Kate Cook of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, has had noises in her ears for about a quarter of a century. Six years ago, it became an almost constant distraction, seriously affecting her quality of life. As she struggles to cope with tinnitus, the 43-year-old is struck by the lack of awareness, support and treatment for sufferers and believes there is a shortage of funding for research.

Karl Holtby of Hull has had tinnitus for over a decade. For most of that time the noises in his ears were just a gentle, bearable buzzing, but he was still able to live his life normally. Karl barely noticed the condition until around twelve months ago when it took a turn for the worse and the noises in his ears suddenly became much louder for no apparent reason. Now the 34-year-old has been left to wrestle with an incurable condition which is seemingly impossible to treat.

New research, published in the current edition of in PLoS Genetics has defined a mutation in the mouse genome that closely mimics progressive hearing loss in humans. The mutation disrupts the function of the sensory cells (hair cells) in the inner ear, beginning even before the cells show any signs of physical damage. Professor Karen Steel from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute led the study which is partially supported by Deafness Research UK.

Parents urged to ‘protect the ones they love’

Less than £2 per capita funding for deafness research

The Deafness Research UK Pauline Ashley Prize 2009 has been awarded to Rosemary Lovett, a third year Psychology PhD student at the University of York.

Deafness Research UK has organised a rare opportunity for the public to meet the scientists who are working to find treatments and cures for tinnitus, and find out about the cutting edge tinnitus research in progress.

New research published today in the journal Current Biology has added significantly to our understanding of how the ear works, giving hope to millions of deaf and hard of hearing people.

John Blake has been appointed the new Head of Individual Giving of medical research charity Deafness Research UK, the country’s leading charity in the field of hearing research and the only national charity dedicated to finding cures for deafness, tinnitus and other hearing problems.

Deafness Research UK’s innovative science and education roadshow hits Liverpool

Research published this week in the journal Nature gives millions of deaf and hard of hearing people new hope of new gene or drug treatments for deafness and has been welcomed as a significant breakthrough by the country’s only medical research charity for deaf people, Deafness Research UK.

Deafness Research UK has published its top tips for the safe use of MP3 players, following research by the charity that shows too many people are putting their hearing at risk by listening to MP3 players too loudly for too long.

You’re not alone, and help is at hand from leading national charity

Ruwan Perera has been appointed the new Director of Development of medical research charity “Deafness Research UK” the leading charity in the field of medical research and the only national charity dedicated to finding cures for deafness, tinnitus and other hearing problems.

The charity Deafness Research UK has launched an innovative new roadshow to remind young people of the risks they face to their hearing from loud music if they don’t turn down the volume on their MP3 players.

At just 33, David Brinn of Calne near Swindon, Wiltshire, is one of a growing number of young people to be tormented by tinnitus – a condition normally associated with older people. David blames listening to loud music on an MP3 player for prolonged periods as the cause of his hearing loss and tinnitus, and now wishes he had followed his father’s advice to “turn down the volume.”

Ngaire Lowndes of London has suffered from a constanthigh frequency ringing sound in her ears for four years. It gets worse in the evening when she is trying to relax and also when she is stressed, tired or angry, and particularly when she is exposed to any loud noise.

Chelone Wolf is one of the estimated nearly five million people to suffer from tinnitus in the UK. To most of us, four years does not sound like a long time, but as Chelone and many other sufferers would agree, any number of years with tinnitus is a prolonged agony. The 30-year-old musician and company director hears a ‘random, high-pitched beeping sound’ in his ears, which is worse in quiet situations and at night time.

John Hanaway, of Finchley, London, is nearly 70 years old. In the early 1950s, having just become a teenager, he was diagnosed with tinnitus. Living in Ireland and suffering from tuberculosis, in those days there was only one medicine guaranteed to cure it – streptomycin. Unfortunately, its side effect was deafness.

Harry Brannigan from Whitehaven, West Cumbria, is well acquainted with tinnitus as he suffers from the same humming sound in his ears every day. As many other tinnitus sufferers will be aware, limited funding is going into research to develop a cure or treatments, which is disheartening when people like Harry are robbed of even the most simple of pleasures – peace and quiet.

Angela Jackson from Accrington in Lancashire suffers from the constant irritation of tinnitus, with four different sounds playing in her right ear and two different sounds occasionally audible in her left ear. She has chosen to share her knowledge and experience of tinnitus in the hope that she can help others come to terms with a condition that is under-funded and little understood.

Iain Clarke from Edinburgh has been living with tinnitus for almost twenty years. He can’t stop the constant sound in his head, yet he knows no one can hear it but him. Both his ears are affected by the condition. Iain, who’s still only 34, hopes that more funding will become available so that a proper cure for tinnitus can be developed within his lifetime.

Pam Allen of Middlesbrough, has lived with tinnitus for 12 years and on a `good’ day she hears a continuous hissing sound in both ears. On a bad day, the noises can resemble bells and bagpipes and she has even been known to get up at night to answer a telephone that hasn’t been ringing. She has had no choice but to adapt her lifestyle to cope with the constant intrusions and feels she has received very little support from the medical profession.

Tests carried out by leading charity Deafness Research UK suggests that almost two thirds of Rotarians may have permanent hearing loss, ranging from ‘mild’ to ‘severe’.

Rachael Nugent of Bury in Lancashire has suffered from tinnitus for six long years. Countless visits to doctors and experimenting with different treatments have left her no better than before; she still has the same loud ‘whooshing’ noise in her ears. “It’s sort of in time with my heartbeat, and some days it is much louder than others, although there doesn’t seem to be any pattern to it,” says Rachael, 30.

Allison Mason of Palmers Green in London began singing in a choir when she was eight years old. Thirty years later, she had to give up choral singing, her passion and joy in life, because of tinnitus - noises in the head or ears that cannot be heard externally. Now 41, Allison can only hope research will one day identify a way to eradicate tinnitus and ease the agony of millions of sufferers.

As millions of holiday-makers prepare to fly out of Britain this Bank Holiday and for their upcoming summer holidays, we should be taking more care of our health – and particularly our ears - according to leading charity, Deafness Research UK.

As a former DJ, Caren James was aware of the problems that exposure to loud noise can cause. Many of her colleagues in the media industry suffered from tinnitus, or a ‘ringing in the ears’, and Caren was determined to avoid this affliction by keeping the volume well down on her headphones at work. Despite her cautiousness, Caren was struck by tinnitus two years ago.

Owen Shallcross from Leominster in Herefordshire has endured seven years of a frustrating and seemingly incurable ear condition.

Deafness Research UK has organised a rare opportunity for the public to meet the scientists who are working to find treatments and cures for tinnitus, and find out about the cutting edge tinnitus research in progress.

Tinnitus sufferers now have fresh hope that better treatments and potential cures for tinnitus may be closer, thanks to a new tie-up between the charities Deafness Research UK and Action for Tinnitus Research (ATR).

Excessive noise in the workplace is to blame for tinnitus, according to tinnitus sufferers themselves.

Deafness Research UK has appointed a York scientist to be its new chief research adviser and help the charity in its mission to find a cure for hearing loss, the second most common disability in the UK, affecting over nine million people.

Deafness Research UK today announced a new research programme that will be the first to try and develop a cure for deafness using stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood or bone marrow.

Many toys available this Christmas could damage your child's hearing if used too often or too close to the ear according to new research commissioned by Deafness Research UK.

As the country prepares for Remembrance Day, the charity Deafness Research UK is highlighting the failure of the NHS to help war veterans whose lives have been devastated due to tinnitus.

MP3 players could mean the difference between life and death when crossing the road, pedestrians are being warned during Road Safety Week.

A major science prize was today awarded to a researcher who is looking for the region of the brain that helps us to hear someone in a noisy place, such as a party or bar, and is responsible for "training" the brain to hear better in these situations.

Today's youth are at risk of going deaf up to 30 years earlier than their parents because they are listening to MP3 players too loudly and too often.

HRH the Duke of York is backing Deafness Research UK's appeal to raise money for a new London-based research centre whose central mission will be to restore hearing to deaf people and to prevent deafness in those at risk.

Technology pioneered by Deafness Research UK is now allowing doctors to test the hearing of every newborn baby in England.

Research published today calls for a reinvestigation into whether antibiotics could be used to treat glue ear.

A Cambridge student developing a new technique to fine-tune hearing aids in young children has won the 2006 Pauline Ashley Prize awarded by Deafness Research UK.

Deafness Research UK scientists have discovered that the mammalian brain is designed to respond more strongly to randomness and chance. This discovery gives researchers a better understanding of the way the brain processes sound, and could lead to improvements in cochlear implants for the deaf.