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Hello and welcome to Spotlight. I'm Marina Santee,
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And I'm Ryan Geertsma. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Can you hear that sound? It is not very nice is it? Imagine listening to that noise all your life, every minute of every day. Well that is what ‘tinnitus' forces people to do.
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Tinnitus is a medical condition that affects what people hear. People with tinnitus can always hear a noise, even if that noise does not really exist. Tinnitus sufferers often hear a ringing noise - like the one you just heard. In today's Spotlight we talk to two people who have tinnitus. We also look at what hope there is for a cure.
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Tinnitus affects millions of people. However, no one knows exactly how many people suffer from the condition. It could be as many as 200 million. No one even knows exactly what causes it. Sometimes people get tinnitus because their ears are damaged. But other people develop tinnitus when there is nothing wrong with their ears.
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Experts do know that tinnitus can have a serious effect on some people. Some tinnitus sufferers are affected by very loud noises. These people may find it difficult to sleep. This kind of tinnitus can also lead to depression. Many other people are not so seriously affected. They may just hear a very quiet ringing noise.
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People can develop the condition in a number of ways. Commonly, it involves listening to too much loud noise. However, there are other less common ways people develop tinnitus. Sometimes tinnitus is the result of a period of sickness. And people who take particular drugs can also sometimes develop the condition.
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One person who suffers from tinnitus is Danny Rice. He lives in the UK. He explains how he developed tinnitus.
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‘It started after I went to a very loud music show in October 2002. We sat near the front. I remember feeling kind of sick. My head hurt during the second half. I should have walked out but I did not. I thought everything would be OK. But the next day I still had the ringing sound. Usually after a show it goes away in the night. For the next year I worried about it. I found that the more I thought about other things the less I noticed it. I think other people have it really badly. Some have the sound of airplanes taking off in their head!
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Another person who suffers from tinnitus is Michael Charles. He lives in Australia. He also developed tinnitus because of too much loud noise.
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‘I worked as a church minister in a country area of New South Wales. Every week I would drive a large car at very high speed over large distances. Much of this was over rough dirt roads. The road noise was always loud. Because I was mostly travelling alone, I would use the time to listen to music or recorded talks. I always played them as loudly as possible. Stupidly, I did not think about the noise damaging my ears... I had been doing this for several years when I first began to notice the effects on my ears. Again, stupidly, I did not take it seriously enough. I simply continued going around playing things as loud as possible. Now, twenty [20] years later, I am still living with the result of that.'
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Currently there is no cure for tinnitus. People who develop it are likely to suffer from the condition for the rest of their lives. However, scientists are hopeful about a cure in the future.
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Scientists have been looking for a cure for tinnitus for many years. In 2009, a group in Australia made some progress. They found a link between losing the ability to hear, and developing tinnitus. The scientists found a gene that is linked to tinnitus. They hope that this will help them to develop drugs to treat people with tinnitus.
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Doctor Ralph Holme works for an organisation that helps people with hearing problems. It is The Royal National Institute for the Deaf. This group paid for the new research. Doctor Holme is pleased about the new discovery:
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‘There are no safe or effective ways of treating tinnitus. It has remained a mystery for scientists and doctors. We are extremely excited about the important progress this research has made into understanding tinnitus' causes.'
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However, scientists need to do much more research before they find a cure for tinnitus. So experts currently just help people to live with the condition. One thing they advise the sufferer is to avoid silence. This is because when it is quiet, the tinnitus seems louder. For this reason, people with tinnitus often listen to quiet music or some other noise. They may also wear devices in their ears to play noise. Some people have a similar device that they use in bed. The device plays noise near the person's head as they try to sleep.
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All of these devices help people with tinnitus to stop noticing the ringing noise in their ears. Tinnitus sufferers also try not to think about the noise too much. When they think about other things, the brain can help them to stop noticing the ringing sound from tinnitus.
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Michael Charles has listened to what the experts have advised. He says,
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‘I have stopped worrying about my tinnitus. I do not concentrate my mind on it. Clearly this does not mean it goes away. Another thing I do is to take care of myself. I try to balance the amount of time I spend doing different things. There are bad things like sitting at my computer, reading, watching television and good things like exercising and resting. Getting enough sleep is very important.'
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Danny, Michael, and the millions of other people who suffer from tinnitus, are faced with a question. They can either worry about their pain, or try and forget about it. Most people with tinnitus choose not to worry about it. It is an example of how to live life by not concentrating on the problems. To escape the pain and depression of tinnitus, people with the condition choose not to let it control their lives. One day scientists may find a cure for the condition. Until then, people with tinnitus face a quiet, but never silent wait.
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