Daniel Derricutt suffered sleepless nights due to his tinnitus (Picture: Cavendish Press)

An IT programmer killed himself after he developed ear condition tinnitus from wearing headphones, an inquest has heard.

Daniel Derricutt, 24, struggled to sleep because of the constant ringing in his ears – and claimed it only started when he bought a pair of Bose earphones to listen to music.

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Last November 29, Daniel was found hanged by a friend at the home he owned with his brother in Crewe, Cheshire, following concerns about his welfare.

His best friend Joshua Johnson told the Crewe hearing: ‘He did have issues with his tinnitus. He said he had this ringing in his ears and it was annoying. He described it like a toothache, sort of a nagging pain.




‘It didn’t start until he got some Bose headphones. He said that’s what had caused his ears to ring and he sold them a month after he got them. This was in May.

‘Other earphones were fine and he didn’t listen to particularly loud music.’

He claimed he developed the condition because of Bose earphones (Picture: Cavendish Press)

He told the hearing about their friendship: ‘We hung out together a lot. He enjoyed his work. He was ambitious and driven. He loved programming. We were learning German together at evening classes with a view to going to Berlin or the Formula 1 races one day and speaking it conversationally. That was the goal.

‘The last time I saw him we watched a TV programme together and ordered a pizza then he moseyed off home. I’ve gone over it in my head, over and over again, and there was no signs at all, he showed no intention to end his life and appeared to be fine.’

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Daniel sold the headphones just a month after buying them.

Daniel’s father Frederick Derricutt said: ‘We had a great relationship. I spent a lot of time with him over the last two years helping his renovate his house. We were two weeks off from completing it.

What is tinnitus? An awareness of sound in the ears or head which is not from an external source. There are many different types of tinnitus sounds. Common descriptions are that it is a hiss, whistle, whirr, ring or buzz, according to Hearing Link

‘He lived with his brother Alex who went off to university in September 2017, he was fine about that. They both owned the property between them so he was fine.

He said about the tinnitus: ‘It was keeping him awake at night, he was down in the dumps about it. He wasn’t one to cause a fuss about something so he kept it to himself.

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‘The last time I saw him was at a family Christening on 26th November he said he was ill because he was so tired. He looked really tired, more than normal.

‘After the Christening I dropped Alex off at the house and we checked on Daniel, I asked him if he was alright, he just said “I’m tired” and he went back to bed.

‘He didn’t have any mental health issues, he never took drugs or smoked and he never expressed any thoughts of self-harm or suicide. It was a complete shock.’

The hearing was held in Crewe (Picture: Google)

The hearing was told Daniel left no suicide note and tests showed no drugs or alcohol in his system.



Police found cardboard had placed deliberately on the windows of the house and a vacuum cleaner had been left against the front door.

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Recording a conclusion of suicide Coroner Adam Fullwood said: ‘There was an element of planning as he had blocked off the letter box and windows so he could not be discovered, disturbed or stopped.

‘Whilst there is no evidence at all that he was self harming or considering taking his own life, on that day I believe he did have the intention to take his own life. We will never know why.

‘This is a devastating and tragic case. I want to express my sincere condolences to all of his friends and family and wish you the best in moving forward.’

Need support? Contact the Samaritans For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.