Apple has been proactively researching sound exposure and hearing health for quite a while. The company has now collaborated with the University of Michigan to provide detailed findings on the given health concern. The Cupertino-based tech giant revealed some interesting updates regarding its Hearing Study and early-stage insights on the hearing issue, namely tinnitus.
It is said to be one of the largest surveys to date, with more than 160,000 participants that use Apple's products. The company is doing this comprehensive research in an attempt to understand the specific condition better and help come up with more accurate treatments by playing its part in finding ways for devices to be used more effectively to improve the conditions of the health concern and manage it better.
Apple is playing an active role in understanding tinnitus and exploring ways to improve it by better understanding its root cause
Tinnitus, in case you are not familiar with the term, is a condition in which you constantly hear a ringing or buzzing sound without a possible environmental stimulus. The sound does not stem from any external noise, and the source is usually unknown. It can be pretty annoying for those experiencing it. Although the experiences vary for individuals, there is no denying that the condition can adversely impact sleep patterns and concentration and distort the quality of life due to poor hearing.
Most participants admitted to having experienced similar feelings and a particular health condition at one point, accounting for 77.6 percent, which is greater than the majority. Tinnitus is said to be more frequently experienced by people in their late 50s and above, almost three times more than those of 18 and above.
It is said to be more commonly found in male participants, as roughly 2.7 percent more males than females experienced daily tinnitus, but we cannot derive any gender differences from this, as the majority of the males claimed that they had never experienced this health concern. Participants also shared their two cents on workarounds to the uncomfortable health issues that involve using noise machines, meditating, and even being more exposed to natural environments.
Apple's hearing research also tried to unravel the probable reasons for the condition and came up with some intriguing discoveries that helped understand the problem better. It was highlighted that exposure to higher noise levels and noise trauma could primarily cause the issue to persist, as nearly 20 percent of participants reported this as the core reason.
The company is also finding ways that its own features or devices could help with taming the problem by making use of the various modes and apps that come with Apple products. The technology giant particularly mentioned its noise app, which is available on the Apple Watch that warns users every time environmental noise goes beyond a healthy level. With the help of the Health app on the iPhone, users can view their exposure to varied noise levels, and if some of the noise is more than the optimal exposure given by the World Health Organization, they will be notified via a prompt.
Similarly, with the Airpods Pro and the Airpods Max, you can activate the noise cancellation feature that automatically counters any external noise before the user is exposed. If you do want to cancel the noise entirely, you can choose to reduce the sound level by going to the Reduce Loud Audio Option and choosing your desired noise level from there.
Apple is moving forward with its Make Listening Safe Initiative and has accumulated about 400 million hours of external sound levels and other surveys to help counter this issue holistically. This huge health-centric data is meant to be shared with WHO and other future researchers to help find new treatments for this condition, which severely disrupts individuals' productivity.
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