February 2017
Cuppa for tinnitus awareness
Last week, Better Hearing Australia kicked off the inaugural Australian Tinnitus Awareness Week (6-12 February) with a Tea for Tinnitus get together at Better Hearing House in Prahran, Melbourne. The morning tea provided a great opportunity for HEARsmart to meet other organisations with an interest in tinnitus and share ideas.
Tinnitus is a hearing condition where people hear sounds that have no external source – this unreal sensation is most commonly described as a ‘ringing in the ears’ but can be anything from a hum, to a roar, to a high pitched sound like a mosquito. For some, the ever present background sensation of sound created by tinnitus can lead to stress and anxiety, especially at times when individuals require low-noise environments to relax or sleep.
Joining BHA on the day were, Jane Sewell (HEARing CRC and HEARsmart) and Greg Lawrence (HEARing CRC and HEARnet) along with Hear Service’s Jason Ridgway and Steve McKean. Also spotted in the crowd enjoying some morning tea were the celebrities David Hirschfelder, an Academy Award nominated and BAFTA award winning composer, and Robert Mills (Milsy), the Melbourne-based actor and entertainer. Rounding off the morning tea was a wonderfully enthusiastic speech by Better Hearing Australia’s Board Member and tinnitus sufferer, Victoria Didneko, who proclaimed that 2017 Australian Tinnitus Week was just the beginning to make Australians more aware of the condition.