Tinnitus: That Surprisingly Common Ringing In Your Ears

Tinnitus. It's a ringing, whistling, hissing or whooshing in the ears — and it's surprisingly common.

An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from tinnitus — that includes about 1 million veterans. It's the most common injury from military service, and dozens of the people hurt in the Boston Marathon bombings have it as well.

There's no cure, but recently, researchers have begun to uncover some new clues about how tinnitus works.

Carey Goldberg, co-host of WBUR's CommonHealth blog. She tweets at @commonhealth.

Dan Polley, neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary — he specializes in “neural plasticity" and tweets @plasticdaniel.

CommonHealth: Ringing In Your Ears? Finally, Researchers Finding New Clues About Tinnitus