10% of your workmates are suffering like me. How compassionate are you?

I woke up about two months ago and joked “someone is talking about me.”

The old wives tale of hearing ringing in your ears meant someone was having a good gab about you was really loud, they must have been telling each other how brilliant I was or having a good old bitch about something I did.

Enough already you can shut up now!  My ears have continued to ring for two solid months and its driven me a little crazy.

How bad is this noise?  Well here is an experiment you can do right now. I would like you to do this before you continue reading so you have an appreciation. Unless of course you are one of the 10% of tinnitus suffers. Yes 10% of the population live with this infliction in one way or another. For 1% it has a dramatic affect of the way they live their lives.

The experiment:

If you are on android download the free noise generator called ‘Frequency Sound Generator’. There is a similar one on iOS called Tone Generator.

Set the volume of the device to about 50% and the volume of the sound generator to 75%. Set the tone to a sine wave and adjust the tone to 5900Hz. Leave the modulation at its lowest setting and click Play.

You are now hearing what I am hearing all day and all night. Leave it running a while, maybe try to write a letter or watch TV or listen to music without headphones. Place it on the bedside table when you go to bed as its much louder in a quiet place.

Now of course you can put your fingers in your ears and the noise will go away. If I put my fingers in my ears it makes no difference. This is because there is actually no ringing, no noise, its neurological, in my head. Not sure if its left or right, back of the head or front.  You can switch this off when it begins to grind on your nerves, you probably hit the stop button already.

I can’t.

What have I done about this and what can I do?

It is my intention over the next few weeks to start blogging again. I have not blogged for ages, way too busy in a job where I am having too much fun to find the time to share. Plus maybe now what I am saying will not fall on deaf ears (excuse the pun). I will blog about the journey to either learn to live with this noise or find a way of stopping it.  Unfortunately they say there is no cure. Not unless something else is making it happen. The trek to find out if that is the fact has already started and maybe blogging this journey may help others.

What I do hope is that you will read it and join in a conversation about it with me. Understand that many you work with are suffering this, often in silence.

The journey so far:

Obviously I saw my local family doctor. Then the best consultants I could find who understand hearing. I saw the same people that deal with musicians, mould their ears for ear plugs and look after their hearing. I saw the same person as Rita Ora, Coldplay, and the cast of Miss Saigon. I think I am in good hands.

I have had some weird and wonderful hearing tests. I knew I had ringing in the ears, but they also told me my actual hearing was great for my age, just a slight drop off at the top end range. However I am also struggling like many in noisy environments like cafes and restaurants, where I hear too much and cant tune into who is talking to me.  Ever seen me at a conference where many people are talking, now I know why I struggle.

Next time:

I will tell you about the outcome of the tests, the moulds I had made of my ears and why. I will also share some information about Bruxism and whether it has caused my issue and what I am going to do about it.

 

Till then have a happy holiday period….