2. Patient Stories
3. Lesley McCaughey

Lesley McCaughey

After many years of living with tinnitus, Lesley McCaughey is looking forward to peace and quiet again with the help of the new tinnitus treatment, Acoustic CR® Neuromodulation.

Lesley has led an active life, working as a hairdresser and then caring for the elderly before retiring in 2011. She likes being in the outdoors, gardening and fly fishing. However, Lesley hasn’t been able to fully enjoy natural peace for a very long time because of her tinnitus.

“It started many years ago – probably about 30. It developed gradually but became more noticeable after a particularly stressful period in my life. I saw a Specialist about how to reduce the high-pitched noise, and was told that I would have to learn to live with it. So that’s what I did. I just got on with it,” explained Lesley.

However, the tinnitus still had an impact on Lesley’s life. Last year, on a fishing trip to Canada, she was in beautiful surroundings. Looking around at the peaceful scene, she remarked to her friends, “Wouldn’t it be lovely to not hear a noise? I’m really getting fed up of this noise all the time”.

It was her friends who discovered the new Acoustic CR® Neuromodulation treatment offered by The Tinnitus Clinic. Lesley contacted the clinic and booked in for her 90 minute assessment appointment in December 2011.

After noticing her hearing was impaired several years before, Lesley had been supplied with a single hearing aid. However, during the assessment at The Tinnitus Clinic, her hearing was tested as well as the pitch and intensity of her tinnitus. She was fitted with two high-quality digital hearing aids, which are small and unobtrusive.

“The television doesn’t need to be so loud now, and I can hear the birds singing in my garden,” said Lesley.

Once the hearing aids were fitted, Lesley also began the Acoustic CR® Neuromodulation treatment for her tinnitus under audiologist Naziya Ghulam. During treatment, the Neurostimulator is worn for 4–6 hours each day.

“Initially I was concerned about having the earphones in my ears for several hours at a time, but I soon got used to them and it became a pleasant experience. I carry my Neurostimulator in a mobile phone case around my neck as that’s more convenient when I’m in the house or out walking in the countryside.”

Lesley uses her Neurostimulator during the hours of the day when she does not need her hearing aids – usually in the morning and the evening – and after three months, she feels that her tinnitus tone is ‘less shrill, more diffuse’ and that the volume has decreased. The qualitative measurements taken at The Tinnitus Clinic also confirm this gentle improvement in the severity of her tinnitus.

Lesley is very much encouraged by these results. She recognises that several more months of using the Neurostimulator may be needed before achieving a sustainable reduction in her tinnitus, but she’s determined to keep using the Neurostimulator as required till the end of the treatment programme. She would advise other people with treatable tinnitus to try Acoustic CR® Neuromodulation as well.

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