2. Patient Stories
3. Keith Kemsley

Keith Kemsley

“It sounded like a very loud ringing in my left ear. Quite frankly, it destroyed my every day and night. There was no respite at all and it was so intrusive. I felt like I couldn’t look forward to anything at all.

I put it down to a couple of things. In my teens, I did clay pigeon shooting and, in those days, they didn’t have any ear defenders. I used to shoot to a high standard and it obviously caused some perforation to my ear drum. I then spent the next thirty years driving tractors and noisy farming machinery. I believe this caused a slight degree of deafness. Since about the age of 45, I haven’t really been exposed to loud noise - but the tinnitus suddenly clicked in three years ago.

I went to see my GP and then an ENT Consultant. There were no visible symptoms but I was given some tablets, in case I had inflammation or congestion in my ear. At the time, there was nothing that the Consultant could follow it up with. A friend of mine then found The Tinnitus Clinic online.

I’d suffered from tinnitus for one and a half years when I first visited the Clinic. I realised that there wouldn’t be a magic wand but was desperate to get some respite – and a quotation for the whole course was very reasonable.”

Keith’s original assessment showed that he had high frequency hearing loss, in addition to tonal tinnitus.

Tinnitus Desensitisation Therapy™ – or TDT - was prescribed and Keith started treatment in May. The therapy, which was developed by Mark Williams – Principle Scientific Audiologist at The Tinnitus Clinic - can be used to treat all types of tinnitus and associated hearing loss, including the two most common forms – tonal and pulsatile tinnitus. It gives control over tinnitus awareness by creating a ‘habitual state’ akin to breathing, so that the tinnitus doesn’t break through to conscious awareness. TDT combines sophisticated Siemens hearing instruments and complementary therapies, and individual prescriptions are adapted as treatment progresses.

“Since I started the treatment, there’s been a massive improvement and my life has changed. I noticed things were a little easier within a week, although it took a number of months before I noticed a big difference. Most days, my tinnitus volume is now reduced by 50%.

He was my saviour and link with a condition that had completely taken over my every minute, destroying my life. I mean that most sincerely; I built up an immediate trust in him.

When I first started the treatment, I was wearing the devices every single day. Stress certainly makes things worse and I do tend to notice my tinnitus more in the evenings; after the hustle and bustle of the day it tends to rake up, when I sit back in the armchair. But now I only need to wear them maybe one day every two weeks – if the noise increases. I wear them for four hours and then, the next day, the symptoms are decreased by half again.

The devices are like a hearing aid that does other things; it sends messages to your brain, like ‘forget that tinnitus, listen to this noise’.

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