By Yishane Lee

Hearing loss occurs with roughly 90 percent of tinnitus cases. Tinnitus is sometimes the first sign of hearing loss. Our Hearing Restoration Project promises a cure within the next decade not only for hearing loss, but also for tinnitus.

We recently did a special issue on tinnitus in Hearing Health magazine. Tinnitus affects up to 50 million people in the U.S. to some degree. Some 16 million people seek medical attention for their chronic tinnitus.

And for up to 2 million people, debilitating tinnitus affects their daily lives. Among veterans, tinnitus and hearing loss are the top service-related disabilities among veterans.

What exactly is tinnitus? What causes it? What does it sound like? What is its effect? And will it get better? These are many questions we address in our special issue.

Tinnitus in childhood is also a phenomenon, with incidence rates roughly equal to that of adults. It presents challenges for the young patient who may not have the ability to name the condition.

Here are treatment options we covered in the special issue:

• A combination of counseling and sound therapy has proven effective for people with chronic tinnitus.

• Devices that can be worn on the ear deliver sound therapy for tinnitus relief virtually anytime and anywhere.

• Drugs for tinnitus can be vetted through clinical trials, but the evidence for their efficacy remains thin.

• Efforts are under way to figure out how to dampen the neural hyperactivity that leads to tinnitus.

• A sequential program emerges as one of the most promising, research-based methods to help veterans manage their tinnitus.

We also featured the latest technology, including new hearing aids, billed as helpful for tinnitus sufferers.

Please also check out our new tinnitus section online where you’ll find even more resources and information about tinnitus, and where you can also sign up for emails with the latest news about tinnitus.