Imagine hearing a noise all the time - a ringing or a buzzing in your ears, something that only you can hear. That's the reality for many people living with tinnitus for which there is no cure.

Now a Glossop woman is using Tinnitus Awareness Week, which runs until February 13, to raise the profile of the condition and highlight what help is available and what people can be doing to help protect their hearing. 

With one in eight people living with persistent tinnitus, Lisa Caldwell, who suddenly developed tinnitus herself in 2005, says it is important people get the help and support they need. 

“Often, they are told by the GP or Ear Nose and Throat Consultant that ‘that’s it’ and they just have to live with it,” she said. 

“That can be a devastating diagnosis for a lot of people.” 

The Sheffield-based British Tinnitus Association is a major source of information and support. 

“They have a help-line and support line. It is a fantastic outfit,” said Lisa.

The charity, which funds research into the condition, also has local support groups.

For some, tinnitus is noise related if they have been in a job and haven’t had the correct noise protection; for others it can be following a cold, a neck injury or from medication. 

“There are so many different reasons for the onset it can be very difficult for people to pinpoint where they get it from,” Lisa added.

In Lisa’s case she went to bed as normal, and woke up with no hearing on one side, and tinnitus instead. Her hearing never returned, and her tinnitus never left. The only time the noise stops is when she is asleep. 

For years she tried various treatments and therapies and found for her the most effective was mindful mediation. 

“It was a very difficult experience having to relearn to focus alongside the noise rather than wishing it away all the time,” she explained.

But that experience has inspired Lisa to help others and led her to becoming a mindful meditation teacher, the Hearing Coach, working remotely with people with tinnitus around the world. 

Part of what she does is to help people come to terms with having tinnitus, creating a toolkit they can use to learn to accept the condition as part of their life and stop it taking over. 

“My life’s work is helping people with tinnitus to reclaim their lives from the distress that tinnitus causes,” she explained.

As Lisa is seeing younger people suffering with the condition, she is also using the awareness week to encourage people to look after their hearing. 

In some cases it is playing music over the recommended volume, particularly if you have ear buds in, perhaps trying to drown out the noise of a busy road.

“It is really important not to subject your ears to loud noises for a long time because you will start to see you have got hearing damage and hearing loss has been replaced with sound in your head - tinnitus because of that,” Lisa said.

“If you are in noisy pubs or clubs take the opportunity to nip outside into the quiet just to let your ears recover from that assault of noise and loud music and go back in an enjoy yourself.  

“It is about giving your ears the opportunity to re-calibrate - a lot of it is common sense.” 

More information is available from the British Tinnitus Association at https://www.tinnitus.org.uk/ or www.thehearingcoach.com 

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