Relational and integrative counsellor Cat Chappell reveals how her tinnitus eventually helped shaped some personal understanding of ADHD. Here, she shares lessons on managing overwhelm, energy and self-care.
(5 minute read)
In my teens and twenties I played drums in live music venues and was uninformed/ignorant enough not to use any kind of earplugs or ear protection. That decision came to haunt me in my thirties, when I developed tinnitus. When it first appeared, I found it initially excruciating – especially at night when I tried to sleep, hearing this incessant high-pitched tone in my head. I was given an audiology appointment at which the hearing specialist said that, although I had very good hearing, a tiny bent hair in my ear was responsible for triggering the sound of the tinnitus. I was told that the volume of the tinnitus will be high due to my good hearing and that volume would always be at the same level, but how I experienced the sound would be dependent on how much I tuned in or out of it. It was recommended that I use auditory distractions to help, which I struggled to make work for me. In the end, the distraction of a broken ankle that happened a few months later, and time passing, helped me learn to get used to, and ignore, the sound. I also made the decision to use earplugs in loud environments to ensure that no further damage to my hearing occurred.
At this point in time, I had no idea that I had ADHD. I did notice, though, that I felt less overwhelmed at concerts. The problem was, I regularly forgot to take my earplugs with me when I went out. So I bought a pack of 50 and stuffed pairs in every bag and coat pocket that I owned.
Top ADHD tip: If your budget allows, have multiples of useful items in varying locations and bags/pockets.
Anomalies
Despite earplugs working for me in noisy environments, I hated using them in quiet environments because it gave me the feeling of having the incessant high-pitched noise further locked into my head. So in these situations, I didn’t wear them.
I also found that the noise appeared “louder” when I was tired, stressed or overwhelmed. These days, I call my tinnitus my “self-care alarm”, as a high volume of it indicates to me that I haven’t attended to my needs.
Following my ADHD diagnosis 10 years after my tinnitus issues, I realised that forgetting things, being overwhelmed at too much audio and often being too distracted/excited to notice my needs made a lot of sense.
Then, in spring 2025, I developed a sinus infection that impacted my hearing greatly. I found that with one-on-one conversations in quiet rooms I could hear the person speaking (so luckily, client work was not impacted), but outside of that, I was losing a lot of sound. For example, I couldn’t hear my family calling from other rooms; if my back was turned, I unintentionally ignored people; and I couldn’t hear much when near traffic or if music was playing. Although all of this was frustrating, I felt the calmest and most resourced I had been in a while.
As I wondered why this was, I realised just how much background noise I unconsciously tune into all the time, and that all of those strings pulling at my ADHD-distracted self were depleting my energy. Without the noise, I had so much more energy to deal with life, even when I was having to ask people to repeat themselves constantly (although I probably depleted their energy making them do this!).
After a few weeks, the infection improved and my hearing returned to how it had been before. And although my use of earplugs had reduced overwhelm previously, I noticed I was now resistant to wearing them again. I just didn’t want to use them any more! The reason? The stimulation-seeking/nosy/hyperalert part of me just wants to know what is going on, so I found myself consistently removing the earplugs to check out what was happening.
A common ADHD thought: How much of any situation is ADHD and how much is just me as a person? Are they one and the same?
A middle ground
I have now finally found a middle ground to my hearing/tinnitus issue.
- When I need to concentrate or regroup and regulate, I use headphones with music.
- For tasks, I used podcasts.
- When I’m writing, I use music without lyrics (to avoid weaving the lyrics into what I type!).
This has been beneficial, and much more pleasant than a sinus infection.
My takeaways from this? If you have ADHD and haven’t experimented with changing your audio input, I’d recommend trying a few things to see what might help concentration and energy stores. And for everyone, always wear ear protection at loud events!
Click the links if you'd like to visit Cat's therapy website or her directory entry on Attention Allies.
Published 24 September 2025
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