I Don't Believe 20% of People Have Tinnitus

That stat makes no sense to me, everytime I mention my tinnitus I have to explain what it is, it seems no one knows about it except those few I know who have it.

If it’s true that 20% of population have tinnitus like ENTs and some stats claim, shouldn’t its name be way more known among people?

 

Maybe that many can hear a tiny tiny sound in complete silence but I'm sure most of them are nothing like us here.

 

If 20% of the world was like us, it would be f***ing bedlam. It would however ‘unlock’ the cure me thinks.

 

20% is too high in my opinion.

The more official estimates are around 10% but it could be raised slightly higher in the future.

But a lot of it depends on the question. You can ask have you ever heard tinnitus and capture anyone who has ever been clubbing, or you can ask have you had tinnitus for more than 3 days that captures it beyond noise exposure. And also many things in between that will give different estimates.

 

Two doctors told me it’s between 15-20%.

I don’t buy it; If this was true then all ENTs would become millionaires, because the first reaction would be rushing to them.

Also most people look at me as if it’s something alien when I talk about it.

 

Will tinnitus become more of a national problem?

 

The data is curious because it depends on the phrasing of the questions.

What questions were asked to get there?

Do they experience tinnitus all the time?

Can they hear it only in quiet rooms?

 

Yes, I know at least 5 people with tinnitus, enough of it that they mentioned it to me without me telling them about mine

 

What ~ you have this too ?????????????? And others ~ as well ~ others have this problem ```

I thought I was the only one ~ maybe I am ~ and you guys are leading me on ``` I have to think about this ```








onjig

 

That's because most people think it's normal and they don't care about it enough to be bothered by it, I had T since i was a child and i always thought it was normal to have it...it wasn't until i went to a concert that totally unleashed my T that i understood the noise had a name. Lots of people have T they just don't realize they have it, and most just go about their normal days without caring about it. I only started caring when the noise was very noticeable and bothered me a lot.


When i talked about it with my brother or my friends...i found out 90% of my gamer buddies have it, and my brother has it too...he just told me to learn to live with it like everyone else...very annoying but that's what brothers will say

 

Same here, I know an ENT, two therapists, an MRI technician, and a dental hygienist, all of whom have tinnitus. They did not tell me they had it until I brought it up. All of them are habituated.

 

"I'll take one habituation to go please, no I would not like a receipt" 2 of my coworkers have it loud I had to repeat myself

 

I'm surprised most people I talked to do know about tinnitus and have some only have it completely silence.
I'm in the USA fyi

back in 2012-2016 I had super quiet tinnitus I could only hear with my ear plugs in dead silence.

 

Habituation is easier the milder tinnitus is. And although it is said otherwise, I truly believe that some are inclined to easier ear damage once it becomes present. These people aren't so concerned about spikes because if they were, they'd live life at least slightly abnormally.

Spiking is a huge part of the upset with tinnitus. Not only do you have this buzzing but you feel inclined to live life differently if you don't want to make it worse. Is there a form of tinnitus that doesn't spike and remains stable, you got to wonder?

 

Honestly, if my T didn't fluctuate so wildly I would have made peace a while ago, but when it's so up and down it's hard not to get upset over and over.

 

Also, the fact that Tinnitus is SO vastly different from one individual to another, with such a disparity in causes and effects...that it is difficult to isolate. Often T is coupled with existing conditions which may or may not exacerbate the problem...it could present itself as side effects to medication, depression, common colds, various nerve problems, head traumas...there are so many variables as to why it exists...it is hard to diagnose. Tinnitus is still mysterious...but its effects are very real.

 

When I had my hyperbaric oxygen therapy I was there with around 10-12 other people who had hearing loss. The people were between maybe 25-75. The old people in most cases nearly lost their hearing completely in one ear. But the funny thing was, that at the first therapy unit we talked about the conditions and the young people said "I have T and hearing loss" while the old people said they only have hearing loss and the next day when we met again for the therapy they talked to me and said they hear something but they can live with it (tiny noise). Dont know why they didnt mention it the day before.

So what I thought was that they already had T and only began to talk about it because the younger generation clearly said they have T. Like breaking a wall. I thought that was some kind of lack in the acceptance of T in the society...So I am very careful with statistics. Maybe they thought they would be weird or not as strong as the youth etc. who knows. The problem with T is that most people bring it only in connection with a mental disorder.

I also have troubles to talk to my family about T. My father said when my T appeared he also has T but it sounds like crickets and he likes that...but he cant hear his T all the time....so maybe they say something to make you feel better or that you accept it etc.

 

I just found out one of my friends has T (loud noise exposure) bilateral tinnitus her's is mild. Her husband has severe t (war veteran)

 

I am a gamer too, even tho i never played with earphones, i am starting to wonder if there’s a connection between T and gaming - i noticed a lot of gamers here hmm.

 

Maybe it's all the underlying stress and competitiveness. I never used headphones for gaming/music either

 

Gaming online often makes mine worse. I believe that (for me) it's the neck stress, around C1 and C2 where I carry a lot of tension. Same thing I believe is at play in driving for any longer distances, which also makes mine worse.

 

The stats I have read says between 15 - 20% but that only 3% of those are bothered by their T in such a way that it damages their quality of life. So I suppose the reason why the stats seems to high is that it is only a small amount of People with T who is actually bothered or harmed by it

 

Tinnitus rates around 10% seem to be often quoted for the whole population. Studies covering certain subgroups like elderly people and military personnel often seem to report higher rates, even high as 20%.

It would be interesting to know what is the limiting value for percentage of people that can develop tinnitus, but that´s probably one of the things researchers are trying to find out.

 

But the videos you find on youtube say otherwise, like this french video “c’est quoi l’acouphène” and they show you that “15% of canadian population suffer from T”.... this is so misleading.
What you are saying makes more sense.

 

One of the EST i visited was like “there are at least 1 million out of 4 million <my country population> suffering from T.

Honestly I don’t buy it, he was just saying that to make feel better probably.

 

Frankly that is about as absurd as him telling a cripple, ‘don’t worry there’s a million cripples like you knocking about round here.’.....When really they just a have sore back every now and then.

 

There are lot of garden variety tinnitus "sufferers" who who all come out of the woodwork when the subject gets brought up.

But then it usually becomes clear that theirs is not intrusive, and they are not bothered by it whatsoever.

I remember when I mentioned having tinnitus to one of my coworkers and he was very excited to tell me he has one too...it appears about once a week for few hours and then goes away.

Sadly this is why the real sufferers are not being taken seriously...people don't realize that there are other levels, while the tinnitus propaganda machine just keeps painting roses and unicorns.

 

That's strange, i don't see a lot off military people here

 

Absolutely Wolf.

“I do wish the ‘HTDs’ would just keep quiet, rather than give the real sufferers the benefit of their inane advice!”

(HTD’s - Hobbycraft Tinnitus Dabblers)

 

.....at least he didn’t tell you to
“choose happiness and go out and enjoy the sunshine!”