03/09/10
Caffeine Withdrawal Makes Tinnitus Worse, Not Better
Caffeine Withdrawal Makes Tinnitus Worse, Not Better
by Tanya
Giving up caffeine doesn't ease tinnitus, a new study from Centre for Hearing and Balance Studies at Bristol University has shown. In the contrary, it only adds to the problem.
In the study, sixty-six volunteers who experienced tinnitus and who usually consumed at least 150 mg a day of caffeine took part in a 30-day trial.
Their usual caffeinated tea and coffee was replaced with double-blinded supplies, under one of two conditions: usual caffeine consumption followed by phased withdrawal; or phased withdrawal followed by reintroduction then usual caffeine consumption.
"With almost 85 per cent of adults in the world consuming caffeine daily, we wanted to challenge the claim that caffeine makes tinnitus worse," said Dr Lindsay St. Claire, Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Hearing and Balance Studies at the University of Bristol, and the lead researcher on the study.
"Many professionals support caffeine withdrawal as a tinnitus therapy, even though there is a lack of any relevant evidence, and, in fact, acute symptoms of caffeine withdrawal might even make tinnitus worse," she added.
http://tinnitus.22web.net
by Tanya
Giving up caffeine doesn't ease tinnitus, a new study from Centre for Hearing and Balance Studies at Bristol University has shown. In the contrary, it only adds to the problem.
In the study, sixty-six volunteers who experienced tinnitus and who usually consumed at least 150 mg a day of caffeine took part in a 30-day trial.
Their usual caffeinated tea and coffee was replaced with double-blinded supplies, under one of two conditions: usual caffeine consumption followed by phased withdrawal; or phased withdrawal followed by reintroduction then usual caffeine consumption.
"With almost 85 per cent of adults in the world consuming caffeine daily, we wanted to challenge the claim that caffeine makes tinnitus worse," said Dr Lindsay St. Claire, Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Hearing and Balance Studies at the University of Bristol, and the lead researcher on the study.
"Many professionals support caffeine withdrawal as a tinnitus therapy, even though there is a lack of any relevant evidence, and, in fact, acute symptoms of caffeine withdrawal might even make tinnitus worse," she added.
http://tinnitus.22web.net
02/09/10
Tinnitus Not Exactly Hereditary
Tinnitus Not Exactly Hereditary
by Gopalan
New research from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health shows that the relative importance of genetic factors in tinnitus is low. This is the first large population-based study to measure the heritability of tinnitus.
The study looked at prevalence of tinnitus and to what degree it is hereditary. Prevalence of tinnitus was 15.1 percent, which correlates well with findings from other countries.
Tinnitus is a symptom with a variety of underlying causes, such as impaired hearing or exposure to noise and medicines.
The study shows that only 11 percent of the variance of tinnitus in the population are caused by genetic effects, whereas environmental factors account for the remaining 89 percent.
"Such a low heritability is a surprising find because most other diseases studied earlier have been more or less hereditary. We had expected that genetics and the environment would be roughly as important as each other," said Dr Ellen Kvestad at the Division for Mental Health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
However, researchers said that In the study it was not possible to differentiate between different clinical forms of tinnitus.
"Our findings do not mean that genes are not important for some forms of tinnitus. Some sub-groups of tinnitus with certain underlying causes can have higher heritability. From our findings alone, resources cannot be allocated to find specific genes that code for tinnitus in general, added Kvestad.
The study used data from the Nord Trøndelag Hearing Loss Study, which is an integral part of the Nord Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT). Self-reported questionnaires were used to collate information on prevalence of tinnitus from 51,574 people over 18 years of age.
http://tinnitus.22web.net
by Gopalan
New research from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health shows that the relative importance of genetic factors in tinnitus is low. This is the first large population-based study to measure the heritability of tinnitus.
The study looked at prevalence of tinnitus and to what degree it is hereditary. Prevalence of tinnitus was 15.1 percent, which correlates well with findings from other countries.
Tinnitus is a symptom with a variety of underlying causes, such as impaired hearing or exposure to noise and medicines.
The study shows that only 11 percent of the variance of tinnitus in the population are caused by genetic effects, whereas environmental factors account for the remaining 89 percent.
"Such a low heritability is a surprising find because most other diseases studied earlier have been more or less hereditary. We had expected that genetics and the environment would be roughly as important as each other," said Dr Ellen Kvestad at the Division for Mental Health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
However, researchers said that In the study it was not possible to differentiate between different clinical forms of tinnitus.
"Our findings do not mean that genes are not important for some forms of tinnitus. Some sub-groups of tinnitus with certain underlying causes can have higher heritability. From our findings alone, resources cannot be allocated to find specific genes that code for tinnitus in general, added Kvestad.
The study used data from the Nord Trøndelag Hearing Loss Study, which is an integral part of the Nord Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT). Self-reported questionnaires were used to collate information on prevalence of tinnitus from 51,574 people over 18 years of age.
http://tinnitus.22web.net
01/09/10
Hooked on Headphones? Personal Listening Devices Can Harm Hearing, Study Finds
Hooked on Headphones? Personal Listening Devices Can Harm Hearing, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2010) — Personal listening devices like iPods have become increasingly popular among young -- and not-so-young -- people in recent years. But music played through headphones too loud or too long might pose a significant risk to hearing, according to a 24-year study of adolescent girls.
The study, which appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, involved 8,710 girls of lower socioeconomic status, whose average age was about 16. Their hearing was tested when they entered a residential facility in the U.S Northeast.
"I had the rare opportunity, as an audiologist, to see how this population changed over the years," said Abbey Berg, Ph.D., lead study author and a professor in the Department of Biology & Health Sciences at Pace University in New York.
In this period, high-frequency hearing loss -- a common casualty of excessive noise exposure -- nearly doubled, from 10.1 percent in 1985 to 19.2 percent, she found.
Between 2001, when testers first asked about it, and 2008, personal music player use rose fourfold, from 18.3 percent to 76.4 percent. High-frequency hearing loss increased from 12.4 percent to 19.2 percent during these years, while the proportion of girls reporting tinnitus -- ringing, buzzing or hissing in the ears -- nearly tripled, from 4.6 percent to 12.5 percent.
Overall, girls using the devices were 80 percent more likely to have impaired hearing than those who did not; of the teens reporting tinnitus, all but one (99.7 percent) were users.
However, "just because there's an association, it doesn't mean cause and effect," Berg said. For the girls who took part in the study, other aspects of their lives -- poverty, poor air quality, substance abuse, risk-taking behavior -- might Sadd to the effects of noise exposure.
"This paper offers compelling evidence that the inappropriate use of headphones is indeed affecting some people's hearing, and the number of 'some people' is not small," said Brian Fligor, director of diagnostic audiology at Children's Hospital Boston.
Science News Share Blog Cite Print Email BookmarkHooked on Headphones? Personal Listening Devices Can Harm Hearing, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2010) — Personal listening devices like iPods have become increasingly popular among young -- and not-so-young -- people in recent years. But music played through headphones too loud or too long might pose a significant risk to hearing, according to a 24-year study of adolescent girls.
The study, which appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, involved 8,710 girls of lower socioeconomic status, whose average age was about 16. Their hearing was tested when they entered a residential facility in the U.S Northeast.
"I had the rare opportunity, as an audiologist, to see how this population changed over the years," said Abbey Berg, Ph.D., lead study author and a professor in the Department of Biology & Health Sciences at Pace University in New York.
In this period, high-frequency hearing loss -- a common casualty of excessive noise exposure -- nearly doubled, from 10.1 percent in 1985 to 19.2 percent, she found.
Between 2001, when testers first asked about it, and 2008, personal music player use rose fourfold, from 18.3 percent to 76.4 percent. High-frequency hearing loss increased from 12.4 percent to 19.2 percent during these years, while the proportion of girls reporting tinnitus -- ringing, buzzing or hissing in the ears -- nearly tripled, from 4.6 percent to 12.5 percent.
Overall, girls using the devices were 80 percent more likely to have impaired hearing than those who did not; of the teens reporting tinnitus, all but one (99.7 percent) were users.
However, "just because there's an association, it doesn't mean cause and effect," Berg said. For the girls who took part in the study, other aspects of their lives -- poverty, poor air quality, substance abuse, risk-taking behavior -- might Sadd to the effects of noise exposure.
"This paper offers compelling evidence that the inappropriate use of headphones is indeed affecting some people's hearing, and the number of 'some people' is not small," said Brian Fligor, director of diagnostic audiology at Children's Hospital Boston.
The level of impairment detected in this study might have been relatively subtle "but the point is that it is completely avoidable," said Fligor, who has no affiliation with the study.
"The ear is going to be damaged throughout your lifetime; what we're seeing here resembles early onset age-related hearing loss -- you might think of it as prematurely aging the ear," he said.
"I don't demonize headphones," said Fligor, who encourages moderation, not prohibition. At a reasonable volume -- conversational or slightly louder -- there's little risk, he said: "It's when you start overworking the ear that you get problems."
Berg said her findings suggest the need for more effective educational efforts to reduce unsafe listening behavior, particularly among disadvantaged youth. "You have to target them at a much younger age, when they are liable be more receptive," she said.
http://tinnitus.22web.net
http://www.handletinnitus.com/
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2010) — Personal listening devices like iPods have become increasingly popular among young -- and not-so-young -- people in recent years. But music played through headphones too loud or too long might pose a significant risk to hearing, according to a 24-year study of adolescent girls.
The study, which appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, involved 8,710 girls of lower socioeconomic status, whose average age was about 16. Their hearing was tested when they entered a residential facility in the U.S Northeast.
"I had the rare opportunity, as an audiologist, to see how this population changed over the years," said Abbey Berg, Ph.D., lead study author and a professor in the Department of Biology & Health Sciences at Pace University in New York.
In this period, high-frequency hearing loss -- a common casualty of excessive noise exposure -- nearly doubled, from 10.1 percent in 1985 to 19.2 percent, she found.
Between 2001, when testers first asked about it, and 2008, personal music player use rose fourfold, from 18.3 percent to 76.4 percent. High-frequency hearing loss increased from 12.4 percent to 19.2 percent during these years, while the proportion of girls reporting tinnitus -- ringing, buzzing or hissing in the ears -- nearly tripled, from 4.6 percent to 12.5 percent.
Overall, girls using the devices were 80 percent more likely to have impaired hearing than those who did not; of the teens reporting tinnitus, all but one (99.7 percent) were users.
However, "just because there's an association, it doesn't mean cause and effect," Berg said. For the girls who took part in the study, other aspects of their lives -- poverty, poor air quality, substance abuse, risk-taking behavior -- might Sadd to the effects of noise exposure.
"This paper offers compelling evidence that the inappropriate use of headphones is indeed affecting some people's hearing, and the number of 'some people' is not small," said Brian Fligor, director of diagnostic audiology at Children's Hospital Boston.
Science News Share Blog Cite Print Email BookmarkHooked on Headphones? Personal Listening Devices Can Harm Hearing, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2010) — Personal listening devices like iPods have become increasingly popular among young -- and not-so-young -- people in recent years. But music played through headphones too loud or too long might pose a significant risk to hearing, according to a 24-year study of adolescent girls.
The study, which appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, involved 8,710 girls of lower socioeconomic status, whose average age was about 16. Their hearing was tested when they entered a residential facility in the U.S Northeast.
"I had the rare opportunity, as an audiologist, to see how this population changed over the years," said Abbey Berg, Ph.D., lead study author and a professor in the Department of Biology & Health Sciences at Pace University in New York.
In this period, high-frequency hearing loss -- a common casualty of excessive noise exposure -- nearly doubled, from 10.1 percent in 1985 to 19.2 percent, she found.
Between 2001, when testers first asked about it, and 2008, personal music player use rose fourfold, from 18.3 percent to 76.4 percent. High-frequency hearing loss increased from 12.4 percent to 19.2 percent during these years, while the proportion of girls reporting tinnitus -- ringing, buzzing or hissing in the ears -- nearly tripled, from 4.6 percent to 12.5 percent.
Overall, girls using the devices were 80 percent more likely to have impaired hearing than those who did not; of the teens reporting tinnitus, all but one (99.7 percent) were users.
However, "just because there's an association, it doesn't mean cause and effect," Berg said. For the girls who took part in the study, other aspects of their lives -- poverty, poor air quality, substance abuse, risk-taking behavior -- might Sadd to the effects of noise exposure.
"This paper offers compelling evidence that the inappropriate use of headphones is indeed affecting some people's hearing, and the number of 'some people' is not small," said Brian Fligor, director of diagnostic audiology at Children's Hospital Boston.
The level of impairment detected in this study might have been relatively subtle "but the point is that it is completely avoidable," said Fligor, who has no affiliation with the study.
"The ear is going to be damaged throughout your lifetime; what we're seeing here resembles early onset age-related hearing loss -- you might think of it as prematurely aging the ear," he said.
"I don't demonize headphones," said Fligor, who encourages moderation, not prohibition. At a reasonable volume -- conversational or slightly louder -- there's little risk, he said: "It's when you start overworking the ear that you get problems."
Berg said her findings suggest the need for more effective educational efforts to reduce unsafe listening behavior, particularly among disadvantaged youth. "You have to target them at a much younger age, when they are liable be more receptive," she said.
http://tinnitus.22web.net
http://www.handletinnitus.com/
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