I recently bought a couple of audiomoths for monitoring or tracking birds passing through my area. It records up to 192kHz I think so it can pick up ultrasonic chirps from bats. Anyway while passing the recorded data into Audacity to search for bird calls I was able to finally nail down the bandwidth where my tinnitus overwhelms all other signal and to begin to understand the depth of my work-related hearing loss. I use the low and high pass filters to extract the signals across discrete frequencies and then track the level of gain I need to apply in order to be able to hear the calls that are in each extracted band. This is quite useful for me as before I knew that there are sounds I cannot hear unless there is almost no background noise but I had no idea where they were spectrally or just how much hearing loss I had in each band.
I could potentially use this information to design a hearing aid that boosts sounds in the affected bands so that I can hear them. I am not sure I can inverse filter the tinnitus-related noise since it is random intensity though a notch filter could be an option since it is narrow band.
I hope the tinnitus discovery thing in this article ends up being useful.
The frequency response of a healthy ear isn't flat across all audible frequencies, so you'd need to reference normal hearing to determine the extent of damage rather than just looking at minimum audible db at various frequencies.
>I am not sure I can inverse filter the tinnitus-related noise since it is random intensity though a notch filter could be an option since it is narrow band.
Are you talking about basically using active noise canceling to silence tinitus? I don't think that's possible.
>The frequency response of a healthy ear isn't flat across all audible frequencies, so you'd need to reference normal hearing...
Isn't the normal frequency response of a healthy ear dependent on the shape of the ear cartilage and the configuration of the ear canal and the ear drum? It would be different for every individual. Kinda like how Mom could always hear everything we did and said after bedtime while Dad, without even using his selective hearing, wouldn't even know we were still awake.
>Are you talking about basically using active noise canceling to silence tinitus?
Yes. Model the tinnitus and design the inverse filter based on the bandwidth and inject that inverse filter to become an active subtraction of the tinnitus response. I know it probably isn't possible because the noise is variable and originates in the brain instead of external to the ear so it is not easily quantifiable therefore the inverse operator will not be exact, optimum, or anything else. However, if you can model the signal then you should be able to design the inverse operator. Since the signal is just a band-limited input there is no reason why you can't dink around until you have a close enough model to be able to design the inverse filter which you would then inject as an external input thru an earpiece or some other sound generator.
I'm a geophysicist with hearing problems, not an audiologist or otolaryngologist. It sounds reasonable to me. We deal with convolution/deconvolution and other signal processing as a regular part of the job process.
>Isn't the normal frequency response of a healthy ear dependent on the shape of the ear cartilage and the configuration of the ear canal and the ear drum? It would be different for every individual
Yes, there's some individual variation, but human ears are all generally roughly the same structure, so there are known baselines for how they work. There's about 40 dB difference in minimum audible threshold between 50 Hz and 5 kHz. Same with near the top end of the hearing range, though where exactly that lies is more subject to individual variation (and age)
>so it is not easily quantifiable therefore the inverse operator will not be exact, optimum, or anything else. However, if you can model the signal then you should be able to design the inverse operator.
It's not originating from actual sound, so I think the approach fundamentally doesn't apply. Active noise canceling relies on destructive interference to actually physically remove the sound before it is perceived. Once you have the nerve signal, I think there simply isn't an anti-sound that would result in some other nerve signal that adds up to perceived silence.
I've definitely read anecdotes about people with tinnitus listening to noise to reduce it. It may not be the same effect as destructive interference but it seems like there's something at work there.
As I understand it, for certain types of tinnitus, listening to a sound of the right frequency may temporarily suppress the tinnitus for some time afterwards. But the triggering sound is still audible, so it's not like noise canceling.
That reminds me of the old crt tv my parents had for ages in their room that i could hear from the other side of the house but they couldn't that made the most awful high pitch whine. and as the screen would go black in some sort of sleep mode but it kept making that horrible noise with the only indicator that is was on still other than the noise, that apparently only i and dogs could hear, was the color of a small dim recessed led. they got rid of it a about three years ago but whenever i would visit I'd hear it as soon as the door opened and it would drive me nuts till i got the chance to turn it off.
Most children can hear very high frequencies and it usually causes them discomfort. For a while it was actually used as a deterrent for loitering youth in the Netherlands (the "mosquito device"), which was terrible for me: as an adult I can not only still hear that, but it's almost unbearable.
Very old CRT monitors can have a similar effect, but they are usually not that loud. A friend once tried to test it using one of those "silent" ringtones for kids and I nearly destroyed his phone, without meaning to react so strongly.
Many years later a niece was able to ask an expert about this and he told her it's probably "cochlear hyperacusis", something that can make you overly sensitive to certain sounds or frequencies.
I do not have any other hearing issues, except for a single 20 second burst of tinnitus that will start loud and quickly taper off completely, which only happens maybe once every 6 months or so.
I am in my 30s and still hear frequency's over 16.5 kHz. I cant stand the high frequencies they are like auditory needles in my ears still. I know they say adults dont hears them but is that actually the case for most adults? I mean I have done enough it seems like I should have the hearing damage needed loud music on headphones, been in rock concert mosh pits, fired guns without hearing protection, fireworks, fired homemade cannons without hearing protection. But still hear everything fine
15.625KHz to be exact. I can hear this sound quite well, to the point where I prefer not to be in the same building as any CRT that emits it.
There are those that don't, mainly newer models I assume. I think it has to do with the exact shape of the waveform that drives the (horizontal part of the) deflection yoke. Some of them are noisier than others.
Same. As a child, I could be reading a book at one end of the house and I would experience discomfort (experienced as a slightly painful "pressure" in my ears) when the television, which was 4 rooms away, was powered on. My family didn't believe that I could tell, because to them it was silent. So they challenged me to a double blind test, and were surprised to find that yes, it really was the TV that was bothering me.
Related, we did a hearing range test in a high school science class. I could detect the tone generator at a frequency well beyond what anyone else in my class could pick up. I couldn't hear it as a sound anymore after a certain point, but could still feel it as an uncomfortable "pressure" inside my ears.
One of the power supplies I own makes a high-pitched whining sound from its fan. It's the most terrible, obnoxious sound, but I somehow don't mind it. It blends into the background after living in it for years. Still, when it goes away, there is nearly unparalleled silence.
Took me a while to realise that I could hear those, but also that I have tinnitus at the same level. For quite a while I assumed someone had turned one on nearby, until it dawned on me that no, I also have tinnitus
Hearing aids are much better than most earbuds, especially with regard to power consumption. I have tinnitus, mild hearing loss, but wear cheapish Costco hearing aids as earbud replacement and the hope my tinnitus won't progress.
It's a great idea - and a more detailed diagnosis compared to what some professionals do. I had no idea audiomoths were a thing by the way! Will look into that.
I'm really liking these audiomoths. Broadband recording at high fidelity with long, unattended recording possible. I'm trying to see whether I can identify individual crows among a family of pecan-stealers active in my area. I almost have them accustomed to checking my porch for raw peanuts as part of their regular rotation. I probably need cameras to be able match the bird to the call and identify individual birds and I don't yet have that but I will in time. For now I am getting familiar with all the normal noises out here and the frequencies they occupy so that I can visually separate bird calls at various frequencies from ambulances, airplanes, helicopters, automobiles, barking dogs, etc so I can spend more time analyzing interesting signals from the birds out here.
If you have time to acquire a new hobby, an audiomoth is a great tool.
If you have Apple devices: There’s a free app called “Mimi - Hearing Test” that works together with Apple AirPods and allows you to test your hearing of different frequencies. From the results you can create a profile which you can then set in the iPhone’s accessibility settings so it will adjust the audio output of the AirPods accordingly.
I could potentially use this information to design a hearing aid that boosts sounds in the affected bands so that I can hear them. I am not sure I can inverse filter the tinnitus-related noise since it is random intensity though a notch filter could be an option since it is narrow band.
I hope the tinnitus discovery thing in this article ends up being useful.