A few days after flying back to Melbourne from visiting family in Canada in 2019, Andrea Cosentino became aware of an irritating ringing in her ears.
It was almost impossible to ignore when she tried to fall asleep that night. It sounded as if a mosquito was constantly buzzing nearby.
‘At first I thought, “What is that noise?” Then I was like, “Hang on a second… I think I know what this is – tinnitus,”‘ Andrea, 44, told the Daily Mail.
Tinnitus – a ringing or buzzing sound in the ears – is a symptom that can arise from changes within the ear. Common causes include ear infections, earwax build‑up, trapped water and exposure to loud noise, such as concerts or industrial machinery.
‘I used to work in gerontology – the study of old age – with a speech-language pathologist and a research team in Vancouver, and tinnitus came up a lot. That’s how I first heard about it,’ Andrea explained.
Tinnitus is remarkably common, with two in three Australians affected at some point, and up to one in five experiencing severe symptoms that significantly impact daily life.
During the 22‑hour flight home after visiting her sick father in Canada, Andrea – who until then had travelled internationally at least once a year and never had any issues – wore in‑ear headphones to listen to music, as she always had.
She later learned this was likely the cause of her tinnitus.
From her research, Andrea knew the prognosis was grim: there is no known cure for tinnitus. Rather than wasting her time going to the doctor, she accepted her fate.
‘I resigned myself to it because I knew it was incurable. I didn’t know what caused it, it just seemed to come out of nowhere. So I gave in,’ she said.
‘I was frustrated because it was always there, especially at night. I was disappointed to know that this was going to be with me for ever. And I was angry. I thought, “Where did this come from? Why did this happen?”
‘The irony is, because of my gerontology studies and working with the team, I knew how precious hearing was.
‘When you put glasses on, you have 20/20 vision instantly. You don’t get the same thing with hearing aids. Once your hearing is gone, it’s gone.’
With this in mind, Andrea had always worn earplugs to concerts or loud bars, and ensured her children’s ears were also protected in noisy environments.
‘I was really aware of protecting our hearing. So when this happened, it didn’t make sense. I was like, “Are you kidding me?”‘ she said.
‘After researching tinnitus, I then looked up ways to minimise the impact, many of which I was already doing. For example, not consuming alcohol or coffee, and exercising regularly.
‘I then started learning to focus and distract myself with other things. While trying to fall asleep, I focused on my breathing and the sound of my breath. I think resigning myself to the noise helped the most, to be honest.’
The constant ringing continued for five months and was driving Andrea crazy.
It wasn’t until she visited her osteopath for an unrelated check-up that everything changed.
‘He asked me how I was doing and I complained about the ringing in my ears,’ Andrea recalled.
‘He asked when it began and I said after I got back from Canada. Then he asked if he could take a look. Of course I said yes.
‘I told him I knew there was nothing I could do about it, but he explained that it depended on the cause.’
When Andrea told him she had worn in-ear headphones during the flight, he surmised this was likely the reason, because her ears ‘probably hadn’t equalised properly during and after the flight’.
Ear equalisation is the process of balancing air pressure in your middle ear with the surrounding environment, which is essential for activities like flying or diving.
The osteopath, using gloves, performed an internal jaw massage technique through her mouth, targeting points around her jaw joint to help restore balance to the middle ear.
‘It was bizarre. He told me the ringing would go away by the end of the day,’ Andrea said.
‘I went to bed that night and was like, “Oh my God, it’s gone!” I couldn’t believe it! I’d had osteo treatments for years, but I didn’t know they could help with that,’ she said.
‘The next day I called the clinic and left a message to tell my osteopath the news.
‘Since then, I have never worn earbuds when flying and neither do my children. We all have over-ear Bose noise-cancelling headphones.’
Andrea admitted that if she hadn’t heard of tinnitus before, she might have searched for other remedies.
‘If you have tinnitus, give osteotherapy a go – it might work,’ she said.
