Being diagnosed with tinnitus as a teenager came as a blow to Hannah Crosby. But she tells health reporter Kate Liptrot how it is possible to live a normal life – with a bit of resilience.

WHEN she was 16 and off school with the flu, Hannah Crosby started to hear a maddening ringing in her ear.

No matter which room of the house she went in, what music she played or car journey she went on, the constant ringing was impossible to escape, and soon began to drive her to distraction.

Doctors reassured the Huntington School pupil it was probably a side-effect of the flu and an ear infection which would go away in a matter of weeks.

But the noise was relentless, and even when the ear infection had cleared up, months later, the distressing ringing was not only still there but had spread to both ears and got louder.

Hannah was eventually referred to hospital, where the ear, nose and throat department told her she had tinnitus and broke the news the infuriating noise may never go away – something she hadn’t even known was a possibility.

Hannah was also advised she should avoid clubs and music gigs in the future, as it was suggested loud music could have caused the tinnitus.

“They said it might go but it might not,” she remembers from the sofa of her family home in Strensall. “I said, ‘What do you mean it might not go?’ I had been counting the days till it would – everyone had given me different deadlines.

“So now I have to come to terms with the fact I’m going to have this noise for the rest of my life and I’m never going to have silence or go to gigs or do the things I did before.

“I went from being a social animal that had all these friends to staying in with my mum and dad. I went from having a crammed social life, a part-time job and always being busy to having my mum sleeping in my room for when I woke up.”

Now 19, Hannah recalls being given given an MRI scan – which was all clear – and a leaflet, and being left with the horrible fear she would have to cope with this on her own.

Having been off school for months, and seeing her life dramatically change without warning, she hit a low point. As doctors had told her she was unusually young to be affected by tinnitus, she started to feel very alone.

“I thought I would rather not live than hear this sound all the time,” she said.

“It was horrendous. I went from being carefree to becoming really dependent on my mum and dad. I thought I couldn’t be on my own, I needed to be distracted.”

But things began to look better when she attended the Tinnitus Clinic at York Hospital.

An audiologist at the clinic told her that while the tinnitus may not go, she would become habituated to the noise in the same way people are to clocks ticking or birds singing.

She was put in touch with another young sufferer, which reassured her she wasn’t alone with the problem, and advised to buy a sound therapy system via the British Tinnitus Association, which plays background sounds including the sound of the sea to help her sleep.

It helped so much she used to take it to friends’ houses with her to help her concentrate on discussions.

Now Hannah hears three different noises – a shrill ringing and a rustling noise in one ear and a deep drum-like noise in the other.

But she only hears the noise when she tries to and otherwise tunes it out. She is extremely positive about the future.

“I accepted it would not go,” she said simply. “I gradually got my life back.

“It took about seven or eight months to feel I could live a really happy life with it. I never, never thought I would be able to live a happy life again.

“I was so happy to know people lived their life through it.

“I never thought I would not hear my tinnitus but now I don’t notice it. I have got used to it.”

Wearing ear plugs to protect her ears, Hannah is able to go to clubs and gigs with her friends.

And she said her experience had brought her closer to mum and dad Julie and Darren and older brother Mike, and has influenced her decision to study mental health and volunteer at York Carers Centre.

“I had never had anything bad happen to me before,” said Hannah. “I feel I have a better understanding of people and it’s really helped me.

“My parents became like my best friends. I’m a lot closer to them. It’s brought the family closer together.

“In a way I’m glad it happened because I have got closer to people. And now I know that tinnitus won’t hold me back from anything.”


Tinnitus: the facts

• Affecting at least one in ten of the UK population, 6.3 million, tinnitus is the unseen condition which can cause distress to individuals of any age. Tinnitus can be mild to severe and can affect sleep and concentration

• It can also lead to anxiety and depression and there is currently no cure

• Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of an actual external noise

• Often referred to as “ringing in the ears”, it is most commonly experienced as a high-pitched noise, sometimes having a mechanical, electrical or musical quality

• Tinnitus is a symptom of an underlying condition, often one that has damaged the tiny hairs inside your inner ear that trigger nerve cells to transmit sound to the brain. When these delicate hairs are damaged, for example through natural hearing loss from ageing, an injury to the ear, loud noise, the nerves transmit abnormal messages to the brain, which interprets them as sound

• Of the adult population, 1.6 per cent are severely distressed by tinnitus and 2.8 per cent are moderately distressed by the condition. This means that approximately half of patients with tinnitus find it moderately or severely distressing.

• For more information about tinnitus and to find local support groups with the British Tinnitus Association, visit tinnitus.org.uk