Twelve years ago, Mathias van Zuijlen, then 22, went to celebrate carnival in Breda. A beer, lots of fun, dancing along with the music in the pub. Not much later he heard a beep in his ear. At first he thought it would go away on its own, but the high-pitched whistling persisted and developed into tinnitus and hyperacusis. Now he hardly dares to go outside, afraid of all sounds. “It just paralyzed everything.”
That beep after the carnival, Mathias from Dussen didn’t really care about it at first. “I assumed it was temporary and could actually live with it,” he tells our reporter. They talk to each other in whispers, he simply cannot tolerate louder noise.
A year later he again went into the center of Breda for a carnival party. “I had no idea what the consequences would be, and I was still young. Little was known about tinnitus.”
On the fourth day, when he was on his way to the pub with his friends on the bus, things went wrong. “The radio on the bus already hurt my ears,” he says. “At that point I should have stopped and gone home to give my hearing a rest. But I decided to stay anyway. I still blame myself for that.”
“On the right I continuously hear a sawing machine, on the left the sound of a wasp’s nest.”
Then the trouble really started. For years, Mathias has been hearing sounds that are not actually there. “It’s not just a beep, but a whole orchestra,” he says. “On the right I hear a sawing machine continuously, very high, in different frequencies. It goes right through my head. And on the left is the sound of a wasp’s nest, and a noise, plus an iron on iron sound. It really goes on marrow and bone.”
He sought out countless doctors, hoping they could help him. But nothing changed and he developed an enormous sensitivity to sound. “It has such a big impact on my life,” he continues emotionally. “All environmental sounds hurt. Strong wind, bird chirping, fireworks, a helicopter or lawnmower, there is sound everywhere. And it keeps making the situation worse.”
“I sat with tears in my eyes on a birthday because it hurt so much.”
“I used to be a social person, loved doing things. I didn’t want to make a fuss. Then I would just go to that birthday, or go out with friends, and then I would sit there with tears in my eyes because it was so ‘ n hurt. As a result, I suffered several traumas, while I should have guarded my limits.”
“Even my own voice has become unbearable.”
It is now nine years since Mathias has undertaken something social. He has lost his job. Even the sound of his own voice has become unbearable.
“Grab a terrace, play a game of football or just go into a shopping street, I can’t go anywhere anymore,” he says. “It just paralyzed everything. I live in a lot of fear and pain, and I hardly dare go outside.”
Mathias believes that awareness of the prevention of hearing damage is desperately needed. “My advice to everyone is to buy a set of earplugs if you are going to celebrate carnival. Preferably handmade, they cost a hundred euros and will last you a few years. It can save you so much suffering.”
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