High-Tech Methods Combat Hearing Problem; Tinnitus: report & video: May 13, 2011

High-Tech Methods Combat Hearing Problem
Roseanne Tellez reports; CBS2 Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — Some are calling it an epidemic: More and more people seeking help for a ringing noise in their ears.

For many, it’s an occasional annoyance. But for some people, it never goes away and can even lead to depression. There’s no cure.

But as CBS 2’s Roseanne Tellez reports, a new way to manage it is offering some hope.

If you’ve never had tinnitus, you can’t imagine how terrible it is. Living with it can be debilitating.

The American Tinnitus Association says there are now people as young as 12 complaining of tinnitus, which never used to happen.

For others, it’s a high-pitched tone.

(refresh if no video)

“It can be ringing buzzing humming, ocean sounds, crickets – it’s different for different people,” Noreen Kapp of the VA Healthcare System says.

In most cases, tinnitus and hearing loss go hand in hand, and the number of people listening to music too loudly, too often with mp3 players or iPods, has doctors concerned.

“Maybe not now, but decades from now, those young people are going to have enough hearing loss that they’ll be more susceptible to getting tinnitus,” hearing specialist Todd Hillman says.

Doctors say people should consider wearing ear plugs when they hunt, go to loud concerts or even sporting events.

Tinnitus, it turns out, is also affecting thousands of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So what can be done to help?

For some patients, hearing aids work by restoring sound so people don’t notice the ringing. Devices that mask the ringing are also used.

Hillman says he’s seen impressive results with something called “neuromonics,” which uses music with a low-level background sound buried in it.

“Neuromonics actually is a higher order of sound that will actually retrain the part of the brain that’s making the tinnitus to stop making it,” Hillman says.

Now patients listen to the neuromonics device for a few hours a day for as long as a year. The cost is around $5,000. Like hearing aids, it’s generally not covered by insurance.

But, for many veterans the treatment is free.