Tinnitus Clinic

Noise Sensitivity or Hyperacusis? Comparing the Weinstein and Khalfa Questionnaires in a Community and a Clinical Sample
2025-08-18 18:30 - 19:30 UTC
Our guest speaker is Charlotte Bigras (M.P.A) who will be giving us a talk on “Noise Sensitivity or Hyperacusis? Comparing the Weinstein and Khalfa Questionnaires in a Community and a Clinical Sample”.

Joanna Barker (Audiologist, Specialist in Tinnitus, Hyperacusis and Misophonia Rehabilitation) will be hosting this Patient Education online meeting. Our August meeting is planned for 18th August 2025 6:30 to 7:30 PM (UK time).

Charlotte will be sharing a presentation with us which examines how two tools, the Hyperacusis Questionnaire (HQ) and the Noise Sensitivity Scale (NSS), help us understand sound tolerance issues. By comparing their use in healthy adults and veterans, it reveals important insights into the overlap and differences between hyperacusis and noise sensitivity, shedding light on these often-misunderstood conditions.

There will be the chance to ask Charlotte any questions, so please join live to get her expert opinion on noise sensitivity and hyperacusis. This talk aims to empower people with the knowledge and tools to take control of their journey with these conditions. Are you taking CBT or planning to do so? This talk is for you!

This event is suitable for members of public who are interested to learn about tinnitus, hyperacusis and misophonia, patients, parents of children with hyperacusis or misophonia, students, Audiologists, Hearing therapists, Hearing aid dispensers, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Otologists, Neurologists, Speech and language therapists, Occupational therapists, Nurses, Teachers of the deaf, social workers, General medicine, or other qualified health and social care disciplines.

Sound Intolerance and Attention in Neurodivergent Populations
2025-09-09 10:00 - 11:00
The guest speaker in our Patient Education Programme (PEP) planned for Tuesday 9th September 2025 at 10:00 to 11:00 AM (UK time) is Dr. Patrick Dwyer who is a Research Fellow from the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School for Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia! He will be talking about his latest research about Sound Intolerance and Attention in Neurodivergent Populations. Joanna Barker (Audiologist, Specialist in Tinnitus, Hyperacusis and Misophonia Rehabilitation) will be hosting this PEP meeting.

Although sensory differences in neurodivergent populations have often been described in relatively crude ways (as “hyperreactivity” versus “seeking,” for example), more recent research highlights the greater complexity of neurodivergent sensory experience. For example, this includes distinct phenotypes of sound intolerance such as misophonia and loudness intolerance/hyperacusis. However, these experiences remain poorly understood. One understudied factor that may be involved in such experiences is attention. With a primary focus on autism and a secondary focus on ADHD, this presentation will discuss commonly observed neurodivergent attention patterns such as hyper-focus, monotropism, and hypervigilance, and present data on how these may relate to experiences of sound intolerance as well as mental health challenges.

2nd International Conference on Pharmacology & Gene Therapy for Tinnitus
2025-10-02 13:45 - 17:30
We are delighted to welcome you to the second edition of the International Conference on Pharmacology & Gene Therapy for Tinnitus, a virtual gathering hosted from the United Kingdom. This focused half-day event brings together world-leading researchers and emerging voices in the fields of auditory neuroscience, pharmacology, genetics, and translational therapy. Our programme explores cutting-edge advances in tinnitus and hyperacusis research—from objective biomarkers and cortical imaging to novel pharmacological approaches and animal models.

Does tinnitus get louder after a nap?
2025-10-06 18:30 - 19:30
The guest speaker in our Patient Education Programme (PEP) planned for Monday 6th October 2025 at 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM (UK time) is Dr Robin Guillard (PhD) from Université de Grenoble Alpes, France. He will be talking about his latest research on the interactions between tinnitus and sleep. Joanna Barker (Audiologist, Specialist in Tinnitus, Hyperacusis and Misophonia Rehabilitation) will be hosting this PEP meeting.

Dr Robin Guillard will present results from recent research conducted by their team on interactions between tinnitus and sleep, covering how and why sometimes patients wake up with louder tinnitus than before sleep onset, and whether or not tinnitus manifests during dreams. There will be the chance to ask us any questions, so please join live to ask your questions!

This event is suitable for members of public who are interested to learn about tinnitus, hyperacusis and misophonia, patients, parents of children with hyperacusis or misophonia, students, Audiologists, Hearing therapists, Hearing aid dispensers, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Otologists, Neurologists, Speech and language therapists, Occupational therapists, Nurses, Teachers of the deaf, social workers, General medicine, or other qualified health and social care disciplines.

Why is this song stuck in my head? The psychology of the earworm experience
2025-11-03 18:30 - 19:30
Dr Kelly Jakubowski talks about her research on the spontaneous mental recall and repetition of music in the ‘mind’s ear’, known as involuntary musical imagery or ‘earworms’, is a frequent and ubiquitous experience in the Western world. Despite its widespread prevalence, psychological enquiry into the mechanisms underlying the earworm experience is relatively recent. Over the past decade and a half, she and other researchers have begun to unpack the common triggers of earworm episodes and the contexts in which earworms most likely to occur, individual differences in personality, musical background, and cognitive styles that predict earworm frequency and reactions to earworms, and effective strategies for alleviating unwanted earworms. Dr Kelly Jakubowski’s research has also uncovered specific musical features that predict whether a song is likely to become an earworm, and how features of earworm songs impact our everyday moods and activities. Beyond the conception of earworms an “uninvited visitors” in our minds, recent research has also begun to reveal how earworms might play a functional role in our lives, providing new insights into how inner music interacts with other cognitive processes like memory, attention, and emotion.

1st International Seminar on Emotional and Sensory Experiences in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
2025-11-14
The aim of this seminar is to explore different aspects of emotional and sensory experiences in children with ASD ranging from problems in emotion identification and regulation ability to dysfunctional processing of sensory information from different systems in their body such as tactile, vestibular, proprioceptive, visual, auditory, gustatory, and olfactory. The focus of the seminar is to help the participants to better understand the needs of this population, learn about the technological, medical and therapeutic support available, and highlight the directions for future research and development.

This event is suitable for occupational therapists (OT), teachers, managers of health and educational services for children, general practitioners (GP), policy makers, relevant charities, social workers, psychologists, audiologists, paediatricians, any other interested health-and social-care professionals and parents of children with ASD. This seminar brings together studies of OT, mental health, neuroscience, audiology, neurology, and other areas. A wide range of presentations are planned which offer practical guide for improving your services for children with ASD.

Work absence and ability in people with tinnitus and hyperacusis
2025-12-01 19:00 - 20:00
🎤 Patient Education Event
Tinnitus, Hyperacusis and Work: What the Research Shows🗓 1st December 2025 | 🕖 7–8 PM (UK Time)👥 With Kaia Ringstad Andreassen & Guri Engernes Nielsen🎙 Hosted by Joanna Barker
How do tinnitus and hyperacusis affect people at work? Join us for an insightful session exploring new research from Norwegian hearing clinics, revealing that over 60% of adults with these conditions report reduced work ability—and hyperacusis plays a key role.
This talk highlights:

The impact of sound sensitivity on different jobs
Why hyperacusis matters more than we realise
Practical implications for workplace support

Free and open to all. Join us live for this important conversation.
