Today I'm excited to talk about environments that cause tinnitus.
Welcome to my channel, if you're new, my name is Emily, I created Definite Hearing
as a way to increase awareness for the deaf and hard of hearing. I am hard of hearing
myself. I was diagnosed with my moderate to severe, sensorineural hearing loss at birth.
I've been wearing hearing aids since I was four months old. I love them so so so much
people are usually surprised to learn that I have a hearing loss, and they are curious as to how
severe my hearing loss is. To give you a gauge my hearing loss is 65 to 80 decibels,
which means I don't start hearing until the sound of a vacuum cleaner. That's pretty loud,
so I can still, like, be aware of sounds that are happening but I can't understand what they are
unless I put my hearing aids in. Hearing aids aren't a one size fits all solution but they are
great. If you want to get a good idea of how good my hearing is, next time you're in the backup or
the pool submerge your ears below the water that is similar to what my hearing loss is like without
my hearing aids in. It's difficult to understand what I'm hearing. Alright so in today's video
I'm going to talk about different environments that cause tinnitus. I hope you stick around
to the end of this video, because if you do I'm going to address the sad news of the passing of
Ken Taylor. Ken Taylor was the CEO of Texas Roadhouse and he recently committed suicide
due to side effects of Coronavirus. One of those side effects, was tinnitus.
Alright so for this video I broke down different environments into three different sections: work,
home, and entertainment. Let's talk about work environments: tinnitus is an interesting medical
condition, it is typically comorbid or found in existence with people that have hearing loss,
hearing loss and tinnitus seem to come together but in Kent Taylor's case, he didn't have hearing
loss at that point he had Coronavirus and he had healed and tinnitus was a lingering factor of
that. Tinnitus is buzzing or ringing in the ears and it is incredibly disabling for those people
that have to deal with this, it's like that frequency when it won't stop. It drives you
crazy and it's very, very annoying, and it really can drastically impact mental, physical, and
emotional health. So it's important to be aware of what tinnitus is and where it can be found - these
environments - so that you can be aware that you may be susceptible to tinnitus and what
you can do to really properly care for that. Do I have tinnitus? I don't classify myself as having
tinnitus, I have had little phases where like ringing, so it sounds like it comes and goes, but
it's very infrequent. It's very rare, and I want to start paying attention to when that happens,
so that I can talk more about that. All right so environments that can cause tinnitus, with work,
if you work in any sort of military branch around weapons, planes, loud machinery and manufacturing
plants, or even humming machines and servers in the tech industry, loud noise is a huge reason for
tinnitus. Loud noises can be found in all sorts of work environments. Consider your work environment,
where do you work? Do you have loud noises at your work? If so, I would love to hear about
them in the comments below. The next set of loud environment possibilities is in the home:
the TV, could be a huge culprit, especially if you're having difficulty hearing, you're tempted
to turn the volume up, when you turn that volume up, yes you can hear more, but it can damage
the hearing of other people in the room that have "better" ears, so it's important to look for other
solutions like closed captioning to understand what you are hearing. Other causes of loud
environments in the home could be blenders - all growing up and my family wanted to use a blender,
my dad would require that they used it in the garage to protect hearing, so it's important
to be mindful of blenders and consider wearing ear protection when you turn on loud appliances,
and another cause of loud environments in the home could also be lawn equipment. This could be
a mower, a blower, and other machinery. Last but not least, is the entertainment environment. Wow,
we love being entertained by loud sounds. I went to an Imagine Dragons concert when I was
in high school, it was outside and it was the best concert ever! Let me tell you, I was so tired the
next day, and it was so amazing and we had so much fun, but concerts can be a dangerous environment
for your hearing, so know where you're going and be aware of your hearing and sure to preserve
that because if you love listening to your favorite band or musician or listening to your
favorite theatrical production, it is best to take precautions and protect your hearing, rather than,
you know, miss out and lose your hearing for a while, so those are loud and noisy environments
that can trigger tinnitus and or hearing loss. Do you have tinnitus? Have you ever experienced it in
these environments, I'd love to hear some comments in the comment below. Thanks for sticking around
to the end of this video, I want to talk about something that's extremely, extremely important,
and that is the fact that tinnitus, in fact, can be very debilitating to those that have tinnitus,
and I think the hardest part is that other people just don't understand how bad it is.
The [former] CEO of Texas Roadhouse as I mentioned earlier in this video, Kent Taylor, committed
suicide and one of the side effects of his battle with Coronavirus that lingered was tinnitus. This
tinnitus eventually drove him to the brink and he ultimately took his own life, it makes me so sad
to think that someone's so charitable could end their own life because they were so miserable.
There's things we just don't understand. I believe that he is happy in heaven with God and that He
will be happy. The reason I'm talking about this is because Tinnitus can be so debilitating, it
can drive people to do things that they would not normally do. Humans are wired to survive and when
you are dealing with something whether it's mental health or tinnitus that drives you to your brink,
oh it's not normal. Seek help seek help, talk to the doctors see what options are available,
and reach out. You know, it may not solve the problem that may not help but you can do your
best, and know that you are loved and if you're struggling like tinnitus if I believe in you.
I believe in you. It's going to be so miserable. I have so much compassion for you, and just keep
pressing forward, I'm going to include a link to the national hotline for suicide prevention
in the comments below. If you're struggling with suicide please please please for whatever reason,
do not hesitate to reach out for help, you can contact that national prevention line or contact
friends and family, I do want to highlight though some amazing things that Ken Taylor did while he
was alive, he was a track star at University of North Carolina. I thought that was so neat.
He had to pitch his business Texas Roadhouse to over 45 investors before a local cardiologist
finally decided to invest in him, he did not give up. He even pitched his idea of Texas Roadhouse
to Larry Bird who also turned down the idea. In the beginning of Coronavirus Ken Taylor donated
his $1 million bonus, and an additional $5 million to the Texas Roadhouse frontline workers. He was
a charitable person, he tried to do good. And so I just want to highlight that and leave that
positive note that we can remember him in that great light. My thoughts and prayers go out to
the Taylor family. They have since announced that in his memory, they will fund a clinical study for
military personnel that are dealing with tinnitus, I look forward to seeing that move forward.
So if you are dealing with tinnitus, please do not hesitate to reach out to your doctor,
to your loved ones, your friends and family, and get the help you need. There is no
shame in getting help, and I just want to say there is power in knowing you are not alone.
Though I don't deal with tinnitus as constantly and as presently, as, maybe you do or someone you
know does. I know people who do you are not alone. Thank you for watching this video today please
like this video and subscribe to my channel. If you know someone that could benefit from this
video please, please share it. I want to increase awareness for the deaf and hard of hearing, and
you can help me do that. Please remember to stay strong, and stay amazing, have a wonderful day!