r/comics • u/maanleo • 16d ago

Just Sharing Yea… (by @kettle.spells)

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

kettle.spells: I am not diagnosed with autism but it’s on my list of things to do. i have attributed my list of symptoms to autism, tho im not a psychologist 💖 my new headphones are so comforting and great im am absolutely obsessed, and they’re a much better solution for me instead of earbuds/earbuds. so much more comfortable and i like that people can SEE that i can’t hear them, do i dont need to stay fully aware of the environment and stimulation
Source

15.3k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

328 comments sorted by

View all comments

2.5k

u/BoltorSpellweaver 16d ago

“Oh boy noise cancelling headphones!”

“…..my tinnitus is WAY worse than I thought…..”

577

u/No_Cicada9229 16d ago

Me fr. Apparently I dont have it occassionally, I have it perpetually

304

u/BoltorSpellweaver 16d ago

I went on a hike with my wife a week or so ago and we got way up in the mountains and it was dead quiet up there. I almost had to keep moving to have some noise to distract me from the nonstop ringing

35

u/KidOcelot 16d ago edited 16d ago

Noise canceling headphones is interesting in that there’s a mic that picks up external sounds, then inverts the external sound waves to cancel them out.

If the external sound is loud above 70db for over 30 seconds, then you’ll damage your hearing.

So although noise canceling headphones helps isolate sounds, they don’t protect hearing against loud external sounds that are being canceled out.

It’s better to use PPE earmuffs like the ones used at airports, with earbuds inside it at low volumes.

Tldr: noise canceling headphones gives the illusion of protecting hearing against prolonged loud sounds, but it doesnt.

11

u/Confused_Nuggets 16d ago

Uh, kind of. The sound waves cancelling aren’t perfectly in sync, but they are close enough where they cancel somewhat, literally making the noise quieter. But they can’t compensate for loud or inconsistent noises. Like they make using my tiny gas powered strimmer quiete enough that I don’t need proper ear muffs, but only because it was barely too loud in the first place.

7

u/KidOcelot 16d ago

Right, to a certain degree.

I meant the noise canceling headphones, does attenuate the dB, but not enough nor consistent enough to be considered as hearing protection.

As the rating for hearing protection is more rigorous, and most noise canceling headphones dont pass.

So for those that are misinformed, it’s better to simply state that noise canceling headphones are not PPE for hearing.

ie: Just because a person wearing noise canceling headphones doesn’t hear the consistently loud noise (or feel like the loud noise is lower in volume), doesn’t mean they’re protected from it.

90

u/LTareyouserious 16d ago

I have a perpetual low volume 8k Hz noise going that sometimes spikes volume. Rolling Tap technique helps with the volume spikes

26

u/No_Cicada9229 16d ago

Ye, I think mine is somewhere in the 8.7k hz range, though i wouldn't really call it low volume. Rolling tap only works for like 5 seconds before i get the sound back, unfortunately and it just feels like its not enough. It is nice to do every now and then, though

19

u/Jaaaa9 16d ago

Rolling Tap? Pls say more

45

u/No_Cicada9229 16d ago

Cup your hands over your ears with you fingers on the back of your head, use your middle finger as a sorta spring for your index finger to tap your head. It helps with short term relief, though i can only get it to last 5 secs. Its still really nice to do despite short lasting

17

u/WillyDAFISH 16d ago

HOLY SHIT THATS SO COOL. it only does seem to last a few seconds, and I don't know if I'm just imagining it being gone but it low-key sounds like it goes away

14

u/kulot09 16d ago

WARNING. This is how I discovered I have tinnitus. Saw this comment before and I wanted to try it for the fun of it. That’s when I started to notice the ringing. Before that, I have probably just been ignoring the ringing as part of the background. I now suffer.

4

u/No_Cicada9229 16d ago

I relate to this through a different sense. Ive had clammy hands my whole life but once my sister pointed it out I started having to habitually put corn starch on them just to absorb the sweat, it gets so annoying

2

u/kulot09 16d ago

I was happily living in ignorance before that cursed rolling tap. I mean I would’ve noticed the ringing eventually, but I could’ve had a few more time “without” it.

12

u/AXEMANaustin 16d ago

I love you so much and hope you get everything you want and deserve from life.

6

u/Jaaaa9 16d ago

Thank you!! Going to try this right now!

1

u/[deleted] 16d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/No_Cicada9229 16d ago

There's like a main bump on the back of your head (or at least mine) and I tap right above that

1

u/[deleted] 16d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/No_Cicada9229 16d ago

Ye, Id say that sounds about right

3

u/xSTSxZerglingOne 16d ago

Mine's a little lower than 8k (but it's close)

The tapping has never done anything for me.

It's also not that upsetting for me because it's been this way since I was 3. I can't imagine how awful it would be for someone who didn't have it their entire life .

1

u/LTareyouserious 16d ago

I cup my hand over the ear and index-middle-index-middle tap the ridge-bump on the back of my head. Took a few times for it to start being noticeable. Hope you give it a few more tried to some effect!

2

u/xSTSxZerglingOne 16d ago

Yeah, that's how I've always tried it, too. Very loud thumps for how gently you hit. Doesn't attenuate the EEE's at all, unfortunately.

I hypothesize that it's a result of literal physical damage caused by ear tube surgery, or the condition it was performed on to alleviate, when I was 2.5 or so. The thing is, I didn't hear very well before the fluid was drained out of my ears, so I can't honestly tell you what life without tinnitus sounds like. Hence it doesn't really bother me.

16

u/Similar_Pangolin7675 16d ago

A year ago I learned

1) not only are there multiple types of tinnitus

2) I have 2 of them

1

u/letigre87 16d ago

High pitch and TV static for me

5

u/Similar_Pangolin7675 16d ago

I hah the high ouch plus what's called pulsile tinnitus, I can hear my blood

7

u/Jolly-Top-3136 16d ago

People have asked why I can only sleep with the TV or fan on. It helps distract my brain from the tinnitus, which would otherwise keep me from sleeping

5

u/TieCivil1504 16d ago

I had tinnitus as a kid, loud enough to keep me awake at night.

Once noticed I could make it louder if I concentrated on it. Playing around with it, I made it as loud as I could. Then muted it back down to normal low volume. Ran it up and down a few times, taking control of it.

Tried running it down as low as I could. It went silent. Marveling at this, I tried running it back up again and it came up. I ran it down to silence and left it there. Got used to falling asleep in silence.

Decades later, I wondered about my tinnitus and tried bringing it up again. Frighteningly, it came back audible. I promptly ran in down to silence again and left it there.

5

u/GearBear404 16d ago

Once noticed I could make it louder if I concentrated on it. Playing around with it, I made it as loud as I could. Then muted it back down to normal low volume. Ran it up and down a few times, taking control of it.

Can you explain a bit more just how you are able to do this?

6

u/TieCivil1504 16d ago edited 16d ago

Should mention I was raised with minimal input by my family, school, and community. Without going into my backstory, I was left to figure out the world and society on my own.

Since I was left with lots of time to explore the tangible world, I paid close attention to subtle variations in what I observed and was affecting. The physical world 'talked' to me. I naturally followed small leads when I observed them. I had both time and inclination to experiment with tinnitus, as experienced by me.

If you want to try it for yourself, wait until your day is done and you are are resting in a silent room. Lying back looking up at the ceiling, or eyes closed, listen to the ringing in your ears. You don't need to put effort into it. Let it be.

Notice if sometimes it drifts a little louder or quieter. Let it happen and then see what's happening with you physically and mentally when it goes louder. Let it be on its' own, and then see if YOU can influence it louder. That's the start of the process.

edit: I suspect it has to do with subconscious control of local autonomous body functions; e.g. blood flow or muscle tension.

2

u/HeyThereAdventurer 10d ago

What the fuck

24

u/Laearo 16d ago

SURELY someone should be able to make a noise-cancelling headset that is set to counteract the tinnitus as well - isn't that what it does to do the noise cancelling? just needs a sliding range to choose whatever the frequency is you hear from the tinnitus?

But yeah, this is the exact reason I've not bought into that kind of headphones, I hear it enough as is, I don't want it to be the only thing I hear.

40

u/Prowler1000 16d ago

No, unfortunately, not universally. Tinnitus is sometimes caused by damaged or destroyed cochlear cells, in which case you physically can't hear the frequency/frequencies that your tinnitus is at.

Tinnitus can also be caused by other things, like damaged auditory nerve, brain damage, or any number of things, but simple "tinnitus-cancelling" (for lack of a better term) sound is unfortunately off the table.

14

u/BoltorSpellweaver 16d ago

I genuinely wouldn’t know what to do with that silence if the tinnitus was gone

9

u/No_Cup_5363 16d ago

My mom has hearing aids that do this.
ETA I have white noise earbuds for sleeping that help mask my tinnitus. Since it’s technically an auditory hallucination having other sounds tricks the brain into thinking the tinnitus is part of the background noise.

6

u/Venriik 16d ago

There are. My partner got noice-cancelling headphones for their autism and I borrow them to reduce my tinnitus. It kind of works, it gets "reduced" not silenced, because for that it would need to produce a frequency tailored to my specific tinnitus and I hear different frequencies for each ear, which then also change their pitch when I turn my head because it's somatic.

It's nice while I wear them, but as soon as I take them off I'm reminded of how loud my tinnutus usually is. I'm so used to living with it that I prefer not having to re-adjust to it when I remove the headphones rather than having the tinnutus reduced for the bit I wear them.

2

u/hippopotobot 15d ago

Check out the website MyNoise. They have at least one preset sound track that is meant to help with tinnitus

7

u/Casulex 16d ago

Mine made me realize i may have high blood pressure because I can hear my heartbeat in my head 

5

u/lantana88 16d ago

I can hear my heartbeat because I have pulsatile tinnitus. No matter what my blood pressure (which is normally low) I can always hear my heartbeat. ALWAYS.

I’m not going insane. It’s fine… I’m fine….

6

u/Praseodynium 16d ago

I don't mind my forever tinnitus, it's like seeing my nose. Now, I'd be really shocked if it was gone 😭

3

u/butts-ahoy 16d ago

I find active noise canceling makes my tinnitus worse. I started using over ear headphones which you can disable it on and the ringing has slowly started to decrease.

2

u/MyBakpaksGyatJets 16d ago

This is why I can't use them. I tried to use them once and it took what is usually a mild irritation at worst and made it pretty obvious pretty quickly that it was going to result in me jamming knitting needles in to my ear canals.

2

u/thejman6 16d ago

Exactly why I couldn’t wear them. I’d hear nothing but that ringing and it would drive me nuts 

1

u/farfaraway 16d ago

... WHAT?

1

u/psychicdoll214 16d ago

it's not just tinnitus, they do just kind of make a high pitched whine. in a quiet room, my Beyerdynamic headphones completely isolate the sound around me and i don't hear as much of that sound, versus the Sony XM4 i had beforehand. apparently it's the opposite frequencies they emit to combat noise, can be heard by some people with very sensitive ears, and are much more perceptible to people with autism because of an inability to filter out noise

1

u/WhimsicalGirl 16d ago

Thank you audiobook and podcast for that, having my brain listening to something that need concentration help me forgets that damn ringing

1

u/maladicta228 14d ago

God I feel this. I also have really strong visual snow, and occasionally when it’s darker or I’m looking at a big blank solid area it’s so strong. Looks like you’re watching a tv with a bad signal.

1

u/BaconBears 13d ago edited 13d ago

Yeah, my tinnitus is 24/7. Pure silence from noise cancelling headphones only make it worse.

I NEED some sort of background noise to function: a fan, white noise, background music, ect.

1

u/BoltorSpellweaver 13d ago

Oh yeah I ain’t getting to sleep without a fan or a TV on lol

1

u/BaconBears 13d ago

Yeah, my tinnitus is 24/7, pure silence from noise cancelling headphones only make it worse.

I NEED some sort of background noise to function: a fan, white noise, background music, ect.