Tag: tinnitus

Tinnitus & Harley Street Hearing in The Times

Tinnitus at 23: How I found a way out

Duncan Geddes was at Glastonbury when his hearing became distorted. Years later he’s found a solution.

“Since the age of 12 my biggest passion had been live music, but I could barely listen to music even at home. At times it felt like my world was shrinking, like I’d have to find something else to live for.

Ultimately, my way out came with help from a hearing therapist called Jordon Thompson (Harley Street Hearing) who is trained in audiology and cognitive behavioural therapy. His first observation was quite a surprise: the earplugs I’d been wearing at gigs for years kept out too much sound. The noise-reduction rating of 29dB taught my brain that the music was scary and to be avoided.

The answer to this was pushing putty into my ears and taking a mould for custom, more efficient earplugs, made by ACS. While these provided less sound reduction than the heavy-duty earplugs I’d been wearing to protect my hearing previously, they were still strong enough to prevent the objective hearing loss threatened by concerts and cinemas — and without turning the sound into mud, like cheap foam plugs do.

Over the course of our six sessions, Thompson taught me mindfulness, especially the practice of focusing on bodily sensation to keep your thoughts in the present………”

This is an excerpt, to read the full insightful article in The Times click here.

If tinnitus is affecting your enjoyment of music and you would like a Hearing Therapy consultation, or for custom made hearing protection ear plugs please call us on 020 7486 1053 or complete the form below.

Harley Street Hearing are the home of independent audiology in London. We have been established on Harley Street for 25 years.

Tinnitus, ear plugs and hearing loss

How can musicians protect their hearing?

Senior Clinical Audiologist Fiona Butterworth, at Harley Street Hearing and Musicians’ Hearing Services, answered questions about a range of important issues with Help Musicians, from tinnitus and ear plugs to how musicians can protect their hearing with discounted audiological assessments and custom-made hearing protection.

Together Help Musicians and Musicians’ Hearing Services offer musicians access to affordable hearing assessments and protection. This scheme is carried out by our audiological experts, and includes an assessment, education and best advice on protecting your hearing.

To see the full article click here

Custom-made hearing protection is advised for anyone who is often exposed to high levels of noise, to see all the custom hearing protection we provide click here

Enjoy this article? You might be interested in some of our others:

Losing the Sound of Metal – hearing loss Telegraph interview

Drummer learns to live with his hearing loss

In Oscar-nominated film Sound of Metal, Riz Ahmed plays a rocker who loses his hearing. Sadly, the story is a reality for too many musicians.

Unsurprisingly, recent data says musicians are among the most likely people to have a hearing problem. “Research has shown that between 37-58 per cent of classical musicians, and 46-49 per cent of rock or pop musicians have found to have hearing impairments, with the general population coming in at around 13 per cent,” says Paul Checkley, Clinical Director at Harley Street Hearing & Musicians’ Hearing Services.

Noise exposure

“The music industry is somewhat behind when making a comparison to the management of noise exposure in the industrial and construction sectors. The use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) on building sites is enforceable, meaning that without use of the appropriate hearing protection, you could be removed from site. This is not the case in the music industry, despite the levels of noise being comparable at times.”

Although Paul points out that the increase in headphone use blurs the line somewhat between damage done by listening to music on your phone and being bombarded by decibels at a gig, the number of stars who have damaged their hearing while on the job is nevertheless long.

tinnitus

It’s not just tinnitus that can affect a person’s mental health. Paul Checkley also lists hyperacusis (where everyday sounds seem much louder than they should) and diplacusis (where the same sound can be perceived as being different in pitch between the two ears) as potential hearing problems that can cause a person problems beyond their ears. “These symptoms, along with the hearing loss, can affect a person’s confidence, and does often impact their mental health,” he says.

hearing loss

“The presence of a hearing loss alone can also cause people to isolate because they are embarrassed about not hearing well, which then has further effect on their mental health. Managing the hearing loss can help to reverse the isolation, allowing the person to become more confident with their interactions and therefore improve their well-being.”

In the UK, the Musicians Union offer a Musicians’ Hearing Health Scheme, which offers free check-ups and professional earplugs, as well as subsidised treatments like wax removal. And although treatment like the one that worked for Brian Johnson after the fact is good, all audiologists will tell you that protection is the best cure.

hearing aids

“Don’t wait for there to be a problem with your hearing; be proactive,” says Paul Checkley. “Having annual hearing tests will allow your hearing to be monitored and means that it will be much easier to pinpoint any potential changes and manage them quickly and efficiently. There are patients who have significant hearing losses who initially thought they might have to stop playing music, but through careful use of hearing aids with specific settings for their musical endeavours, and the understanding that there are adaptations that might be required, many are able to continue playing and performing music.”

Click here see the full Telegraph interview.

If you have any hearing concerns call 020 7486 1053

Sound Of Metal movie – Kerrang tinnitus interview

Sound of Metal

New movie Sound Of Metal explores the tragic consequences of a musician going deaf. Paul Checkley Clinical Director at Harley Street Hearing speaks to Kerrang! on how tinnitus is affecting the lives of music fans…

Tinnitus

Tinnitus, or as most people know it, a high-pitched ringing you get in your ears, can be intermittent for some people, but for others it’s a chronic condition. It’s also irreversible.

“People say, ‘I came out of a gig and my ears were ringing’ without understanding that isn’t something to just joke about,” says Paul Checkley, Clinical Director at Harley Street Hearing, an audiological practice in London. “It means that potentially your hearing has been damaged irreversibly… There is no cure for tinnitus as such, which is one of the biggest issues that people face: you get this ringing in your ears and are then told that you’re going to have that for the rest of your life.”

“A lot of the damage to people’s hearing appears to be done by leisure activities,” explains Nic Wray of the British Tinnitus Association, who are being approached by more and more people asking for help. “If you go to a building site or a factory, everyone’s got ear protection, but there’s not as much awareness for people going to live events. Venue staff are protected by health and safety legislation, but the musicians aren’t covered onstage because they’re not employees and it’s the same for the audience.”

Because tinnitus has no cure, only treatment, both Paul and Nic recommend wearing earplugs. Harley Street Hearing fits both heavy gig-goers and musicians with custom-moulded, “flat response” plugs, while BTA’s Plug’em initiative contains a guide to the different types of ear protection available.

For those who already suffer from tinnitus and need help managing it, Paul explains that the hearing problem has “a psychological aspect and a physiological aspect”, and that more is known about the former. “What we do know is that there’s a link between the emotional part of our brain the perpetuation of the tinnitus, so the treatments are centred around rehabilitation and therapy,” he explains. “Things like cognitive behavioural therapy have a really good research base. Mindfulness or meditation is beginning to have an equally strong research base and works really well, too.”

“If you’ve got tinnitus, we would normally do a hearing test to allow us to assess it,” says Paul. “We have criteria that say we’ve got to send you to get a medical opinion if it’s particularly troublesome for you. In those cases, your GP is your best place to start.”

See the full Kerrang interview here

Seven million UK tinnitus sufferers

Recent research by British Tinnitus Association of 1,620 people with tinnitus found:

57% experience low mood and sadness
42 per cent say they take part in fewer social activities because of their condition
One in five say they think about it ‘every few minutes’ or ‘every waking moment’ and say it can be as loud as a jet engine, whistling kettle or dentist’s drill.
A third said their tinnitus is trivialised by friends, family and work colleagues.

Tinnitus can be triggered by normal hearing loss caused by ageing or from loud noise, making musicians vulnerable. It can also affect people following car accidents or head injuries.

Roughly one in three people will experience tinnitus at some point in their lives.

Hearing aids can help because experts believe that when people cannot hear properly their brain creates its own internal noise to fill the silence.

The BTA claims that research into tinnitus receives 40 times less funding compared to mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.

“It is a travesty that tinnitus, with its huge mental health impact, receives 40 times less funding than comparable conditions like depression or hearing loss. We need more research to help find a cure, and to find ways of properly diagnosing tinnitus” said David Stockdale of the BTA.

“Our committed research community has made great strides in recent years to bring us to the edge of major progress. We need to seize this opportunity by making the investment needed to grow the field and make the huge leaps forward that are so important to people with tinnitus.”

To sign the BTA’s petition to urge the Government to invest in more research to find a cure click here

If you have concerns about tinnitus come in to see one of our highly qualified Hearing Therapists who can advise you on a package of action to help provide tinnitus relief.

Call 020 7486 1053 or complete the form below

Enjoy this article? You might be interested in some of our others:

DJ Eddy Temple-Morris earplugs for tinnitus

If you’re a DJ or a muso and you’re reading this and thinking ‘maybe it’s time I got some earplugs…’, hold that thought and listen: there is NO ‘maybe’ about it. I cannot stress to you how important it is to protect your ears, they are your living, and they are under almost daily barrage.

I cannot stress to you how important it is to protect your ears, they are your living, and they are under almost daily barrage.

I’ve been on tour with The Prodigy and played gigs so big the monitoring is 30,000 watts of sound, but if you’re thinking ‘I only play little gigs’ it’s often those sh*tty little sound systems at Camden Monarch or some bar that will cause the most damage.

One day, years ago, my colleague Erol Alkan told me he’d lost 40% of the hearing in one of his ears and that he’d just discovered Geraldine and Paul at Musicians Hearing Services.

That recommendation changed my life. I’d get tinnitus SO badly after every gig, that I couldn’t sleep, and I’d ill as a result. My immune system was shot through and I was a mess.

Since getting MHS to sort me out with plugs, I carry them EVERYWHERE and use them at big gigs, little gigs, parties, anywhere with a sound system. Now I sleep, I’m healthy and my ears aren’t getting any worse despite my job.

They make it easy, they are nice people, they’ll even get rid of that horrid build up of years worth of wax for you.

The plugs come in varying degrees of sound reduction and they just reduce it, not muffle it like those spongy yellow ones you can get for free at festivals. You’ll still hear the sizzle of a hi-hat and the boom of a kick drum, just at less damaging volume.

Now if you’re final thought is ‘hmmm but its quite expensive…’ Stop. It’s the best money I EVER spent.

Do it now. You will not regret it. Just guard them with your life!

PS – just one more thing – if you’re thinking ‘this is one of those free plugs for a plug thing…’ NO. This is from the heart and I paid the same for my earplugs as you will pay for yours.

Eddy Temple-Morris