Tinnitus, lucid dreaming and awakening. An online survey and theoretical implications
arXiv Preprint Archive April 2, 2025 Robin Guillard, Nicolas Dauman, Aurélien Cadix et al.
Most people with tinnitus do not hear their phantom sounds while dreaming. In a survey of 195 tinnitus patients, 160 could recall dreams, and 92.5% reported no tinnitus during dreams. The 7.5% who did hear tinnitus while dreaming had higher tinnitus burden and stress, and more often had objective tinnitus or tinnitus linked to peripheral auditory pathology or drug use. Among the 13% who frequently experienced lucid dreams, 36% could perceive tinnitus during those dreams, strongly associated with hearing external sounds while lucid dreaming. Most patients perceived tinnitus instantly upon waking; 18% could be awakened by it, and 9.8% reported temporary cessation during nocturnal awakenings. These findings support the idea that gating of external auditory information acts as a tinnitus on-off switch.