The More the Worse: the Grade of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Associates with the Severity of Tinnitus

Abstract

Tinnitus disturbs lives and negatively affects the quality of life of about 2% of the adult world population. Research has shown that the main cause of tinnitus is hearing loss. To analyze a possible association of the degree of hearing loss with the severity of tinnitus, we have performed a retrospective study using admission data on 531 patients suffering from chronic tinnitus. We have found that 83% of our tinnitus patients had a high frequency hearing loss corresponding to a noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). There was a significant correlation between the mean hearing loss and the tinnitus loudness (p < 0.0001). Interestingly, patients suffering from decompensated chronic tinnitus had a greater degree of hearing loss than the patients with compensated form of tinnitus. In addition, we demonstrate that the degree of hearing loss positively correlates with the two subscales (“intrusiveness” and “auditory perceptional difficulties”) of the Tinnitus Questionnaire. Our retrospective study provides indirect evidence supporting the hypothesis that the degree of noise-induced hearing loss influences the severity of tinnitus.

Tinnitus and Hearing Loss

“…Findings relate tinnitus severity to hearing loss at high frequencies (Weisz et al, 2004). Mazurek et al (2010) found a significant correlation between the degree of hearing loss and tinnitus loudness. They found that patients with decompensated chronic tinnitus had more hearing loss than those with compensated tinnitus.…”

“…Severe disabling tinnitus (SDT) is defined by Shulman as a symptom severe enough to disrupt the patient´s routine and to pre-vent him from performing his daily tasks. In 1953, Heller and Bergman (9) showed that over 90% of normal-hearing people reported tinnitus when placed in a soundproof cabin. However, the symptom did not cause any discomfort to those patients in daily life.…”

“…They found that patients with decompensated chronic tinnitus had more hearing loss than those with compensated tinnitus. The study concluded had evidence that indirectly support the hypothesis that the degree of hearing loss affects the severity of tinnitus (Mazurek et al, 2010). Clinically significant hearing loss in patients with tinnitus was associated with anxiety and depression as a reaction to hearing loss that could interfere with the impact of tinnitus (McKinney et al, 1999).…”

Comparison of Long-Term Outcome of Intratympanic Dexamethasone Therapy between Acute Noise-Induced Tinnitus and Acute Idiopathic Tinnitus

“…Noise is a common cause of cochlear damage leading to hearing loss or tinnitus [1][2][3] . The mechanism of noise-induced damage of the cochlea is a combination of mechanical and metabolic injuries.…”

“…The correlation reported between the severity of tinnitus and degree of accompanying hearing loss depends on the investigator [3,13] . In many cases, patients consider tinnitus to be even more disabling than hearing impairment, or they suffer from tinnitus without any discomfort or sense of hearing disturbance [14] .…”