Apple has published the results of a survey on people who suffer from tinnitus, how they evaluated it with the help of an app and how to prevent it through its products
He Apple Hearing Study in conjunction with researchers from the University of Michigan conducted extensive research which obtained important hard data on tinnitus in more than 160,000 participants, one of the largest evaluations to date. The questions were based on the use of apps in order to rate their experience with tinnitus. The crucial objective of the research is to be able “improve understanding of the characteristics of this condition and be able to inform possible treatments” in the future.
What is tinnitus and how does Apple evaluate it?
It is the perception of a sound that others do not usually hear, it can happen in one or both ears. The shapes of the sounds vary but many indicate that it is usually heard as a hum, It can be very short or last a long time.. The health consequences of a person with tinnitus are alterations in sleep, concentration or simply the fact of being able to hear others clearly.
The study will undoubtedly help to better understand which are the highest risk groups that could suffer from tinnitus.. Many people don’t even know they have it and these types of studies can guide efforts to reduce these unknown impacts, for the moment. The hardest fact of his study is that 15% of those surveyed suffer from it daily, according to Rick Netzelprofessor of environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
How could people with tinnitus be helped? The first step is to understand itlearn about who is experiencing it, the differences between the group of people who suffer from it and the evolution that the person has over time, in addition to being able to differentiate the root causes and methods to control it.
Apple Hearing Study Survey
The most relevant data from tinnitus research
Of the more than 160,000 respondents, 77.6% reported having experienced tinnitus in their life. There is a strong trend of daily tinnitus related to increasing age. People 55 years of age and older reported having daily tinnitus 3 times more than a younger group of people aged 18 to 34 years.
As for men and women, 2.7% of males have a stronger tendency to experience daily tinnitus compared to females although 4.8% of male respondents stated that they have never experienced it.
How do you temporarily relieve the symptom? The majority of respondents (28%) uses noise machines, others (23.7%) listen to nature sounds and a smaller group (12.2%) practices meditation. Where does tinnitus come from? The research found several reasons, the most common being so-called “noise trauma” or being exposed to excessively high levels of noise (20.3%). Stress (7.7%) can be another very common factor in tinnitus.
Thanks to an app-based sound test that could be run on the iPhone, respondents were able to detail and match the type of sounds they heard resulting from tinnitus.. The app is called Research and is part of Apple’s Hearing Study.
Sounds that can be associated with tinnitus in Apple’s Research app
How do Apple devices help tinnitus?
It is worth mentioning that the Apple Hearing Study is one of three historical public health studies that exist in the Research app, launched in 2019 and still ongoing. Within this app there is an extensive compilation of more than 400 million hours related to ambient sound levels; They study sound exposure and the impact on hearing, stress and other aspects that are related to health.
The Noise app that is incorporated into the Apple Watch notifies users when there are high levels in their environment that may affect hearing health. The Health app collects all the information related to sound levels and notifies when the levels recommended by the WHO have been exceeded.
The AirPods Pro 2 have the best design in the sector
On the other hand, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max users can see if the ambient sound level is reduced when using these headphone models. Active noise cancellation and loud sound reduction functions They help detect external sounds that are counteracted when carried, so the user is being protected at all times. Finally, you can reduce loud audio in the headphone volume so as not to exceed the recommended limits.
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