Hertfordshire man appalled at lack of tinnitus funding
Alan Salsbury, of Westill, Hertfordshire, first experienced tinnitus as a teenage DJ 35 years ago. Mixing records one over the other, and regular exposure to extremely loud club music is blamed by Alan for the start of his nightmare with tinnitus.
Initially his tinnitus was a temporary irritation. However in late 1995 after an office Christmas party, the noises in Alan’s right ear became continuous, and the reality hit him that his tinnitus was now a permanent condition. The 64-year-old has partly learned to live with the symptom, but he is appalled at the lack of knowledge, awareness and research about tinnitus.
In 1983 Alan took a flying course and gained his pilot's licence. The club aircraft were supposed to be fitted with headphones and microphones but they kept being stolen, so most aircraft didn’t have them. In order to converse with Air Traffic Control, the sound level was turned up to maximum within the cabin to be able to hear over the engine noise. The speaker was just above the pilot's head. This further compounded Alan’s tinnitus problems.
“There are insufficient awareness campaigns, because there is not enough funding,” says Alan. “The government doesn’t think it’s important, because tinnitus doesn’t usually stop people working. As many people aren’t being treated for their tinnitus, it’s not a drain on NHS resources, so why pay attention to it? A lot more testing should be done, more trials and research.”
Alan managed to ignore his tinnitus originally, and to some extent control it, for two years. “I discovered that in my initial stages of tinnitus, if I got away from all sounds when the hissing began, I could stop the symptom for a while,” he recalls. But generally it was there in the background, noticeable in moments of silence. “As a marine claims adjuster, I had to take clients out for the evening which meant going to noisy venues like clubs. So I started wearing earplugs, which helped. I also found that everyday sounds like traffic and the radio or TV helped to drown out the tinnitus,” he recalls.
About two years ago, Alan’s tinnitus became worse following a flight to New Zealand from Hong Kong. He had put in earplugs to limit his exposure to the engine noise. But the earplug from his right ear fell out while he was asleep and his tinnitus reacted badly to the increased sound levels. “It was like a seashell near my ear, or the sound of wind blowing. Frequent work-related air travel aggravated his tinnitus further. Now, I can only make it go away if I pinch my nose and breathe out hard. But the sound is back almost instantly. It is very tough knowing that there is no cure,” he explains.
Alan has moved to the country to try and escape sound as much as possible, and to some extent this has helped. But he is unable to experience silence, and misses it greatly. “I will never have the luxury of silence again. You don’t realise how valuable it is till you’ve lost it forever. Tinnitus has started to affect my sleeping patterns as well. The sounds in my ear now wake me up almost every night,” he adds.
He urges both young and old: “Protect your ears now while you can.” I tell my daughters, my neighbours, anyone who will listen. “Don’t ignore your hearing, or you’ll lose it forever and it’s very precious indeed.” Deafness Research UK is the country's only charity dedicated to finding new cures, treatments and technologies for the deaf, hard of hearing and other hearing impaired people including tinnitus sufferers.
If you would like to help us increase awareness of tinnitus, why not become a Regional Ambassador for Deafness Research UK? By getting our message across to other people, our objective is to raise further funds to conduct the research that will bring relief for millions of people like you. Click here for further information, or call the Deafness Research UK Information Service on 0808 808 2222.
