Mobile use 'can increase tinnitus'

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VIENNA: Regularly using a mobile phone could increase the risk of tinnitus, experts say.

The condition causes a noise in the ear such as a ringing, roaring or hissing sound.

Around 10 per cent to 15 per cent of adults have chronic tinnitus and it affects quality of life - such as preventing sleeping - in up to 3 per cent of people.

Now experts from Austria believe there is a link between tinnitus and mobile phone use after studying 100 people with the condition.

Some 27 per cent of the group had tinnitus in their right ear, 38 per cent in the left and 35 per cent in both ears.

Analysis showed that people who used a mobile phone on one ear for four years or more were almost twice as likely to develop tinnitus in that ear as those without the condition.

Meanwhile, people using a mobile for one to three years were 23 per cent more likely and those using a mobile for more than 10 minutes a day had a 71 per cent higher risk.

This compared to a 2 per cent risk if they used a mobile for less than 10 minutes a day.

The authors, from the University of Vienna, said people are likely to over or underestimate their mobile phone usage and the length of calls.

But they added: "Considering all potential biases and confounders, it is unlikely that the increased risk of tinnitus from prolonged mobile phone use obtained in this study is spurious.

"Because of the high prevalence of tinnitus and the widespread use of mobile phones, even a slightly increased risk would be of public health importance."

They said there was a possible link because the ear absorbs a considerable amount of the power emitted by a mobile phone.

The research was published online in the journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.