Hi, New to the forums, already read some great info here. Fairly new to the whole Menieres thing too, despite my symptoms starting over 3 years ago I only got an actual diagnosis of Menieres at the end of last year. Just wanted to see if anyone has any experience with noise cancelling headphones, specifically relating to pressure changes. To give a bit of context, a few months before I got the official diagnosis I got a new job (trying my hardest to not let this damn disease hold me back!) which I love. The job requires occasional travel to other offices via train and I've discovered that the pressure change encountered when going through a tunnel at high speed causes me to feel very unwell. I discussed this with my ENT and he suggested that noise cancelling headphones may help with this. I'm somewhat skeptical about this, and considering the expense involved in a good quality pair of NC headphones I thought I'd see if anyone can give me any idea of whether it would help, or if I'd just end up with a very expensive pair of headphones and still feel ill! I'm also due to take a flight soon and am a little apprehensive about the pressure changes in flying too. Realise this is possibly a fairly niche question, but figured it was worth throwing out there!
When my Meniere's was getting really bad a couple years ago (I've since had a laby so life is much better...) my husband got a really fancy pair of noise cancelling headphones for his birthday. These weren't the everyday kind... I never did read up on how those things work, but he had me try them and WOW. Super uncomfortable for me. I don't know what they do pressure wise, but the sensations I got from them were not. good. If there's any way you can try a pair out before making the investment, definitely do. I had them on for under 2 minutes and I couldn't stand it. Not sure if it would have gotten better, but I didn't stick it out. On a more positive note -- I flew quite a bit (including internationally) in the 7 years Meniere's had me badly in its clutches, and almost every trip, I felt my best when in the air. Not sure why but the combination of the pressurization of the cabin plus the low hum of the engines masked my tinnitus quite nicely.
Maybe ear plugs? At my worst, certain sounds, especially certain kinds of music made me nauseous. I told the dr i know this sounds crazy but ... but he was not surprised. It happens. Is this whatbis happening with the train tunnel? Can you try just some low tech way of keeping the sound from your ears? At my worst, i carried ear plugs when ever i went to football game or any noisy place. Let us know what you figure out pls.
You could try flying earplugs .. I ordered a set of "eargasmic" brand plugs this week, suppose to help with the pressure thing and also if your sensitive to certain pitched sounds as I am. I always wear a soft earplug when I'm awake in my "problem child" ear. Lol. Just a thought, your sure going through a tunnel it's a pressure thing and not a visual stimuli thing happening? When I go through tunnels more if a visual thing, eyes get confused sends messed up signals to the brain. Another MD problem for some people.
Quickest fix is to have the doc put a tube in your ear. It will equalize the pressure. I had one put in 2.5 years ago. It will take care of this issue very easily. That being said...it sucks having a tube in your ear if you like to swim (which I do). Best of luck.
I wear a hearing protection for shooting. They are similar to noise canceling headphones but likely not exactly the same. I actually feel better when wearing them. Mine are adjustable on each side so I can get my ears even. Mine are Pro Ears Gold II. Jim
I'm a big fan of my noise cancelling headset (bose qc35). It really helps me to do my job as I work in a noisy office environment. I'm not sure if everyone with MD has hyperacusis but I do and all the noises distract me a lot. The active noise cancelling filters out a lot of these distractions. I also constantly wear the headset when I'm flying, it calms me down a lot. As PleaseNoDizzy stated, try them out before you buy it. And try the best ones out there because you might have a bad experience with a cheaper one while the best ones out there might help you a lot. Also check this thread from last Tuesday, people were talking about flying there too: 34 yr old looking for answers
Gerry, when you say the pressure change makes you feel unwell, exactly what do you mean? I know when I go through a tunnel I can feel the pressure but only in my bad ear and it's not extreme. It's kind of what you feel when going down in a fast moving elevator. As far as the headphones go, I'm not sure why the noise-cancelling would make a difference when it comes to pressure since their purpose is to block out external noise.