What is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is the sensation of ringing or other noises in one or both of the ears. Noises heard when experiencing tinnitus aren’t caused by external sounds, and others can’t hear them.
Tinnitus is not actually a condition, but rather a symptom of underlying conditions. Causes of the condition include age, hearing loss, ear injury, or circulatory system disorders.
The symptoms include but are not limited to; ringing, buzzing, clicking, hissing, humming, or roaring in the ear. For many people, tinnitus improves with treatment of the underlying cause. Others find treatments that reduce or mask the noise, making the tinnitus less noticeable, to be effective
How Many People Does Tinnitus Affect?
Tinnitus is a very common condition. For example, consider the eye-popping numbers from around the globe:
- Tinnitus affects around 20% of people globally, according to the Deafness Forum of Australia.
- In the United States, over 50 million people experience some form of tinnitus. Additionally, roughly 20 million Americans struggle with burdensome chronic tinnitus and 2 million experience extreme and debilitating cases.
- The prevalence of tinnitus increases to 70-85% in the hearing-impaired population.
- 10% of the population in the UK will suffer from tinnitus at some point in their life.
- Between 1 in 5 and 1 in 10 people in Australia already experience a level of tinnitus that severely impacts their life.
What Does Tinnitus Awareness Week Aim To Do?
The 7th – 13th of February 2022 brings us Tinnitus Awareness Week. Recognised each year throughout the world in the first full week of February, the purpose of this week is to educate the public about the symptoms of tinnitus and how it affects people.
With tinnitus having a unique and individual impact on each sufferer, Tinnitus Awareness Week is an important time to recognise and educate yourself. Take the opportunity to learn how much this condition really does affect people and their livelihoods.
How Nuheara Can Help Individuals with Tinnitus
Nuheara’s IQbuds² MAX, paired with the IQbuds smartphone application gives users a high level of control over the sounds in both their external and internal environments. Theses hearables help to improve the quality of life for people with a wide range of audiologic and brain conditions such as tinnitus.
Sound therapy is a proven treatment to help reduce or eliminate the internal sounds that are so bothersome to people dealing with tinnitus. The goal of sound therapy is to desensitize people to the ringing, buzzing, and other common sounds of tinnitus. Meanwhile, this approach relies on the use of more pleasant sounds or music to mask the ringing.
IQbuds² MAX allow users to select soft, soothing music that the earbuds transmit to the ears at a comfortable volume. These lightweight earbuds allow people with tinnitus to listen to the brain retraining music according to their own schedule. For best results, IQbuds² users should try to listen to smooth or instrumental music at least a few hours a day.
Additionally, some customers say using their earbuds to control noise volume and frequency around them helps to alleviate symptoms. As a result, IQbuds MAX hearing buds have been helping some people with tinnitus for years. In fact, approximately 40% of Nuheara’s customers who give IQbuds MAX a 5-star rating, indicate they experience tinnitus.
Resources and Support Options for Individuals with Tinnitus
Nuheara has partnered with Oto, the UK based digital health company. Together, the partnership aims to provide digital-led, tech-enabled support and an improved the quality of life for those with tinnitus.
Oto is a science-backed toolkit that provides the best therapy techniques to maximize quality of life for people with tinnitus. 86% of Oto’s users experience benefits after just one month. Some of the benefits of Oto include; learning the latest cognitive behavioural techniques, habituate faster with tinnitus targeted mindfulness and have access to background sounds for relaxation and to improve sleep.
Developed by experts, Oto’s team understands tinnitus. The sessions have been built by doctors and tinnitus experts with decades of experience in tinnitus management. The content has been created by sound engineers and voice artists to provide the highest quality experience.
The collaboration brings together Nuheara’s award-winning
Nuheara Partnership with British Tinnitus Association
As a sponsor of the British Tinnitus Association (BTA), Nuheara aims to help shine a light on this serious issue that affects millions. British Tinnitus Association estimating that around 30% of people will experience tinnitus at some point in their lives, this is an important initiative for Nuheara.
“We aim to provide innovative products that allow people to change their relationship with external sounds. This, in turn, helps them to find some relief from the symptoms and triggers of tinnitus. Supporting the BTA allows us to raise awareness of the issues around tinnitus and how the symptoms of the condition can be managed.”
