this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
66 points (88.4% liked)

Showerthoughts

29698 readers
921 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics
    1. NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
    2. Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
    3. Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct-----

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

ethical edit: For a toss-off gag that even I thought was a bit sketch, I'm learning a lot about this situation and I appreciate it

all 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Congenital? No. Acquired? Yes. The area of the brain that processes and interprets sound has to develop. Without sound input as a child, that won't happen.

Current leading theory of tinnitus is called the 'central gain' theory. This is where the brain becomes accustomed to seeing signals from the ear at a certain level, and when that neural level is no longer at that level it will add in its own noise to make up the difference. This noise is then perceived as a tone or sometimes a broadband sound, commonly described as either a ringing or a whooshing sound. Sometimes it can also be described as crickets. Depends on the person and cause. Not all hearing loss comes with tinnitus, but most tinnitus comes with hearing loss. In audiology school we had a whole class on tinnitus and covered many interesting aspects exactly like your shower thought here and went over papers on every angle you could think of. It was fun. But in the end, the brain has to at a minimum know what sound is to even perceive sound.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Fun fact about how the brain deals with a lack of sound. It uses the part of the brain that normally handles sound for something else.

My wife has a cochlear implant fitted in her adult hood. Certain sounds triggered responses or feelings in different parts of her body.

For example, rubbing my hands together to make a swishing sound was very uncomfortable for a time and made her feet tickle.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Unfortunately tinnitus often accompanies sudden deafness.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Many years ago I did a charity event that involved a lot of camping. If you went solo (as I did) you had to share a tent with another solo someone. The guy I tented with was deaf. At night the campground was super noisy and it was hard for me to get any sleep. He said, "This is my super power....I just take out my hearing aids and noise goes away. Really useful if your partner snores."

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

.........did the deaf guy then proceed to snore?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Heh, yes, but not too loudly. The camp was so loud it didn't matter much.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Wow, how horrifying!

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What the fuck Nature? You couldn't spare the deaf people on this one?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

This is the kinda shit I like to point to when Christians go off about how "perfectly designed" the human form is.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I suspected, but I'm not about to let facts get in the way of comedy.

(No really, I feel bad)

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago

It gets worse, people with some types of deafness still have to wear hearing protection around loud noises to help prevent developing tinnitus.