Objectives This systematic review provides an overview of the available studies (published by January 29, 2018) with descriptive data analysis about the influence of cochlear implantation on tinnitus in patients with single-sided deafness (SSD). Data Sources PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar. Review Methods Original studies about the influence of cochlear implantation on tinnitus, measured with different tinnitus questionnaires or visual analog scale, in patients with SSD were included. The pre- and postimplantation tinnitus scores of the included studies were extracted for the further systematic review. Results The systematic search yielded 1028 studies. After evaluating titles, abstracts, and full texts, 1011 of these were dismissed. From the remaining 17 studies, 4 showed a low directness of evidence or high risk of bias and were therefore excluded. Due to the nature of cochlear implantation in SSD, only cohort studies and no randomized trials exist, which limits the evaluation in a systematic review. Generally, the mean tinnitus questionnaire scores decreased after cochlear implantation in these 13 studies with a total of 153 patients. The most widely used tinnitus questionnaire was the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory. In these studies, 34.2% of patients demonstrated complete suppression, 53.7% an improvement, 7.3% a stable value, and 4.9% an increase of tinnitus, and none of the patients reported an induction of tinnitus. Conclusion This review shows a clear improvement of tinnitus complaints after cochlear implantation in patients with SSD. Therefore, tinnitus might be considered as an additional indication for cochlear implantation in SSD.
Tinnitus can be a burdensome condition on both individual and societal levels. Many aspects of this condition remain elusive, including its underlying mechanisms, ultimately hindering the development of a cure. Interdisciplinary approaches are required to overcome long-established research challenges. This review summarizes current knowledge in various tinnitus-relevant research fields including tinnitus generating mechanisms, heterogeneity, epidemiology, assessment, and treatment development, in an effort to highlight the main challenges and provide suggestions for future research to overcome them. Four common themes across different areas were identified as future research direction: (1) Further establishment of multicenter and multidisciplinary collaborations; (2) Systematic reviews and syntheses of existing knowledge; (3) Standardization of research methods including tinnitus assessment, data acquisition, and data analysis protocols; (4) The design of studies with large sample sizes and the creation of large tinnitus-specific databases that would allow in-depth exploration of tinnitus heterogeneity.
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