00:00 Well, tinnitus is a really individual condition, so how people experience it varies from person
00:09 to person. For some people it's just maybe a passing annoyance, but for those that it
00:16 hits, it can hit very hard and it can have a big impact on their emotional and mental
00:24 well-being.
00:25 National charity Tinnitus UK is calling for more to be done to help support the 7.6 million
00:30 people in the UK living with tinnitus. New research reveals a fifth of those living with
00:35 the condition have experienced thoughts of self-harm and even suicide. But what exactly
00:40 is tinnitus? Well, Tinnitus UK describes it as ultimately the sensation of hearing a sound
00:45 when there is no external source for that sound.
00:48 And for some people, the pressure and the stress of living with tinnitus can lead to
01:04 thoughts of hopelessness and helplessness and even sadly, to thoughts of harming themselves
01:12 in some way.
01:14 Tinnitus Week tends to be held in the first week of February, this year falling between
01:18 the 5th and 11th. The week is hoped to educate the public about the causes, impact and management
01:24 of tinnitus.
01:25 It's any noise that you are hearing that isn't coming from an external source. And again,
01:33 the quality of noises that people can hear can vary. It can be hissing, it can be ringing,
01:38 it can be buzzing. It can even be snatches of music, something called musical tinnitus.
01:44 And for that, it can be really random. It's not like necessarily an earworm. You can hear
01:49 bizarre things. So if you're hearing noise and it's not an external source and nobody
01:55 else is hearing it because some people do worry that it's their neighbours or a factory
02:00 or air conditioning, nobody else is hearing it, then it's likely to be tinnitus.
02:06 Police UK also found that 85.7% of respondents who suffered from tinnitus suffered from sleep
02:11 disturbances with 8 out of 10 reporting low mood or anxiety.
02:17 But there are some common causes. One of the main preventable causes is exposure to loud
02:25 noise. So that can sometimes, yes, it can be listening too loudly to your headphones
02:31 or ear buds, whether that's music, whether that's gaming, whether that's your favourite
02:36 Netflix. But people can lose their hearing for a number of reasons, and that includes
02:41 getting older. Tinnitus is more common as we get older. Yeah, I mean, carers and people,
02:47 I mean, tinnitus can have an impact. Like say if it's impacting somebody, how they feel,
02:53 how they're living, then that's going to have an impact on who they're living with and who
02:56 they're interacting with. So all our support is open.
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