Listen up: Hearing issue that causes long-lasting problems
Faced with a heartbreaking decision, Scottish songstress KT Tunstall recently had to cancel her headline tour to preserve what she had left of her hearing.
Years of exposure to loud music while performing has left Tunstall completely deaf in her left ear, which was accompanied by an overwhelming case of tinnitus – a condition that causes sufferers to hear ringing or buzzing noises inside their ear that has no external cause. For some people, the sound only lasts a few seconds, but for others like Tunstall, it is a constant, inescapable distraction.
After playing back-to-back shows earlier this summer, Tunstall began to develop tinnitus in her right ear too. As tinnitus signalled the breakdown of her left ear years before, she decided to not take any chances and cancelled her upcoming shows, saying:“it could be the difference between being able to be a musician or not.”
This is a common condition among musicians, including Oasis singer Noel Gallagher who describes it as sounding like a “whistling kettle”, but it’s also common within the wider population.
While most of us rarely miss a check-up with our dentist or optician, we tend to not bother with having our hearing checked out. But experts say we should not be so complacent about our ear health, especially as conditions like tinnitus have no cure.
“When people leave concerts and the music was so loud that their ears are ringing, we used to think that ears quickly recovered and that there was no penalty for that. But the reality is that while they do recover there is some incremental damage that can build up over time, which can have consequences,” said audiologist and tinnitus specialist Alan Hopkirk, clinical director at the Invisible Hearing Clinic in Glasgow.
Tinnitus can range from annoying to deeply distressing, depending on the severity and frequency of the noise.around one in eight people have tinnitus, with 20% of them finding it difficult and detrimental to their day-to-day life.
The most common cause is damage to the inner ear as a result of consistent exposure to loud noises, but a build-up of earwax, a perforated eardrum, diabetes, certain prescription medications and even stress and depression can bring on bouts of the condition too. Even if tinnitus is infrequent and short-lived it is can still cause the hearer major distress, as it can trick the brain into thinking there is a nearby threat and it then floods the body with anxietyinducing hormones.
Hopkirk explained:“the reason why we have a hearing system is to be aware of danger and to avoid it. Our hearing system is connected to our limbic system so that if we hear something scary our fight of flight system kicks in. If you are walking along and you suddenly hear a loud, grating noise, your brain might think it’s a tiger and produce adrenaline that makes your body take to its heels. So the anxiety symptoms tinnitus can cause can be very debilitating and can even lead to depression.”
There is no magic way to stop tinnitus, but Hopkirk says a holistic approach can help