Dad's tinnitus is the most bothersome at night. Any tips besides a white noise machine?

Constant sounds in your ears that have nothing to do with hearing (tinnitus) is tough to live with. It's generally worse at night because this is a time that's supposed to be quiet. Ear injuries and hearing loss due to noise are two causes but there are others, It may help for you to look up tinnitus using one of the respected medical sites. Your dad's doctor should be able to make some suggestions.

The fact that your dad is getting up to look for the source of the sounds would indicate to me that he may be suffering from some confusion, but that could simply be that he's half asleep so he's not alert enough to figure it out. Still, watch for cognitive changes.

I have a good friend who suffers from severe tinnitus so I have an idea of how difficult this is. His is from an ear injury during military service and has been an unwelcome companion for decades, so I don't want to give you false hope. However, there are people who can be helped so keep working with the doctor or even get a second opinion.

Good luck,
Carol

I have it and what I do is pretend that I am in the woods camping in my tent and the sound I hear is crickets. I imagine I am near the creek and the crickets are singing. It's really soothing. Actually that's how I discovered the problem! All spring and summer I thought I heard crickets outside my bedroom window. WELL... when fall and winter came along, I figured it out. It was too cold for crickets.

Will he fall asleep to soothing music? It would mask the chirps. Ocean sounds are particularly nice.

I was also going to suggest some light music that he likes or ocean waves, small water streams, or even some light white noise can help cover the inside noises he is hearing. wishing you luck.

I agree about the music. I have the same problem and that's what I do.

Just food for thought.... Some people hear music or sounds when they're in an altered state of consciousness, such as in meditation, a hypnogogic (between waking and sleeping) state, or even deep prayer.

Everyone I know with tinnitus uses a white sound machine, or low, monotonous 'spa music'. There might be something medically to be done, but I don't know...If you play a tape of 'ocean sounds', just a warning: I bought a 'soothing sounds of the sea' tape for a dollar, put it on at night, and started drifting off....and was rudely brought back to the land of the living by a screaming seagull attack right in the middle of the the tape! (and the segment after the ocean sounds was a raging thunderstorm!) Better read some reviews first, there are thousands of these tapes.

Lack of sleep causes tinnitus to worsen,but it's difficult to get to sleep when it is loud. Then one focuses on it causing anxiety which causes insomnia. I'd as the dr. For a low dose of trazadone .25 ml to aid in sleep. Then it should improve some. It worked for me anyway.

I also have it and I started using a white noise machine. I use the steady rain (no thunder). I tried music but kept humming along with it :) All the other sounds had a rhythm to it so I would wait for the wave to roll in on the beach or thunder to hit. The rain was constant plus I love to sleep when I can hear the rain. I have an app on my phone so that way I can take it with me when I travel. My dad 94 also uses one due to his tinnitus.

Hi ...thanks for all the tips. I have been at Dad's for two weeks and I am watching his tinnitus issues. I have noticed that when he is over-tired or over stimulated it bothers him more. He does have ALZ and is on meds and he does understand that it is noise in his ears. But after a few minutes go by, especially if he is in bed, he might get up and come down the hall looking for the source of the "music" he hears.
To my knowledge I cannot find any real documentation that any medicine works for tinnitus. Maybe it is really a placebo effect and if it works that is great. I am most amazed as to why sometimes it doesn't bother him....or is it not an issue all the time? We do have a noise machine and it is really just a type of Hz frequency sound. I may consider a machine that makes identifiable sounds. I was researching one through a site and played some of the sounds for Dad....water, waves etc. He certainly was fascinated by it but now I wonder if he would be asking...why do I hear an ocean.? One good thing through all this is that the doctor increased his seroquel to one full 25mg tablet at night only . I am hoping that with that he may fall into sleep quicker and thereby not be bothered by his musical ears!