I'm an Environmental Health Officer who is quite often called to investigate 'noises' which people hear at night when they are trying to sleep or which they assume wake them up at night. Once I've monitored & found no environmental cause for the noise I ask the person to see their doctor. Almost every time the doctor says there is nothing wrong with their hearing & we are back to square 1. There are NO NOISES present which tends to suggest some kind of T or AH. How do people get help if they don't want to call thier condition T & doctors are not trained to deal with it? Any suggestions? People get very frustrated with me as I can't monitor the noise they are hearing & often they blame their neighbours which causes bad feeling. I feel like a voice in the wilderness here & I've encountered at least 20 people with this problem ranging from bagpipes, washing machines, choirs, a pressure in the ears, etc. Ideas would be welcome.

I've experienced similar difficulties, I am a technical officer for a sensory team in East London (we assess for and provide some of the equipment for hearing loss, and Tinnitus.)
Often environmental health officers refer back to us to see what solutions we can offer - there are several.
One of my early experiences was an elderly lady who was convinced the next door neighbours were drilling through her wall. (She could hear them drilling quite clearly). The conflict got so bad, police involvement etc. that a social worker was called in to section her. Fortunately I became involved and we avoided the straightjacket.
We have to remember these noises may not exist but they are REAL and can be extremely distressing to the individual concerned.

There is also the phenomenon of ultra low frequency noise that has never been solved. It used to be blamed on north sea gas pipes, the sufferers from this are clearly not suffering from t as they can find places where the noise disappears or cancels out. To some people it's extremely loud but most cant hear it.

Thanks for that. I still beileve that if there is an ultra low frequency you will be able to measure it at least with an accelerometer- measures vibration. I've had a case like that where the person could here a note in the key of c at 6pm each night & blamed the electricity supply. There was nothing to measure in the environment other than the normal 50Hz peak. I've discovered that some T sufferers get relief by staying somewhere else for the night . Because of the different (from their normal environment) aural stimulation, the noise they hear doesn't bother them. Does anyone know of a place in Scotland where someone can get a diagnosis for T? Most of the doctors round here aren't trained or know what to look for. The RNID article yesterday really rang (excuse the pun) true.

As regards the ultra low freq thing - has anyone read into the 'Taos Hum'? (copy paste http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taos_Hum (external link, opens new browser window) into address bar) .
For a job I used to pinpoint underground water leaks, mostly using a listening stick (steel pole, wooden block shaped for ear - very hi tech) so i've spent many hours listening to noises under the road etc, it really is remarkable what some people can and cant hear. Sometimes I really got the impression that some things our brain will interpret as noise, odd I know.
P.s. had raging tinnitus for as long as I can remember.

I have only just read this correspondence. If EHO contacts me I can provide a coherent explanation.

Contact details for the last posting are
ag.gordon@yahoo.co.uk

8 years ago i had just got up early for work and i could here the lyrics "Feed the world" let them know it's Christmas time" over and over. this was just before christmas time. i looked everywhere in the house thinking a tv had been left on. i checked all the radio's and stereos and nothing. i could hear the singing as clear as anything like it around me. it took about an hour and i realized it was coming from my ears. i was sick to my stomach and thought i was schizophrenic. and even worse as there is schizophrenia in the family. i got so scared and got paraletic on booze and cried to my mum & dad that said i was going mad and that i think i should commit myself to hospital.

My mum & dad asked if i had been under stress and said it was probably the usual tune stuck in your head thing. though it was not. it stayed for about a week and least to say for about 5 Christmas's after i avoided going anywhere near Christmas or watching tv in fear of hearing the Band Aid song.

i realized i could not be sick as i was hearing the same lyrics over and over again. singing but no voices. at the time i was 17 and very scared and i only found out about this phenomenon about 3 years ago. i had tinnitus since i was about 9 but this was very scary.
Today i can listen to the song without fear. sometimes it comes back but only for a day or so. i'm not sure if it has gone for good but i hope it has.

T sufferers may hear musical notes in their head as well as buzzing ringing etc

I have had pychosis. Can I ask about your schizophrenic siblings symptoms/length/coping methods?

Cheers

Sorry for the Delay in replying. my cousin who is Schizohrenic is in his 30's now and it started in his teens. i can't really say much about what his methods are for dealing with the condition because quite frankly the condition has consumed him over the years and i think the he takes for it "Clozapine" have some side affects that maybe change you. what i do know is. he likes to walk alot. and i mean alot. he loves his tv and movies. he smokes about 40 a day.

i was told that the drug he is on was the last they could really do with him. if he does not take his he will become very paranoid and go into pychosis.