Lancastria.net Yea Blackburn!

Regularly using a mobile phone may increase the risk of tinnitus, which involves constant ringing or buzzing in the ear, a small study suggests.

Austrian researchers recruited 100 people with the condition and 100 without, and compared mobile phone use.

They found tinnitus was over 70% more likely in those averaging 10 minutes’ daily phone use, reported Occupational and Environmental Medicine journal.

But the British Tinnitus Association said a link was unproven.

While intense noise, head trauma and certain drugs are all known to increase the risk of the ear condition, in many cases the reasons are unknown.

Researchers from the Medical University of Vienna said the evidence so far linking mobiles with tinnitus was anecdotal, but that their small study suggested at the very least it warranted further investigation.

Because of the widespread use of the devices, even a slightly increased risk would be of “public health importance”, they wrote, particularly given that the condition can in some cases profoundly interfere with daily life.

It is thought about 10% of the population have some form of tinnitus, but it is unclear whether the condition is becoming more prevalent.

The premise is that microwave radiation (or “radio waves” as we sometimes call them) cause a calcium imbalance, or something like that – the study doesn’t present evidence of the process, but it does find 33 people who got tinnitus on the same side of their head as they used a mobile phone.

The study of 100 sufferers also found 25 people who got tinnitus in the opposite ear, but statistical analysis comparing the sample to 100 random outpatients would seem to indicate that those who used a mobile phone for more than four years did have a significantly increased chance of developing the condition.

The sample size is terribly small of course, and even the study’s authors admit that the increasing rate of tinnitus could be down to better diagnosis, or (more worryingly) that those who use mobile phones a lot could also be Walkman users. We’d speculate that they might be frequent flyers too – air travel always seeming to make the ears suffer.

That leaves aside the increased tension of being on the phone all the time, not to mention the flattened ear and constantly cocked head (though the study does mention “cranio-cervical manipulations of the head, neck or extremities” as a possible cause).

Either way, this tiny study does throw up evidence of a small increase in risk even if the suggested explanation is little more than speculation. That’s not enough to stop anyone using a mobile phone, but it should be enough to prompt further research.

Tinnitus from the Latin word tinn?tus meaning “ringing” is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound.

Tinnitus is not a disease, but a symptom resulting from a range of underlying causes that can include: ear infections, foreign objects or wax in the ear, nose allergies that prevent (or induce) fluid drain and cause wax build-up. Tinnitus can also be caused by natural hearing impairment (as in aging), as a side effect of some medications, and as a side effect of genetic (congenital) hearing loss. However, the most common cause for tinnitus is noise-induced hearing loss.

As tinnitus is usually a subjective phenomenon, it is difficult to measure using objective tests, such as by comparison with noise of known frequency and intensity, as in an audiometric test. The condition is often rated clinically on a simple scale from “slight” to “catastrophic” according to the practical difficulties it imposes, such as interference with sleep, quiet activities, and normal daily activities.