Tinnitus Conference 2023

Once again held online, there was a packed programme of 18 sessions across five days. Each day was themed, including the psychology of tinnitus, practical skills and the latest in tinnitus research – with topics ranging from “Traumatic memories and bothersome tinnitus” to “Anxiety, depression and symptom severity in patients with pulsatile and non-pulsatile tinnitus” as well as sleep, sound intolerance (hyperacusis), effectiveness of telerehabilitation and ear wax removal.

With this being the fourth hosting of our conference online, our speakers, facilitators and attendees are now all very comfortable with the format. We took full advantage of the opportunity to invite international speakers, and these came from across Europe, Canada and the USA. Attendees came from across the globe, with a massive 44% increase in overseas registrations with 95 people from 35 countries, including Australia, South Africa, Canada, India, USA, Belgium and Tanzania registered. More than half of people hadn’t been to one of our conferences before, so we are reaching a new audience too.

The most popular session during the conference was Professor Deborah Hall’s presentation on “Tinnitus in other cultures” which examined lived experience of tinnitus in China. Other highlights included Professor Vinaya Manchaiah’s session where he discussed “The positive side of living with tinnitus” – the title intrigued many, we know – and Dr Linus Milinski discussing how tinnitus appears to be at a crossroad between phantom perception and sleep. There were also great sessions from early career researchers, including Sara Demoen and Robin Guillard, which bodes well for the future of tinnitus research.

What was particularly encouraging was the engagement of our attendees with the live Q&A sessions after the presentations. The online format seems to encourage more questions and people really grabbed the chance to interact with our speakers. In total, a whopping 240 questions were asked – and answered!

The sessions will be available online until 19 December 2023 for attendees. For those who have missed out, post-event access for all the sessions can be purchased from https://www.tinnitusconference23book.co.uk/tinnitus-conference-2023