I take close attention to blogs covering tinnitus of which for many, become a disabling nature. I find that in my case, emotions play the bigger part. Born severely deaf, I did not take much notice of the inner noises thinking everybody has the same.
I mentioned to mother while a small child she was uncertain what I was talking about so I never raised the matter again. While working in adult education colleges in my middle years, many students pleaded with me to help reduce the ‘crazy whiskin, whistling, shuddering’ noises. I realised that I lived with tinnitus and hardly paid any attention until the 1990s.
The noises increases whenever I get tired or emotional. I spoke with other deaf contemporaries and found it common within the BSL users so somehow we grew up with these inner noises with the minimum of stress. It is an interesting phenomena for me with tinnitus which developed in later life as opposed to the lifelong ‘feature’.
Now with the limited success with masking remedies there is a wider recognition for better awareness on how excessively loud music can be a incurable hazard. Technology continue to concentrate on amplifiers which are potentially damaging both deaf and hearing children who have varying levels of pain thresholds. Really I would point the finger at those who disregard responsibility to regulate sound levels in societies.
We need to consider raising the matter again and again that ignorance is a form of ‘neglect abuse’. There are regulations in the workplace as with Health and Safety but it is not enough ……so over to the entertainment sectors to highlight risks. No more pathetic excuses.
lyndasharp2 