@spotlight
Featuring deep conversations with thought leaders, innovators, rule-breakers, and the causal geniuses we discover inside Swell.
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:02
Battling Tinnitus - listening in with Rupert Brown
We are going to talk with Rupert Brown today, who is going to tell us about his experience and then also a collaboration between hearing therapists and audiologists and ENT specialists that he had to create an app called T, which offers people who are suffering sort of a self treatment through sound therapy, where there's a library and there are ways to not only get through the pain but also be creative with it
rupert brown
@Rupertb600 · 2:49
I was about to go to America, and I was halfway through the residency. I came off stage and I nearly collapsed. Something went catastrophically wrong. I was suffering these weird sensations, these weird sounds. But the jazz club was so loud that I couldn't work out what was happening. I knew that I couldn't hear anything in my left ear that was profoundly deaf at that moment, but also in that deaf ear, I was hearing these horrible sounds
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:55
Wow. So be 22. Still, because I want you to help people who are in your situation right now, who have just discovered it and who are dealing with the fear and the shock and the confusion. And they're in Google Swell, probably trying to figure out what's next. Can you talk a little bit about the science behind tinnitus what you did to discover what the science is, how the science has progressed and maybe some statistics
rupert brown
@Rupertb600 · 5:00
Tinnitus can be essentially triggered by very loud noises, sudden loud noises, prolonged loud noise, sound exposure. It can also come on through maybe a sudden and bereavement sadly in young people, it might be a trigger for child abuse, anything that is a really strong emotional trigger, losing your house, a really bad argument that goes awfully wrong and you lose friendship, anything that's traumatic. I think lockdown is going to have an exasperating effect on Tinnitus
rupert brown
@Rupertb600 · 5:00
I think the therapy really aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems in a more positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts. I was shown how to change any negative patterns by improving the way that I felt. I think perception is a hugely important role to play in this. I went to a hearing therapist. I was really struggling quite a few years ago. For the third time in my life, my hearing system really broke down and I was left with really terrible tinnitus again. Knife sharpening
rupert brown
@Rupertb600 · 5:00
So the importance for me is like, how do you start to have the conversation with the community and the medical establishment right from the beginning? I wanted to be involved with the medical establishment and have that conversation. So what's happening with a lot of TS groups and with a lot of reasons why sometimes the process of recovery is slow is that we have to get past first those stages of trauma or grief, which would be denial and anger
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:37
Rupert, I just decided that you are like the David Attenborough for Tinnitus. You make this to be such a sensual and environmental experience. Your app sounds fantastic. I remember when I first spoke with you about it and I heard the origin story, and I just feel like even now, you're even more convinced and evangelistic about what you're doing for people. How are you getting the word out and what's that process like? Is there any shame attached to people with Tinnitus?
I really appreciate this post. I suffer from tinnitus. I've had it for quite some time. I have the highpitched type of tinnitus. And I look forward to this conversation. The spotlight on swell. Thanks again
rupert brown
@Rupertb600 · 5:00
It's why nobody talks about it. If you ask any tinnitus person, possibly if you say, well, How's your day been? They are very unlikely to say, I've had a great day. Most people would say, I think it's not been that great. The best you can pretty much ask for is an okay day. I remember I used to write journals and things that are very simple. It's just a smiley face or not a smiley face
rupert brown
@Rupertb600 · 5:00
Tinnitus hates that once you exhaust the supply of the rocket fuel of anxiety and distress, then you're halfway there to actually achieving the habituation. And that process of the habituation is where you finally accept your sound and you're used to it, and you work within within its framework. So then someone who's habituated is way more comfortable than they were, and the exasperation of tension is taken out of that tinnitus sound
rupert brown
@Rupertb600 · 5:00
Every time the tinnitus sufferer has a minor or a major setback, we are reminded that we have to restart the habituation process again and really the habituation process, like I've said before, but I'd like to go into it a time bit further is a natural response taken by the brain, where the sufferer naturally adjusts to the presence of tinnitus and then stops responding to it. It happens over time, and when the person finally begins to react to the stimuli in a non threatening way
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:11
And now that you have your own swell cast here, you can also start leaving new conversations and sending them out as a share to your mailing list, to your Twitter, and all the other ways that we communicate. But Swell casts are really perfect for capturing AHA moments that people have that you have that you want to share. So I'm looking forward to seeing how this can grow, but let's see if some more questions come your way in this interview. And thank you so much