COMPARISON OF TINNITUS SEVERITY BETWEEN PATIENTS WITH NEARLY NORMAL HEARING AND THOSE WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENT

Geczy BB ,Vatovec J, Zargi M.

Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Cervicofacial Surgery, University Medical Center Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Purpose. The aim of our study was to compare the severity of tinnitus in two groups of patients: those with hearing impairment (HI) and those with nearly normal hearing (NH).

Methods. Each group consisted of 100 patients with tinnitus on one or both ears as the main reason for the visit at the Audiologic service. The first group (HI group) consisted of 100 patients with mild and moderate hearing impairment up to 60 dB for speech frequencies on one or both ears. The NH group represented 100 patients with normal hearing up to 3 kHz and notches at 4, 6 or 8 kHz on one or both ears. Tinnitus severity was evaluated by the tinnitus severity questionnaire consisting of 10 questions. The results were statistically analyzed using the t-test for comparing averages of two independent samples. The possible risk factors for the tinnitus development were obtained from the medical documentation.

Results. The results of the study have shown that tinnitus is perceived as more annoying by patients with nearly normal hearing. They had mostly high pitched tinnitus (at 4, 6 and 8 kHz) and it was perceived as the most annoying. The major risk factors for tinnitus development were anxious-depressive disorders. More than one third of the patients in both groups were treated for them. The second most prominent risk factor in NH group was the noise exposure; the HI group was significantly less often exposed to noise.

Conclusions: Patients from NH group have found the high pitched tinnitus to be the most annoying, probably because of fewer possibilities in masking it with tinnitus maskers and environmental sounds. We suppose that their problems in coping with stress also contributed to the severity of their tinnitus.

E-mail: branka.geczy@gmail.com