Practical Strategies To Manage Tinnitus

 Over several of years, I have developed several approaches and exercises to manage my tinnitus based on my learning how to not hear the sounds that aren't there. This at first seems paradoxical.  It is not and is based on several concepts:

1.    One should never focus on the tinnitus sounds in your brain.

2.    By actively not focusing on tinnitus but on something else (a book, a movie, a podcast) one's perception of the tinnitus sounds is reduced or temporarily eliminated.

3.    By learning to not give tinnitus value, either negative or positive, you don't give tinnitus agency. In other words not giving tinnitus agency allows you to passively control your perception of tinnitus and not allow tinnitus to actively control you. Since brain pathways associated with hearing have common pathways as those affecting emotions, this reduces the chance of permanently rewiring your brain to be negatively impacted by tinnitus sounds.

4.    Auditory input such as music and environmental sounds lower the perception of tinnitus beyond simple masking

5.    Combining auditory and visual input have an effect of reducing tinnitus perception greater than either one alone.

6.    Silence is your enemy. The lower the ambient sound level, the less the difference with your perceived tinnitus and the more noticeable tinnitus becomes.

How have I implemented these concepts to help tinnitus sufferers such as myself? These include:

1.    Visual/audio exercises: these are designed to develop moment-to-moment awareness on a focus target. This contrasts with how we normally experience our environment. We tend to habituate and only perceive reality in broad swatches.

2.    Situational awareness strategies: being aware of your surrounds on a moment-to-moment basis. This is somewhat analogous to the practice of forest bathing.

 
3.    Focusing exercises: Mathematicians, physicists, and engineers develop the ability to deeply focus just by the process of repetitive problem solving. For example, I recall as a student working on a calculus problem and realizing that several hours had elapsed without me being aware of the passage of time. This takes time to master but can also be mastered by persons without a math background.

4.    Methods of developing non-awareness of tinnitus sounds and not giving tinnitus agency. This seems paradoxical but isn't.
I have incorporated these approaches, exercises, and strategies that have been effective in minimizing the impact of tinnitus on my life and hopefully yours into an e-book that will appear in summer, 2022.

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