Hello from Wiltshire in the UK: Suffered with Tinnitus for Years

Good morning from the UK,

I am delighted to have found you and will enjoy reading and maybe understanding, how I can hear just a little better!

I am about to turn 66 this week but am a very young person at heart. I'm told that I act like a teenager and look like I am in my 40s! Probably not true but makes you feel good when told that!

We live near to Stonehenge in the UK.

I have suffered with tinnitus for years with no relief offered by the medical profession, so guess, like a lot of us, I have just lived with it.

My tinnitus has various forms.
A 1 kHz tone permanently.
White noise permanently.
High pitched squeal on occasions.

Most nights we have a fan running in the bedroom or motorhome to give me something else to listen to. Or if it gets me down, I will put headphones on and listen to a nice boring programme on BBC World Service!

The worst part of it and again I am sure a lot of you have the same is listening to the TV. I have taken to only watching if I can get text. Very annoying on a 75" high definition TV that Sky don't allow text if you download in HD!

It is some years since I had a test carried out and was totally shocked when the technician came out with the results and said, 'hmm, you are an electronics engineer'!

How the heck did you know that I asked and his reply way, 'it's a typical result'.

Well there you go, I learnt why but not how to deal with it.

A few years ago, having got fed up with idiots who came to my house and decided I could afford £5,000 - £10,000 for hearing aids that I would go to Spec Savers who started selling them.

It was a good thing and the help and assistance was excellent. Obviously hearing aids don't always fix tinnitus, but I have friends whom it did help. Alas for me, it made it so bad, that within a day, I had to lay down and felt incredibly sick.

Spec Savers were fantastic and the Chief Exec phoned me up explaining he was an audiologist and of course getting all this sound in your head for the first time in years could cause problems. The long and short of it, was they offered to give me a permanent refund at any time in the life the hearing aids as they would use my experience for their own knowledge base. But I couldn't take it, so they graciously gave me my money back and said come back in later years as technology was obviously bringing out new products all the time. I have never gone back. But think about it every now and then!

However, I have just bought the Flare Audio Calmer earplugs, which is how I found you!

I know, it may just be snake oil. But I like that they first of all say it may not work and they offer full money back for 100 days! What's not to like?

More importantly for me, I kept finding folks saying it helped when watching the TV. That would be great.

Thanks for allowing me to ramble on and let me on the forum.

Chris

 

Hi Chris - love love love your outlook! I truthfully never understood why I would rather read my news than listen to it on the radio/tele. You've just told me something about myself. It's all because of the tinnitus. Well - thank you so much for opening my eyes and ears!

 

Hi Chris - love love love your outlook! I truthfully never understood why I would rather read my news than listen to it on the radio/tele. You've just told me something about myself I never knew. It's all because of the tinnitus. Well - thank you so much for opening my eyes and ears!

 

Well here we are a few weeks on and I can report that the Flare Audio Calmer earplugs are fantastic at making the TV easier to listen to.

I know it is difficult to understand and there are many skeptics out there, but the difference for me is very big. My problem as mentioned above is that sounds seem to blend into each other. With these in, I can go from around 50% understanding to around 90%+. Subjective figures and only guesswork, but hopefully helps you see how big the difference is for me.

They are easy to put in your ear, but make sure they fit in tightly. I did lose one, which was subsequently and unbelievably found. The company sent me a single one for the cost of shipping at £1.50 which I thought was great service.

So far I cannot see a benefit for tinnitus, but will continue to use them during the day on occasions.

I have used the night time ones and cannot see a benefit of those so far.