On a scale between 0-10 (subjectively perceived volume), I ranged between 4-5. This means that at that time the tinnitus could be integrated into my life relatively easily.
Through the years, I have increasingly noticed correlations between cold, stress, tensions in my neck and back and my tinnitus. An acute slipped disc in the area of the cervical spine and increasing knee problems did not improve my tinnitus state in the slightest. Two additional cases of hearing loss rounded off the overall picture really nicely.
Over time, my tinnitus became louder and louder and more evident – and could no longer be compensated. My visits to the ENT revealed nothing new. Neither heat treatments nor sound therapies had any effect. Visits to osteopaths and physiotherapists sometimes showed very short-term improvement. Acupuncture rarely helped, and certainly not in the long term.
Silence. A day, even just an hour without this penetrating noise – that was my desire.
My hearing continued to be good, except for the frequency range of my tinnitus. A very slight hearing impairment had manifested there. Additionally, I was confronted with hyperacusis, an oversensitivity to noise sources that had never bothered me before. And I had more and more problems following the conversations in convivial gatherings, because the individual conversations reached me like a „noise mush“ and I could no longer hear my conversation partners properly.
All of this became more and more intense over time. My tinnitus took on an increasingly intense role in my life. Falling asleep with tinnitus, waking up at night and in the morning with tinnitus, always tinnitus!
Coincidentally, during one of my many sleepless nights, I pressed a finger on a certain spot behind my ear and then fell asleep, exhausted, with the finger on that spot. I woke up about an hour later and was amazed to find a slight reduction in the volume of my tinnitus. This intrigued me and I began to explore the idea of pressure stimulation around the ear.
