Tinnitus News

We need a thread dedicated to tinnitus-related news and stories in the media, that wouldn't otherwise fit in the Research News sub-forum. AND.THIS.IS.IT!



For some time now I've been seeing interesting news stories in my daily "rag" that I sometimes read when I'm out, pretending to be a normal person, that I'd like to share with you all. But haven't been able to find a thread where said stories would feel particularly relevant.

For example, I once found this gem of a news story, but with nowhere specific to post it, resorted to the miscellaneous CCAAT thread, where it was quickly buried under erotic tales of Tinnitus Talk members meeting in exotic locations, and pictures of food.

Later when @danielthor stole my brilliant post and tried to take credit for it, he came across the same problem, and was left with no choice but to post it in the miscellaneous CCAAT also.

Luckily he was found out and exposed (for his plagiarism), by none other than your favourite Tinnitus Talk member.

But the point remains. Heroes (me) and villains (@danielthor) alike, should have a place to share their interesting ear-related stories (whether stolen or not) on this forum that we call Tinnitus Talk.

 

I'd like to kick this thread off with some good news for all of us:



Yep, a repeated cymbal, followed by a tuba, alongside the din of road-traffic noise, trucks beeping as they go into reverse, along with the occasional car alarm; just like the snapping of a twig in the forest.

Just so long as it doesn't add to the noise-pollution, eh. Genius.

 

Well I got some news for you, @Damocles . I <3 you.

There, I said it.

 

There are many lawsuits targeting 3M for selling the military defective earplugs that caused hearing loss and tinnitus.

Two Army Vets Awarded $110 Million in 3M Earplug Lawsuit
January 28, 2022

Two Army veterans won a combined $110 million in the latest decision from a series of lawsuits alleging 3M sold the military faulty earplugs that caused hearing loss.

On Thursday, a federal jury in Pensacola, Florida, awarded William Wayman and Ronald Sloan each $15 million in compensatory damages and $40 million in punitive damages. The verdict represents the largest single payout since the series of trials began last year.

Read More Here:

https://www.military.com/daily-news...s-awarded-110-million-3m-earplug-lawsuit.html

 

Oh really, that doesn't surprise me at all. Between faulty earplugs that were sued over because of defect, wonder why the military didn't stop issuing them when they knew the earplugs were defect. But then again it took the military 20 plus years to acknowledge that Agent Orange killed men or I should says boys that were exposed to it during the Vietnam war. Any lawsuits were tossed out the back door over exposure to that deadly chemical.

"Oh, it wasn't us who dropped it on their own."

I've lost 3 damn good men to cancer from Agent Orange who served and were ignored.

 

The feeling's mutual @aura.

 

This is really good news actually.

Obviously not for the poor servicemen who had to suffer the hearing loss and (in some cases) resultant tinnitus for the payments to be made, but if (god forbid) I ever had to claim disability living allowance again for my tinnitus, I'd be inclined to share this (along with the Kent Taylor: Texas Roadhouse story) as evidence of what a life f*ck this illness is, and how seriously it's beginning to be taken.

Not to mention, lawsuits brought against the military by ex-servicemen is a constant spur in the side of national governments to start finding a fix for this "little problem" which keeps reoccurring, and draining taxes which should otherwise be going into businesses and charities owned by politicians and their families (aka. their pockets).

It reminds me of this story from 7 years ago, except the police officer who suffered tinnitus in this case wasn't issued any hearing protection, and he was very much ridiculed, discredited and treated as a some kind of scammer by the British media and public.

Unfortunately there was never any follow-up or conclusion in the press, as to whether he won, lost, or dropped the case...

I have to say, to date I have never found a 3M product to be faulty, so this really does surprise me.

Especially considering the volume that would have had to be faulty for a payment of this size to be awarded.

That's a damn good question, and the only answer I can conjure in my mind (albeit unbelievably) is cost, as with everything.

Most institutions I believe would rather issue their staff defective equipment, than have to go through the trouble of sending it back (time and money) or making a re-order (more time and money).

Still, I hope one day someone who is more recent ex-military or from a similarly dangerous job could shed more light on the reality of why this might be, or how it could have happened; as all I'm offering here is vague speculation (none of my jobs ever involved me working with specialist tools, protective gear or hazardous materials).

Scandalous.

 

Btw not sure if you know this, @SD7, posted a lot of new details in that Kent Taylor thread about his story recently.

He was actually feeling better after some various treatments, but when he got his COVID-19 vaccine shot in March, it got really bad again.

 

I did see that actually, thank you @ZFire.

I found the update by @SD7 incredibly interesting, and also entirely agreed with your point regarding how unfortunate it was that he didn't give himself time to heal from the setback.

We're currently seeing several users on this forum going through the exact same nightmare as Kent Taylor, like @Jon R., @volsung37 and @Brian P (to name a few). All had come to terms with their tinnitus, prior to accepting one of the "shots".

Luckily those people (unlike Kent Taylor, for whatever reason) located this forum somewhere along the line, and so get inundated with messages informing them of the fact it has every chance of going down/getting better.

On that subject though, the organisation I joined last year have played a massive part in preventing the mandates from coming into effect in England. So that's good news for both normal people and tinnitus sufferers, in England, alike. Because the obvious progression would have (and has, in countries like Germany, Australia and Austria) been, to start with health workers and then expand to ordinary workers, and eventually just everyone.

So hopefully (like with "Brexit"), us b@st@rd cranks over here in "little" England, can start a chain reaction throughout Europe, against yet another attempt to claim what's left of our freedoms.

Would also help if you guys elected "Trump" again (instead of the roaches guy), simply for the fact that he would guarantee the UK a lucrative trade deal; the lack of which (under Biden) is currently the biggest threat to maintaining it's recently won independence.

 

So, not going to lie. If this had been an attribute of the COVID-19 gene-therapy when it debuted, I may have been tempted to accept one (or two/three/four/five... hundred).

Scientists begin trial of experimental HIV vaccine (msn.com)

So I'll be keeping a close eye on this.

Reminds me of a comment once made by the legendary @JohnAdams on the topic of Finasteride and it's alleged links to sexual dysfunction.

I of course (as some of you already know) have been taking finasteride for 6 years now, and it's had no effect on my libido or ability to perform (sometimes to my annoyance, as there are days I wouldn't mind an off switch).

So not an ultimatum I was ever actually faced with.

But in the case of these new HIV vaccines, should the trials be declared "successful", there will be an ultimatum. Something to the effect of: (potentially) worse tinnitus (and other unknown side effects) vs inability to have multiple partners without protection or risk of life altering auto-immune deficiency.

Or at least, that's how it will seem.

I'm not going to give a definitive statement on this, because I think it's important people come to their own conclusions; but make sure you look into this first before you believe the hype and take "the new shot".

Because much like with COVID-19 and the misinformation around it which made it into the mainstream scientific paradigm; HIV may not be what you have been led to believe.

Doctors and Scientists on HIV-AIDS: AIDS Isn’t Caused by a Virus - Weblyf

This might be starting to sound familiar to a few of you. COVID-19: Perfectly safe and effective vaccines. Without these vaccines you are at serious risk of hospitalisation and even death.

HIV Does Not Cause AIDS | The BMJ

In any case, I'm just providing you with the other side of the coin here, for when these new "vaccines against HIV" make themselves known. Many scientists' voices have been swept under the carpet (just like with COVID-19) over the last three decades, and there is a strong belief held by them that HIV is in fact harmless; with the drugs given to those who test positive for the "virus" being the thing that ultimately cause an early death.

Stop Giving People Toxic Drugs: HIV Does Not Cause AIDS | The BMJ

My advice is: do your own research before you accept any new drug or "vaccine", to decide if the risk is worth it. And whether you as an individual choose to take it or not, never let it become mandatory.

 

I'm more concerned about HSV than HIV. A condom won't protect you from HSV.

 

I know 2 people with HIV and they both have great quality of life - their condition is incredibly well managed. One of them has just been told he can now have children because the level of virus in his system is so low that there is virtually zero chance of him passing HIV to his sexual partner/child. It a very stigmatised condition.

I could see this vaccination being helpful in places where HIV is highly prevalent, and the health care system, and availability of drugs is lacking. However, in places like the UK it doesn’t make much sense. HIV is not a death sentence here.

I don’t think it will become mandatory either, it will be similar to the HPV vaccination, because unless you are having unprotected sex with a HIV positive person, it is extremely unlikely that you will become infected. In contrast, you can get COVID-19 just from talking to someone.

I personally agree with you though, no vaccination should be mandated. At fear of being lynched, I see it much like abortion - MY body, MY choice. Anyway, like @kingsfan already highlighted, HIV is not the only STD out there.

 

Tinnitus biobank needed to explain ringing ears condition

The UK urgently needs a biobank library of human tissue samples so experts can study and find better treatments, or a cure, for "ringing in the ears", says the British Tinnitus Association (BTA).

More than seven million adults in the UK are thought to have tinnitus.

This stressful and upsetting condition of hearing whooshing, buzzing or other intensely annoying sounds with no external source is poorly understood.

For some, it becomes difficult or impossible to lead a normal life.

A survey by the charity, carried out in November with 2,600 people with tinnitus, suggests almost one in 10 living with the condition has experienced thoughts about suicide or self-harm in the past two years.

To read the full news, go to:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-60258453

 

I'm extremely interested in, and conflicted about (the ethics surrounding), the BTA biobank.

I want to learn a lot more about it.

It sounds as if the data of the people on this site would be an invaluable tool in the search for an effective treatment for tinnitus, and for that reason I would like to contribute.

But on the other hand, I'm a strong believer in privacy, and am incredibly wary about the dangers and ease of data theft and trading.

So my first question on this subject is going to be: how useful is this data going to be in expediting the materialisation of a treatment?

And my second question: how extensive (personalised) and safe is this data going to be?

For example, my parents were recently victims of a massive data breach at British Airways in 2019. And if that can happen at a company the size of BA, then how well prepped are a small charitable organisation going to be against such acts?

As I've already said, there's a lot more about this I (we) need to learn.

But what is for certain, is that we as a community, really need to start pulling our own weight, and demonstrating a commitment to showing how much we want a treatment at the very least.

EDIT: will be copying and pasting a large chunk of this post into the thread debating this topic, which I've linked.

 

Good news today. The upcoming highly anticipated video game, Horizon Forbidden West just revealed an impressive number of accessibility features.

Accessibility features in Horizon Forbidden West

The thing that really caught my attention is that they have some excellent features for tinnitus / sound sensitive gamers:

You love to see it. The developers are keeping us in mind so that our experience may be a comfortable one. Let’s hope this sets a precedent for future titles going forward now.

 

This is both surreal and nothing less than amazing @ZFire.

Developers actually implementing features for sound sensitivity? I never thought I'd live to see the day.

This is really great news, as I completely gave up on FPSs (my all time favourite genre of video game) after I developed severe tinnitus, for exactly the reason that they are so harsh on the ears (focally as a result of gunfire and explosive SFX).

What's more, many of the modern games in the genre actually now require you to include hearing as part of your strategy (like being able to listen out for your opponent's footsteps etc.).

So something like this, if included in more games in the future, could re-open this entire genre for me (and I guess others).

What would be truly amazing, is if this became such a staple, that they included it as a feature in ports of classic games in the future; because I never got to play the Halo series, or Perfect Dark Zero.

 

Yeah, I tried playing Call of Duty multiplayer without volume recently... I was clearly at a disadvantage.

 

A friend of mine just sent me this picture saying it had popped up on his Echo Show as a trending topic:



I wonder if this has anything to do with the biobank?

Anyway, you don’t often see the word tinnitus and trending in the same sentence, lol.

 

More press are jumping on the bandwagon:

‘You feel helpless’: Tinnitus and its impact on mental health

 

These are really good finds @Ed209, so thank you for sharing them.

However -and this may just be my own glass half empty character defect rearing it's ugly head - I can't help but get hung up on the negatives in the METRO article. For example:

1)

No, we/they don't "believe" people don't understand; people don't understand.

2)

3)

Just where do they find these people? They don't represent the severe or urgent end of the spectrum where tinnitus sufferers are concerned at all. "Management techniques" brought it down to 20% noticeability!?

So some bullsh*t like TRT then...

Also, I love how neither of them pinpoints any possible cause for their tinnitus.

"Physiotherapy" and "reflexology"? Okay, so perhaps Kirsty has purely posture induced tinnitus. It's not exactly common, but of course the article gives the impression this is something that would work for all tinnitus sufferers.

So I realise I should be applying my own "beggars can't be choosers" philosophy to this, but I can't help but get frustrated at the same old misrepresentation that suggests there are ways of handling this beyond simply developing mental resilience tantamount to that of a metallic bond.

On the positive side though, I notice more and more accurate information creeping into these article:

lol! What treatment options? But at least we're now acknowledging that 80% of sufferers are being severely let down.

Also the BTA biobank is coming up again, which I'm still conflicted on (but that's because I still haven't watched the BTA video @UKBloke provided me with).

 

I guess it’s much easier to “find” people with low level ear troubles.

Nice thread @Damocles.

 

The thing I'm conflicted with most about the current BTA proposition is their statement that having a biobank will also enable the objective measurement of tinnitus severity.

We already have evidence on this forum that a measurement of tinnitus severity has been achieved with @DebInAustralia who participated in the Bionics Institute (ongoing) study and posted some of that communication here.

I'm sure the BTA don't have time to sift through Tinnitus Talk but in the context of the biobank proposal I'm quite surprised that more hasn't been made of the news coming out of Australia.

 

Crazy good news!

As Covid-19 Becomes Endemic Research Finds Infection Can Cause Hearing Loss + Ringing In Ears

 

Very astute and valuable commentary, Damocles, especially encapsulated in your remark, "Just where do they find these people?"

In September 2019 I was so exasperated with how this condition is so inexcusably trivialized and given such short shrift that I posted the following:

"With all due respect, I have been analyzing all sorts of websites on tinnitus ever since I got this condition on 01/2014 and I have encountered so many tragic, heartbreaking notices of suicides that I eventually lost count. This includes reporters' articles from interviews with the ATA, personal stories on all sorts of YouTube sites, reports from the British News Media, and most tellingly the number of sufferers who once posted on this forum who were never heard from again (or who we learned about for a fact).

Let's not forget the consequential pathologies from this condition such as alcoholism, drug addiction, divorce, incapacitation that led to lifelong reclusiveness, domestic and other forms of violence, lives generally ruined that led to homelessness, and misdiagnoses that led to treatments for unrelated mental illnesses."​

 

This literally makes me want to cry. 12% of people develop tinnitus? That’s a pretty large percentage if it’s true.

 

Some papers say there's a 15% chance of getting tinnitus after COVID-19 infection. I calculated around 50M people already has tinnitus caused by a COVID-19 infection. In a few years no one will know what silence is if this keeps going like this. I sincerely don't understand what's the point in spending a lot of money on vaccines to prevent death (I know it also can prevent infection to a certain extent) but not caring about the quality of life of the patients infected. And believe me I would take all long haul COVID-19 symptoms or even death, instead of severe/catastrophic tinnitus. Easy choice.

I do not know what big pharmas are waiting to open their eyes and bring something to tinnitus like molecules similar to RL-81 or XEN-1101.

By the way, I hope you all listened to @Hazel and submitted a video of your tinnitus experience. We need to make a good video for awareness.

—— @Hazel said ——​

Submit your audio/video about how tinnitus affects you, and what you expect from tinnitus research.

We ran this campaign last year too, but did not yet gather enough submissions to create an awesome video that we can present to the research community. So let your voice be heard and submit your message!

Based on your submissions, we will create an awareness video to share with researchers during an upcoming tinnitus research event (COVID permitting).

How?
Click play on the below 1-minute video, and at the end you will have the option to respond via video or audio, right within this page. The maximum length of a response is 5 minutes.

 

Check! I never drank like I do since getting tinnitus. You are one of my favorite posters.

 

Yes, I have seen this paper that said 15%, but I always thought it was exaggerated as it only looked at people who were hospitalised. I am wondering if this 12% is recent onset, or people who have maybe experienced a temporary spike/conductive hearing loss due to congestion. I always wish that studies would break information down a bit more, so we could be a bit better informed.

My Rheumatologist is certain I had COVID-19 in November 2020 because I showed her a picture of a rash on my feet which she called ‘COVID-19 toe’. I had no other symptoms what so ever, but I didn’t have tinnitus back then.

We will all be exposed at some point, it’s unavoidable unless you want to live like a hermit. My main worry is that my daughter gets tinnitus because she is genetically predisposed. I have nightmares about it all the time, but what can I do, she has to go to nursery, school etc.

I know you are particularly struggling right now, and that you probably would take long COVID-19 over severe tinnitus. However, coming from someone who suffers from chronic joint pain, peripheral neuropathy, severe fatigue and migraines (all of which are long COVID-19 symptoms), I can assure you that Long COVID-19 is no walk in the park. To be able to stand, walk, exercise, dance, carry your child without pain, is a blessing that should never be taken for granted, much like being able to hear silence.