Announcement Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2020!

As we’re approaching Christmas and New Year, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on the past year, look to the future, and express our gratitude.

While it’s sad that many new people come here every day seeking help, we can and do find strength in numbers. This forum was always meant to be a warm and welcoming place for all who struggle with tinnitus and hyperacusis. Your friends, family or co-workers may not understand what it’s like, but we do.

Obviously, Tinnitus Talk isn’t all unicorns and rainbows. We see heated arguments flare up and emotions can get high. We’d like to urge you all to remember that we’re in this together. More than ever, we need to stand together to lobby for better tinnitus care and more effective treatments. Only as a cohesive community can this be achieved.

Community Accomplishments

2019 was a key year for Tinnitus Talk. We took more steps than ever outside the bounds of this forum. Just a few examples of what we, together, have achieved:
— We launched the Tinnitus Talk Podcast, keeping people with tinnitus around the world informed and involved; some episodes have drawn up to 50,000 listeners!
— In major part due to our efforts, Dr. Susan Shore won the STAT Madness competition, gaining much needed media attention to curative tinnitus research.
— We published a moving interview with the mother of Gaby Olthuis, whose struggle with tinnitus and hyperacusis led to her death by euthanasia.
— We invested in growing our network in the research community, through our partnership in ESIT and TIN-ACT.
— We attended the biggest annual tinnitus research conference (TRI), where we interviewed numerous tinnitus researchers on video.
— We co-authored a research paper on heterogeneity and one on somatic tinnitus, based on our survey data.
— We formally provided feedback to the newly drafted guidelines for tinnitus management in the UK.
— We launched our very own free science-based sound app called TinnitusPlay.

As you may know, we have no paid staff members. We all do this in our spare time, and we couldn’t have achieved half as much without an amazing team of volunteers. Many have contributed their efforts, but we want to specifically acknowledge @Liz Windsor, @Jack Straw, @TuxedoCat, @Candy, @Autumnly, and @PeterPan.

We send love to all of our benefactors. If you have donated even $1 to help cover our expenses, we are deeply grateful to you. Our benefactors mean a lot to us. You not only guarantee we can continue with our work and not have to keep paying for things out of our own pockets, but you also motivate us by showing that what we are doing is worth your financial support.

You Can Help Out Too

Of course, we have big plans for 2020 as well.
— We plan to intensify our efforts around (big) data gathering to drive curative tinnitus research forward;
— We plan to implement concrete measures to promote patient involvement in research and steer research in a more patient-focused direction;
— We will keep exploring options for political lobbying – see our first brainstorm on the topic here;
— We will want to add new features to Tinnitus Talk to support our future plans and to improve user experience.

If you like the services that we provide and would like to contribute to our mission of improving the lives of people with tinnitus, there is of course the option of donating to Tinnitus Talk. But we are also in dire need of volunteers to help out with a multitude of tasks in many different areas of expertise. Contact @Markku and @Hazel via PM if you are interested.

Thank you all for being part of the Tinnitus Talk community.

 

I would just like to wish everyone on Tinnitus Talk a very Happy Christmas and the possibility of a more peaceful 2020.

We may not always see things from the same perspective, but ultimately we're all looking for the same thing.

We are such a diverse, random, global group aren't we?

I find it astonishing that we're all here for a common cause and want to say thank you to @Hazel and @Markku for all the work they do, have done and will probably do in the future, in an effort to help people and raise awareness of tinnitus.

So, take care everyone. Enjoy what you can and stay positive. Here's to next year!

 

I would like to wish everyone across Tinnitus Talk the happiest of holidays and a very quiet, happy and peaceful New Year! May God Bless us all!

Judy

 

Markku, Hazel, staff and all, I want to thank you so very sincerely for this "meeting place" where so many worthy efforts are made on behalf of tinnitus sufferers. This condition can be absolute hell on earth, and it is of comfort to me to be connected to a larger community of fellow people.

Happy holidays to all and may we all attain a breakthrough and relief soon.

Hugs - Manny

 

I would like to thank every member of this community for simply ‘being there’ for each other - with the desire to listen, support, offer advice, be a shoulder to cry on, and help to wipe away each other’s tears.

As well as being the most reluctant of heroes, suffering your own pain, you manage to be truly special people.

I know we cannot have the silence that we so desperately need this Christmas, but we do have each other’s genuine love, concern, and companionship, thanks to the existence of this pretty amazing support site - ‘Tinnitus Talk.’

Love
Dave
Jazzer
xxxxx

 

Thank you @Markku, @Hazel and the team for all the colossal work you have done over the year.

I have personally enjoyed the superb podcasts, the interviews and reading about the latest research. The incredible far reaching work that you have done and continue to do, would have unarguably helped tinnitus sufferers whoever they are, young, rich, poor, and old.

Seeing you rise to the incredible challenge that must have you working around the clock is awe inspiring.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Simon

 

I’d like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and hope that many of you see some big improvements in 2020. A lot of brilliant things have been achieved this year by a lot of awesome people who have sacrificed their time, and in some cases money, to help forward the cause that we all feel so strongly about.

@Liz Windsor has spent so many hours transcribing all the podcasts - which is an incredibly tedious job - for the benefit of all those who are hard of hearing and for those who simply struggle to listen. @Jack Straw put his velvety smooth vocal cords to good use by committing some of his time to the podcast and was ultimately one of the catalysts as to why it started this year. @Autumnly has tirelessly edited a lot of interview footage and podcast audio which has helped make everyone’s experience of them feel so much more effortless. @TuxedoCat has had her hand in many pies, helping with various projects, and is due to give a presentation to the Disabled Veterans of America, which is another springboard towards raising awareness with other influential people. @Candy put a lot of her time into the NICE committee - which was a review of the current guidelines surrounding tinnitus - and she did so whilst under a lot of stress. @PeterPan managed to come all the way over from Neverland, to help with the Lenire User Experience group, which seeks to collate useful data about everyone’s experience with Lenire. @Jazzer (Dave) produced a beautiful awareness video that showed everyone how tormenting tinnitus can be, and he did this with his own time and money using the contacts he has. @ChrisBoyMonkey introduced Tinnitus Hub to some of his contacts in the military, giving a great networking opportunity that could prove to be very productive. @OnceUponaTime was a key figure in the STAT Madness competition win with her brutal rallying tactics! @dfl helped Josef Rauschecker raise funds for his research by creating a promotional video for him which was awesome. @Samantha R also made a fantastic awareness video which got to the core of what many tinnitus sufferers face, and she also campaigned a lot on Facebook and gave away a lot of money in donations. @Starthrower helped raise a lot of money for Tinnitus Talk this year with her generous matched donation campaign which was very successful and I’m sure her money went a long way towards helping keep the site going. David Stockdale helped with many things and went above and beyond to do so. @Steve, as usual, put a lot of time and effort into advocating for the cause and also licensed his sounds for use on the TinnitusPlay app. @jimH deserves a huge amount of credit for the sheer amount of money he has donated at various times. @glynis has always been a tower of strength, with her unconditional support and love for every single person who has graced this forum, and although she’s had possibly the worst year of her life, she still found the time to moderate the Tinnitus Hub Facebook support group. And then what can we say about @Markku and @Hazel! They unremittingly fight for this cause every second of every day and go way above the call of duty, and they do this whilst the rest of us go to war on the forum with our petty arguments! Tinnitus Hub has singlehandedly raised the game and a lot of the credit for this has to go to them.

It’s these selfless actions that I truly appreciate as all of your contributions no doubt help to make the changes we all wish to see.

There are many more people who do truly wonderful things here, so I’m sorry if I forgot to mention you! Thank you to all of you.

Have a great holiday folks

 

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to everyone.

Let's hope 2020 draws us closer to a cure or some type of relief.

A big thank you to the staff at Tinnitus Talk, without you we would be suffering without a voice in the medical and research community.

Best wishes,

Steve

 

Merry Christmas and happy new year to each and every one of you. I wish for us all that the coming year/decade will be gentle towards us and bring forth better days and maybe even an effective treatment.

Big thank you to the staff for all your hard work. You're really making a big difference for us all.

 

Happy Holidays Everyone!!! I hope 2020 brings us all something to look forward to!

 

Merry Christmas to all! I don't know what I'd do without you, Tinnitus Talk is such a blessing!

 

As we head into 2020, I just wanted to thank the staff, especially @Markku, @Hazel and all the people I don't see behind the scenes, for their tireless effort here.

I wanted to give big thanks to @Ed209, @Greg Sacramento, @fishbone and @Tom Cnyc for your consistently level-headed and interesting input into things.

To @JohnAdams and @threefirefour - we may not always see eye to eye, but thanks for keeping me on my toes, and I see and appreciate and am motivated by the energy you put into engaging with this board in a modern way.

There's a lot of you I am not mentioning, that I'll regret and feel bad about later, but I wanted to keep this short and positive and leave it as a place for people to express whatever holiday gratitude or appreciation you might have.

I'll be off social media entirely in January, but I wish everyone the very best rolling into the new year. Of course, 2020 is the potential beginning of the window for UMich tech to become accessible; I am not that optimistic about that timeline, but, from a tinnitus perspective I think it is a pretty interesting and hopeful time to be here. We should also know a lot more about Lenire by the end of 2020, for better or worse.



May ye have a white Christmas / holiday of choice, if you wish to!!

 

Tinnitus Talk has been very helpful to many folks, that deal with tinnitus. A lot of people come and contribute to the awareness and education of tinnitus and that is a blessing. My wish is for all folks with tinnitus, to be able to live a better life, cope better, adapt better and try to enjoy their lives.

As we march into a new decade, I hope new possibilities can help us all and help us move forward in our lives.

I am always honored to come here and help out those that need help.

Keep your heads up my friends, have a happy holiday and march into the new decade STRONG!

 

That lamb is having a tough Christmas.

 

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all! Tinnitus Talk has been truly helpful and has served as a comfort zone during this past year.

@Markku and @Hazel thank you for all you do!

 

It is symbolic of who and what Jesus is.

 

Thank you for all your support this past year. A special thanks to @Markku and @Hazel for providing this forum and a platform from which people with tinnitus can have a voice. Your tenacity is an inspiration and the list of accomplishments is the result.

I'm looking forward to the coming years as we continue to raise awareness and push for more research. I can't wait to see how impressive the list looks at the end of 2020!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

TC

 

I wish you a Merry Christmas! And hopefully a hyperacusis and tinnitus free new year! ;-)

 

I just saw Santa Clause

 

Happy holidays from the creepiest Christmas decoration I could find! A big thank you to everyone that's advocating and volunteering for our cause. Hoping that the 2020s will finally bring the scientific breakthroughs and medical treatments many are waiting for.

Spoiler

 

This thing reminds me of the woodland critters from South Park.

 

Be safe on New Year's Eve. Cheers.

 

Hoping everyone had a nice Christmas and wishing you all here at Tinnitus Talk a Healthy and Quiet New Year.

Many thanks to the wonderful staff of Tinnitus Talk.
Your work here is valuable in so many ways and does not go unnoticed.
You are loved. Big Hug!

Here's to hope and quiet days.



Cheers and some whippings!!!

Once

 

Praying for all sufferers as we head into the New Year ♥️

 

Thank you!

 

That's really kind of you, I wish the best for you too.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Happy new year everyone