After every election there are many promises made which we are assured will definitely lead to improvements on any number of issues. I don’t envy our politicians and civil servants in trying to decide what the spending priorities are. Housing? Education? Roads? Hearing?
The ‘Action Plan on Hearing Loss 2015’ to support services for deaf people and those with diminishing hearing has been produced by NHS England and the Department of Health. It is 44 pages long so I won’t try to cover all the very excellent points the report does make. I’m reassured however, that the report does begin to recognise the social, financial and most importantly the great personal cost that loss of hearing brings.
The report states that in just over 15 years time, 20% of the population will have hearing loss. Since the link between hearing loss and tinnitus is well documented, we can safely assume that the current 10% of adults with tinnitus will soon begin to rise in line with this increase too.
The report asked people with hearing loss to say what is important to them, and there is a fascinating list. The fourth point is this “Undertaking more research into the causes of and management of hearing loss and tinnitus”.
The Tinnitus Clinic is a small privately owned company, but we’re proud of the practical support we can give to research. There are small studies seeking volunteers which we promote through our website and social media, and within the clinic we perform usability studies for manufacturers.
Like all of you, we hope for greater understanding of tinnitus and better evidence based products and therapies to treat it.
