to humans so because
you want an emotional reaction to a
noise the brain incorrectly assumes that
you want to hear it and therefore you
start being able to focus in on it you
start listening to it more and you start
becoming more sensitive to that noise
you want to hear it more and more this
is obviously the exact opposite of what
people want to do they
they're in bed trying to sleep and
there's a funny noise and they're
wondering what is this and some people
go further than that they hear this
noise and go oh wow this is tinnitus
isn't it oh my god i remember my father
had to insist and he hated tinnitus it
was awful for him i've heard that you
get tinnitus for the whole of your life
and you can never get rid of it it's
terrible what am i going to do is this
going to be like this for the rest of my
life is it going to get louder am i
going to lose my hearing is it a brain
tumor all these sorts of thoughts go
through people's minds that it can make
that emotional connection to this noise
and your brain
sees that connection and then therefore
makes the noise louder and louder and
louder when i got tinnitus back in i
think 2008 2009 i i just moved to
another part of the country i started a
new job moved away from all my friends
didn't see my wife as much as because we
were all doing different shifts and it
was really difficult and i think that
stress and that big change at life event
set off my tips and i thought i could
see it now at the time i didn't feel
stressed or or upset or whatever at the
time i just had this horrible noise
actually the first thing i noticed was
um
i thought it was a sort of a i left a tv
on or something and i walked around the
house for ages looking for this tv or
this electrical appliance i had left on
that was making this noise it was ages
later i thought oh god i think i've got
tinnitus i knew what tinnitus was i was
a cnt surgeon um but i obviously i
hadn't looked into it as enough so what
i did was i went round and round this
jasper of cycle where i heard the
tinnitus the brain saw that i was
getting annoyed by the synthesis the
brain thought that the tinnitus was um
important so it made the tinses louder
and it cycled back to oh my god it's
even louder now what's happening and it
went round and round like getting louder
and louder and you know
people like vincent van gogh get so
desperately they cut their ear off and
and it's that negative cycle that sort
of horrible sort of loop that people go
through that i think causes tinnitus and
what happens is the more times you go
around this cycle the more you're able
to lay down those pathways in your brain
it's called brain plasticity it's the
ability to learn new things
people
maybe maybe just for me but i felt that
i was when i looked back at it i was
laying down pathways or neuronal
pathways that allowed me to hear this
noise louder and larger i was focusing
in on this noise and so that
previously very quiet noise was becoming
louder and light because i was willing
it to do so that's why i think a lot of
people get hyper acoustics hyper
acoustic means you become really
sensitive to noises your hearing has got
higher and higher like people who um go
blind their hearing can get a bit better
and the same sort of thing can happen i
think in um in tinnitus your hearing
sensitivity wraps up in that one few
spectrum so there's few frequencies that
you have you start hearing it really
really um easily and so people go oh my
god the hairdryer's on or there's so
much the road noise is so loud whereas
normal people
aren't bothered by those sort of noises
but if your hearing has been wrapped up
because your brain has got into this
weird feedback loop it has to go oh god
this this
let's focus in on this extra noise
that's what i think seems to happen in
some people
and that thing about vincent van gogh
cutting off his ear you know he was very
depressed and
that sort of brings me back to
depression and anxiety if you have
depression anxiety if you've got
depression it's a lot of people think of
it as an inability to cope with things
and when you've got this disease or
anxiety is that you get really really
worried about things so if you hear this
noise it's natural for those people with
these conditions
to
find it very hard to pull themselves out
of that loop where you constantly worry
and the brain sees that worry and then
makes it um worse i hope you understand
what i'm trying to say so i'm
it doesn't matter if the tinnitus came
first or depression came first
having depression anxiety can make it
very difficult to pull yourself out of
that loop so what i found for me was
that the key to fixing my tinnitus was
reversing this jasper off loop or
pulling yourself out of it and sort of
reversing so you can go back to where
you were before reapplying and
suppressing that those noises
starting up those filters again so you
can't hear the tinnitus anymore so let's
get on to that bit of the video
so a lot of people will say to me look
there is no cure to tinctures what
you're talking about but i guess you're
right there is no cure for your
heartbeat nobody wants to be cured of
their heartbeat what i'm saying is that
not being able to hear your tinnitus or
not being aware of your tinnitus to me
is as good as a cure because as i said
in the previous section
all these noises we've had for the whole
of our lives and i should say actually
if you've skipped ahead to this point
please go back to the chapter before
because what i want you to do is
understand this there because this
section will make a lot more sense if
you understand the the chapter before
this oh sorry i'll get on with this now
anyway like i was saying before the the
definition of cure in tunisia is
slightly vague but what i'm trying to
say is if you remember that soundproof
room experiment i was telling you about
before the idea is to reverse that
jasper off cycle to reapply those
filters to suppress those noises that
our brains
think that you want to hear but what
you're trying to do is suppress the
noises so
you don't hear them anymore because
correcting the assumptions that your
brain was making now a lot of people
what they do is they listen to white
noise or you know the noise between
radio channels on the old analog chat
radios that shh actually i'll put a
proper noise up here somewhere
yeah so that noise that shh noise if you
hear that that's what we call masking
what you're doing is using that noise so
loud that you can't hear your own
tinnitus and if that's working for you
fantastic you should carry on with that
whenever you hear your team just listen
to that and there's no need to watch
this video anymore because with time
your tennis will slowly get better
for me that didn't really work because i
was sort of replacing one annoying noise
in my head with another annoying noise
from my radio and it just annoyed me
particularly when i was trying to sleep
because i quite like silence when i'm
trying to sleep and what i didn't what i
noticed also is that as my tinsels got
louder i ended up putting the radio
louder and they're sort of competing
against two different noises i just it
just didn't work for me
if it works for you like i said just go
for it but if it's not working for you
well i'll tell you what i did
what i soon realized when i did a bit
more reading that the masking is not
there to overcome the noise so that you
can't hear tinsel it doesn't really make
any sense to me what it's meant to do is
distract you from the noise inside your
head what you're trying to do is let
your brain listen to real noises rather
than the noise that's been generated in
your head or the heartbeat or whatever
the idea is that what you're trying to
do is distract your brain from these
abnormal noises in your head
and therefore you're sort of reapplying
that filter so what i started doing is
listening to things like when i got in
from work i'd normally hear it because
the house was quiet without my wife
around and i'd turn on the tv or the
radio one as soon as i walked through
the door because i knew i'd start
listening to tinnitus if i didn't do
that it became a habit and when i was
trying to sleep at night instead of
listening to the shh noise i used to
turn on the radio maybe radio 4 or
whatever the equivalent is in around the
world or like the shipping news at night
i don't know if you've ever heard the
shipping news but um in england the
shipping news is rather it sounds really
boring it's like
the shipping news if you don't know what
it is is little points out at sea and
they tell you the weather at different
points and it's said in such a monotone
sort of robotic way that i spent my time
when i listened to it it was quite late
about 11 12 o'clock at night um i
remember listening to go where did they
where does bbc find these people that
can speak like this and i remember
talking to myself about like
ranting to myself oh my god where where
are these people how do they learn to
talk like this and how could they just
not do this without bursting out into
laughter
and because i was having that little
internal dialogue and thinking about the
shipping news and not thinking about my
tinnitus
that i was distracting myself away from
that noise it's a bit like um a lot of
people when they have mild tinnitus they
don't notice that they've got to insist
when they're out with their friends when
they're having fun enjoying themselves
or if they're at work in a difficult
task and it's only when they get home
more than when they try and go to sleep
and it's quiet then they start hearing
their tinnitus again i think the real
reason why i like this sort of
distraction technique is that the shh
noise sort of still reminded me that i
had tinnitus whereas distracting myself
and sort of making me forget that i have
tinnitus seemed to work better for me
but it doesn't really matter how you do
it as long as you forget or you can't
hear your tinnitus and focus on
something else the more you do that
incrementally you'll notice that your
tinnitus gets quieter and quieter and
quieter i mean they're tiny increments
at the start and at the start it's
really quite bad but the more you don't
listen to your tinnitus the quieter
it'll get and it sounds a bit weird to
say but that's how it seems to work
because what you're doing is you're
reapplying that filter you're telling
your brain that you're not interested in
this noise you when you hear this noise
you distract yourself away from it and
when you do that you're telling your
brain i have no emotional
impulse to this noise i've distracted
myself away from it i'm not interested
in it please start reducing that
neuronal pathway that you're laying down
filter it out i'm not interested and
that's the sort of control that you're
trying to exert over your uh your own
brain's sort of incorrect assumptions
about thinking oh god this is important
you're trying to say no it's not
important i don't want to hear it
anymore
move on and although you only get tiny
little improvements every day and
sometimes hardly any improvement but
when you do notice a tiny little
improvement you go my god i actually
have control over this i have some sort
of weird little mastery of this and that
gives you a whole lot of more
reassurance makes you feel like actually
i can influence this i can change it
and when you have that feeling of
control it gives you hope and you can
keep going and you keep working on it
and noticing even these tiny little
improvements every day gave me some hope
gave you some comfort and it really
helped me carry on
unfortunately the shipping news didn't
really work for very long because
after a few nights or maybe a week or so
of me ranting at the radio
internally in my head i thought to
myself actually i've sort of ranted
enough i can't think of anything else to
rant about and i started remembering
that i was doing this for the tinnitus
rather than me getting annoyed by the
shipping news
so and also being annoyed is not a great
idea when you have chances you try and
find something that's fun for you so
what i did was um and because also it
was making noise as well and that noise
was annoying me when i was trying to
sleep so what i did was i tried
something else i knew it was more about
distraction at this point so what i did
was i turned on the small tv in our
bedroom the old crts back then um and i
left on uh re-runs of old
tv series and you know this may show you
what sort of person i am but i used to
watch star wars
reruns of star wars uh the black adder
series red dwarf all those sorts of
things and i didn't turn on the volume i
left it on mute but i turned on the um
the subtitles and because i have uh you
know a stumpy small y chromosome that
doesn't allow me to multitask i i even
though i know all the words i had to
read the subtitles because i can't male
brain um and so i sat there staring at
the subtitles and i knew the storyline i
knew all the words and although it was
nice for me to watch and i'd carry on
watching it
it wasn't so entertaining that i
couldn't fall asleep and it was quiet it
was for me it was better than the the
noise of the shipping news or the shh
noise so that worked better for me and
because i've only got a tiny male brain
those subtitles were enough to for me to
focus in on that and allow me to
distract myself away from the noise in
my head and that as i said worked for me
and it meant that
the tinnitus with time got quieter and
quieter and quieter there were times
however where actually that the tv
subtitle muted trick doesn't work for me
either and the tint was so loud
screaming your ear it generally happened
when i was sort of tired hungry stressed
all you know all three um which happens
quite a lot when you're a doctor um
so yeah if you're hungry just eat that's
an obvious thing when you've got one of
these things it
puts a barrier in you allowing you to
sort of focus away from the tinnitus so
eat and try and rest or try and calm
yourself down all those things are
really helpful so what i did was when i
was in these situations when it was
really loud and screw in my ear i'd have
to distract myself even more
aggressively than just watching
subtitles on an old star wars empire
strikes back which is great by the way
watch it if you haven't seen it but what
i did was i distracted myself more
aggressively than that so what i did was
i got little computer games on my phone
or on a laptop
and i played those games now i wouldn't
say something like candy crush or you
know chess or something like that
because
it's not it's not a fast-paced game you
can have time to think between each move
and what you need is something that
doesn't require thought as such you need
to do something which is really
fascinating just working on instinct
like you know sonic the hedgehog all
that but weird
um
there's a program i'm showing my age now
where you run run run you going left and
right jumping over things and something
chase temple run something like that
i'll try and put a you know it's very
boring sorry but
games like that where you're using all
your attention to to pass and you have
to use instinct and swiping whatever
something that where it engrosses you so
you know buy yourself a playstation 5 or
something like that a fast-paced game
where you have to use reactions or a
more modern thing would be
like getting oculus 2 and playing vader
immortal or something but i wouldn't get
world of warcraft or something because
it makes you think you need something
fast-paced
enough about computer games i'll move on
so what happened was with these very
fast computer games that um it took the
edge off my tinnitus so after about 20
minutes of playing game and me not
remembering that i've got tinnitus and
i've noticed it's got a bit quieter i
thought to myself right now it's quite
enough for me to watch my tv and fall
asleep listening to um or watching tv
and looking the subtitles and then fall
asleep so i'm not saying that you have
to play computer games you have to play
vader immortal three or you know you or
you have to watch red dwarf what i'm
saying is that you need to find
something that will distract your brain
some people will want to go
looking through the internet looking at
handbags and shoes or or talking to
their friends or something like that
that will distract their brain away from
their tinnitus do something that will
interest you you've got to choose
something that's fun something that's
calming if you can or something that
completely distracts you because those
are things that are going to help you
the best i think when it comes to trying
to ease the tinnitus noise and the more
you ease it the more you don't hear it
the more you don't remember that you
have tinnitus the slower the quieter the
tinnitus will get and talking about that
fun and that happy calm place if you do
have anxiety and you do have depression
it's important that you go and see your
doctor and try and get that treated now
a lot of people said no no the tinses
came first and that's why i'm depressed
which is that may be true that's fine
but the point is you even if you have
depression or even if you have low mood
because of your tinnitus it'll be very
hard for you to pull yourself out of
that loop without fixing the depression
anxiety first so do your very best to
get rid of that side it'll really help
you pull yourself out of this negative
loop that some people get into so it
doesn't matter it's not a chicken and
egg scenario if you have
worries or anxieties or depression or
low mood go and see your gp get that
sort of tell them that you've got tinses
and he will refer you also to
attendances clinic
but it's really important that you sort
out both issues it doesn't matter which
came first just just get them both
sorted because it'll really help you
recover from this problem
now i was quite lucky i didn't have any
hearing loss and i know easy for me to
check i went to the audiologist and got
them to do a hearing test but my hearing
was sort of normal i say this so it's
not really it's like this but you know
what i mean it was a normal flat line
good hearing all the way through there
are some people who have reduced hearing
and as i said before musicians and their
hearing are dropped in one area and when
that happens it makes it much harder for
those people to fix their tinnitus
because they're not getting the
stimulation their brain is craving for
what you need to do is try and improve
your hearing if you can so an awful lot
of people say to me look i've got no
problems with my hearing i can hear you
just fine my hearing's not that bad but
when i look at the hearing chest it has
dropped in a few frequencies it may not
be enough for them to influence their
daily life maybe not enough to
for them to even notice that they've got
hearing loss but if they do have hearing
loss it's typically the hearing loss the
hearing loss is where they can hear
their tinnitus i say to people well
actually it may be worth getting a
hearing aid just to improve the hearing
in those frequencies even if you don't
have hearing or you don't feel like you
need one all you're doing is wearing the
hearing aids to help you get rid of the
tinnitus because what you're doing is
you're allowing your brain to be
stimulated in those frequencies that
you've lost
and therefore your brain's going oh
there's other things to listen to now
more interesting things like birds
tweeting or leaves rustling or whatever
you're listening to those noises now
whereas previously you couldn't because
you had hearing loss there augmenting
that area that you've lost
will allow your brain to be stimulated
so therefore the tumors will slowly get
slowly go away
because you're stimulating your brain
you're giving it something to listen to
and that really helps some people and
some people go well okay i've got rid of
my chances with a hearing aid
do i have to keep wearing the hearing
aid not really i guess not if it's not
helping you hearing why bother if it
well sometimes you give people hearing
aids just to help them get over the
tinnitus so that's an important
distinction a lot of people go why am i
got this hearing aid what's the point i
got tinnitus i don't have a hearing
problem that's the reason why a lot of
people give you a hearing aid and and if
you understand the context behind it it
should make a little bit more sense
anyway the um the subtitles the shipping
news the um computer games i used that
sort of distraction technique to slowly
reduce my tinnitus and it took me about
it was really loud at one point so it
took me about six weeks to get to the
point where i
should i can hear it but it doesn't
really bother me anymore i can probably
live like this forever now with this
sort of noise in my head but because i'm
a personality type entj and i just want
to fix everything i thought to myself
right
just to prove it to myself i'm going to
keep going
and see if i can get rid of it
completely and to be honest it took me
ages because i kept forgetting but um it
took me about three or four months after
that to to get rid of it completely and
it started off with me going oh i
haven't noticed it for a bit and and
then it came back because i thought
about it and sometimes days would go
past and i go oh i haven't noticed it
and then it would come back and silly me
i used to think at the start i wonder if
it's gone away and i'd listen out for it
and obviously knowing what you know now
watching this video that's the wrong
thing to do to try and resist the
temptation just to check if you still
have genesis just keep going the the
days where
you don't have tinnitus or the time when
you don't have tenses will get longer
and longer and longer to the point where
you've got less you've got uh more time
away from some more time with and
eventually you sort of months later you
go oh actually an activities and it
doesn't come back at that point and it
takes a really long time and i'm not
sure if it was three or four months
because it sort of you forget so the way
i did it was i continued distracting
myself for months and months it was
quite hard to think of things to
distract myself with but the more i did
it the times when i didn't get tinnitus
became longer and longer and longer to
the point where i i forgot that i ever
had tinses and it's only when i think
back now that oh yeah i had genesis so
that's the idea what i hope i think i
did i i created that filter that i think
we all have that filters out these
noises and i've reapplied that filter
suppress those noises so i can't hear it
anymore
even
you know when i'm trying to sleep at
night i can't hear my tennis and that
happens to lots of people it's not just
me it happens to loads of people um
just look at the results from tunisia's
clinics so a lot of people go away oh
right yeah you're right and then if you
call these people back you know a year
later no i don't have chances and they
they forget to mention it it's not
something you want to remember it's not
something you want to go back to so the
voices on the internet will be saying oh
no jesus is terrible there are lots of
people who say oh yeah timothy was fine
i got rid of it
there are an awful lot of people out
there so
have hope have some reassurance that can
happen for you so don't get too stressed
about it if you can now all i've been
doing is waffling on about these
sort of mind tricks that i've been doing
on myself there are some medical
therapies out there which can help
people with symptoms and i'll go through
those one by one
so at times i did use something called
180 phase reduction or 180 phase shift
now what that is is that you're applying
an equal and opposite sound to your
tinnitus to cancel out the two noises
that's quite hard to do and at the time
it was sort of relatively easy what i
did was i got an app on my phone
i think it was called sound frequency
generator or something similar to that
and what you need to do is com
as closely as precise as you possibly
can recreate your tinnitus noise uh that
you can hear in your ear on your phone
so that you play the sound and it sounds
exactly the same as the autism and
the the more precise you get the better
so just make it just perfect now it's
quite hard because a lot of these noises
are slightly broadband in character but
once you get the dominant frequency or
if you can do a slight broadband feature
on your app that can make it slightly
sort of
quite noisy in that one or two
frequencies
but once you've got it and it sounds
exactly the same what you need to do is
say 180 phase reduction so you
you're creating an equal and opposite
sound to that noise at the time what i
need to do is find another app transfer
that noise to this app and then do that
180 phase reduction and then play that
back to myself and that worked quite
well because when it was sort of really
loud in my ear and to be honest i'm sort
of almost playing around with it but
when when that noise was really loud in
my ear when i played this the noise came
down a little bit i thought wow this is
actually is sort of suppressing it
to be honest
i've noticed that after you know some
time my tennis would change and it would
change ever so slightly so you have to
go oh god i have to make a new noise for
myself and recalibrate you re-titrate it
and and sort of apply the new noise it
was a bit of a pain moving from app to
app and then listening to it and
sometimes it only lasts 10 minutes but
what i liked about it was that it gave
me some comfort it gave me
a feeling of control or mastery over my
chances and that to me was really
important it gave me hope that i can
influence it if i feel like i have
control over it
i felt like i could sort it out i could
deal with it as i said sometimes it it
only lasted a short time sometimes it
only just took the edge off because i
didn't get the tone exactly right
so it sort of helped i don't think it's
particularly useful uh in the end i
couldn't be bothered with the apt app
thing and and i ended up playing lots of
computer games but um
if you want to try this now
please go ahead unfortunately the app
that does a 180 phase rule i can't find
that anymore i can only find
a noise generator so i can't leave a
link to it but
i mean i'm sure there's a noise
generator out there i did at one point
try and make an app my own app that
would connect these two things together
but i couldn't find anyone to help me do
it and
as
you've seen me trying to put together a
snoring app it's taken me years to do
that
this tinnitus app unfortunately you
can't make any more because
the rules have changed all about this
now
to make an app that was specifically
designed to help you reduce utilities is
now a medical device it's not an app
anymore so you have to go through a
million loop hoops and things too to get
to that point where you're allowed to
publish an app which is meant to help
people with tinnitus so it's you know
it's not worth it and trying to find
someone who will do make an app for you
for free so you can give it away for
free with no sort of income back from it
you know no one no no one will do that
what i want you to do is try and work
this out for yourself so you do you know
i got rid of it myself so um hopefully
you can as well but if any of you decide
to make this app and create it let me
know in the comments and i'll link it to
the description and that way
i can sort of promote your app in some
way i did have a patient with a genius
idea where he could use the sound
generation uh device to make the noise
exactly the same as ear and then what he
had is that he saw he put on active
noise cancellation um headphones now he
wouldn't connect the phone to the
earphones what he did was he just played
it on the outside and left this on um
just playing and actively cancelling the
noise around him so it works almost the
same way that noise was actively
cancelled going into your ear now um
unfortunately he couldn't uh
check if it worked because a he found
the calibration quite differently trying
to get the same noise as his ear and b
his tinnitus was slowly going away
anyway so it wasn't worth the effort for
him so but it might be an idea if you uh
have active noise cancellation
headphones and really good ones
and you can make the same tinnitus noise
you could try that out and let me know
if it works for you
there are some other therapies and i'll
go through them now there's rtms or
repetitive trans cranial magnetic
stimulator something like that basically
you get these enormous magnets and you
focus this magnetic power on your brain
it's used for helping people with
depression and some other problems
but what it does is sort of influences
your neuronal chemistry or something
like that and i guess if it's affecting
your brain and changing the way your
brain works it might work and there are
trials out there that say that in some
people it really does work some people
get six months of recovery
some people you know six minutes or
something um and it seems to only work
in a certain population not other people
so i
i don't know if it work if it's going to
work and there are published papers out
there that say it does work and if you
want to go and sort of look at that
there is i think a place on harley
street or i'm sure there are places
anywhere with uh rtms um and go and try
it out if that's what you really want to
do
there is a local anesthetic drug called
lidocaine or lignicain as we used to
call it lidocaine uh if you inject it
through the vein has this amazing
quality of getting rid of people's
tinnitus it just sort of suddenly
disappears so
uh it's it's amazing oh my god my chest
is gone but the problem is when you
inject lidocaine it also has the rather
nasty side effect of causing your heart
to stop and give you a heart attack is
not something that we would like to use
but again someone had quite a good idea
is to get
lignochain not as an injection straight
into your vein but as a patch or you can
put it anywhere i guess but a lot of
people put it behind their ear and that
lignicain patch in a trial that i saw
seemed to over about three months or so
seemed to reduce tinnitus in some people
again some people it worked for some
people it didn't um and
i think people are hoping that
lignicaine those 12-hour patches were
slowly reducing their tinnitus
it's quite hard to tell because maybe
their chances would have got better over
three months
i'm not sure and normally lignite works
straight away
i'm a bit fearful of using liquid cane i
don't i don't like it just in case it
affects the heart but you
and i have not seen any further trials
about lidocaine
but um if you're interested speak to
your doctor about it or speak to one of
these guys i was telling you about
like the tinnitus clinic or other places
and they might be able to point you in
the right direction
there's an awful lot of evidence to say
that relaxing techniques
meditation self-awareness all those
sorts of things do help people with
tinnitus if it works for you you should
definitely do it it seems to work for an
awful lot of people so learning how to
calm your mind down not get so
riled up by this tinnitus can help an
awful lot of people i think it's
worthwhile doing if that's
uh if that you think is your problem uh
so meditation and things like that can
help i don't know anything about it but
again see these tinnitus people they may
be able to help you
there are a variety of other pills and
sort of lotions and sort of
things that you can do to yourself to
try and help you with your tinnitus i've
seen people who are flicking the back of
their head or doing different massages
or using different devices on the ear
now i haven't seen any conclusive sort
of evidence to say that any of these
things work
um but
if it works for you
and you know a placebo effect is 20
effectiveness so it improves your most
people will say 20 i'll take 20
reduction in my tinnitus well then it'll
be worth going ahead and doing it
there's nothing saying that oh
doing this or
using a laser pointed to your eardrum
you know all those things
if they feel like they're working for
you
then do it i mean who cares if it's a
placebo effect or not i don't know
anything about tinnitus and or does
anyone else as far as i can understand
if it works for you and it's helping you
even by just 20 then just do it in my
mind don't um don't worry if the
evidence is out there or whatever just
try it and if it works great fantastic i
hope you found this video useful
if you know someone who you think it
might help please show them this video
or tell them what i've told you
and if you want a freebie sort of
tinnitus white noise masker i can send
you one for free just sign up to my my
newsletter
and respond to my letter when i send it
out to you my email sorry and i'll give
you i'll send one out to you if you pull
your name out of the hat and i'll leave
a link to it in the description if you
want thank you very much for watching i