It was an afternoon in 2018 and I sat at my parents’ kitchen table working on my PhD thesis. I had a head cold, not in itself unusual as I seemed to always pick up any sinus illness going around, but especially that which blocked my inner ears. 

This day was a little different though and I wore headphones to listen to the soundtrack of my life as I battled my way through eighteenth-century Irish tax records, seeking some references to poteen distillers in Mayo. I then remember that a high-pitched monotone, which had been bothering me on and off that day, suddenly increased in volume. I tore off my headphones, thinking it was the music, and in a panic thought my ears would explode (I have always had a melodramatic imagination). After some minutes passed, the loudness eased and I relaxed a little — returning to my laptop but without my headphones. But this new sound remained in my head…