Regular use of cell phones for a minimum of four years doubles the risk of developing chronic tinnitus, suggests a small study in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
Tinnitus is defined as subjective sound impressions that do not come from any external source. They can be persistent ringing, whistling, squeaking or hissing in the ears.
This ailment is usually temporary, but 10-15 percent. adults in developed countries suffer from chronic tinnitus, i.e. tinnitus lasting a minimum of three months. Their incidence increases with age, and scientists predict that they will become more common as the population ages.
Currently, there are few known methods helpful in the treatment of this disorder, so it is very important to better understand its causes and develop methods of preventing it.
The mechanisms underlying noise are not fully understood, although it is known to be associated with almost all diseases of the middle and inner ear and the vestibulocochlear nerve (which connects the inner ear to the brain), as well as head injuries and environmental factors. or professional (e.g. exposure to high noise).
There have been suggestions before that the radiation emitted by the use of mobile phones (microwaves) may be one of the causes of noise, but so far there has been no reliable evidence of this.
To verify these reports, researchers from the University of Vienna invited patients aged 16 to 80 years old who required treatment for chronic tinnitus to study. Their illnesses were analyzed and tested to exclude people with a known cause of tinnitus, such as ear disease, hearing impairment caused by exposure to noise, high blood pressure or taking certain medications (e.g. aspirin or quinine). The analysis finally included data on 100 patients with tinnitus and 100 patients without the ailment, matched for age and gender.
Most of the noise was one-sided. Almost 40 percent of patients found them annoying, and more than a quarter of them were also associated with dizziness.
All study participants used cell phones. They were asked about the type of telephone set used; the place where it was most often used, as in the countryside the signals emitted by the cells are stronger due to the remoteness of the transmitters; frequency of telephone use and length of calls; on which side the user puts it to the head most often and whether he is using a slow-speaking set.
When taking into account the use of a mobile phone on the side where the noise appeared, it turned out that the risk of this ailment increased by 37%. The researchers note, however, that most of the respondents applied cells to both sides of the head. On average, those who talked for 10 minutes each day were about 70 percent. more prone to tinnitus.
The greatest association with noise risk was seen in patients using a cell phone for 4 years or more – a 95% increase in risk. (almost twice).
According to the researchers, these results indicate that prolonged and intensive use of cells may be related to tinnitus. They speculate that the levels of calcium and nitric oxide in nerve cells may change under the influence of the electromagnetic field emitted by cell phones, and this may contribute to the formation of noise.
As the authors of the study admit, the respondents could too low or too high estimate the intensity of using mobile phones and the length of the conversations. Even then, however, it is impossible for the observed relationship to be the result of error.
In their opinion, even a small increase in the risk of tinnitus from the use of mobile phones is an important public health problem, as the condition is becoming more common and clearly makes life difficult. Therefore, further research is needed to better understand the observed relationship. (PAP)