Nearly 15% of Adults Worldwide Experience Tinnitus Symptoms

More than 740 million adults worldwide have had at least one symptom of tinnitus, and about 120 million are severely affected, according to a new report.

Tinnitus indicates the perception of a ringing, buzzing, whistling, rustling, or hissing noise in the ears or head when no corresponding external sounds are present. In its most severe form, which is associated with hearing loss, tinnitus can affect a patient’s mental, emotional, and social health.

Researchers have lacked a clear indicator of how widespread the disorder is globally, as well as of who suffers the most serious symptoms.

“Our estimates indicate that, worldwide, 1 in 7 adults reported experiencing tinnitus,” says Carlotta Micaela Jarach, study author and an epidemiologist at the Mario Negri Pharmacological Research Institute in Milan, Italy.

“Severe tinnitus has been found in about 2% of the population,” she says.

The study was published in JAMA Neurology on August 8.

Association With Age

Jarach and colleagues from several European universities conducted a wide-ranging review of past international research to estimate the global prevalence and incidence of tinnitus, severe tinnitus, chronic tinnitus, and diagnosed tinnitus.

They looked at research published in 767 publications, then focused on prevalence and incidence estimates from 95 of the studies.

Pooling the data from all those studies, the research team calculated that the prevalence estimate of any tinnitus among adults was 14.4%; The prevalence did not differ significantly by sex; it was about 14.1% among men and 13.1% among women.

But the prevalence differed by age, with an estimate of about 13.6% among children and teensAmong adults, the prevalence increased with age, starting around 9.7% for ages 18 to 44 years and rising to 13.7% among ages 45 to 64 years, and 23.6% among ages 65 years and older.

The prevalence in adults appeared to differ significantly by continent, ranging from 5.2% in Africa to about 14% in Europe and North America and 21.9% in South America.

Will It Happen to Me?

The short answer is more than likely yes — at least to some extent. Most of us will gradually lose some of our hearing as we get older. In the U.S., about a third of people ages 65 to 74 have hearing loss. Almost half of people over age 75 have some trouble hearing. But there are things you can do to help preserve as much of your hearing as possible, as long as possible.

What Causes It?

Most of the time, hearing loss with age happens about the same way in both ears. It’s usually because of changes in the ear itself over time. Most often those changes are in the inner ear, but they can be in other parts. Sometimes changes in the nerves connecting the ear and brain may be involved.

It’s Not Just About Your Age

Several things influence how much hearing you’ll lose as you get older. These include:Health conditions you may have, such as diabetes, ear infections that come back, high blood pressure, and diabetes
Medications you’ve taken, including aspirin, chemotherapy, and some antibiotics
Your exposure to loud sounds like music, lawn mowers, fireworks, gunfire, loud engines, and planes
Whether or not hearing loss runs in your family

Watch for These Signs

• Trouble understanding words or following a conversation, especially in noisy places like restaurants
• Difficulty making out consonants, such as “s,” “t,” “k,” “p,” and “f”
• Trouble hearing high-pitched sounds like doorbells or phones
• Ringing in your ears, a condition called tinnitus

Do I Have Hearing Problems?

If you think you might have a hearing problem but aren’t sure, consider these questions:Are you embarrassed sometimes because you can’t hear?
Does talking with family or friends frustrate you because you can’t hear them?
Do you need to turn the TV or radio up louder than other people do to hear it?
Do you feel that your hearing restricts or limits you in any way?

If you answered “yes” to some of these and are concerned about your hearing, it’s time to get it checked.

Where to Start

If your hearing is becoming a problem for you, it’s a good idea to see a doctor. You might want to start with your primary care doctor, who may recommend that you go to see a specialist.

Specialists Who May Help

An ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor looks in your ears to see if there’s a reason why you’ve lost some hearing besides your age. An audiologist measures hearing and tells you how much hearing you’ve lost. A hearing aid specialist also can measure your hearing and fit you for a hearing aid if you need one.

Treatments

If your hearing loss is substantial, your doctor might recommend a hearing aid. Hearing aids are electronic devices you wear in your ear. They make things sound louder. Some are so small, you can barely see them. Try out different hearing aids and make sure you get one that’s comfortable and works well for you.

What Else Helps

Assistive listening devices can make things that you need to hear louder. Ask at places like your theater, airport, and house of worship if they have portable receivers you can wear to hear better. When a person is talking, pay close attention to their mouth, lips, and gestures. This may help you to catch more of what they’re saying.

Ask for Help

Don’t hesitate to let friends, family, and others know you have some hearing loss. There are simple ways you and those around you can make hearing easier:Ask people to speak up and talk clearly without shouting.
Ask for them to help make sure you can see their faces when they’re talking.
Limit background noise at home.
When you are out, try to pick quieter spots.

Protect Your Hearing

There’s no sure way to stop or slow hearing loss with age. But you can take steps to make sure you aren’t making matters worse. Do your best to avoid loud noises at work and in your free time. When you can’t avoid loud noises, wear earplugs or earmuffs to protect your ears and your hearing.

Stay Connected

Hearing loss is about more than your hearing. If you can’t hear well, it makes it harder to enjoy activities like going to a movie, lecture, concert, worship service, or other things in your community. And that can mean you miss out on spending time with the people you care about. To avoid feelings of isolation and depression, make sure hearing well is a top priority.

• The prevalence of severe tinnitus among adults was 2.3%, and 2.7% for children and teens.
• Again there was only a small difference between men and women, with 2.3% of men reporting severe tinnitus, and 2.7% of women.
• The prevalence of chronic tinnitus was 9.8%, and diagnosed tinnitus was 3.4%.

A Common Disability

Converting prevalence to numbers, the researchers found that 749 million adults worldwide have tinnitus symptoms, and about 120 million adults have severe symptoms.

“Major health organizations, including the World Health Organization and the Global Burden of Disease, should give due weight to this disability, which appears to be present on par with other disabilities such as migraine, back pain, and hearing loss,” says researcher Silvano Gallus, PhD, head of the Laboratory of Lifestyle Epidemiology at the Mario Negri Institute.

“We hope these results will help raise awareness of the problem so that research on effective treatments for tinnitus can be accelerated,” he says.

No Approved Treatments

Tinnitus is considered a symptom of an underlying neurologic condition. To date, there are no approved drugs to treat tinnitus, though some therapies help people to live with the symptoms.

“Tinnitus is a life-changing experience for many. Learning effective management strategies in a timely fashion is the key to dealing with this difficult condition,” says Hashir Aazh, PhD, an audiologist who specializes in tinnitus and serves as a consultant for the audiology department with the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust in the United Kingdom.

Aazh, who wasn’t involved with this study, noted that the research team included a group of well-respected tinnitus researchers from several European countries.

The systematic nature of the review minimized the risk of bias, he added, which should help clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and healthcare organizations to trust the data.

The findings line up with previous studies, Aazh said, which indicate that about 14% of the worldwide population experiences tinnitus at some point in life, and about 2% faces severe symptoms.

“It is important to understand how prevalent tinnitus is, because it can help healthcare organizations to secure resources and plan for developing diagnostic and therapy services that can support patients who are experiencing tinnitus,” he said.