Tinnitus Awareness Week Is Getting Bigger — Starting from 2017

We’ve been in discussions recently and now we can confirm that we, ATA and BTA have now organised our awareness weeks at the same time - 6-12 February 2017. This means greater exposure and greater chance that news outlets will pick up on the message that tinnitus needs to be taken more seriously. It’s in our hands to help this happen by creating some noise on social media.

It’s a beginning and something that we here at Tinnitus Talk are right in the middle of. We want to continue to grow this awareness week so that every organisation across the world involved in tinnitus will become a part of it. The more people that take part the higher the likelihood of mainstream news picking up on the tinnitus story. Greater exposure means greater awareness and the prospect of more funding for tinnitus research.

As part of this years effort we are working on a video collaboration project with ATA and BTA. We will be collecting short clips from our community and the ATA and BTA communities on the subject of what tinnitus means to you. By the end of the week we will put together a collage of these clips and push it out to raise awareness. The project is titled “Tinnitus: The Unseen Epidemic”.

We’re going to take a selection of the videos and make them into a video collage to help raise tinnitus awareness.

Keep them to 10 seconds or less and tell us something about your tinnitus – it could be how it makes you feel, how you have coped with it, what it has stopped you from doing, how you’ve come out of the dark days – anything.

 

Will try do a Video for you...TT.


I'm just arranging leaflet handouts in February for the BTA awareness week in Longton Stoke on Trent.

Also running for the month of June, Tea for Tinnitus Month, I am arranging 4 Tea parties for donations for the BTA.

Also giving out info to doctors and Specsavers and hospital Audiology....lots of love glynis

 

I just hope it doesn't turn into another: It's not a problem anymore, I learnt to live with it!
That would defeat the purpose!

 

Valeri, will you post yours? Planning on doing mine...might get my hair done first...

 

Why include success stories? I dont see how that is going to help us in getting more funding.

 

I have done one and sent it to Markku
and Steve,not to sure if its to long....lots of love glynis

 

No it's all good Glynis.

@valeri @Rubenslash We're not going to produce something that says "hey, tinnitus is nothing much, we're all fine". That really won't serve for raising awareness.

Equally we're not going to produce something that says "hey, you're screwed, you're life is over when you get tinnitus, may as well end it all" because that isn't representative.

Even people like me, who get by but hear it all the time, don't think it's a bed of roses. My 2c is that it isn't taken seriously enough, we need more research, it's a horrendous condition to live with and to be fobbed off with by much of medicine.

The very reason that we have this forum and do the work we do is that we want more help, more recognition and more research into tinnitus. The best way to make an impact here is to share your videos, show what it's like and get the message out there.

 

There has been a very good tinnitus awareness advert running in the UK recently. I have heard family talk about it.

 

The advert might be on daytime TV, not prime...
Would be great if youngsters saw it.

@Steve and @Markku, when selecting the videos you could include people talking about the following (Let me know what's missing, other than studying, can talk about all the others...):

- distraction at work
- distraction studying
- simple things hard to enjoy (reading, sunbathing, going for a picnic, having a conversation, spending fun time with your kids)
- worry of worsening, how high can it get
- no one can see it or measure it so it must be ok - not enough attention
- depression and anxiety

 

Excellent thoughts Candy!

To raise awareness we really need to get across the things that remain hidden, which people take for granted and would be horrified at losing out on.

I'm going to make a short video to explain the project, probably tomorrow, I'll include some of the above.

 

There is such a fine line here. Discussing the worst case situation for some individuals and those of us who have somehow found a way to deal with the noise in the brain. If the worse case is not addressed.....then if it is....people turn on you. Or others feel it will happen to them.

Sigh. I have struggled with this for a long time. The message verses hope.

Many people lose their jobs. Lose family. Lose the roof over their heads. Insurance not paying for help. Lack of money to seek help. It can be a spiral of despair.

Just a few of my thoughts.

 

@glynis. Well done mother. What would we do without you!!

 

@Richard zurowski ....thank you son...lots of love glynis

 

Nice one @Steve,
Menieres really bad this weekend so having a rest at home with blasting ears ..lots of love glynis

 

Please get posting your videos, let's make a difference! Think we are low in numbers.

 

Hi @Markku and @Steve,
Can you come up with a twibbon for tinnitus talk so during tinnitus awareness week we can download it as a profile picture on here,facebook,twitter etc...

I have a BTA one but great if TT came up with one....lots of love glynis

 

I wanna make my video.

 

I have to confess complete ignorance to what Twibbon is - although I have just educated myself

We may be a little close to TAW to design something that looks really good, I'll get a proper look at the weekend.

 

Are we going to talk about hyperacusis too during the T week ?

 

I don't see why not. It's tough because we have hyperacusis, pulsatile tinnitus and various other things that often get lumped together. They are quite distinct but we have traction with Tinnitus Awareness Week that the other conditions may not get alone.

It will be nice to feature them in the awareness piece, whilst making the distinction that they aren't one and the same.

 

Tinnitus Awareness Week 2017 is now over and below is a video clip featuring Mr. David Stockdale (director of the BTA) and which aired on the BBC. The purpose of the 5-minute segment was to raise awareness of TAW2017 and also introduce the clinical guidelines that the BTA was behind this year.

British Tinnitus Association - BBC Interview -...

The BTA was also behind the efforts related to the Thunderclap campaign and which managed to outperform its initial goal:

www.thunderclap.it/projects/51132-together-for-tinnitus