Conducted in collaboration with the University of Michigan , the Apple Hearing Study advances the understanding of sound exposure and its impact on hearing health . Researchers have already collected about 400 million hours of calculated environmental sound levels supplemented with lifestyle surveys to analyse how sound exposure affects hearing , stress and hearing-related aspects of health . Study data will also be shared with the World Health Organization as a contribution to its Make Listening Safe initiative .

“ Roughly 15 % of our participants experience tinnitus daily ,” said Rick Neitzel , University of Michigan School of Public Health ’ s Professor of Environmental Health Sciences . “ Tinnitus is something that can have a large impact on a person ’ s life . The trends that we ’ re learning through the Apple Hearing Study about people ’ s experience with tinnitus can help us better understand the groups most at risk , which can in turn help guide efforts to reduce the impacts associated with it . The Apple Hearing Study gives us an opportunity that was not possible before to improve our understanding of tinnitus across demographics , aiding current scientific knowledge that can ultimately improve management of tinnitus .”

Tinnitus , or the perception of sound that others do not hear , can happen to many people in one or both ears . With tinnitus , the sounds can take many forms but are most commonly described as a ringing sound and can be momentary or occur over longer durations . The symptoms and experience of tinnitus can vary significantly from person to person and can change for an individual .

Tinnitus can impact a person ’ s overall quality of life , for example , disrupting a person ’ s sleep , concentration or ability to hear clearly .

A first step toward advancing understanding of tinnitus is to learn more about who

www . intelligenthealth . tech 67