Man killed himself because of tinnitus (From The Northern Echo)
Send us your pictures, video, news and views by texting NORTHERN ECHO to 80360 or email us
Mark Hughff killed himself because of tinnitus - inquest
8:08am Wednesday 20th October 2010 in News By Chris Fay, Reporter (Sedgefield)
FOUND HANGED: Mark Hughff
A MAN who was tormented by tinnitus killed himself only hours after he talked to his doctor about committing suicide, an inquest heard.
Mark Hughff was found hanged in a wooded area west of a picnic site in Broompark, near Durham City, on March 31.
An inquest held at Chesterle- Street Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday how the Darlington man had visited the town’s Whinfield Surgery hours earlier.
Mr Hughff, of Redmire Close, who was a keen table football player, said he was suffering from tinnitus and had considered suicide.
In a statement read out at the inquest, his GP, Blanca Martin, said: “He was very annoyed at the symptoms and he expressed suicidal thoughts, but I assessed him and I didn’t think he was a high risk.”
Detective Sergeant Cliff Thomson told the inquest a receipt from a hardware store for a ligature and a leaflet about tinnitus were found on Mr Hughff.
He said his inquiries had concluded that there was nothing, other than the tinnitus, in Mr Hughff’s background that caused any concern.
Det Sgt Thomson said: “He was content, happy and financially secure. He wasn’t a person who wanted for much and he was quite happy with the lifestyle he had.”
Det Sgt Thomson said he did not find a suicide note, but he was content there was no third party involvement and Mr Hughff’s death was not an accident.
Mr Hughff’s father, Alan Hughff, told the inquest he and his wife would never understand why their son had taken his own life.
He said the 42-year-old had rarely had any time off work in 20 years and was “conscientious about everything he did”.
County Durham coroner Andrew Tweddle recorded a verdict that Mr Hughff had taken his own life.
He said on the day of his death, Mr Hughff went to see his doctor about his tinnitus and mentioned suicide to his doctor.
Mr Tweddle said: “Unbeknown to anyone, and certainly his parents, this tinnitus issued was causing far more concern than he was letting on, because it seems to be the only explanation.”
Crafter says...
1:57pm Thu 21 Oct 10
Think of it this way. Your hearing receptors are like a field of corn. The stems bend with the breeze, but stay upright. A high wind ( Loud noise ) will flatten some of the stems. Once flattened, they never stand up again. Constant high winds and storms will flatten more and more stems and soon your field of corn is flattened and useless. The fact that the receptors are damaged produce a sound that is percieved by us as a high frequency ringing. It can vary in level, but is pretty much constant. It leads to all sorts of problems. You find it hard to concentrate in it's early stages. You find it difficult to hear the TV, films, theatre, music and speech. If you are in a noisy room, you have great difficulty making out what people are saying to you. You miss things and start to withdraw. You find yourself talking louder too and are always asking people to repeat things. After a while you may just stop communicating.
I would advise all young people to have their hearing tested regularly and try and avoid loud noise when you can. If you go to a noisy place try using ear defenders. They just pop into your ear and can be adjusted to suit the level of noise. Even in the workplace you need to be aware of the problem.
If you play in a band, try turning down a bit. So many young bands play at levels way above the safe level. Speaker manufacturers mention it in their literature. High volumes of noise can cause permanent hearing damage. It's not too noticeable when you're young, but when you get to being thirty-something you may start to notice the problem. It has a nasty habit of creeping up on you unheard.
To illustrate the level that I suffer, I set up a frequency generator on my PC sound system and increased the gain until it was equal to the level I hear permanently. I called the family in and set it away. Every one of them flinched. It's that loud. Honestly. Please look after your ears.