Apple and the University of Michigan have partnered on one of the most wide scale tinnitus studies to date to better understand how the impairment is perceived by those affected by it.
The study analyzed data from 160,000 participants suffering with various degrees of tinnitus to find a kaleidoscope of ways it presents itself in the brain. For example, while 78.5% described their tinnitus symptom as hearing a "pure tone," 17.4% described its presentation as "white noise" with half of this contingent likening the experience to hearing s "static tone." 10% reported their tinnitus as having a moderate-to-severe effect on their hearing.
Age also appears to have a higher correlation with tinnitus prevalence among patients. Though just15% of participants experienced tinnitus daily, the study found that those aged 55 and up had a significantly higher prevalence of persistent symptoms, at 35.8%–triple the amount of their 18034 year-old counterparts.
Stress can also play a role in the onset of tinnitus, though the leading factor by a landslide was "noise trauma," or overexposure to loud and disruptive noises. With no definitive cure discovered yet for tinnitus, prevention is key. This means a pair of earplugs should be an essential to pack for concerts, construction sites, or even loud bars or places where the ambient noise level reaches above 100 decibels.
DownBeats offer an affordable entryway to quality hearing protection, utilizing a hi-fidelity filter that lowers the volume while allowing wearers to hear the good stuff.
To read further results from the study, visit this website.