[victornomad]

I started having tinnitus in both ears 10 months ago.

I don't know the exact cause, but I started noticing it during a job-related burnout and a series of work-related events that significantly increased my stress levels.

It was so bad to the point I had to abruptly quit my job (FYI, freelancing without a safety net sucks).

My doctor gave me pills to help calm my brain and the noise, especially during the night. I also have hypersensitivity, so having a constant noise ringing was not ideal :/

Luckily my ENT doctor recommended that I do multiple things at the same time:

    - tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT), listening to white noise ~4 hours a day
    - going to a therapist
    - daily meditation
    - daily exercise
    - reducing salt, chocolate, coffee, etc.

The hissing is still there, but I can now ignore it most of the time.

I started to see life a bit differently since then. Things that disrupt your life can happen so suddenly...

I'm still trying to find a job, but I lost a lot of confidence and developed a bit of a trauma since I don't want to experience burnout again :/

[mouse_]

You can do it.

It will be easy once you start.

[butlike]

Did they really suggest white noise? I imagine it was pink or brown noise? As I understand it, white noise is the only damaging one since there's no "falloff" to the PWM, it's just "white" or "black," so the spikiness of the modulation can be damaging.

[victornomad]

The point of the white noise in TRT is not masking the tinnitus so it is not played loud.

The white noise must be played below the level of the tinnitus, so one can hear both sounds simultaneously. Doing so, in theory, the brain learns to reclassify the tinnitus as an unimportant signal (noise).