Trigger warning: this story includes descriptions of tinnitus
Charlotte is 44 and lives in Cumbria with her husband and son. She developed hearing loss and tinnitus in her early twenties, and in 2022 she had cochlear implant surgery.
Here, Charlotte describes how tinnitus affects her, what it sounds like, and the habits she’s developed to manage it – including why you should never try calling her on a Monday evening.
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Our free tinnitus guide has practical tools that helped Charlotte, including relaxation techniques and support options.
Getting my cochlear implant
I feel very blessed and grateful that I’ve got my cochlear implant. It’s honestly been life changing for me in so many ways, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. The only downside to the cochlear implant is that my tinnitus has increased.
I’d been told this could happen, so I was fully prepared for it. I remember coming round from surgery and noticing that my tinnitus was more present.
When my tinnitus increased
Over the last year, it’s got worse. I said to my audiologist, ‘I feel like there’s a lightsaber in my ear.’ It has transpired that I’ve had a change in my residual hearing which has presented itself as increased tinnitus.
I’m really lucky, because during the day when I’m wearing my cochlear implant processor and my hearing aid, I can’t really register the tinnitus. It’s like it’s been switched off, like a light switch.
But at night, when I remove my processor and hearing aid, that’s when I hear it. It’s a horrible, screaming, hissing, fizzling kind of noise.
What my tinnitus sounds like
I’d liken my tinnitus to those old toilet blocks – the ones with toilets that have cisterns high up on the wall, and long chain flushes. Tinnitus is like that overbearing sound you get if all the old toilets are flushed at the same time. You almost feel it in your body, because the sound is echoing around the whole room.
In terms of the volume, I’d say my tinnitus is like you’re on a busy London street and a load of traffic whooshes past – buses, black cabs, motorbikes. I feel very fortunate to be able to turn the technology on and have relief from that. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with it 24/7.
Keeping busy and trying new tech
I manage my tinnitus by busying myself – doing anything that will take my mind off it.”
I’ll go and get a shower and wash and dry my hair, or I’ll sort out my son’s school things for the next day. At bedtime I’ll watch TV with the captions on or read a book. It’s just about having that focus on something else.
Recently someone sent me some new tech to try at night. You wear a device that puts out white noise, and you can set the frequency you prefer. I’m still navigating it because I need to have my processor in to pitch it where I want to be, and then I take my processor off. But I’ll give it a good couple of weeks and see how it goes and how it affects my partner.
My Monday ritual
One of the biggest things that helps me manage my tinnitus is yoga. I love it – I call it my therapy. It’s a really good opportunity for me to think about my nervous system.”
Monday is my yoga day and my whole family know that they’re not allowed to interfere with it! I make it my ritual, even on a really manic day.
It’s so important to have time to take stock, breathe, chill out, and focus on my whole body rather than just my ears and my hearing.
There’s one particular exercise where I lie on my bed with my head backwards, so it stretches the vagus nerve. I find that really soothing and calming.
Staying informed and feeling supported
Most people I’ve spoken to with tinnitus have said that you’ve just got to get on with it. And I’m like, really? You shouldn’t just have to get on with it. Everyone’s different, but I think there have to be ways to manage it that suit you.
I think RNID’s tinnitus guide is fantastic.”
There’s so much badly-informed stuff out there about tinnitus and it’s scary that people looking for a quick fix will stick things in their ears and buy products that aren’t regulated. So well-informed guides like RNID’s are so needed, and so useful.
I think it’s so exciting that RNID is doing research around treating tinnitus. For those of us living with tinnitus day in, day out, it’s reassuring to think there’s an organisation out there thinking of us and supporting us. Knowing you’re not on your own and that other people are going through a similar thing is also a massive support.
