NHS Choices Condition
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Paul Burrows, 45, has had tinnitus for as long as he can remember. He tells us what itâs like living with it.
âI only realised I had the condition in 1994, when my doctor diagnosed me with hearing loss and told me I also had tinnitus. Until then, I always thought the noises I heard were normal, that everyone else heard them.
âIâve decided to name all the different sounds I hear because there are so many. The names I give them describe exactly what they sound like. The most obvious one is the sound of the sea.
âI also get whistling, which a lot of people with tinnitus experience, and thereâs one that I call a flock of seagulls. Iâve also got one I call television, although itâs more like hearing a television in the next room as you canât actually hear whatâs being said.
âThe worst thing about my tinnitus is that I might have the flock of seagulls noise in one ear, and the television noise in the other.
âIâm also profoundly deaf, and one night I woke up in the middle of the night and thought I could hear again. I said to my wife, âI can hear the clock tickingâ, but it was a sound caused by my tinnitus.
âMy hearing loss bothers me but my tinnitus doesnât. Itâs always been there.â
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