chris martin has pretty bad tinnitus and a net worth of US 120 m..hmm could 3m crack it folks?
3m would be ten times what ATA has available to give to research each year.
It would create a lot more opportunities for cracking this thing than what is currently available.
I do wonder though why the US govt isn't giving more to tinnitus research? Does anyone know how much they have allotted for each year?
If the tinnitus amongst the veterans is that common, then wouldn't that entice the government to give some money to research?
I don't have any data on this, but if tinnitus is really only debilitating for 1% of the veterans who experience tinnitus, then maybe that amount just isn't high enough to warrant more money to the research by the US. Did I answer my own question? I don't know.
Here's the truth, though, as been discussed here before:
Most of you who are currently really badly fighting the tinnitus and many of you whom think that tinnitus has ruined your life forever, will eventually settle with it, even if it doesn't go away.
The start is the worst. Then after a few months the situation improves noticeably. Habituation, whatever you call it.
Most struck with tinnitus go to that improved category within a year. They can hear the tinnitus at least under some circumstances, but it doesn't control their life and their quality of life has improved almost back to the original level pre-tinnitus.
(Thinking here myself, if my QOL was 10 pre-tinnitus, it was probably 2-4 for a few months after onset, and then slowly came back to about 8-9).
Of course when anyone gets hit with tinnitus first, most (?) of them are quite affected by it for some time after onset. Understandable. The thought of endless ringing.
It really is crippling in the beginning.
But brain adjusts in many cases. I don't know what are the mechanisms behind the super-debilitating tinnitus (many reference that it's 1% of all tinnitus sufferers?), but that one sounds bad. I don't know... it's really hard to objectively think of tinnitus, as it's such a subjective experience. One's debilitating tinnitus can be other's average one. Depending of course on the volume but also the type (tonal, crickets, humming, pulsating, etc...)
Anyway.
All this ties in the end to that maybe most of those celebrities have also adjusted to their tinnitus, habituated, and haven't considered it worth it to donate money to tinnitus research. Maybe some of them at least have though, many people donate anonymously. Although, if ATA received a $3mil anonymous donation, they'd certainly jump through the roof and would announce it all over the media.
And if most veterans are coping with tinnitus after a year of onset, then maybe the Gov't doesn't consider it to be that bad. Sigh. And no money from there.
If there are about 23 million tinnitus sufferers in the US alone, if 1% of those are those with debilitating tinnitus, that's 230,000 people with serious, debilitating tinnitus in the US.
If each of those in the 1% category donated $10, that would be $2.3mil. $5... $1.15mil.
The math is there I think, but the donations are very few and far between.
If it was possible to transmit a brain-signal, radio-type thing to every person with tinnitus in the US (and the whole world... whew...) and explain to them why they should donate a little bit of money to an organization like ATA, that'd be awesome.
The problem is also that many tend to think too narrowly. "I could give $10, but what difference would that make?". There are too few people who see the big picture and what forms of those smaller donations in the grand picture.
Let's get serious though.
Even if only 230k (the 1%) were seriously debilitated by tinnitus in the US, that's a lot more worldwide, and also I bet many, many, countless, countless people would be giving a lot for silence again, even from the 99% group.
I at least would. I said I'm now back at 8-9 most days (10 being the pre-tinnitus), and thank goodness my tinnitus is quite stable, it doesn't change a lot, but it does annoy me for a short while when trying to get sleep, or in quieter surroundings. I'd love to be able to be in silence, in my own thoughts, without the noises.
If every fifth tinnitus sufferer gave only $2 worldwide, I can't even sum up what that would make. Tons and tons.
But reaching out to everybody, explaining it, convincing them that the small donations aren't useless..
The psychology of donating seems mysterious just like tinnitus itself.
Of course if money is no object to a single person, they can possibly have almost all cutting-edge treatments available (even something basic like Neuromonics is so expensive that not all regular joes can get it even if wanted). They can see all the best tinnitus doctors around the world if they so wish. Have all the expensive imagining tests etc.
I don't think money can buy silence yet though (no secret cures for the super rich..). But there's more to try if you have lots of it, of course.
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.. so one year after meeting me she became a mathematician. I don't expect her to ever win a fields medal or do any groundbreaking research but truly anyone can become anything. All it takes is hard work, maybe a little help and meeting the right people.
) There are identified pathways but I don't know if they are suitably taking into account the actual patient and their specific causes in a way that could lead to an effective treatment protocol.
