Noise management is a major part of most tinnitus relief programs so you need to know how to include it in your own tinnitus relief therapy.

The best way I know to describe it is to give you a true example of natural noise management. Bear with me for a couple of minutes.

When I was a boy around five years old my father got a new job which meant that the family relocated to a home miles away from where we lived.

It was a nice house but I guess my parents must have viewed it on a quiet day because within minutes of moving in I remember being terrified by the noise of a steam locomotive rushing past the end of our back yard about fifty feet from the back door. This was the main line to the city and trains hurtled past every few minutes. I remember my mother telling me I would get used to the noise – though after a sleepless night or two I remember beginning to doubt her.

Now you can guess what I mean by noise management can't you? Within a few days I didn't hear any locomotives – they were still rushing past of course, but I didn't hear them. My body had adapted to the noise and I didn't hear it. I was preoccupied doing other stuff.

You have your own examples too. Perhaps a nearby busy road or you might live under the flight path close to a busy airport. And that loud clock in the hallway you never hear? When people visit they say hey how do you cope with that noise and you say - what noise?

Wouldn't it be great if we could do the same with our tinnitus noises? Well – we can. The difference is that to get our tinnitus relief we have to consciously train our minds to not hear the tinnitus sound.

Let me try to help you get started on your own noise management by asking you to remember when you last didn't hear that tinnitus noise, or the level of noise was more bearable. This may have been when you were preoccupied with your work or a hobby or sport. With me it was often when I was reading. Although the room was completely quiet I was so absorbed with the story that it was only when I finished reading or was disturbed that my natural tinnitus relief stopped. And even then I know that the noise was much less afterwards especially if I got on with something else I enjoyed doing.

So having decided on the best circumstances when you may have experienced natural tinnitus relief you must now choose a circumstance when your tinnitus noise is most troublesome. Not necessarily at its loudest but when it bothers you most. This may be as you try to settle to sleep at night or when you are tired or stressed after a busy day.

The next move is to train your mind to act the same in those worst circumstances as it does in the best circumstances. Train it to concentrate on something else more interesting than listening to your tinnitus sound.

Start like this - if possible bring the best circumstance event into the worst. If reading is a good circumstance and getting to sleep is a bad circumstance, then read a favourite author just before bedtime. And when you put the book down concentrate on enjoying getting ready for sleep and anticipating a good night. Remember too you sleep relaxation exercises.

If you cannot actually transfer the best circumstance then use your imagination. Just as you can imagine your next family holiday or you can recall that favourite past event, so you can imagine that best circumstance. Imagine it not because it is consciously part of your tinnitus relief therapy but because you enjoy thinking about it.

This is sub-conscious noise management or noise distraction working for you as part of you tinnitus relief program.