Pam Allen of Middlesbrough, has lived with tinnitus for 12 years and on a `good’ day she hears a continuous hissing sound in both ears.
On a bad day, the noises can resemble bells and bagpipes and she has even been known to get up at night to answer a telephone that hasn’t been ringing. She has had no choice but to adapt her lifestyle to cope with the constant intrusions and has received very little support from the medical profession.
When the noises first appeared, Pam understandably hoped they’d go away and put off seeking help for several years, especially after reading that no cure was available. When she eventually mentioned it to her GP at the time, she got an unsympathetic response. “He just laughed and advised me to play a radio quietly as a distraction to help me get to sleep at night but it wasn’t exactly practical considering my husband works shifts,” she explained.
Pam, however, 56, has gradually found ways to manage each day but still wishes she could wake up one morning to the long-forgotten sound of silence.
“There are some things I don’t do anymore such as going to the pictures because I can’t concentrate on watching a film. I need to have the TV volume louder than normal and can’t always hear it properly even then. I also know that people sometimes think I’ve been rude because I haven’t realised what they’re saying or kept up with the conversation.” Tinnitus also affects Pam’s balance especially at night and intensifies if she has a cold or is under stress.
She often feels quite isolated and admits to getting depressed sometimes. “It’s very difficult for people to understand because there’s nothing to see so it isn’t really treated seriously. Although I don’t have any deafness, I do mishear things because the tinnitus often overrides normal sounds.” Consequently, Pam has become quite adept at lip-reading and has also found other ways to compensate for her distorted hearing. In her job as a learning resource assistant at her local college, she makes a particular effort to recognise the faces of new students so she can quickly match them to the photographs on their identity cards rather than having to ask their names. She has still had the odd misunderstanding but tries to see the funny side.
“I won’t let it beat me and you do tend to find ways of getting round the problem,” she said. “It’s not as frightening as it was at first when I didn’t know what I was dealing with but I do think more awareness is needed. A good experiment would be to see the reaction of people if the sounds of tinnitus were reproduced and played constantly to them for a day. If people could experience it for themselves, they’d have a better understanding of what it’s like and why more support is needed,” she added.
The UK-based charity Action for Tinnitus Research focuses on funding medical and scientific research in pursuit of a cure and raising awareness is a key part of its work. Operations director Nick Doughty said: “It is estimated that over five million people in the UK are affected by tinnitus and it can have a devastating effect on their quality of life. Not enough information is available about the very complex symptom and we are one of the few organisations determined to do something about it. We are committed to funding leading edge research and providing practical information to health professionals for the benefit of sufferers,” he added.
For more information on Action for Tinnitus Research, logon to the website at
www.tinnitus-research.org, e-mail help@tinnitus-research.org or telephone 0115 925 4065
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