'Tinnitus was so loud, he was suprised I couldn't hear it!'

Imagine wearing a pair of headphones which are playing the sound of a whistling kettle.  Imagine wearing those headphones all day, and all night, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Horrific it might sound, but that’s what life was like for one of my Suffolk patients – the victim of a debilitating condition known as tinnitus. The noise in his ears was so loud, he told me he was surprised I couldn’t hear it.

My company The Hearing Care Centre getting involved with Tinnitus Awareness Week this week (3^rd-9^th February 2014), to try and help raise awareness about the condition.

Although around one in ten of the UK population is affected by tinnitus (and that adds up to more than a few thousand in Suffolk alone) it’s extremely difficult to provide medical help because the sound isn’t usually caused by anything physical or biological which can be cured, it comes from within the sufferer themselves.

It appears drugs are no help either:   certainly there is not as yet, conventional or complementary medication that has been shown to ease tinnitus and it is thought that repeatedly trying unsuccessful therapies worsens tinnitus.

It was because he’d not been able to find relief that our man with the whistling kettle turned to The Hearing Care Centre.   Fortunately we know that in a large number of cases, tinnitus sufferers, who are often elderly, also have hearing loss which exacerbates the situation.

We tested his hearing and discovered he did have a significant hearing loss, and fitted him with hearing aids.   I won’t say it was a miracle cure, because it wasn’t, but he told us it had changed his life.  Now everyday sounds he hadn’t been able to hear because of the noises in his ears, were clearly audible, and they in turn, suppressed the aggravation caused by the tinnitus.

I cannot emphasise how much difference identifying the hearing loss made to this man.  At his first follow up appointment he said he had been to a restaurant and heard the conversation clearly– something he hadn’t heard clearly for years.

Unresolved tinnitus is more than just a noise:  it can make communication difficult for the sufferer and the unrelenting sounds can cause stress which in turn makes the condition worse.  It really is like a spiral; the condition causes stress and stress makes the condition worse.

Interestingly, experts believe that even those without significant hearing loss may find hearing aids are helpful. Straining t listen causes increased hearing sensitivity and this can allow tinnitus to emerge or, if present already, to worsen. Correcting even relatively mild hearing loss reduces this central auditory gain and thereby reduces the level of the tinnitus. Hearing aids are said to be useful even if the hearing loss is not at a point that aids would normally be considered.

Tinnitus Awareness Week is organised by the independent charity the British Tinnitus Association which is hoping to reach thousands of people of all ages across the country through its campaign.

For much more information, advice, support, videos or a FREE info pack, please visit www.hearingcarecentre.co.uk/tinnitus