Malady Makeover, May 05

What's the Buzz?
Learn how to turn down the volume on tinnitus.

By Joanne Gallo

   In the 2004 Oscar-nominated film The Aviator, the eccentricities of legendary movie mogul and airline entrepreneur Howard Hughes are portrayed in great detail—including his hearing problem. What the film fails to reveal, however, is the reason for Hughes’ partial deafness—a constant ringing in his ears, a syndrome known as tinnitus (tin-NI-tus or TIN-ni-tus). Hughes suffered from the condition due to a childhood illness and it was one of the things that fueled his passion for aviation, as it was only the noise he heard sitting in a plane’s cockpit that could drown out the ceaseless internal racket.
   While millions of tinnitus sufferers may not be quite as eccentric as Hughes, they can probably relate to the millionaire’s malady. The crazy thing about tinnitus is that the chronic ear buzzing a person hears exists only inside their head. Sound like it would be enough to drive you nuts? Well, the famously deaf composer Ludwig Van Beethoven also had tinnitus, and it’s thought that the rushing and roaring sounds in his head sent him over the edge.
   So how does an otherwise normal person wind up hearing an unending cacophony of imaginary sounds? According to the American Tinnitus Association (www.ata.org), 90% of the approximately 50 million Americans with the disorder have one annoyance of modern society to thank: Noise. Exposure to loud sounds can harm and destroy cilia, or hair cells, in the inner ear, and once damaged, they cannot be regenerated. Chronic ringing in the ears interferes with a person’s overall ability to hear, and the longer you’ve had it, the harder it is to get rid of.
   Las Vegas retiree Jack Mulei’s ears have been ringing almost constantly for about 40 years. He developed tinnitus after serving as an Army artilleryman in Korea and later working as a sheet metal worker in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. “Sometimes it’s louder than other times,” Mulei says. “I’m not crazy about it, but I’ve learned to live with it.”

Prevention Advice
   While tinnitus was often an occupational hazard for those in construction or the military, today scores of kids who’ve been raised on rock concerts and raves are doing major damage to their ears. H.E.A.R. (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers), an organization co-founded by tinnitus sufferer Pete Townshend of the rock group The Who, aims to educate music lovers on how to prevent the condition. Their advice?
   • Pay attention to noise levels. According to the United States Safety and Health Standards, workers should not be exposed to more than 90 decibels over a period of eight hours. What does 90 decibels sound like? All of the following fall in the 90-to-100 range: electric drills, motorcycles, subways, tractors, trucks.
   • Turn down the volume or leave a noisy area whenever possible.
   • Have your hearing checked once a year by an audiologist, someone who specializes in hearing health.
   • Give your ears a rest for 24 hours after exposure to dangerous noise levels.
   • Wear some type of hearing protection or earplugs in high-volume environments. Okay, so you’ll feel nerdy wearing earplugs at a rock concert, but imagine the damage you’ll be avoiding from that 115-decibel experience.
   If you’re lucky, that ringing in your ears will be only a temporary reaction to loud noise, with your hearing returning to normal after several hours or days. But after repeated exposure your ears can lose the ability to bounce back and the result is permanent hearing degeneration.
   Even if you didn’t spend the bulk of your youth at Motorhead concerts you could be at risk, as tinnitus can also be caused by common medications like aspirin, ibuprofen or birth control pills, an ear infection, wax impaction, TMJ disorders (problems in the area where the lower jaw connects to the sides of the skull near the ears), anxiety and/or depression, hypertension or thyroid disorders.

Treating Tinnitus
   If the ringing in your ears doesn’t go away, go get help—the longer you wait, the more difficult it will be to treat. The first step is to see an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat doctor) to try and pinpoint the cause. And since tinnitus and hearing loss are often linked, a visit to an audiologist may also be in order.
   If other medical problems are ruled out, a prescription of healthy diet, exercise, stress reduction and supplementation can help keep the condition under control:
   • Relax! Stress and fatigue can exacerbate the ringing, which in turn can increase stress. Be sure to get plenty of sleep, and try relaxation techniques like deep breathing and meditation to help change your body’s reaction to the noise.
   • Eliminate caffeine and nicotine. Both constrict blood flow to the ear, which can aggravate tinnitus.
   • Try biofeedback. This technique helps people gain control over certain physiological processes, such as heartbeat; some folks have found it helpful in dealing with tinnitus. (To learn more, contact the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback at 800-477-8892 or www.aapb.org.)
   • Go for ginkgo. Standardized ginkgo biloba extract has been found to improve blood flow in small vessels and to serve as an antioxidant. One recent German study on ginkgo as a treatment for tinnitus showed that the individuals involved experienced an improvement in sound volume. Research has specifically focused on the standardized form of ginkgo, so keep that in mind when choosing a supplement.
   If all else fails, a career change could be what the doctor ordered. Jack Mulei, now retired from his sheet metal job for more than 10 years, thinks being in a quieter environment has helped him. He says with a shrug, “I’ve just learned to put it out of my mind.”

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