The Silent Epidemic: Why Tinnitus Affects Nearly a Billion People and Medicine Still Can't Measure It

Almost a billion people around the world live with a medical condition that doesn’t have a diagnostic tool to measure it and locate its source. Don’t believe me? Unfortunately for sufferers of tinnitus, it’s a reality. This lack of a diagnostic tool means many tinnitus patients have significant difficulty getting accurate treatment. Since this issue isn’t heavily publicized, many people are unaware of the difficulties tinnitus patients go through in being diagnosed and receiving appropriate treatment.   

Tinnitus is a condition where someone experiences ringing or another noise in one, or both ears. In a 2022 study published in JAMA Neurology that analyzed 113 peer-reviewed studies, they found tinnitus affects nearly 749 million people worldwide. 120 million of these people live with severe tinnitus, which significantly affects their daily life. So what’s causing this condition to be so common? And why has the medical field been unable to develop the technology to diagnose it? 

There are four major causes of tinnitus: conditions affecting hearing loss, medicine side effects, changes in ear structure, and conditions affecting blood vessels surrounding the ear. All cases of tinnitus can additionally be split into two categories, subjective and objective. Subjective tinnitus can only be heard by the patient. This is usually because of an aging brain, or loud noise exposure damaging hair receptors in the inner ear, causing them to “leak” random electrical impulses to the brain. Most cases of tinnitus are subjective. Objective tinnitus, which is much rarer, is when an actual sound is created in the ear. It can be caused by vascular changes surrounding the ear, or muscle contractions. 

So why is tinnitus so common? First, the cause of most cases is very one-sided, meaning developing the condition is not random. About 9 in 10 people with tinnitus have a degree of hearing loss caused by loud noise. Second, with improvements in treatments and medicine, the global population is living longer than ever before. According to Neuromonics, 23.6% of people aged 65 and older, 13.7% of adults age 45-64, and 13.6% of children and teens ages 5-17 are all impacted by tinnitus, with the final group proving it’s not only a disease of aging. 

It’s clear that tinnitus isn’t going away anytime soon, and the number of people affected by it worldwide will only increase. So what has stopped the medical industry from creating a diagnostic tool to measure it? The biggest obstacle is that most cases are caused by a phantom sound. The electrical impulses leaked by damaged hairs in the inner ear, mentioned previously, are not a sound in the environment, but rather only “heard” by the brain. Since 90% of all tinnitus cases are this type, there isn’t urgency to develop a diagnostic tool for the much rarer objective tinnitus, where sound is actually present in the ear. Therefore, many tinnitus patients go through a range of tests to figure out the severity and frequency of their tinnitus without directly testing for the condition itself. 

However, despite only 5% of all tinnitus cases being classified as objective, there is a need for a diagnostic device to aid in the treatment of these patients. This type of tinnitus is usually diagnosed by a medical professional using a stethoscope to hear the sound. Unfortunately, patients with much quieter frequencies and sounds require more sensitive microphone sensors than a stethoscope. Of the 749 million people with tinnitus worldwide, 37.45 million are classified as objective tinnitus patients. A device that could determine the frequency and location of their tinnitus would be a big help to doctors in successful treatment of harder to treat cases, as counter frequencies can be used to cancel out the tinnitus. Additionally, there is a well established market for innovations like this. According to Future Market Insights, Inc., medical devices account for almost 90% of the market value of tinnitus. The tinnitus industry holds a strong position in its parent sectors healthcare and consumer health, and is expected to grow from 3 billion USD in 2025 to 4.4 billion USD in value by 2035. Tinnitus devices' abilities to provide symptom relief, improve quality of life, and enhance hearing experiences across diverse patient groups means there will be strong demand for objective tinnitus devices for many years.

Almost 1 billion people are impacted by tinnitus around the globe. Objective tinnitus, while much rarer than subjective, deserves the attention of innovators for a diagnostic device that can help differentiate and get these patients treated more effectively. To learn how Tiger Venture Capital Management is addressing this major gap in healthcare, visit tigervcfunds.com.