Woman Who Heard Odd Noises For Years Is Shocked By The Cause

The life experience of 32-year-old Gemma Cairns sounds a lot like a curse. From the moment she was born, every song she heard, every lesson in school, and every “I love you” from her parents was accompanied by unending and indescribable inner-ear noises. What she was hearing wasn’t normal, but it wasn’t until she became an adult that she realized something was very, very wrong... 

Seemingly Normal

At first, Gemma Cairns thought that everyone could hear the way she could. After all, she never knew what it was like to not hear a constant whooshing noise, or static, or an incessant squeak from the back of her head.

Never Quiet

Our childhoods were noisy, but at the end of the day, we were all able to retreat to the silence of our beds. Gemma didn’t have this luxury. Even buried under the covers, she was inundated with noise...

No Silence

“There are always noises going on,” Gemma said. “I’ve never heard complete silence.” As a teenager, she finally realized that something was wrong: She was alone in her inability to experience silence, and she knew it was time to seek help. 

Hearing Everything

This realization was the start of a fourteen-year journey for answers. For Gemma, there was only one way to describe what she thought everyone understood: “I’ve always heard my eyes moving and my heartbeat in my head.”