Issue September 2007

Research Update>>
Focus on somatosensory tinnitus

Hearing researchers in the US and Europe have been investigating the fascinating phenomenon known as somatosensory tinnitus. This is a particular type of tinnitus in which the tinnitus patient is able to change the loudness or tone of their tinnitus by facial movements such as jaw clenching or jaw opening or tensing their neck muscles.
Find out more about somatosensory tinnitus



NICE Campaign>>
We've received a response

We received the following letter from NICE following our campaign to try to get tinnitus on the UK national healthcare agenda. At first, we were very disappointed by the response. However, on reflection, we don't see this as outright failure. We realise that more needs to be done to raise awareness of tinnitus and thereby ensure tinnitus becomes an agenda item. It may not be a priority right now, but that does not mean it will never be. A critical dependency for NICE to be able to respond more positively could be the availability of cures for tinnitus which of course is what ATR is striving to achieve.

What can we do to make tinnitus a priority? We would be interested in your views on this response and what we as a charity and our supporters can do practically to progress this further. The full response from NICE is as follows:

"Re: NICE topic suggestion on tinnitus

Thank you for your topic suggestion on the management of tinnitus.

NICE reviews all suggestions to ensure they are suitable for appraisal and to check whether they are already included in our work. The suggestions are then filtered according to a check list which is based on the Department of Health's selection criteria and is published on our website at: www.nice.org.uk/364841.

Only topics which meet the selection criteria are put forward to the next stage of the selection process. Unfortunately your topic will not be going forward to the next stage of the selection process as it did not meet all the selection criteria.

There are three specific areas where your topic did not meet the Department of Health selection criteria. Firstly, the proposed guidance on tinnitus does not fall into one of the public health or NHS clinical priority areas or to any other health related government priorities.

Secondly, NICE would not be able to add value by issuing guidance on tinnitus, and thirdly, it would not be timely for NICE to provide guidance on tinnitus.

I hope this explains our decision. If you have any further questions, please contact the topic suggestion team at topicsuggestion@nice.org.uk

Yours sincerely,

NICE Topic Selection Team"

Tell us what your views are on the subject?



Media Ambassadors>>
Talk about their Tinnitus

Sandra Channer of Shropshire went to the doctor for a routine procedure to have the wax build-up in her left ear cleaned. But she ended up with a persistent buzzing in her ear. Sandra, a special needs teacher is upset with the lack of awareness and limited funds for research into the causes and cures for tinnitus.
Read Sandra's story...

Sidney Edward Britton of Hertfordshire is still trying to cope with tinnitus, 18 years after it first began. It's not loud noises but the deafening silences that bother him the most. And now that he's retired, the 65-year-old is struggling to live with the symptom.
Read Sidney's story

A small selection of our Online Press Coverage:
ihealthwire
1888pressrelease
PR Log
PRBuzz



Media Ambassadors>>
Let your voice be heard

The plight of tinnitus sufferers is being heard load and clear thanks to our media ambassadors. Our Media Ambassadors' stories are being published everywhere

Tinnitus sufferers are potentially a huge and powerful lobby; almost one in ten in the UK suffers. Help us further get the message across and increase the number of tinnitus Ambassadors.

Just imagine if we had hundreds of people around the country speaking up about tinnitus to the media, local MPs, friends, colleagues, etc on a daily basis. This is our aim with the Ambassadors' Programme. Healthcare officials and politicians wouldn't be able to ignore us then and we could get the funding we desperately need to invest in research - to find treatments and cures for tinnitus.

Would you like to spread the message that more needs to be done for tinnitus sufferers? Contact us today to join our growing army of media ambassadors.

I'd like to become a media ambassador... tell me more



Your Experiences>>
We just have to find a cure

Here are extracts from a few of the most recent experiences published:
Emma from the UK: "As a music loving teen, I attended many music festivals and gigs. My dad always warned me about hearing loss, explaining how his own tinnitus and hearing difficulties get him down. I chose to ignore his advice..."

Sian from Worcester, UK: "Hello, I'm 42 now and have had tinnitus for as long as I can remember. I recall, as a small child, lying in bed listening to the whistling, thinking that what I could hear was what people meant by 'the sound of silence..."

Patrick from England: "I am aged 60 and started tinnitus in 1981. I had developed a blood disorder the previous year and was being treated for bronchitis. A locum GP gave me strong antibiotics and told me to go on a 3 day fruit diet - the tinnitus started within 12 hours..."

Keith from near Cambridge, UK: "I have been experiencing tinnitus mostly in my right ear, almost continually 24 hours a day, its a single high pitch sharp tone around 14KHz, I dream of silence..."



In the News>>
Worldwide tinnitus initiatives

Medical news Today report: A new study presented at the 2007 AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO shows promise for a tinnitus treatment using combined transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a noninvasive method to excite neurons in the brain.

Thanks and appreciation...
"I have just encountered your site and found it to be most informative and encouraging, especially reading about the way other sufferers cope with their big T! Ann