2. Patient Stories
3. Mike Harding

Mike Harding

Mike Harding is a retired Human Resources professional and lecturer from Manchester. He had experienced low intensity tinnitus for approximately ten years, until it recently became far worse over night.

“I think the onset coincided with an ear infection. I was left with a blocked sensation in both my ears and a low intensity tinnitus that was, although annoying, tolerable,” explained Mike. Then, in July 2013, Mike woke to find his tinnitus had suddenly become much louder.

“My previously bearable tinnitus had changed to a far more intrusive sound - like a high intensity, spinning electric motor. My sleep progressively started to suffer and the tinnitus was so loud that I believe it started to wake me up during the night. After many nights of hardly any sleep you feel dreadful and extremely tired - you just don’t have any energy,” said Mike.

Mike sought the advice of a private audiologist but was told that, beyond relaxation techniques and noise CDs, they wouldn’t be able to provide any further treatment. He wasn’t satisfied with this so he sought alternative treatment options and discovered that The Tinnitus Clinic had a practice just 20 minutes from his home.

“I was hopeful but was prepared to be told there was nothing that could be done,” explained Mike.

Mike’s assessment revealed that he had moderate to profound high frequency hearing loss in both ears, along with low frequency atonal tinnitus. He was prescribed a course of Tinnitus Desensitisation Therapy™ (TDT), which corrects hearing loss whilst suppressing tinnitus.

Refined by the Clinic’s Principle Scientific Audiologist, Mark William, TDT creates a ‘habitual state’ akin to breathing, so that the tinnitus doesn’t break through to conscious awareness. It combines sophisticated Siemens hearing instruments and complementary therapies, and individual prescriptions are adapted as treatment progresses. This treatment is currently available exclusively from The Tinnitus Clinic, which has practices in London, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Leicester and Manchester.

“The TDT approach is able to filter the noise out, so that the tinnitus doesn’t break through to a person’s conscious awareness. This leads to a reduction in tinnitus awareness and an improvement in sleep and overall quality of life,” commented Rugina Begum, Senior Audiologist at The Tinnitus Clinic in Manchester.

Mike was given a device ‘wearing schedule’ and prescribed a number of bespoke supportive therapies, designed to speed up the habituation process. Just three months into treatment, Mike reports the effects have been beyond his expectations.

“The treatment has been fantastic! My awareness of the tinnitus has been substantially reduced when I wear the devices and my sleep has dramatically improved. My audiologist, Rugina, has been excellent. The assessment was informative and thorough," added Mike.

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