Tinnitus, lucid dreaming and awakening. An online survey and theoretical implications.

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.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Tinnitus is the perception of phantom sound in the absence of a corresponding external source. Previous studies reported that the presence of tinnitus is notably absent during dreams. This study aimed at replicating previous findings regarding tinnitus-free dreams, while also gaining a deeper understanding of tinnitus manifestations during dreams and after awakening. For this observational study, 195 tinnitus patients answered an online survey on the mutual-help community Siopi. 148 subjective tinnitus patients could recall their dreams. Among them, 94.6 % state they do not hear their tinnitus while dreaming. The rest (5.4 %) report higher tinnitus burden, higher stress and more often exhibit cophosis, tinnitus related to peripheral auditory pathology and/or associated with other health comorbidities. 12.2 % of the participants frequently experience lucid dreams. Among them, 38 % could perceive their tinnitus during lucid dreams, and this was strongly associated with the concomitant perception of external sounds during lucid dreaming. While the majority of patients report perceiving their tinnitus instantly upon awakening, during nocturnal awakenings, 17.2 % declared they could be awakened by their tinnitus and 10.0 % mentioned that their tinnitus can temporarily cease. Our findings confirm the previous findings: tinnitus is rarely perceived during dreams. Remarkably, our study is the first to document the case of tinnitus during lucid dreaming. 64 % of these patients gain higher-order consciousness attributes while still experiencing a tinnitus-free state. Our observations suggest that the presence or absence of gating of external auditory information during dreams acts as a tinnitus on-off switch, refining the previously proposed integrative model of auditory phantom perception.