I have always loved music and I love to have it loud. Back when I was younger, it was a matter of just liking it loud. Nowadays, it is more a matter of not being able to hear it.
Yes, apparently all those years of loud music and even louder concerts have taken their toll on my rapidly aging ears and given me tinnitus.
Tinnitus (I like to call it Pete Townshenditus because The Who guitarist suffers from it) is a ringing in the ears. It can be anywhere from slightly annoying to debilitating. It can be caused by loud sounds. Many rock musicians as well as veterans returning from war suffer from it.
However, for some, it starts suddenly and with no apparent reason. Mark Church noticed the ringing in his ears after visiting the dentist 11 years ago. He asked the doctor if there was a pill he could take. He was told no. He asked when it would go away. He was told it wouldn’t.
Church is one of almost 50 million Americans that suffer from tinnitus, but he also falls into an even smaller group. He is among the 2 of that 50 million that suffer from severe symptoms that included not being able to sleep, loss of appetite, and weigh loss. Church had such severe problems that he had to take a leave of absence from work.
But, there may be hope on the horizon. Doctors have historically though the problem with tinnitus was in the ears, but recent research shows that it might actually be a problem with the brain not connecting to sections clearly.
Professor Jay Piccirillo of Washington University in St. Louis thinks that maybe electrical stimulation can fix that faulty connection. He is attempting to do this by holding an electromagnet next to the heads of those suffering tinnitus.
Church agreed to a two week trial of transcranial magnetic stimulation, but decided not to continue further after the initial trial failed to help and actually feared it was making the tinnitus worse. However, Piccirillo continued with a second, four-week trial and is still analyzing the results, hoping some patients benefited.
He is also working with those in the military that returned from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from tinnitus. Since between 20 and 40 percent of those returning are suffering from this ailment, the Defense Department is backing research to try to find a cure.
Neuroscientist Michael Kilgard at the University of Texas in Dallas is working with vagus nerve stimulation as a hope of curing tinnitus. This involves a pacemaker of sports that sends jolts of electricity to the brain.
For now, Church has his own homemade cure. When he can’t sleep due to the tinnitus ringing, he turns a personal radio on between stations and puts on headphones. The static drowns out the ringing and he is able to rest.