Ongoing History Daily: New tinnitus treatments
If you have an annoying constant ringing in your ears, that’s tinnitus, a condition often brought on by both too much loud music and age.
It might be a high-pitched whistle like a tea kettle. It might vary in tone. Or it can sound like white noise. For some people, this ringing seriously impacts their quality of life.
Apple, the maker of AirPods and headphones, is very interested in this condition. It found that about 15% of their survey of 160,000 people suffer from tinnitus daily. And that 10% say it interferes with their ability to hear. Older adults have it more although there’s been a big upswing in tinnitus in young adults, largely because they listen to so much loud music through headphones.
More work has to be done, but looking at the causes and severity of tinnitus may lead to better treatments with better outcomes.
