Good Morning Britain host, Susanna Reid, has been battling with tinnitus and she says the condition is incurable.
According to the British Tinnitus Association, “there is no cure for tinnitus”, which it defines as “the sensation of noise in the head with no external source”.
There is no “certain definition of what tinnitus is”. The British Tinnitus Association websites add that “it also has multiple sub-types which may require different treatments”.
It’s not clear what the cause of tinnitus is, so developing and cementing an effective cure is “difficult”.
There is also a “lack of funding and research”. “Tinnitus research by nature is multi-disciplinary and there are very few research centres where cross-speciality work is available,” so says the British Tinnitus Association.
All that said, while it’s unlikely Susanna will be “cured” of her condition anytime soon, there are existing treatments that can help soothe the effects.
Success from tinnitus treatment is seen in “stress relief” and “decreased awareness of tinnitus”, rather than “complete elimination of the sound”.
Susanna hasn’t spoken out about whether she has received treatment for the condition, but in 2015, she revealed she had been battling with it for a decade.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, she explained: “When I first started hearing it, which was probably about ten years ago, I became quite distressed that I would never hear silence again.”
In 2013, she explained that she thought her condition was a result of a “difficult labour”, since she has suffered since giving birth to her son, Finn.
Fast forward to 2018, and she was still dealing with the condition, as she tweeted: “My tinnitus is so loud right now. The noise you used to hear when TV programming finished at the end of the day? That. In my head.”