'My tinnitus is like having a play button stuck'

Caris Lount was at her fourth birthday party when she first heard a loud ringing in her ears.

"A balloon popped and I ran to my mum just really confused about where this ringing was coming from," said the 24-year-old from Rugeley in Staffordshire.

"And that stuck with me. Why doesn't my mum know how to fix this?"

The Royal National Institute for Deaf people (RNID) estimates about one in seven adults have tinnitus, which is over seven million adults in the UK.

The condition is different for each person, the charity explained, and can be caused by loud noise exposure or ear conditions but for some there is no clear cause.

Many people describe it as a ringing sound, but others can hear buzzing, whooshing, clicking, hissing, or sometimes a combination of sounds.

Lount said she first went clubbing while at university.

"The next day I couldn't hear anyone in front of me, because the ringing was that loud. It was just absolutely terrifying," she said.

"Tinnitus for me is like constantly like having a play button stuck, like I can't turn it off, I can't put it on pause."

She has taken part in a national charity video, raising awareness of the condition and of her own experiences.

Participants took part in splatter-paint art to explore their tinnitus through creativity, translating the sounds they live with into pieces of art, the charity said.

"Having something on paper that represents your tinnitus gives you something to look at and think 'Oh, it's not actually that threatening,'" she said.

"It also gives you such a sense of achievement. You think, 'I just made this nice artwork from something that I once saw as such a crazy, detrimental thing in my life.'"

Other activities including cooking and mindfulness helped her deal with the condition, she said.

"It can be the most isolating experience but there's so many people out there that understand what you're going through and there's so much you can do for tinnitus," she added.

"Tinnitus has given me all of these mental techniques that have made me such a stronger person mentally, and I can feel like I can face anything."

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