Tinnitus is one of the most common conditions when it comes to hearing damage. Some people suffer from it a lot, but for others it is easily treatable. Hearing aids or noise masks can reduce the noise. In addition, cognitive behavioral therapy can teach you to deal with the noise – or ignore it. The World Health Organization has The Day of Hearing was created to draw attention to hearing health. That is today, March 3. A good time to consider the most common form of hearing damage.
Different types of tinnitus
25% of people have some form of tinnitus. That sounds like a lot, but most people experience little to no discomfort. It may be a mild form that occurs occasionally, or complaints that simply do not bother someone much. “There are many different stories of people with tinnitus,” Stegeman explains. And for people out there well suffer a lot, treatment is often possible. “I miss a nuanced picture in the reporting,” she says.
The stories currently dominating the media are about the far-reaching consequences of tinnitus. It can control people’s entire lives. “It makes me feel nauseous when I think about it. They are very intense and moving stories,” says Stegeman. But she says that doesn’t give a complete picture. Although logically it is a less interesting story that someone has a successful treatment. for his tinnitus, it is reality. She hopes that the media will report more about this and that celebrities will be able to speak out more about (their possible mild form of) tinnitus.
At the same time, this attention ensures that people are more careful with their hearing. Festival and concert earplugs have been on the rise for years. “A positive side effect,” Stegeman calls this. Yet she believes it is important that a complete picture is painted and that people know that treatment is often possible. “It is not always unsolvable,” she says.
Research
In fact, a lot of research is being done into new treatments for tinnitus. Although a media frame can also be discovered there. Sometimes such a study is announced with the headline ‘new treatment for tinnitus’, while it is only a starting study. This does not directly benefit people with tinnitus.
Inge Stegeman is involved in a project together with AMC and UMC called ‘Too good to be true’. Within this project they are putting together a toolbox that people can use to check what they actually benefit from. “We try to translate it into something that patients can do something with,” she says. For example, the epidemiologist conducts research into tinnitus, but also into research. She looks at how these can be optimized and how this can benefit people in more concrete terms.
