It’s an aggravating medical condition that affects millions of people worldwide — including you, possibly.

A new study has come to the surprising conclusion that 10 percent of people have that annoying persistent buzzing, ringing or clicking in the ear — even when there is no actual sound present, according to a JAMA Network Journals statement.

It’s called tinnitus, and it can often be a precursor to hearing loss. However, most of the time it’s merely a highly annoying condition that can lead to mental problems for people, interfering with sleep, concentration and the overall quality of life. It can even trigger anxiety and depression in people.

Scientists hoped to find out not just how many people have the condition but also figure out how tinnitus affects people’s everyday lives. Tinnitus has proven to be a tough ailment to treat effectively.

The findings are based on a 2007 government survey that involved 75,000 adults.

“The recent guidelines published by the AAO­HNSF provide a logical framework for clinicians treating these patients, but the current results indicate that most patients may not be offered management recommendations consistent with the suggested protocol. With the newly published guidelines from the AAO-HNSF, otolaryngologists may play a greater role in addressing this issue, not only with treating their patients accordingly, but also in educating other physicians and health care professionals. Future work can be directed to show changing patterns in tinnitus management before and after the implementation of these guidelines,” the authors write.