Tinnitus is Becoming as Common as a Cold

Sept. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom – By the time today's children and youth hit the age of 30, their hearing will be that of a 60 year old.(http://www.turndowntinnitus.com)

Tinnitus, a debilitating condition in which there is constant perceived noise in the ear, affects millions of people around the world. One of its main causes is constant or frequent exposure to loud noise, which is why those commonly affected are musicians, construction site workers, fireworks technicians, and others who work in very noisy conditions. There has been a recent trend, however, of tinnitus occurring in children, teens, and young adults. The rising number of children who have been developing tinnitus has been likened to an epidemic.

Dr. William Hal Martin, professor of Otolaryngology and professor of preventive medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland said “It's a very noisy world we live in today and all of our toys are noisier than ever. The consequences [to our hearing] are permanent.” Dr. Martin believes that tinnitus and hearing loss in the younger generation are due to their current lifestyle of loud music, loud video games, loud televisions, etc. Eventually, problems like tinnitus will be as common as cold, everyone will have it.

Believing in preventive medicine, however, Dr. Martin advises that parents learn what safe noise levels are, and that they teach these to their children. For example, safe noise level on an iPod is 80% or less on the volume slider. At that level, a person can listen to music for 90 minutes a day. For televisions and computer games, normal volume level means the person playing can still hear other people in the room and carry on a conversation with that person. Children should be taught how to properly care for their ears.

“I am glad that preventive medicine is taking steps to increase awareness about tinnitus and how to prevent people from acquiring it through loud noise.” says Regina Jones, author of Triumph Tinnitus Today and mother of a tinnitus patient. “Had we been made more aware of how delicate hearing was before, we would have taken better care of our ears as well.”

Physical damage to the ear and tinnitus are very real problems that can lower a person's quality of life so parents should be actively involved in teaching their children about the sounds around them and what the safe levels for these sounds are. Education and prevention can be the best way to prevent tinnitus from becoming the next most common physical ailment.