For Jack Bridge, the world became a noisier – and far more distressing – place five years ago.
During a bout of Covid, the marketing executive from Stockport had been listening to music on his headphones to help him fall asleep, as he often did. But this time, when he switched it off, a low humming noise remained.
It was still there when he awoke the following morning – and the day after that.
Over the next few months the sound evolved until Jack, then just 20, found himself plagued by multiple noises at once.
‘There was the humming in the background and then this hissing sound too, almost like a leaky gas pipe,’ says Jack. ‘It was constant, there was no let-up. I’d be fine if I was in the pub, in a loud environment, but as soon as I stepped into a quieter street or into an empty room, the noise would become unbearable.
‘Being near things like a microwave or a hoover would aggravate it.
‘It had a huge impact on my life. My sleep suffered, and although it was easier to distract myself in a busy office, it made deadlines much harder to manage.’
Jack is one of around seven million people in the UK living with tinnitus – a little-understood condition that causes ringing, buzzing, hissing or roaring in one or both ears.
Jack Bridge began suffering tinnitus after a bout of Covid, prompting attempts to find a solution
One of the devices, developed with Jack’s help,which transmits tiny vibrations
These sounds are not caused by any external source, and many people experience tinnitus temporarily, often due to ear infections, earwax build-up or Meniere’s disease – a chronic inner ear disorder that can also cause vertigo.
But for around 1.5 million people, like Jack, the condition has a significant impact. These more persistent cases are often linked to age-related hearing loss, or noise damage from machinery, headphones or loud music.
Jack believes that his Covid infection triggered his symptoms. Some evidence suggests the virus may worsen existing tinnitus or, in some cases, lead to new onset – though the exact reasons remain unclear.
Treatments tend to focus on managing symptoms.
Talking therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and mindfulness, can help patients cope, while devices have been developed that can be used to mask the internal noise with white noise or other background sounds.
The aim is gradual ‘habituation’ – in other words, helping the brain learn to tune out the tinnitus so it is less intrusive.
But the idea of simply learning to live with it was not something Jack could accept.
‘It wasn’t just the discomfort of the noise, it was the anxiety that came with it,’ he says. ‘I kept thinking, “I’m only 20 – what will this be like in my 40s or 50s?”’
A transmitter under the pillow is designed so not to disturb a sleeping partner
For day use, another of the Sonovo devices is worn on a pair of glasses
Today, Jack’s tinnitus no longer dominates his life in the same way after he adopted sound enrichment therapy.
This involves introducing a constant, low-level external sound – such as white noise – via a hearing aid, speaker or device, to help distract the brain and make the tinnitus less prominent.
Over time, the brain can begin to filter out the internal noise – much like how people can ignore the steady hum of a fridge or traffic.
Jack, who struggled most at night, was initially given an in-ear device by specialists that played waterfall sounds. But he found it uncomfortable to sleep with.
So he turned to a simpler solution – a fan.
‘For four years, I had a fan on almost constantly,’ he says. ‘At one point I couldn’t enter a silent room – I always needed some kind of background noise.
‘Now I feel very fortunate. I’ve got through the worst of it, and I only really think about it if it comes up in conversation – even though it’s technically still there.’
The scientific evidence for sound therapy is mixed. A major review by the Cochrane Collaboration found no strong evidence that it significantly overcomes tinnitus compared with other approaches.
However, many patients report that it reduces distress, improves sleep and offers short-term relief.
Pat Morrison, from Tinnitus UK, says: ‘Sound therapy is an easy-to-use way of gently distracting people from their tinnitus and helping them manage it independently – but it’s not a treatment.’
Jack’s experience led him to set up the company Sonovo, which develops devices to make sound enrichment easier and more discreet for tinnitus sufferers.
These use bone-conduction technology. Rather than sitting inside the ear, they transmit tiny vibrations through the bone behind the ear – or elsewhere on the skull – which are converted into sound by the inner ear and processed by the brain via the cochlea.
One device sits under the pillow, allowing users to play soothing sounds at night without disturbing a partner. Another, for day use, is embedded discreetly in the arm of a pair of glasses.
Jack says: ‘A lot of people with tinnitus try to drown it out completely with other noise, but that can backfire – your brain can adapt to that frequency and, in some cases, make the tinnitus seem louder, or even damage your hearing further.
‘This way, you can still hear your tinnitus, but your brain has something else to focus on.’
