Barbra Streisand (Who Has Tinnitus) Has Given Me the Will to Carry On!

I just watched her being interviewed, talking about her life pre fame!! She has had Tinnitus from the age of 9 and has, as we all know had an absolutely fantastic career ( life ) she only knows life with noises in her brain, which makes me think that the younger you get it, the better really as you don't know life any other way!! Why doesn't loud noise bother her ... Music, loud bands, making movies, etc, etc, she doesn't mention spikes, it getting worse as she's aged ... she's 71 now, she has never mentioned the " S " word ... i'm totally confused how she and many Celebs just proclaim their T and then carry on with life as if it's just an itch in their crotch! ... i live in fear of a loud something, anything making my T worse, as i know it would finish me off,. how do they do it ... Anyway i Love her, always have, and her and Barry Gibb singing Guilty has sent goose bumps down my spine!! If these Celebs can make it, i see no reason why us mere mortals can't make it also ... i raise my glass to us all!! Xxx

 

@carol kane from what I know, hers it not caused by loud music. I think she simply "hears too much" so I dont think hers is actually a malfunction of the brain or damaged nerves.
But yeah, if she was able to habituate so are we but probably for its safer to avoid loud noises

 

do link

 

My boss as a partner in our company got T since the age of 8 in both ears, he then got his first job in Shell, then MBA in the States, come back to join HSBC and now as a partner in my company. We have talked a lot about T, he said at the age of 8, he thought life has to go on, and then he habituated, now only I tell him about T that he could hear it, 40 years old now

 

A lot of inspirational people out there with tinnitus... not just celebrities but in real life. Here is something I posted awhile ago on this thread, about tinnitus people I have met since I got T who inspired me with what they have accomplished:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...-but-i-need-positive-support.3096/#post-28535

In the meantime, while I think Babs is an amazing vocalist, I would be a much bigger fan if she would get out there and actually do some serious awareness campaigns or fundraising for tinnitus. Be nice if some more celebrities with T would follow Michael J Fox's example.

 

Of all the inspirational examples this one is my favourite: http://www.reddit.com/r/tinnitus/comments/trn2m/tinnitus_16_years_later_tinnitus_oh_yea_i_forgot/

I already posted a link to it, but it wouldn't harm if more people on TT saw it.
What I like about it is that it's a story of simple guy, whose T was louder than a shower (how freaking loud is that!), who had the same initial reaction to T as I had (and most of us here), but he managed to take good care of his own fate and the result is: he goes without even remembering about his T for MONTHS and even YEARS.

I'm gonna be just like him, I know.

 

I also feel that thinking of celebrities and especially musicians with T has helped me with my T. It doesn't need to be a celebrity, but of course you hear about them more often than about other people who deal well with their T. When my T started I felt it helped me to listen to U2 music and think that Bono also has tinnitus and is still giving concerts with his band.

 

I guess the celebrities must have struggled a bit when they first knew their condition is permanent. They are all human just like us. Perhaps they then went ahead to accept the condition (knowing there isn't any choice) and went ahead to live their life by pursuing their goals in life. The thing about it is also that, when we heard about their stories, they had T a long time ago. So they kind of get used to it over the years.

William Shatner had a night show with David Letterman in 1996 in which the two of them talked and cracked joke about their own tinnitus. You would think they were OK with T from the beginning. Not so. Shatner, the Star Trek captain, and Spark the Fulcan both developed bad tinnitus due to a pyrotechnic explosion going off too close to them unexpectedly in a set. They both had to be admitted to the hospital right away for ear damage. Shatner was joking about poor Spark with that big funnel ear amplifying the sound of the explosion more worse than him. But he admitted that he was struggling bad initially with bad T 7/24 and was suicidal until he got help from ATA (I think ATA referred him toTRT treatment of sort). Spark seem even more low key with his T all these years but it hurt bad enough initially for him to go to the ER for treatment.

So at the start, these celebrities hurt pretty bad by T too but over time they learn to cope well by living & distracting T with getting busy. Letterman even joked that his 2-tone T, a high pitch scream and a low hum tone, was getting worse, and ringing 7/24. He even joked his T is like testing the emergency broadcast system while he was cracking jokes to the audience. LOL. That was 1996. As of today, he is still cracking jokes night in and night out even with worsening T. So I learn from these celebrities that life goes on and you can still live a normal and productive life even after T. They gave me hope that I just need to learn to be more positive and more relax to deal with my own T and their stories calmed my nerves greatly during the early days.

 

Here is another story that might help: http://www.actiononhearingloss.org....olympic-bronze-medallist-katharine-merry.aspx

 

Also Suzanna Reid .. News presenter on the BBC 1 channel early mornings has tinnitus brought on by a difficult labour .. In an article i read she said she misses her silence.. Micky

 

Thank you, all of you, for posting these inspirational stories. I've just started on this journey and it really helps so much to learn about others who have very successfully done what seems impossible to me today.

 

Apparently two us presidents have had t Reagan and Clinton and I recently found out after I got my t that my father had t for over 20 years and after I brought it up he remembered he had it as well as my uncle. And they both have very successful business's.

 

Okay. I just watched this and it made me sick. Barbara Streisand thinks she has supersonic hearing. No, its tinnitus and her ears are damaged like the rest of us. No wonder the medical community has let everyone suffer; we are a very select group of people with supersonic hearing!!!

"

Barbara Streisand talks about her tinnitus -...

"

 

It was the 80s,I'm sure she was on some form of acid when she said this

 

Well, whatever makes her feel better. If believing that she has some superpower instead of some defect helps her accept and live with the T, then let her. Maybe we all should start looking at our T as some sort of superpower and gift.

 

I'm not sure thats T she's talking about.

Does anybody have the article of the guy who had severe T and H, and said he was able to completely cure it after doing several years of Qi Gong? I think his name was Eric, or Jacob or something? It was a link to an article about that I saw on this forum about a week ago.

EDIT found it! http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/my-life-was-a-war-against-noise-1.517024

 

When Barbra Streisand said she has supersonic hearing she meant that despite having tinnitus she hears perfectly well. So despite the tinnitus, she has no hearing loss. I don't think she was on any form of acid.