Tinnitus, lucid dreaming and awakening. An online survey and theoretical implications.
Hearing research March 1, 2025 Robin Guillard, Nicolas Dauman, Aurélien Cadix et al. 1 citation
About 95% of people with tinnitus do not hear the phantom sound while dreaming, confirming earlier reports. In a survey of 148 tinnitus patients who could recall dreams, only 5.4% heard their tinnitus during dreams; these individuals tended to have higher tinnitus burden, more stress, and more often had hearing loss or related health conditions. Among the 12.2% who experienced lucid dreams, 38% could perceive their tinnitus during those dreams, strongly linked to also hearing external sounds in the lucid state. Upon waking, most perceived tinnitus instantly, though 17.2% reported being awakened by it and 10% said it could temporarily stop during nocturnal awakenings. The findings suggest that gating of external auditory information during dreams acts as a tinnitus on-off switch.