Though Donna Simon has hearing loss, she still hears one constant sound clear as day: ringing in her ears.
The 72-year-old has tinnitus — a condition she describes as hearing a never-ending high-pitch squeal. She first started noticing it about 20 years ago.
“It’s just getting louder as the years go on,” said Simon, who is retired and lives in Brimfield, a suburban township with rural roots about 15 minutes east of Akron.
She believes the condition may have stemmed from her former job as a high school kitchen manager, as she was surrounded for years by loud machinery and children.
There is no cure for tinnitus, which studies show impacts more than 1 out of 10 adults worldwide. Prevention is important to maintain hearing health, but many people overlook it, said Rusty Kunze, a hearing care practitioner at Beltone Hearing Care Center in Kent.
Kunze said that for about 70% of the people he has treated, hearing aids diminish tinnitus or make it go away completely. For the other 30%, there isn’t much he can do to help.
Kathy Smith can relate. She started experiencing tinnitus about three years ago, and though she has hearing aids, she said they don’t help. She described the noise as radio static.
“Sometimes, it can really be loud,” said Smith, a 77-year-old retired school bus driver living in Stow. “You just want to turn off the volume, but you can’t.”
What does tinnitus stem from?
Studies show most people with tinnitus are between 40 and 80 years old.
Kunze said tinnitus is any kind of buzzing, chirping, ringing or noise that seems as though it’s in the middle of one’s head.
“It’s a nuisance; it’s constant,” said Kunze, who has been in the hearing care industry for 16 years. “And for the majority of the people, it’s usually when they’re trying to go to bed, it’s just there.”
Some common causes, according to the Cleveland Clinic, include:
- Hearing loss
- Noise exposure
- Ear conditions
- Medications
Kunze said stress, earwax, infections, aging, high blood pressure, alcohol and caffeine can all contribute to the severity of the condition.
“A lot of people don’t realize how many people have it,” he said. “Some people probably think it’s a normal function of life, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be.”
How is tinnitus treated?
Other than hearing aids, tinnitus may be treated with sound therapy, which can make the ringing less noticeable, or cognitive behavior therapy, which helps patients cope with it, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Kunze said wearing ear protection around loud noise can help prevent the condition.
Simon said in her early days of experiencing tinnitus, she found hearing aids alleviated the ringing, but they were too expensive to afford. Today, she said her Bluetooth hearing aids allow her to listen to audiobooks and videos.
Though this doesn’t take the tinnitus away completely, she said it becomes less noticeable. Ocean and nature sounds she can play through her hearing aids actually make the tinnitus worse, she said.
How does tinnitus affect quality of life?
Smith said nothing gives her relief, though sometimes when she’s busy, she doesn’t notice the background noise until she sits down to relax. She also said she has a hard time understanding her grandkids because their voices are high-pitched, and that’s the area she can’t hear as well.
Her tinnitus gets worse as the day goes on, she said.
“It can make you really grumpy,” Smith said. “It’s just an aggravating, constant, bad situation.”
Smith said her tinnitus fluctuates in how loud it is, but even when she tries to ignore it, it doesn’t go away.
Simon said she originally brushed her tinnitus aside, but she doesn’t want others to do the same. She doesn’t let it stop her — she recently went on a trip to Maui, Hawaii, and she said the condition didn’t impact her trip.
Others with tinnitus shouldn’t dwell on it, Smith said.
“I don’t let it bother me,” Smith said. “Life is too short; you have to keep moving.”
Lauren Cohen was a community reporting intern for the Akron Beacon Journal and Signal Akron. The position was funded through a grant from the Knight Foundation.
