HOUSTON Anyone who suffers from ringing in their ears can tell you it can be jarring, annoying and hard to live with.
Charles Williams is one of 80 million Americans who have tinnitus.
He said his ear-ringing and hearing loss began when he started firing weapons during Marine Corps training in the 60s.
It was the loudest noise I ever heard in my life, he said.
Now, all he can hear is a persistent, high-pitched tone.
The need for relief brought Williams to the door of UT Health.
There, patients like Williams are tested to see if their ear-ringing is due to a medical condition one that can be treated like a tumor.
For the other 80 percent of tinnitus suffers, their condition is caused by exposure to loud noises that damage the inner ear.
UT Health offers some treatments for those folks that can help. One such treatment is a listening device that tricks the brain into focusing on specialized music, rather than the ringing.
Hearing aids can be programmed with tones, white noise or music, too.
UT Health said they have about an 80-percent success rate especially impressive since many hearing centers will tell tinnitus suffers that nothing can be done.
But experts say the treatments only provide relief not a cure.
And that s one more thing tinnitus patients would rather not hear.
