I live in a very old and very poorly ventilated house without the luxury of central air conditioning. Recently on an extremely hot night I went to bed with several ceiling and floor fans running, as well as a small window air conditioner. Add to that the bane of my existence- a very loud tinnitus. As I lay in my bed ruminating on prayers, thoughts, ideas, I thought I was beginning to hear whispering. As the turbulent air buffeted my ear drums and the tinnitus added it's own special evil din I began to focus on what I began to think were voices. "Voices", thought I, "hey now, I'm not interested in hearing spirits or voices or whatever...". I started to listen intently and realized my brain was attempting to create coherent sound out of the auditory chaos that was a result of loud fans, motors and that's right, f'ing tinnitus. I quickly stopped paying attention to the noise, readjusted my head on the pillow and lo, the "voices" were gone. It's amazing how the brain works to make sense of the world around it; now this experience makes me wonder if the auditory hallucinations of schizophrenics are assembled in the same manner.
Thanks for the reply. The tinnitus I have used to go away, now it is loud and constant; I found out recently that people actually commit suicide because of tinnitus. I don't think I'd ever do that but, it makes you want to scream sometimes... Sounds like your dad understands his illness and has great insight; probably having a loving and supportive family around him makes an enormous positive impact on his overall well being. I recently learned about "stochastic Turing patterns" while trying to understand my moment of noisy chaos; it gave me a bit of understanding but I'm not sure if applying a visual neural response to an auditory one is even possible.
Thanks for the reply. The tinnitus I have used to go away, now it is loud and constant; I found out recently that people actually *commit suicide* because of tinnitus. I don't think I'd ever do that but, it makes you want to scream sometimes...
Sounds like your dad understands his illness and has great insight; probably having a loving and supportive family around him makes an enormous positive impact on his overall well being.
I recently learned about "stochastic Turing patterns" while trying to understand my moment of noisy chaos; it gave me a bit of understanding but I'm not sure if applying a visual neural response to an auditory one is even possible.
Very well put together story you have here. I'm sorry you have tinnitus, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Does it cause you migraines?
And speaking from a slight experience on schizo's, the "voices" that are heard are more like thoughts or persuasions. They turn into full fledged voices when you suddenly realize that these thoughts aren't "yours" so to speak. I don't have it, but my father does and he describes them vividly to me in this way.