Our audiologist Madeleine Benson has a special interest in tinnitus management and last week she had a fascinating time at the #Tinnitus23 Conference run by Tinnitus UK.
The Tinnitus UK charity ‘strives for a world where no one suffers with Tinnitus’.
They provide free support to tinnitus sufferers and their carers; they lead the campaign for more investment in tinnitus research, connecting the research to people who are living daily with tinnitus to understand the impact on everyday life; and work with healthcare professionals to ensure people with tinnitus get the right information to manage the condition.
Madeleine says: “A whole week of being able to focus on tinnitus, absorbing the positive vibes and hopes for the future, and hearing new ideas for how to help tinnitus sufferers was such a worthwhile way to spend time.
“One presentation by Professor Vinaya Manchaiah, Director of Audiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus was about finding the positive side of hearing loss and tinnitus. It followed the idea of positive psychology – that if people can identify a positive, it can help with their perception of their condition and habituation (growing accustomed to a situation or stimulus, and thereby diminishing its intrusiveness) to the tinnitus.
“The Professor states that 40% of people within a study population could identify at least one positive to having a hearing loss.
“I really liked considering the flip side of what we so often talk about with such negative connotations – hearing LOSS, lack of communication, social isolation, anxiety, and even dementia.”
Some examples from Professor Manchaiah’s presentation of active coping mechanisms to manage the condition appear in the screenshot from the presentation in this article.
Madeleine concludes: “Whether it is a sense of your own inner strength or an ability to learn new relaxation techniques, we challenge you to try and think of at least one positive outcome from your own experiences with tinnitus and or hearing loss!”