An ear-itant
I can think of nothing more irritating to suffer from than tinnitus, in which there is a ringing, buzzing, hissing or whistling sound in one ear or a double-whammy of both. This either goes on constantly or intermittently. If you are fortunate enough to not have tinnitus, can you imagine what it would be like to actually suffer from this condition?
You don't have to imagine, just read it here, straight from those who unfortunately do suffer from it. 4,900 patients with tinnitus were asked to rate their symptoms on a three-grade scale, and this is what was found: Grade I, which is a minimal degree of tinnitus loudness, was reported by 8 percent of the patients. Grade II, which was designated as a medium degree of loudness, was reported by almost 60 percent. A strong degree of loudness - grade III - was suffered by a little over 32 percent of the patients.
These findings correlated to some degree with the level of annoyance these patients felt with their level of symptoms. Most of the grade I patients suffered mild tinnitus distress, grade II patients were split between mild and severe, and about two-thirds of the grade III patients reported severe to very severe distress.
Higher levels of severity were found in men, older adults, binaural (both ears), sensitivity to loud noises, and continuous tinnitus.
