
Tinnitus in relation to neck/head muscle tension - hacker42
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3129953/#
======
joedevon
Only time my tinnitus went away was probably in the 80s or it might be the
90s. I went to a place called "Altered States" in NY named after the movie.
Now long defunct. They had Samahdi tanks (ie float tank aka sensory
deprivation chamber). I don't normally pay attention to the tinnitus unless
the air conditioner is on or the like. It seems like the background tinnitus
noise increases to meet just under the level of the air conditioner. Then when
the AC is turned off I hear the tinnitus loudly.

So anyway, in the tank, I thought I had the music turned off but I was hearing
this really loud buzzing all of a sudden. I thought it was the speaker because
they did allow music (which imo is silly, since the point is deprivation).
Anywho, as I paid attention to it, the noise got louder, suddenly it hit me
this was my tinnitus. And in a weird biofeedback sense my awareness affected
the noise and as I paid attention to it, I just turned off the sound and it
was gone for the rest of the hour.

Eventually came back and had it ever since.

Went to a similar place in Venice, CA, but was not lucky enough to have the
same experience. The tank was also very different. Liked it much less than the
NY place.

Sorry for rambling.

~~~
PepeGomez
I don't know why, but sleeping in a noisy room gives me tinnitus for the next
day.

------
faitswulff
I don't suffer from tinnitus myself, but I've always wondered if this exercise
to reduce tinnitus in a reddit comment actually worked:
[https://np.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/3l3uri/these_guys_light...](https://np.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/3l3uri/these_guys_lighting_a_mortar_shell_in_their_garage/cv3474n)

...and here's an explanation of why it might work from /r/bestof:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/3l54rd/reddituser_a...](https://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/3l54rd/reddituser_amazes_with_cure_for_tinnitus/cv3n208)

Any takers?

~~~
qcoh
Yes, it works for a (very) short time. Cool trick, thanks!

~~~
geekamongus
It worked long enough for me to exclaim, "holy shit!" Then it went back to
normal. It did make my wife look at me strangely though.

------
iliis
Not sure if this helps anyone and slightly OT, but reading all these people
noticing their Tinnitus and thinking it was normal I had somewhat the opposite
experience: I thought I had (weak) Tinnitus for a long time as I often heard
some high-frequency whistling. Turns out it was gone once I unplugged all
power supply units in the room... Especially the cheaper mobile phone chargers
but also things like battery packs or laptop chargers can create quite loud
high-pitched noise!

(Also, I once went to a doctor as a small child because I kept hearing this
steady beat when trying to sleep. Well, when you hold a pillow to your ear,
you can hear your own hearbeat...)

~~~
viraptor
I guess you're a bit like me then. Every once in a while I'll be somewhere and
think "this high pitched noise is terrible" because of some tv / chargers /
other devices. They're usually quiet enough that moving a few meters away
makes it silent again. _But almost nobody else can hear it!_ They're the most
annoying in random public spaces... there are at least two spots like that at
Bristol airport.

Sometimes I'm almost excited about growing older and losing that range of
hearing.

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hacker42
This was posted a while ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10325583](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10325583)

Did anyone see improvements following the exercises mentioned in the paper?

For example these:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFQqRgdkOnk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFQqRgdkOnk)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEFcW3PLXlE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEFcW3PLXlE)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgTL5G1ibIo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgTL5G1ibIo)

------
toomanybeersies
I have tinnitus from years of shooting without hearing protection (.22 is
quiet enough you think you don't need it), along with years of working with
power tools and construction.

It actually took me quite a while to realise that it wasn't normal. I wonder
how many people are in the same situation and have tinnitus, but don't
realise.

Oddly enough, it doesn't really bother me. I've just readjusted my baseline of
what silence is to me.

~~~
markbnj
Same exact situation here, and for the same reasons. I was young and stupid
and worked as a roadie for a rock band, and numerous other very loud
activities (engine room of a tugboat, for example) with no protection. I have
constant tinnitus now, but like you it is just sort of the background hum of
the universe for me. I suspect that any process which causes you to focus more
attention on it will not be helpful.

------
excel2flow
My tinnitus started with local anesthesia given by dentist. It caused spasm in
jaw muscle which I had for almost a month - and as a side effect there was a
tinnitus in left ear. The spasm eventually disappeared, but tinnitus never
did. It's been 2 years now and by now I've realized that I'll probably never
ever enjoy silence again. So let it be a warning what banal anesthesia can
cause…

~~~
Retric
That really sucks. I occupationally get tinnitus. Only thing I found that
helps is focusing on relaxing the jaw / facial mussels / something in that
area that's hard to describe. It fells like popping your ears, but not quite
as much. Which is probably as helpful as telling someone to roll their tongue,
but I thought I would put that out there.

~~~
excel2flow
I have it 24/7, nothing seems to help. It can be only masked by external
noise. Alcohol doesn't help me to get temporal relief - it's even worse,
louder.

But by far the worst consequence of tinnitus and the real problem (at least
for me) is disturbance of sleep. At first I couldn't fall asleep - because of
the noise which manifests itself most strongly in silent environment. So I was
lying in bed for a few hours before falling asleep (now I got accustomed so I
can fall asleep faster). But even worse is that the noise wakes me up after
like 4-5 hours. That means I'm completely exhausted all day, because I need
7-8 hours of sleep to feel refreshed. I tried Zolpidem, which can get me 6
hours of sleep, but its effect wears off rapidly if taken for a few
consecutive nights. Now I take Mirtazapine, which works better. Also it helped
me to take Magnesium supplements.

~~~
keketi
I was in a similar situation a while ago. You should check out this app:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hearing-
help/id503936600?mt=...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hearing-
help/id503936600?mt=8)

I went to a tinnitus clinic and they did a profile of the tinnitus I hear.
Then they configured this app to amplify sounds of those frequencies to mask
my tinnitus. When I'm hearing a low buzz the app can almost completely remove
it, but it doesn't work quite as well with a high frequencies.

You'll need rubber ear buds that form a tight fit with your ear canal.

Since the app only amplifies sounds it doesn't really do anything in a totally
quiet environment. You might want to play pink noise to give your hearing
something to work with. I've experimented with different kinds of noise, but
this type seems to work the best: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXtimhT-
ff4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXtimhT-ff4)

~~~
excel2flow
Thanks for tip - I'll ask my doctor about it.

Btw, I've already tried some noise generators for Android and I've observed
strange effect - I have ringing only in the left ear so I used only one ear
bud with the generator. Then when I turned it off, it induced noise in the
other ear. It was like the brain was generating signal to compensate for the
external noise in the left ear and when the noise generator was turned off,
the spurious signal in the right ear became hearable. Fortunately this effect
was only temporal.

------
collyw
The Alexander Technique is worth mentioning if people are affected by this. It
seems pretty wishy washy when you first read about it (partially due to the
inadequacy of our language for talking about the subtle nature of it). Yoga or
other methods to improve posture would probably help as well.

~~~
baby
What is the Alexander technique? I could only find bullshit websites trying to
sell you something.

~~~
collyw
Here are a couple of articles. Its very difficult to describe as it deals with
the subtle interactions between mind and body.

[http://www.alexandertechnique.com/articles/brennan/](http://www.alexandertechnique.com/articles/brennan/)

[http://www.alexandertechnique.com/at.htm](http://www.alexandertechnique.com/at.htm)

~~~
Nomentatus
I unpacked an old book on it this year. Basically you hang your head down a
lot. That's it. If you have CCI, or CSF leaks or Chiari, you'll get a little
relief, true - but what you really need if that works for you is a
neurosurgeon (not neurologist) and an upright MRI. In the seventies, there
were no upright MRIs and nobody took chiari or CCI etc seriously so the
Alexander Technique was all there was.

~~~
collyw
"Basically you hang your head down a lot. That's it."

That is the equivalent of saying that "meditation is just sitting there, thats
it".

Most teachers agree that at least some hands on lessons are helpful if not
essential. If you are going to try to learn from a book then this one is the
best I heave read on the subject
[http://www.missyvineyard.com/content/view/1/2/](http://www.missyvineyard.com/content/view/1/2/).

------
1rae
I have had Tinnitus for a long time and recently I have been seeing a
specialist about it. One important point is that Tinnitus is a symptom and not
a cause, so if you think Tinnitus is causing you to be depressed because it's
a constant annoyance - most likely it is working the other way around and the
depression is causing the Tinnitus.

If you do have this problem, then going to an Audiologist and not an ENT is
really helpful, especially an Audiologist who specialised in this field.

I had it completely the other way round and realised my depression is causing
my Tinnitus, they put me on anti-depressant medication and my life had been
much better since. An ENT (Ear Nose and Throat specialist) will only be able
to give you an MRI and let you know that nothing is physically wrong with you.

It's actually kind of similar to how a neural network functions, and the
pathway that causes the ringing sound has a higher weight value than the other
sounds you hear, so you hear it more... this causes your fight or flight
response to kick in and you focus more on the sound as you think it's a
threat, and the sound becomes louder - even though its only a phantom sound.

If you do have Tinnitus, maybe consider that stress or work or some other
factor in your life is overwhelming you and seek help for it.

Tinnitus can also be caused by a Vitamin deficiency, such as Vitamin B12 and
D, or sometimes tension in muscles in your jaw... very rarely is Tinnitus
actually caused by being over exposed to load sounds.

------
hydroo
I can provoke my tinnitus (make it audible and increase its volume a lot) by
pulling my chin back / stiffen my neck in specific ways. I don't mind it. It
always goes away soon after. But it's curious. Never got a proper diagnose for
it.

(If someone wants me to participate in studies about this)

~~~
alfiedotwtf
I never thought mine was an issue. But by doing what you said, it amplified
the ringing, and now I realised I've just been good at ignoring it.

~~~
hydroo
I think (!!! the following not well researched, and part guessing) there is at
least two different versions of tinnitus.

One is (the standard?) that you get from loud music and stress, which is the
result of your inner ear / hair cells being damaged / misbehaving. Extreme-
case: You permanently lose part of your hearing.

The second (rare?) is without impairment of hearing. To be honest you are the
second person I know who shares my experience. And none of my doctors ever
heard of this before. Most think I imagine this / or it's a psychological
issue manifesting in your body. I'd guess it's some kind of nerve pinching,
maybe bones/muscles are involved too. Hard to say.

A few years back when I researched this I found at least one study with 10-20
individuals who reported this kind of tinnitus, but seems very rare. The
result was something like "Many factors are involved in creating a tinnitus".

~~~
alfiedotwtf
Thanks for the info.

> Most think I imagine this / or it's a psychological issue manifesting in
> your body

That's a shame. The fact that it amplifies as soon as I tense my neck muscles
should be testable within a lab environment.

I too thought that it was nerve pinching, and because of such, was always
under the impression that it was normal. When explaining this to my wife, I
just get blank stares :)

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hackney
This is akin to: scientists now know the head is actually connected to the
rest of the body via the neck. I had trouble with my right ear for approx.
5yrs. Finally went to to the dr. because it got to the point the headaches
made me want to shoot myself. Apparently the stapia (the thing that vibrates)
became infected and essentially was dying inside my head. They replaced it
with a titanium one and the only difference is the headaches stopped. I cannot
stress enough how important it is to protect the health of ones body, even if
it means physically moving to a healthier environ.

------
jamesrcole
I've had terrible neck/head muscle tension as well as very strong tinnitus as
far back as I can remember. And for me, reductions in the tension has
correlated with improvements in the tinnitus.

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RUG3Y
When my shoulders and neck are tense after a long day at work, I get a very
obnoxious, loud pulsing in my right ear. It took me a long time to figure out
that this is related to muscle tension.

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throwawayww
I have tinnitus and visual snow (disturbed vision) since 2011. I also have a
bad neck due to poor posture (loss of cervical lordic curve);basically
straightening of cervical curve. I have this inkling that the two are related.

I totally freaked out in 2011 when these problems cropped up. I got my
eyes/ears checked, brain MRI done. Nothing came up in any of them. Now my
doctor/family thinks that I'm a hypochondriac and I imagine all of these.

Over a period of time I've made peace and I'm grateful to be alive.

Thanks for sharing this article.

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keeganjw
I got tinnitus last September. I have noticed the muscles around my ears feel
more tense. I thought that might have been because I've been pay so much more
attention to my hearing. Interesting to hear the correlation might be
opposite. Thanks for posting this. Considering how common it is, no one really
talks about. I guess people who have it know that so far, nothing can be done
about it. So they don't bring it up and do their best to forget it. I'm still
working on that last bit.

~~~
keeganjw
Also, for anyone who might have just got tinnitus and it looking for ways to
deal with it, I use noisli.com all the time for ambient sound. The rain noise
on there is great!

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danielmorozoff
I wonder if this points to the vagal nerve as one of the causes for tinnitus.
Does anyone know more about this? I looked it up online and just found VNS
study completed in 2012 and showed some benefits in a small cohort:

[https://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/community/blogs/our-g...](https://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/community/blogs/our-
guest-blog/vagus-nerve-stimulation-a-new-treatment-for-tinnitus.aspx)

Anyone know anything more recent?

------
tim333
Slightly off topic but I got tinnitus not from muscle tension but from loud
noise. Carrying ear plugs seems to be the answer for me - blocking noise they
recover gradually.

~~~
meowface
Take magnesium supplements daily, too. They can potentially inhibit some of
the glutamate release involved in tinnitus.

~~~
meowface
Many sources supporting this can be found here:

[https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/magnesium-for-relief-
of...](https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/magnesium-for-relief-of-tinnitus-
research.212/)

------
Nomentatus
Can be a symptom of a CSF leak (common in Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome which 1 or 2
% of the population has, but which is almost never diagnosed.)

The Mystery Headache: Migraine, Positional Headache, Spinal Fluid Leak?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyvWxobqKrc&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyvWxobqKrc&feature=youtu.be)

~~~
Nomentatus
Both this and chiari affect the Vagus nerve.

------
amelius
Paper: Treatment of central and sensorineural tinnitus with orally
administered Melatonin and Sulodexide

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20111618](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20111618)

------
amelius
[http://knowledgeofhealth.com/lack-of-vitamin-a-may-be-
overlo...](http://knowledgeofhealth.com/lack-of-vitamin-a-may-be-overlooked-
root-of-tinnitus-and-hearing-loss/)

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flamedoge
I find that having whitenoise app on phone next to bed helps. I definitely
don't hear tinnitus right after I turn it on.

