Texting, rather than talking, may protect your ears from hearing loss.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Tinnitus, the ear-ringing fate of rock stars and construction workers who’ve been exposed all too frequently to harmful noise levels, may now be a threat to a much broader population—everyone who uses a cellphone. According to a recent study from the Institute of Environmental Health at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, prolonged cellphone use could exacerbate a particular type of hearing loss called tinnitus. But the authors suggest that noise may not be the culprit, but rather, microwave energy emitted by the phones that's absorbed by the inner ear.

THE DETAILS: An estimated 10 to 15 percent of adults suffer from tinnitus, a condition in which people hear ringing, hissing, whistling, chirping, or clicking in their ears for as little as a few seconds for days, months, or even years, on end. For this study, published in the most recent issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, researchers enlisted 100 patients with chronic tinnitus and 100 adults who were free of hearing problems. History of participants' cellphone use was determined, including the types of phones owned, duration of cellphone use, amount of time spent talking, the side of head most frequently used, and use of hands-free devices.

More than 90 percent of the study participants reported using mobile phones, but the researchers found that those who'd used a mobile phone for longer than four years were the ones most likely to develop tinnitus; they had a 95 percent increase in risk for developing the hearing problem. Tinnitus was also more often reported in the left ear, at a rate of 38 percent, suggesting that where you hold the phone could play a role in which ear becomes affected.

WHAT IT MEANS: There are a lot of possible reasons why cellphones might induce tinnitus, high volumes and excess noise being among the most obvious. But the authors note that they excluded people who worked in loud environments and haven't found a link between cellphone noise and hearing loss. A more plausible explanation is that the microwaves from the mobile phone antenna absorbed in the head are responsible, says the study's lead author Michael Kundi, PhD, professor of epidemiology and occupational health at the Medical University of Vienna's Institute of Environmental Health. Tinnitus can be triggered by an imbalance of calcium, he writes in his study, and electromagnetic waves can upset levels of calcium in the nerves and pathways of the auditory system. Another possible explanation, he says, is that "constrained posture by using a mobile phone while walking" would affect blood flow in the side of the head where the phone is held.