Over the Counter Pain Relievers and Ototoxicity
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and acetaminophen are the two most
commonly used medications, with up to 24% of adults taking ibuprofen (an NSAID) and 28%
taking acetaminophen in any week (Kyle et al., 2015). Salicylate, the active ingredient in aspirin,
is also widely used for pain control and reduction of inflammation. With such ubiquitous use, a
causal relationship with ototoxicity would have enormous public health impact, yet conclusions
vary related to
Tinnitus #3: The Effect on Quality of Life
The effect that tinnitus has on quality of life is quite variable. This is largely due to the diversity
of tinnitus presentations: it can be acute or chronic, constant or intermittent, subtle or intense.
The impact on tinnitus sufferers is therefore correlated with each patient’s individual
experience. While many sufferers report minimal reduction in quality of life resulting from
tinnitus (Teixeira et al., 2017), others report severe effects. For example, in a large cros
Tinnitus #2: The Cost of Tinnitus Therapy
Many pharmacologic treatments have been suggested for tinnitus, but most claims of
effectiveness do not withstand scientific evaluation or meta-analysis (Hesse, 2016). Multiple
non-pharmacologic therapies are either currently available or are being developed for tinnitus
patients (electric and magnetic stimulation, vagal nerve stimulation, acupuncture, acoustic
stimulation, music therapy, hearing aids, cochlear implants, cognitive behavioral therapy,
tinnitus retraining
Tinnitus #1: The Demographics of Tinnitus
"I have severe hearing damage. It's manifested itself as tinnitus, ringing in the ears at
frequencies that I play guitar. It hurts, it's painful, and it's frustrating"– Pete Townsend It is not surprising that playing guitar for The Who over many years is a risk factor for
developing tinnitus. Many tinnitus sufferers report a history of noise trauma that in many cases
has ceased long before the tinnitus develops (Turner et al., 2012). However, tinnitus need not
be associat