Clinical and Psychoacoustic Characteristics in Patients with Acute and Chronic Tinnitus

Song Fan; Chen Xiulan; Wang Bin; Qin Zhaobing

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1672-2922.2017.01.015

Abstract：Objective To investigate the clinical and psychoacoustic characteristics in patients with acute and chronic tinnitus. Methods A total of 343 patients with tinnitus were enrolled in this study. Detailed medical history col-lection, systemic physical examination, audiologic testing, tinnitus evaluation, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) scale, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) were performed. Tinnitus is divided into acute (tinnitus course<6 months) and chronic (tinnitus duration≥6 months), according to the duration of tinnitus. Re-sults The frequency of tinnitus in patients with acute and chronic tinnitus was significantly different (P<0.05). Most pa-tients with acute tinnitus reported ear ringing of low or middle frequency pitch, while more patients with chronic tinni-tus reported high pitch ear ringing. Patients with acute tinnitus were more likely to develop anxious state, while patients with chronic tinnitus were more likely to develop depressive symptoms. There was no significant difference in gender, age, tinnitus loudness, THI, sleeping disturbances between the acute and chronic tinnitus groups (P>0.05). Conclusions The frequency of tinnitus and the association with anxiety and depressive symptoms in patients with acute and chronic tinnitus are instructive in the treatment of tinnitus patients and deserve further investigation.