Residual Inhibition
Oct 19th, 2008 by rob
There is a phenomena in tinnitus research which is little understood but very interesting called “residual inhibition”. Residual inhibition is the suppression of tinnitus by using a masking sound or pulse which masks the sound of the tinnitus and produces a reduction in the volume of the tinnitus when the device is turned off. The length of the tinnitus reduction is usually short term (minutes or seconds) although there have been cases where people have encountered long lasting effects.
How does it work?
Unfortunately it is not really known what is happening in the brain when inhibition is obtained. It is theorised that because you are listening to a persistent sound similar to your tinnitus - then your brain temporarily desensitises to the sound wavelength. One analogy you could use is like when your rub your toe after bashing it - the rubbing will replace the pain with different sensation and can last a short time after rubbing has stopped.
So its not a cure then?
You will only probably achieve short term reduction in your tinnitus using this method. The main thing is that it gives you a tool that can give you some control over it. I find that just knowing that I can have some control over my tinnitus - helps to reduces my reaction to the noise - although some people do report long lasting relief.
This inhibition can be induced fairly easily by pressing an electric shaver (with the guard on) onto the bony structure of the face. The upper cheek bone works well. Leave the vibration on for perhaps two minutes. I,ve often thought about designing a gadget to do this.
Hi Dave
I will see if I can get my hands on an electric shaver and give that one a try. I also hear that some people can induce RI by humming loudly for a minute or two - and some people can get relief by rubbing the back of their head -
What shaver brand did you use? How long did you leave it on your cheek bone until you obtained inhibition?
i have a cycling tinnitus. loud for two weeks and much lower volume for two weeks. when it is high volume it’s head noise overlapping a slight ring low volume ring. when it is low only the low ring remains. it starts with bilateral hi volume ear ringing that converts to a tonal electronic head tone. the low ring can be heard all the time. it decreases the same way it starts,with high volume ear ringing. the head sound dissapears. i wear hearing aids and have some hearing loss in the high frequencies. i have not tried trt or neuromonics.
Hi Lou
– It seems that everbodies tinnitus experience is different in some ways. Mine is continuous hiss, I wish mine cycled to a lower volume. You could try the Tone Therapy Application I made on this site - it seems to give people some relief - and as yours changes on it own - it may respond really well to the tones.
Good Luck
Hi - I can stop most of the noises in my head for half a minute or so by playing an iPhone app called Tinnitus Help. It allows you to play the same frequencies you hear in your head through your earphones. I get a hiss for a bit which is a welcome relief, especially if my tinnitus happens to be particularly shrill. I stumbled on this quite by accident (its main aim is habituation), and it comes in English and German.
We all thank you, for the free help, and it does bring relief