Mobile Phones Adding to Tinnitus?

Maybe not from talking, but from music and headphones.  This problem is only going to get worse as kids spend more time in earphones without any sort of training or awareness of what high decibel music can do to ears over time.

Mobile phones are damaging hearing as number of teenagers with tinnitus reaches ‘alarming levels’

Scientists at McMaster University, Ontario, tested 170 students’ hearing and found over a quarter are already experiencing chronic, persistent tinnitus.

This increase is due to ‘risky listening habits’ like listening to loud music at parties, in clubs and on personal listening devices like phones – which almost all of the students engaged in, according to the researchers.

“It’s a growing problem and I think it’s going to get worse,” said Dr Larry Roberts of McMaster’s Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, author of the paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.

“My personal view is that there is a major public health challenge coming down the road in terms of difficulties with hearing.”28 per cent of the study participants had already developed persistent tinnitus.The tests found those experiencing tinnitus were more likely to have a significantly reduced tolerance for loud noise.

This is considered a sign of hidden permanent damage to the nerves used in processing sound, which can lead to serious hearing impairment later in life.

More Hearing Loss, Tinnitus in Coming Generations

This article has a lot of stats, but not a lot about prevention about the upcoming  demographic increase in hearing loss (emphasis mine)

Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore predict that 44 million — or 15 percent of U.S. adults — will have some hearing loss by 2020. That will increase to 23 percent of all adults 20 and older by 2060....The rise in Americans with hearing loss will be especially pronounced among the 70 and older set. In 2020, 55 percent of all adults with hearing loss will be 70 or older. In 2060 — 67 percent.

 

Like eyesight, there is age-related hearing loss for which there is not a lot someone can do.  What people can do is for people to take common sense approaches to protecting their ears.  I see all sorts of activities every day which can lead to hearing loss (plus tinnitus) in later years:

 

• Extremely loud music in the car - If I can hear your music through both your closed window and mine, you are putting too much pressure on your ears.  This goes double with loud concerts.  Go to Tinnitus Talk and just a brief browsing of people show dozens of young people who got permanent tinnitus or hearing problems after being at a loud concert.
• Extremely loud musing with headphones - This more than anything is why there will be an upward trend in hearing problems for the next few decades.  Smartphons, ipods, tablets and the like have people with earphones in for days at a time.  I have sit next to people on airplanes where I can hear their music quite clearly - even though I have my own earphones on.  The key is to keep it at a reasonable level.
• No use of ear protection around heavy equipment (including chain saws, lawn mowers, etc).  I am seeing better use by professional lawn crews (but not always).
• No use of ear protection when hunting or shooting with friends.  Gun ranges require ear protection, but people on their often skip this.  Several people in Tinnitus Talk have "T" because they did not take gun safety (which includes ear protection) seriously.  Also, if you having a hunting dog, get him protection as well - they sell ear protection specifically for gun dogs.
• Skipping the Dentist (who can often see signs of bruxism) - This is the one that got me.  The dentist noted I had early signs of bruxism, but then I didn't go back for two years.  If had gone back and she had noticed increased signs, she might have gotten me into a biteplate before my TMJ got further deteriorated.

I now carry earplugs with me for things like sporting events and surprise situations that I might find myself in, like being near heavy equipment.  Much hearing loss (and the tinnitus that comes with a lot of it) is preventable with some pretty easy precautions. 

The Restaurant Experience is Declining in California

Interesting article at Wolfstreet about the restaurant business still going through turbulence, but surprisingly still up a bit in California.

 

But my guess is that California restaurant revenues are up due to inflation and steady traffic at very high-end restaurants that serve the upper-crust in LA and SF.  But I think the mid and low-end of the spectrum is flat to down as this segment massively makes cuts to offset increases in wages. 

 

I have watched over the past two years as an ever increasing number of restaurants become  "countertop ordering" where customers order at the register.  You then get a number and someone brings you your food, or even worse, they call your name and you have to make your way up and fetch the food yourself.  This is fine for a pizza joint or fast food, but the problem is that this is happening everywhere at places that are supposed to be family or casual dining.  At a mall close to my house there are over a dozen places to eat, but only one has wait-staff.

 

Outside of pizza or lunch I simply refuse to eat at a place like that.  There are a couple of mom and pops that I frequent that have wait-staff, but they are not exactly cheap to eat at any more. 

 

I think counter-top dining and $8 beers seem to be the future of most California dining.

The Long-Term Layoff

I discussed before how those close to the corporate forecast know when a company is imploding and know before anyone else that  layoffs are coming.  The other situation where this happens is M&A.

 

M&A layoffs by acquiring companies come in two main flavors: immediate layoffs after the acquisition is closed, and long-range layoffs once the knowledge of the acquiree has been assimilated into the acquirer. 

 

I have been on the acquisition side a couple of times, and few people know how medieval it can get during initial cuts.  Managers go through lists of names and simply check off boxes on who will be eliminated.  They are just names and checks, but the result is a few hours later that person is gone.  It would make Stalin proud.  And few people have any clue how simple statements can get them doomed. For example, one engineer at an acquiree company mentioned in passing that he might want to go into marketing one day.  That simple comment got him the axe when the culling came.  The company was acquired for their engineers, and anyone who didn't want to stay an engineer wasn't wanted.

 

I am now on the receiving end of an acquisition, but it was a "friendly" buyout and there were no immediate cuts after SuperGiantCo bought the little start-up.  But this is covering up the long-range plan to assimilate the smaller acquisition into the collective whole of SuperGiantCo. 

 

The main way they are doing this is by "boiling the frog slowly" on engineers and "salami slicing" the management.  By the former, they create ways of "knowledge sharing" between acquiree engineers and SuperGiantCo engineers that are really "knowledge transfer" from the former to the latter.  But this is done a little at a time, in a very natural, friendly way through exchange programs, meetings, joint projects and the like.  What the acquiree engineers don't realize is that they are slowly transferring their brain to SuperGiantCo engineers, and in 2-3 years they will not be needed.  They are basically training others to do their job, but in a way that seems benign.  Already SuperGiantCo has "shadow design centers" doing the exact same thing as the acquiree company used to do.  Once those shadow design centers are up the learning curve, my engineers will become redundant and ready for the chopping block.

 

On the management side (my side) they are doing "salami slicing".  Instead of removing responsibility of the old managers all at once, they do it one small piece at a time.  No single piece means much, and in fact the offload sometimes might be welcome, but after a while you realize that your whole job has been sliced away piece by piece and given to various managers at SuperGiantCo.  This is also about a two year process.

 

At the end SuperGiantCo won't need either the engineers or managers from the acquiree company.   At that time they will either let us go, or for a few lucky ones might be Borg enough to land a position in the parent company. 

 

 

Six Months of TMJ Tennitus

Six months I ago I woke up to loud, constant ringing in my ears. While that is my "start date", the fact of the matter is that T had been sneaking up on me for years. For a long time:

• When I yawned I heard a high-pitched whine. It had gone on so long (years) I thought it was normal
• When I swallowed a big drink (swallowing a few times in a row), my ears whined. I also thought this was normal

What I didn't know was that jaw misalignment plus night bruxism was slowly pushing my jawbone further and further up into my skull, pinching and damaging my inner ear. It was getting worse for years in the background, and finally became constant 6 months ago.

But when the tinnitus started, I didn't remember all this. All I knew was there was loud ringing in my ears and seemed to be getting worse. It started at a 5/10, and panic and anxiety (and unknown to me more grinding of my teeth) just made it go up as high as a 7. I went to specialist after specialist getting more desperate as I searched for an answer. I heard everything from ear infection to "you're just getting old" (I am younger than 50). It took a month before I found a brilliant specialist who with a CT scan diagnosed it as TMJ+bruxism.  For the previous 4 weeks I thought I was going deaf, could hardly sleep, and couldn't work or concentrate. I was in despair.

 

Once I was diagnosed I could come up with a treatment plan.  Today after 4 months of orthotics and PT - and now in orthodontics to permanently reset by bite - my T is usually at a 2/10, with occasional dips into 1 and spikes into 3. This is "manageable".  Yes, it sucks, but I can work and function. I have also adapted enough that a 2 is forgotten when I am absorbed into work/pleasure/reading, but I do miss my silence.

On the downside, other TMJ symptoms have shown up, including jaw soreness and tenderness of bite. So I haven't eaten anything firmer than fish for 5 months and will have a metal mouth for the next 12-18 months.

Some thoughts/tips for anyone out there who has this:

 

- Meds - Get anti-anxiety/anti-depressant drugs and sleep meds ASAP after getting tinnitus. I was having panic attacks and took meds for that at first. After stabilizing I don't need anti-anxiety meds any more. Sleep is also critical since stress dials the volume up.  With sleeping aids I now sleep 8+ hours a night and the T runs low.  When I can't sleep much I notice it results in a bad day of T, which gets to the next point.

- Reduce Inflammation - For TMJ and many pulsatile T sufferers, I am a big believer that inflammation is a huge part of the problem. Try to keep that low with diet, sleep and NSAIDs. For me Aleve lowers my T half a notch, plus relieves pain in my jaw. Aspirin didn't do anything for my T, and Advil actually increased it a notch. You will have to experiment on what works for you.

 

- Less Coffee, More booze!  Eliminating coffee is something that most T sufferers recommend.  I read about this when my T first started and stopped my 2-3 cups a day immediately.  Six months later I miss my coffee a lot, but when I decide to try a bit, my T goes up within 30 seconds of taking a sip.  On the plus side alcohol, like Aleve, lowers the T half a notch.  However, too much increases inflammation and affects sleep, so don't overdo it. 

- Try Various Therapies - When this all started, the TMJ inflammation was not only in my jaw, but had spread to my neck. I could change the tone and volume of my T by pressing on different parts of my neck for the first 4 months. I did massage therapy for three months, and still jump in the Jacuzzi daily, plus ice my jaw every evening. Now that inflammation has gone down to only my TMJ area, I no longer can change the tone/volume of my T by pressing on my neck - and I believe this is part of the reason my T went from a 5 to a 2. I can manipulate my T today only by rubbing on my TMJ area.

- Be patient. It took a month of orthotics and PT before I saw improvement (month 3). I then saw pretty quick improvement in month 4, then have been stalled for 2 months. My braces are on for 12-18 more months, and I hope to get down to a 1, but I actually don't think I will get to a permanent "0", which gets me to...

- Acceptance. This is probably the hardest part. I accept the worse case that I will always have some level of T (which will leave me pleasantly surprised if things get all the way better).

- Compassion. I know I am "lucky" in that I know what caused my T, have a treatment plan, and have had improvement, with the potential for more improvement. While that brings hope, I know that I am an outlier, and the vast majority of people with tinnitus (especially those with nerve damage due to loud noises) have to live with their condition as-is with little hope of getting better. This is why I am doing these posts plus contribute to the site Tinnitus Talk (TT) every so often.

 

- Remember the Limitations of the Internet -  I write these posts in hopes that someone with T finds them and finds the helpful. I also linked to the Tinnitus Talk site above, but one word of caution: many (probably most) of the posters at TT are in despair, and you can find a few who are suicidal.  As a "newby" of T, one might go there, see all the negativity, and become desperate.  Remember that people who had T and got better don't post any more on sites like that, and there are lots of sufferers who do get better.  Also you do eventually adapt.  The first month is total hell, but today (even at a lower volume), my T is constant but I don't hear it most of the time.  Your brain does adapt, and there are treatments from various clinics that can help your brain adapt if you can't do it on your own.