Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Acta Otolaryngol. 2021 Apr;141(4):381-385. doi: 10.1080/00016489.2021.1876919. Epub 2021 Feb 19.
Degree of distress perceived due to tinnitus is different in every individual. Underlying mechanisms for this are yet unclear.
Investigating the relationship between hearing status and tinnitus distress.
This is a case-control study. 38 individuals with tinnitus, divided into normal hearing (NHT, = 19) and hearing impaired (HIT, = 19) groups. Groups were age- and sex matched, had similar educational background, tinnitus duration and lateralization. Participants underwent audiometric evaluation (0.125 to 16 kHz), completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI).
NHT group showed significantly lower degrees of tinnitus distress compared to HIT group ( = .021), and THI score was positively correlated with mean tinnitus sided hearing thresholds at 0.5-4 kHz ( = 0.420, = .012) when corrected for sex, age and educational background.
The present study suggests hearing status may play critical role for experienced tinnitus distress, even in individuals with mild to moderate hearing impairment.
This is the first study to investigate the relationship between behavioral hearing ability and tinnitus distress when controlling for age, sex, educational background and age at tinnitus onset. The results provide important information regarding management of tinnitus patients.
每个人对耳鸣的困扰程度不同。其潜在机制尚不清楚。
研究听力状况与耳鸣困扰之间的关系。
这是一项病例对照研究。共纳入 38 名耳鸣患者，分为听力正常组（NHT，n=19）和听力障碍组（HIT，n=19）。两组年龄和性别匹配，具有相似的教育背景、耳鸣持续时间和侧别。所有参与者均接受了听力评估（0.125 至 16 kHz），并完成了医院焦虑抑郁量表（HADS）和耳鸣致残量表（THI）。
NHT 组的耳鸣困扰程度显著低于 HIT 组（ =.021），THI 评分与 0.5-4 kHz 时的平均耳鸣侧听力阈值呈正相关（ = 0.420， =.012），在校正性别、年龄和教育背景后。
本研究表明，即使在轻度至中度听力障碍的个体中，听力状况也可能对耳鸣困扰程度起关键作用。
这是第一项在控制年龄、性别、教育背景和耳鸣发病年龄的情况下，研究行为听力能力与耳鸣困扰之间关系的研究。这些结果为耳鸣患者的管理提供了重要信息。
