Case Study - John MacArthur
SERVING POLICE OFFICER LAMENTS LACK OF TINNITUS AWARENESS
John MacArthur, of Belfast, Northern Ireland, played his part to serve and protect the community. But as a consequence of working with firearms and being involved in a number of incidents involving explosions, this serving police officer developed tinnitus. By the time he was 30, John realised that his hearing had been compromised. That was back in 1985. Now, the father of one is trying to live with the constant high-pitched ringing in his ears and laments the lack of understanding and apathy about the symptom.
"For me, it was the result of three factors: firearms, explosives and riding a motorbike all day, which were all part of my job. The helmets weren't up to scratch in those days, which didn't help," recalls the 45-year-old. "I knew something was wrong, but I wasn't sure what it was. I went for a hearing test around 1990, which is when I was told I had tinnitus."
The government employee now works with computers, but can't concentrate without the air conditioner humming or the radio playing in the background. A dog barking nearby makes him "jump three feet in the air", while a door banging is physically painful, "like a jarring jolt going through my head". Even the weekly fire alarm test causes him to, "put his hands over his ears to dampen the noise and alleviate the pain." He avoids places with loud sounds like the cinema and the pub. When driving a motorbike to and from work, he uses ear plugs to deafen the noise, however silence just makes the tinnitus worse.
"I have a wee daughter, and I try not to get too ratty around her, but the loud noises can be quite bad. I get depressed sometimes, especially since I've realised that there is no cure for this symptom. I'm going to have to live with it. My threshold for the tinnitus sounds in my ears seems to be lower than some others. But my hearing has already been affected�- it's mid-level now�- and I've been told it will get worse as I grow older," John says.
He gets a check-up once a year from a hearing specialist, but none of them have been of much help. "One specialist said the sounds were in my head and that he couldn't help me. So I went on the internet to find out about tinnitus. That's when I found out about Action for Tinnitus Research, which is trying to raise awareness and research funding for the symptom. There is a general apathy surrounding tinnitus. 'There is no cure so what would be the point of funding it', is the general attitude. But if we knew more about it, then we could better understand how to treat it," asserts John.
The UK-based charity Action for Tinnitus Research focuses on funding medical and scientific research in pursuit of a cure and raising awareness is a key part of its work. Operations director Nick Doughty said: "It is estimated that over five million people in the UK are affected by tinnitus and it can have a devastating effect on their quality of life. Not enough information is available about the very complex symptom and we are one of the few organisations determined to do something about it.� We are committed to funding leading edge research and providing practical information to health professionals for the benefit of sufferers," he added.
For more information on Action for Tinnitus Research, logon to the website at
www.tinnitus-research.org, e-mail [email protected] or telephone 0115 925 4065
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