Lions Speech 12/11/99
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T H G I R Y P O HEAR THIS C LIONS CLUBS DISTRICT 105M ‘HEARING FOR ALL CAMPAIGN’ EDITOR: LION ROGER M. HANDCOCK. DISTRICT 105M SPEECH & HEARING OFFICER 2006/2013. ISSUE No: 11 HOW CAN ANYONE IMAGINE WHAT IT IS LIKE TO SUFFER FROM THE FORM OF TINNITUS CALLED ‘MUSICAL HALLUCINATIONS ’? Those of you who read the last issue of heAR ThIs evidently, the woman has experienced problems with her may recall my article about an elderly lady who suffered hearing since she was a child. her mother had told her from a form of tinnitus where people experience musical that when she was young she used to love the song how hallucinations. The lady I was talking about was my Much is that Doggie in the Window?. Now she says she mother who passed away just a few weeks ago in her can’t stand it. 98th year. Perhaps you can now understand how I knew A spokesman for the British Tinnitus Association said: of this ailment and the distress it can cause. “Tinnitus is frequently a simple sound such as buzzing, I was recently reminded of this when reading the Daily ringing or sizzling. In a small number of people however, Telegraph which featured an article about a woman who these experiences can be more complex or emotive and was tormented by a hit song of the fifties by Lita Roza, music can be hear. one I remember well, how Much is that Doggie in the “Musical hallucinations have a compelling sense of Window?. she also hears God save the Queen, happy reality and are often mistaken for real music until it Birthday and Auld lang syne. This woman suffers from the becomes clear that none is being played. same form of tinnitus that plagued my mother, where “They are typically heard as short fragments of simple music and songs play in her head day and night. melodies, often from music heard regularly and familiar The woman was said to have had three years of sleep - from youth, especially from hymns and carols. less nights because she constantly heard the song any - “Individuals with hearing loss sometimes notice that the time of day or night and said it was like having a radio on music in these hallucinations sounds as it did when it was that you can’t turn off. she said that she began hearing first heard and not how it would sound with their current tunes in her ears three years ago and it has not stopped level of hearing.” since. she stated, “It’s especially bad at night and I have terrible trouble getting to sleep. It drives me to breaking foR Those of you that did not see the article in the last point at times. It comes and goes but I can always hear issue of heAR ThIs , my mother had been complaining for music, especially how Much is that Doggie in the several months about her neighbour’s ‘loud music playing’ Window?, faintly in the background.” during the night and early hours of the morning. The rare condition is known as musical hallucination and After becoming increasingly distraught, she complained doctors say there is nothing more they can do to treat her to her local council environment department asking that bizarre problem. she said, “They have given me a hearing something be done about the ‘unreasonable and excessive aid which they hoped would fix my hearing and therefore noise’ she was having to put up with as it was causing her stop the music but it just hasn’t worked. I had special considerable upset and anxiety. therapy too but they’ve now told me there is nothing more she said she could even hear music playing when her they can do. I’ve come to accept that I’m probably going neighbour was not at home! to be stuck with this condition for the rest of my life”. After a visit to a specialist to investigate the situation, it she has learnt to live with the condition by using calming turned out that she was ‘hearing music’ that was not play - noises, such as bird song and whale music, to block out ing and did not exist other than the sounds that she had in the phantom tunes. But the music is often so loud it her head and that it was a problem with her hearing. she drowns out the sound of conversing which can be very has had tinnitus for many years but with the addition of frustrating and distressing for both parties. this problem, it sometimes drove her to tears. editor LET’S BREAK THE SOUND BARRIE R-TOGETHER . PLEASE COPY & PASS ROUND PAGE 2 HEAR THIS LIONS ‘HEARING FOR ALL CAMPAIGN’ WE STILL WANT MORE USED HEARING AIDS - CAN YOU HEL P? CoLLeCTING heARING AIDs is a major project in some handing in to our local hospitals those which were Nhs Districts. however, it would appear to have a rather low property. In fact this works well because they get some of profile in District 105M. their current models back and we get the old ones. I thought that perhaps a few words from me, drawing The scheme becomes a Multiple District project attention to the scheme and the benefits of this wonderful on retirement in 1996 the project organiser returned to his project, may encourage more clubs to consider this as a home town of hastings and transferred to the hastings project to put to your incoming Club President to consider Lions Club. he was then asked if he would become the for the new Lions year. Lions Multiple District 105 Project Leader. The project has In these times of austerity when raising funds seems to grown considerably since then. In 2000 we sent out over be difficult for many clubs, it makes sense to look at a thousand hearing aids, doubled it in 2001, exceeded two projects that cost little or nothing. As with collecting used thousand in 2002, three thousand in 2003 and nearly four spectacles, collecting used hearing aids should cost you thousand in 2004. nothing. I do know some clubs collect a few hearing aids over 14,250 hearing aids were collected last year! from the collection bins that are primarily used for collect - ing used spectacles. however, there are other sources. Countries that have been supported one good source for hearing aids is funeral Directors. Among the countries that have been supplied hearing Another is the local hospital Audiology Department. you equipment are: Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bolivia, may know of someone who has recently died. There is a Brazil, Burkina faso, Cambodia, Congo, ecuador, egypt, el good chance they may have worn a hearing aid. What salvador, ethiopia, Gambia, Gaza, India, Indonesian could be better than to acquire it for someone else to have Borneo, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Laos, Malawi, the benefit of enhanced hearing with the continued use of Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, The their hearing aid. Philippines, Romania, Russia, south Africa, sierra Leone, syria, sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, uganda, The so, what is the used hearing equipment project? ukraine, yemen, former yugoslavia and Zimbabwe. The primary aim is to collect and redistribute unwanted and surplus hearing aids, ancillary hearing equipment and The Present serviceable batteries. In the majority of cases redistribu - The scheme is stretching out nation-wide therefore we are tion will be to emerging nations but cases have occurred seeking to recruit the help of more Lions Clubs, private where there is a need in developed countries. audiologists, and hospital audiology departments. The story so far Tremendous help has been acquired from organisations The idea of collecting old and unwanted hearing aids came outside the Lions family, such as hearing Concern. during a working visit of a Cambridge Lion to Zimbabwe in Co-ordinating and funding 1989. he was asked if he could find some hearing aids At the latter end of 1999, the Lions Club of hastings for the Lions Club of Gweru. They were trying to help agreed to fund the project on behalf of MD105 as a some children in a local school for deaf children. Multiple District Project, initially for £1,000. The Council of The Lions Club of Cambridge recruited the aid of a local Governors agreed to hastings Lions Club co-ordinating the hearing consultant, Christopher Carr. project on their behalf. This is still the situation today. The Project goes National During April 2004 Lions joined up with the Inside out soon the Club found that more requests were coming in Trust. It is a charity whose aim is to train and rehabilitate and so the scheme developed into an east Anglian project. offenders. All our hearing aids now go to frankland Prison, It was realised from the outset that most hearing aids near Durham, to be refurbished and tested in the sight and actually belong to the National health service, even though sound Workshop. This is a tremendous step forward and they might be obsolete and would never be used again in helps all who are involved. the Nhs. however, it was felt that we could assist them by ... continued on page 3 LET’S BREAK THE SOUND BARRIE R-TOGETHER . PLEASE COPY & PASS ROUND PAGE 3 HEAR THIS LIONS ‘HEARING FOR ALL CAMPAIGN’ WE STILL WANT MORE USED HEARING AIDS ... continued from page 2 Two stories help to illustrate how well the project is the Lion magazine and other journals for publicity. becoming known. The hastings Lions Club president was We know that other Lions Clubs are "doing their own telephoned by a complete stranger to say that a retired thing".