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

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

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 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 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.

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.

Isn't there a medication for it? Or doesn't it work. Its not really worse, its just daytime noices drowed it out. Nighttime no noice. Husband is deaf in one ear but has tinnitus.

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!

Interesting comments about lack of sleep making it worse. Thanks again all for the ideas to think about and consider.

There are some eye masks that have a little "sound machine" built into them. They make a sound that drowns out the tinnitus. I wish I could think of the name of them, but a friend wears this and she said it's changed her life. She can bear the "sounds" when she's awake, but sleep was awful. I'd google "eye mask" and "sound therapy" and "tinnitus" in the search and see what pops up. I'll try and find out where my friend got these.

Wow...I will be looking. Had a rough night last night. Poor dears who suffer from this.

just be careful how much they increase he sleeping aid......if he goes to get up to use the bathroom, it could cause an issue of falling since he won't have full balance (that is what happened to my dad)........

My dad uses a walker and keeps it by the bed. Sometimes he has a short bout with vertigo (93). Never knows when it's going to hit so he keeps it right by the bed and uses it every night to get up to use the restroom. He is very hard of hearing, uses hearing aids but still has trouble on top of vertigo. Thank goodness it only lasts a few days when it hits. The longest was about 6 weeks. My point being, he uses a walker to help him him during the night. he also uses a sleeping aid.

Thanks for the walker tips and of course, the concern of falling. Falling is such a huge concern! I told Dad last night to listen to the music in his ear, and create a nice dream to it. He was actually thankful that I acknowledged it was "in his ears".