This week is British Tinnitus Week, #ThisIsMySilence. I just want to start with
a brief trigger warning, that I will be playing a tinnitus simulation that is specific to
my hearing loss. It is a high pitched ringing so if that triggers your own tinnitus,
maybe put me on mute for that bit. I will warn you when it happens.
This is my silence, I’ve never heard real silence.
[intro music]
I’ve made this tinnitus tag question thing so we can all share our experiences of Tinnitus,
and teach people that tinnitus isn’t just one thing. The experience of tinnitus is
not a universal thing. It is different, it is diverse, and it is unique to every single
person. I just took it from most commonly asked questions when it comes to my hearing loss, um,
and questions that audiologists have even asked me, and one just for fun. So question number one,
I’m going to play the high pitched ringing now and answer over the top of it
[high pitched ringing starts] Can you hear that? What does your tinnitus sound like?
Well… This. For those that can’t hear or have me on mute, this is a high pitched ringing
at 6135hz, a volume of 38%, I don’t know what that is in decibels but according to
my hearing test it’s roughly about 25- between 25 and 45 decibels. I don’t know for sure.
Tinnitus varies from person to person, the typical standard thing that you think of when you think of
tinnitus is a high pitched ringing, but it can be a low pitched ringing, it can be a beeping,
it can be a buzzing, it can be a roaring. Tinnitus can be so many different things, and this is mine.
This is what I hear 24/7 and I find it hard to hear over the top of
and I find it hard to talk over the top of most of the time. Today I was prepared. I’m turning it off now.
[ringing stops] For those that had me on mute, it is safe to turn the volume up now,
thank you for staying with me. Question two, does it have a cause? Not all tinnitus has a known
cause. Mine is sort of an unknown cause because I have many risk factors for having tinnitus, so I have
hearing loss, I have a condition called Visual Snow Syndrome which I will put a link to up here
because it explains to the glasses, where tinnitus is also a symptoms um and I also grew up around
loud cars and drag racing which obviously, loud noise puts you at risk of tinnitus.
Question number 3. When do you hear it. I hear it all the time.
It’s 24/7, there are things that make it better, there are things that make it worse.
Those are in the next questions. But it is a constant there. It will always be there as far
as I’m concerned because I have always heard it. Question number 4. What makes it worse?
I don’t have any specific noises that are tinnitus triggers. I know a lot of people that have like
a loud bang will trigger it, nothing ever really triggers but if I’ve been listening to loud things
all day then my ringing will be louder at the end of the day. I just have to be careful with
long term volume but also as a deaf person that is quite difficult because I have to strike a balance
between can now hear people speaking to me, and ringing in my ears. Which brings us nicely on to
question number 5. What makes it better? Nothing really makes it better but my hearing aids ta-da,
have tinnitus reduction in them. So they play a- I think they play a white noise or a pink noise um,
at a very sort of low level volume, so it sort of cancels out the tinnitus that I would normally
hear so my actual tinnitus volume when I have my hearing aids in is much much lower than when I
don’t have my hearing aids in. Question 6, do you have a hearing loss? Not everybody with tinnitus
has hearing loss, but tinnitus is super common in the deaf community and the hearing loss community.
I do have a hearing loss, I am sort of in the mild-moderate sort of range and I am on the
very very mild end of the deafblind spectrum because of Visual Snow Syndrome. So I can’t
see either and that also causes tinnitus so I am uniquely blessed. Question number 7.
Do you hear it in your brain or do you hear it in your ears? Now the first time somebody asked
me this question I was like eh? But actually thinking on it, I don’t hear it as like a
noise? Like I’m definitely hearing it because it is a noise, it is a high pitched ringing so it’s
there, it’s a noise, but in terms of like does it feel like a sound that I’m hearing
or does it feel like my brain is screaming at me, it feels like my brain’s screaming at me
to be honest. It- it does feel more like a brain sound than an ear sound. That’s because it’s not
a real noise. It is generated in my own head so for it to be a brain noise makes sense to me,
but I’ve had this conversation with many other tinnitus sufferers and like some people do feel
it as an ear noise, they hear it as an ear noise and that’s fine too. Question number 8,
what is one thing you want somebody to know about tinnitus? I want people to
think about it. I don’t want people to say things like “Oh it’s all in your head” because yeah,
it- it is, and it’s debilitating, like I struggle to hear over the top of it because
my tinnitus is quite loud. Um, So I want people to understand that it actually does
present a difficulty in my life. And in other people’s life. It’s not one of those- nothing
is one of those “it’s just in your head get over it” things, but it’s definitely not
something you can just get over because you know it’s not a real noise. It can be debilitating, um
there are a couple of reports of people committing suicide over it, I can understand why somebody
might feel horrible about tinnitus because it can plague your every existence, so if I’ve been out
somewhere where it’s been loud like loud building noise will do it if I’m around it long enough.
When I come back and the ringing is so incessant and I can’t sleep because of it, poor sleep can
have an impact on mental health, being plagued by a high pitched ringing can have an impact on
mental health. I don’t know why people don’t take tinnitus seriously. And something else
I want people to- this is definitely ore than one thing, sorry, but something else I want people to
know about tinnitus is stop judging people for how they prevent tinnitus or how they treat tinnitus.
I know a couple of people who just have hearing aids just for the tinnitus reduction and that
is perfectly fine and valid. I know people who wear ear plugs on nights out so they stop their
tinnitus getting worse. Perfectly fine and valid. Stop making these people feel like they are weak.
Stop judging people for how they deal with it. Just stop it. Tinnitus can be a very big deal
in people’s life. Some people have it mild, and what I hate the most is when someone says
“I have tinnitus too and I don’t feel like that”, good for you. You’re not everyone. And everyone’s
experience of tinnitus is a valid one. And if it makes you feel a certain way, that is valid too.
I hate my tinnitus, it is so annoying, it's just become part of my life like, I have somehow
managed to adapt to it because I’ve always known it, but some people get hearing loss and tinnitus
later on and they’ve never had it and they might have a harder time uh adjusting to it. We need
to stop being mean to people because they don’t experience things the same way as us. This is
my silence. I’ve never heard real silence. So on that cheery note, don’t forget to like this video,
drop a comment down below with your experiences of tinnitus if you have it. If you don’t have it,
feel free to ask me any questions, and as always I will answer if I can. All of the questions are
in text format in the description so if you want to make your own video or answer in the comments
please feel free to do that. Subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already and
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Videos go up every Saturday at 6pm UK time with at least one bonus video every single month. See ya!