One in Five Teenagers Has Permanent Ringing in Their Ears, According to Study

November 13, 2013:
Tinnitus and hearing loss jeopardizes the future of teenagers

One in five teenagers has permanent ringing in their ears, according to study.

Many teenagers are surrounded by excessively loud noises in their daily lives. They go to concerts, festivals, parties, etc. and they often listen to music that is too loud for too long on headphones.

According to a study, one in five high school students has permanent ringing in the ears from such noisy situations. Furthermore, three out of four kids experience temporary tinnitus and only 5% use some kind of hearing protection against loud noise, such as ear plugs.

Only a few teens take measures to protect their ears from loud noises and loud music and researchers urge parents to be aware of their children’s habits.

Bothersome tinnitus
Loud situations cause many teenagers to experience ringing in their ears and they may risk permanent damage to the hearing. Such hearing damage is clearly linked to tinnitus or hearing loss.

Tinnitus can be very troublesome and may have dramatic effects on individuals. Many people find tinnitus bothersome enough to seek medical help.

Bothersome tinnitus interferes with a person’s sleep, concentration, communication and ability to relax. For teenagers, bothersome tinnitus could mean that they will fall behind academically, which can have a huge impact on their future.

Self-inflicted noise sources
Besides loud concerts, parties and festivals, many teenagers risk hearing loss through the use of personal listening devices, like headphones. Excessive loud volumes can often be the cause; for instance when young people listen to music that is too loud for too long on headphones.

Parents are recommended to check that their children are listening to music at reasonable volumes and assure that their children use hearing protection in loud environments.

About the study
Researchers from Antwerp University Hospital in Belgium conducted the study, which was published in the journal ‘PLUS ONE’. The study involved 4,000 Flemish students, who were questioned about ringing in their ears and their attitudes towards loud noise and hearing protection.
Source: www.reuters.com

 

Knowing my luck I'll have permanent tinnitus and I don't even listen to loud music :*(
So can tinnitus cause hearing loss?

 

im one of the 5

 

Hi @Lucinda. No, tinnitus can not cause hearing loss; hearing loss causes tinntius, so when you get tinnitus that can signify hearing loss. But the tinntius itself does cause hearing loss.

Then again, some people get T (tinnitus) despite not listening to loud music and showing no signs of hearing loss. Stress is also a trigger, many people gett T during stressful situations, or due to depression. There is too much we don't know, but there are links to hearing loss and T. Best thing you can do is protect your ears and not listen to music through headphones.

 

Very sad statistics...

 

I happen to be in this very situation. I can't describe the amount of self-hate I'm currently feeling; knowing that I've caused this myself is the most horrific thing. I'm actually crying whilst writing this, and I know I deserve it. There's not a minute go by where I don't think about my T, and where I don't blame myself. It really is awful.

 

You should honestly not be so hard on yourself. Most people are completely unaware that tinnitus (in the chronic sense) even exists. I didn't know about it. I got tinnitus when I was 17. I'm 28 now, I have not died. I was still able to go to college and lead what I consider to be a completely normal life. I was a bit of a party animal even after tinnitus. Just keep hanging out with friends and take common sense protective measures for your hearing. Don't go to a show without ear plugs.

 

Main problem of this is lack of knowledge and lack of prevention and information in the TV, News or other media. Absence of laws, that prohibits clubs louder than 90Db, or obligation of free earplugs in the entrance of those clubs/concerts/...

 

Hey hudson im sure you have said on here alot of times but is your T noise induced? And if so has yours got worse over the past 11 years?

 

My tinnitus has become a little worse over the years, yes. However, I will say that the only times it has become worse were when I subjected myself to loud noises without hearing protection. That was basically due to the fact that I had become so habituated that I became complacent and did not think it would be an issue. Don't become complacent. You can be habituated, but still be smart.

 

Oh, sorry, I didn't answer your first question. Yes, my tinnitus is noise induced. It most likely was somewhat cumulative, but it really started after one loud concert.

 

If I knew about tinnitus when I was younger, I most likely wouldn't have listened to music so loudly.

 

Well, that's why we have to focus on awareness. Unfortunately, tinnitus isn't a sexy issue and it won't kill you. It's functionally invisible.

 

It's really crazy how much people don't know about it considering how prevalent it is,and it seems like more and more people will get it sadly. Hudson kind of off topic question I meant to ask in other thread but did you have any problems at all with going out with earplugs? Do you think it's pretty safe to go out with plugs? I think I saw you said you went out quite a bit with them.

 

Excellent, the more the merrier. More people with tinnitus means more pressure for treatment. And if not, let others suffer with us.

 

lol a bit cynical, but that actually is true. The more people who have tinnitus, the more people will want a cure for it. The reason we are more interested in cures for certain diseases in general has more to do with their prevalence and not quite so much their danger.

 

Ten years from now our generation will be doomed if not half which means more people with T and more pressure on the government for a cure like you guys said!!! Ipods only been out ten years, add another ten and the numbers will go up for T. And thats not including clubbing and all that!

 

A few days ago while listening to a local popular radio station I heard a public service commercial warning of the effect of loud and prolonged noise exposure. This station caters to mostly the younger audience but I have a feeling the message fell on deaf ears. No pun intended.

The commercial caught my attention since this was the first time and last time that I have ever heard this type of commercial. Of course no mention was made to tinnitus as being a result of failure to use proper hearing protection. Just a warning that you may not be able to hear in the future as good as you do now if you do not take care of your ears.

There will be no shortage of tinnitus suffers in the future.

 

Yes, I went out quiet frequently to shows with ear plugs and it did not get worse. I would even go to bars and sing karaoke and not wear ear plugs then. I "played it by ear" as to whether it was too loud. Unfortunately, I was in a bar one night and it was too loud and I didn't think it was. From now on, I'm just going to wear plugs in a bar if they have any kind of live music playing or if the music playing in the background is even remotely loud.

That's my experience though. Everyone is different. I would err on the side of caution and wear ear plugs around noise, especially at concerts. Some concerts can be louder than others. It really depends on how deaf the audio engineers that are setting it up are, to tell you the truth. Those people work professionally in that field and often times have high levels of hearing loss themselves. With that in mind, taking other precautions like making sure you aren't near the speakers, and taking frequent breaks away from the noise will go a long way in protecting you.

At the end of the day, everybody is different though. You will have to try it out and see what works for you. Generally speaking, I think that most people can wear ear plugs in a bar for a few hours, and even if the music is loud, they will be fine.

 

I have TMJ... Havent seen a docter yet.

 

I know t sucks but I hope you're kidding about letting others suffer with us.

 

@Hudson Do you mostly wear custom made plugs or average ones or decide according to the situation?

 

While the younger generation seem more at risk, I don't believe that 20% have permanent t. The survey of 50 million of 350 million of US people with t also seems unrealistic, as that survey was based on t for longer than 5 minutes. Plus not all teenagers or all US people were surveyed. Apparently the vets were left off that US study, and apparently 60% or more come home with permanent t. I have talked to many friends in my life, some of whom I have found to my surprise have had t all this time. However, it is not near 20%. Yes, more people with t would encourage more research. But these figures just don't seem right somehow.

 

So how comes we don't have a cure for baldness yet? It is much more prevalent than tinnitus and I'm sure that most men would be interested in it.

 

I believe those numbers. If you actually talk to people and ask them about tinnitus, I think you would be surprised how many people you know are living with tinnitus. That includes teenagers.

 

We don't have a cure for it, but there is a huge awareness and market for it... because it's such a common problem. You have to remember that just because we want a cure for something, that doesn't mean we are to the point where we can pull it off. But eventually there will be a cure for baldness. Some times certain problems are just more complex than we first realize.

 

Curing baldness is like trying to cure your skin color. Your hair follicles are naturally prone to shrinkage when in contact with dihydro-testosterone, a hormone made by your body when you have an excess of testosterone. It's an evolutionary trait found throughout many populations of humans.

But even still your rhetorical question falls flat, as there are many treatments for baldness. Medadroxil will halt the shrinking of said folicals and Propecia will block the follicle from receiving dihydro-testosterone all together, but with the added risk of impotence.

Baldness, though not cured, has many effective treatments. Also, baldness is a well understood condition. Little hard facts are known about tinnitus and has no treatments. I stopped caring about what doesn't grow on my ears started ringing.

 

Have talked to people, and it does not seem near 20%. But that doesn't say that if we count in the vets, and then look at the younger generation's exposure to loud music, it won't get up there.

 

The fact of the matter is teenagers think they are indestructible.I have warned friends of mine about this condition and nearly all of them had never heard of it which clearly shows an awareness issue.Secondly even after warning them they acted shocked and concerned about it but literally a few days later there would be pictures of them on facebook at some concert or gig with absolutely no hearing protection whatsoever which shows they really dont take it seriously at all.My point is even if you raise awareness to this condition and the risks they are taking nearly every teenager wont take it seriously until its too late.Well this is my opinion anyway I literally told nearly all of my friends about the risks they are taking and how to avoid this condition if they act now I basically became an awareness campaigner.This was to see if any of my friends would change their ways i.e use of ipods too loud,concerts and gigs,use hearing protection,festivals etc etc and the simple answer is no.Not one of friends really took the message I was sending them seriously.Of course being teenagers their general attitude is thatl never happen to me some even joked about it.I remember being at a party a few years back and a guy was smacking two rulers beside peoples ear which made their ear ring for a few seconds.And the sad truth is everybody found it hilarious even the people he got with the rulers found it hilarious.I found myself saying if only you knew the harsh reality of ringing in your ears maybe you wouldnt find it quiet an hilarious experience.It sickened me to see this some even said dont bother getting Bill his are ringing anyway and of course we'd all laugh.But it sumed up a message to me....that to teenagers at least T is just some type of benign threat a joke and something not to be taken seriously.Its because of this Im afraid that a lot of my friends will develop T(two are already noticeing intermittent T)and all I can do is sit back and watch....

 

Im g

and those people will develop T the time there in there 40s... More people will have it.. Numbers go up every
Year... Our generation and ones after us and before us are screwed. But that
Means more awareness too the whoever will come up with a good ass treatment that will either cure/greatly treat the voulme of T