Anyone out there experiencing Tinnitus? Is it constant? What do you hear? Does it bother you? Coping mechanisms?
1 Like
Funny that. I was wanting to raise this topic too. I suffer from tinnitus. Mine is a constant high pitch howl. Sometimes my āexperimentsā in rack and other VSTs can exacerbate it which is why I donāt use headphones.
I did āhearā that listening to quiet white noise can lessen the problem.
2 Likes
Hello Jon
I feel you have made a good post and hope a few come in ear 
I have Tinnitus. one sided, the right side. It is a sine wave at 11180Hz, checked it with Audacity some time ago. It is always there, I know it will not go away and it gets to me on occasion, in bed before sleep can be a nuscance, at one time I found it hard to manage, nowadays if trying to sleep I listen to talking books from Librivox.org all public domain. Human voice seems to work for me far better than music. I do listen to classical music though which does help somewhat.
I have found working with audio, particularly digital modular, quite theraputic, it helps me to focus away from the annoying and constant tone.
It seems worse when I think about it, like at present, as I type !
I think I know how it came about. In the early 80s I was a promoter and ran a small venue, every night a PA system just an arms length from my head. I also have some hearing loss.
Do you have Tinnitus, How do you manage?
4 Likes
I experienced an intermittent clicking noise in my left ear for about 10 years that was quite jarring and annoying. Then, a few years ago, a steady hiss/pitch settled in. Sometimes itās quite āloud;ā occasionally, barely noticeable, but itās always there. Fortunately, it doesnāt particularly bother me most of the time. Usually, I donāt even think about it. I know some folks are driven nearly nuts by it.
The sounds I make with Rack tend to be noisy repetitive drones, and these sorts of sounds for me, are therapeutic. They sometimes deaden the Tinnitus. Overall, I would rather not experience Tinnitus, obviously, but Iām thankful its impact on my mental well-being has been limited. (Usually, I tend to be an obsessive, worrying hypochondriac.) I feel for those for whom this is not the case.
2 Likes
I have mine for about 20 years and it is in different frequency ranges. Both tones, high and low, are just in the perception area. How do I handle this? I got used to it. I live above a pub and there are always sounds that you have to hide. Whereby it is worst in total silence. Thatās why my doctor advised me to play always soft music, even while sleeping. VCV-Rack helps me to focus on other sounds and I use some high quality closed linear headphones.
2 Likes
Chords of Orion ( an ambient guitarist) also has tinnitus, if i remember well, he speaks about it and his journey with it in his video, i didnāt know about tinnitus at all before this vid.
Sometimes I do have acouphene when iām very tired or stressed, but it never goes longer than 1 minute. I had no idea it could be permanent 
. Anyway hope this vid can help you guys a bit.
EDIT : i just rewatched the vid, listen till the end, he says positive stuff that iām sure could help someone suffuring from this too
Iāve not had it in a good while, I was diagnosed with meniereās disease not too long ago and cutting down on salt really helpās with keeping symptoms of it to a minimum. One of the symptoms being Tinnitus.
Salt will retain water in the body, so if the fluid increases in the inner ear all sorts of issues can occur, vertigo being the worst of them. Best tip would be start measuring how much salt you intake daily and cut back, about 1500-1800mg daily. You do need salt in the body to live soā¦ But the amount of salt that gets put in food on the shelf and in restaurants is way too much for your system to handle with meniereās. It is alarming when I see a chef on TV put a pinch of salt in food (more like a handful). Potassium helps get rid fluids from the body so having a good balance of potassium heavy foods (dried apricots, almost yellow bananas, baked potato) and low sodium really helps!
There is a lot of apps and youtube content claiming that a particular sound helps elevate Tinnitus, some even say cure but sound only masks it. I can guarantee if you cut back on salt, which is difficult to do, it will help!
Yes, tinnitus is physical damage with the hairs in the ear canal, it can never be cured. Most masking techniques do help somewhat - but that is like hitting your thumb with a hammer to take your mind of your toothache 
5 Likes
I also had tinnitus 8 years ago. Most likely āstressā related. So after some time its been gone. Comes back occasionally but this is just a sign of keeping balance with sports, fresh air and less keeping the mind busy. Listen to your body and take a break 
ā¦ Noise and other background sound help to blend over. But ultimately you have to train your brain to calm down again
As long as I keep the computer on, itās fine. Fan noise cancels it out. Itās not loud, but itās there.
1 Like
If you ever need an antibiotic, an non-ototoxic antibiotic can help stop it flaring up. Definitely stress can cause it to be more severe, can have the same effect as high blood pressure. There is actually a lot of things that can effect tinnitus, histamine levels being another but this can be related to fluid build up from allergies.
Strangely, am sure others may understand why; a most annoying thing about my tinnitus is the the very rare occasion when it stops completely, for no obvious reason.
I will feel it first. How shall I describe it. I suppose one may compare it to that sensation people have after a loud noise, a gunshot or explosion maybe, or a knock on the head, that feeling when they get the ringing, in my case it is the opposite. The ringing suddenly fades to nothing. This will last around five or so minutes to return quite noticeably.
1 Like
I used to do Olympic shooting as a sport, and yeah i felt that a bit after gunshots. Of course my ear was well protected, but with the protection, you barely hear human voice (you need to talk loud, and you will only hear like if you whispered)
The only loud noises are the guns, so after 4 or 5 hours shooting, and wearing protection, everything else feels so loud, and you also start missing the regular gunshots, itās a very weird sensation for about half an hourā¦ Taking the car after a shooting training was the worst, my dad has a lousy diesel car, so the noise would give me headache, lot of times i would keep ear protection until we drive home haha.
1 Like
Wow. We should have a new respect for musicians who played (and survived) the 1812 Overture 
1 Like
Haha ! yes i hope they had protection XD. One day a guy fired a 44 magnum in the Stand next to me and even with protection itās so so loud !
Thankfully 44 ammo is so expensive here in France that this guy didnāt come often lmao.
Apologies to Dirty Harry fans 
āNow, I know what youāre thinking. āDid he patch six VCOs or only five?ā To tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being as this is VCV Rack, the most powerful analogue modular synth in the world, and would blow your ears clean off, you have to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky?..Well? Do ya, punk?ā
6 Likes
I had Tinnitus since my twenties, not sure why or how it started. Today Iām 42 and had to got used to it. Itās a very high pitch in both ears and it is always there, sometimes higher other times lower. I found that if I am more tired and cut in sleep hours it gets worst, tobacco and coffee doesnāt do any good, so I reduced a lot. One thing that got me good results was loosing weight and avoiding sugars and processed foods. In the end of the day, if I canāt fight it, I try to embrace it as most as possible. What I miss the most is the āsound of silenceā! Wish you all the best!
3 Likes
Welcome Guilherme
Yes, the time when one hears nothing but the sound that surrounds. For some perverse reason I am given that privilege very rarely only to have it taken away after a few minutes. Apparently Paul Simon sufferes.from tinnitus, and wrote a song āSounds of Silenceā. as a young man. When he did I imagine not for that reason.
I was sure I knew the title āsounds of silenceā somewhere