During the Civil War in Sri Lanka in the 1980s Vithy Tharan was a teenager caught up in the shell explosions, which resulted in him developing tinnitus in his right ear.
“I went to see a doctor but was told ‘there is nothing wrong with your ear’, so it was something I just had to deal with and get used to for a long time, before I couldn’t go on like that for much longer.”
Vithy migrated to the UK 28 years ago. Now aged 50 and living in Newtown in Mid Wales he works as a Chartered Engineer in electronics and has seen a marked improvement in his symptoms after treatment at The Tinnitus Clinic which helped take the severity from at the high end of ‘moderate’ to ‘slight’.
“Early last year (2017) I started to develop a wax problem in my left ear which blocked it completely. It was very painful and caused a lot of high pressure as well as partial deafness, which in turn triggered tinnitus in the left ear, too.
“I started experiencing loud noises in both my ears which became horrendous. I couldn’t bear it – the noise was constant. It was very irritating.
“This is when I started searching on the internet and I came across The Tinnitus Clinic. It looked straight forward on the website and from what I read it matched all the symptoms I had, so I thought I would give it a try.
“My first thought was the treatment was quite expensive, but rather than living and suffering like this for the rest of my life, it will be worth it in the end.
I met with Dr. Sylvia Kewish at the Birmingham clinic who was very knowledgeable and discussed with me very thoroughly what was going on.
“Because my right ear had been damaged for such a long time and as I get older, she explained the natural process of aging will continue to reduce the efficiency of my hearing.
“After two consultations with Sylvia she informed that what was best for me would be the Tinnitus Desensitisation Therapy™ (TDT) hearing aids with the tailored treatment.
“This year I was able to go on holiday to Malaysia to celebrate my birthday and while I was there I never thought about or suffered from any symptoms.
“On my return I went back to the clinic to see Dr Sylvia when we found the difference in my symptoms has dropped from level 50 down to 12 which is a huge improvement and means the treatment is definitely working.
“Now when I’m working, driving, watching television or on the phone, when I used to notice the unwanted noise the most, I don’t hear anything at all. Hopefully after continuing to use this treatment my score will go down to one or two.
“I am so glad that this treatment has come to the UK otherwise so many people would continue to suffer like I used to before TDT.”
Dr Sylvia Kewish Clinical Audiologist and Manager of the Birmingham Tinnitus Clinic, said: “We measure the severity of each patient’s condition using a range of diagnostic measures, including the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) method, an international standard.
“Vithy’s original score at his first assessment was 50 so for it to drop to 12, is a really significant improvement – it means the severity of his symptoms has gone from the high end of ‘moderate’ to ‘slight’ – and we hope with further treatment it will continue to drop even further.”
