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What Tinnitus Taught Me
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Experiencing constant ringing in the ears as a young adult informed a future career as an audiologist—and empathy for patients. By Jan L. Mayes Jan L. Mayes wore these cat ears to an anime convention. “They had little bells that tinkled, which I thought was funny what with my tinnitus,” she says.
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hearing health
I wouldn’t be an audiologist if tinnitus hadn’t arrived in my life when I was 20-something. My tinnitus started in the 1980s after a car crash that caused severe whiplash and a concussion. I’ll always remember when the doctor said the tinnitus was a total coincidence, and had nothing to do with the accident. I remember being told, “Nothing could be done.” I refused to believe it. I switched my major from speech language pathology to audiology. I’ve had decreased sound tolerance including pain, hate, and fear of certain sounds since childhood. I never told anyone, because it seemed crazy to be bothered by sounds that didn’t affect others. Years after I became an audiologist, there were finally scientific definitions for hyperacusis, misophonia, and phonophobia. Hyperacusis is pain sensitivity to everyday sounds. Misophonia is when certain sounds trigger dislike or hate. And phonophobia is a fear of specific sounds, especially those that would trigger hyperacusis. The decreased sound tolerance is only for certain sounds that wouldn’t affect people with typical hearing. By the time I graduated, I already had a lot in common with my patients who had tinnitus. For example, loud tests hurt, and my hearing was “hard to test” because I couldn’t distinguish my tinnitus from hearing test tones. So I adapted testing for my patients to make it easier. I also could reassure them about common tinnitus features, like flaring up after hearing testing or the tinnitus changing with different jaw, head, or body positions. I had empathy for my patients with tinnitus distress, because my tinnitus led to insomnia, anxiety, and depression. Like most, I was my own guinea pig. I tried almost anything to lower distress, including acupuncture or naturopathic medicine which my fellow audiologists would not recommend. At times my professionalism slipped, when a patient and I debated who had “tried everything.” I had to accept I had a chronic condition that was going to flare up every now and then from stress or other reasons. Cognitive behavioral therapy-type distraction and relaxation techniques that helped me cope with chronic pain also helped me manage life with tinnitus. When sound therapy treatments became available, like many of my patients I thought at first, “I hear enough noise, thank you very much.” But I couldn’t talk the talk without walking the walk. When I discussed sound enrichment or mental wellness options with my patients, these tools were already in my coping toolbox.
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