John Hanaway, of Finchley, London, is nearly 70 years old. It was in the early 1950s, just having turned a teenager, that he was diagnosed with tinnitus. Living in Ireland and suffering from tuberculosis, in those days there was only one medicine guaranteed to cure – streptomycin. Unfortunately, its side effect was deafness. When John started showing signs of hearing impairment, the doctors cut short the duration of the medication to four instead of the full six months. Although that left him with partial hearing, it also bestowed him with tinnitus.

“I’ve lived with it for so many years, I’ve learnt to block it out most of the time,” says the sexagenarian. “But it never goes away. It’s like the ringing of a small, sharp bell. When I get tired or depressed, the tinnitus gets worse. I experimented with drinking a few years ago, but I quickly discovered that drinking too much makes it worse as well.”

It’s music that the retired accountant misses the most. He can’t hear certain sounds, like the strains of a violin, so classical music is not on his agenda. But jazz he can follow and even enjoy, although he’s never quite sure what he’s listening to, because he can’t make out individual sounds.

John is unhappy about the lack of help and support from the health service and medical professionals, fueled by a lack of awareness. “Doctors have no idea what it is. ENT specialists don’t understand tinnitus and so they don’t want to talk about it. At every hearing test they are surprised that I can still hear. It’s only because I’ve still got a little bit of hearing left in my right ear that I can listen to the telephone and have a conversation. Otherwise, I would not even have had a career as an accountant. I’ve succeeded very well in ignoring the sounds, but only through my own determination,” says the Londoner.

John rues the lack

the sufferings of thousands of people. “There’s got be a cure, although I’ve given up hope. There needs to be more awareness and understanding of tinnitus, so that people who live with it don’t feel like they’re forgotten,” he adds.

The UK-based charity Action for Tinnitus Research focuses on funding medical and scientific research in pursuit of a cure and raising awareness is a key part of its work. Operations director Nick Doughty said: “It is estimated that over five million people in the UK are affected by tinnitus and it can have a devastating effect on their quality of life. Not enough information is available about the very complex symptom and we are one of the few organisations determined to do something about it.  We are committed to funding leading edge research and providing practical information to health professionals for the benefit of sufferers,” he added.

For more information on Action for Tinnitus Research, logon to the website at
www.tinnitus-research.org, e-mail help@tinnitus-research.org or telephone 0115 925 4065

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