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The Emotional and Functional Impact of the Type of Tinnitus Sensation

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Abstract

One to three percent of individuals with tinnitus experience significant reduction in quality of life. Factors that contribute to distress include personality variables, intolerance to loud noises, external locus of control, and pre-existing anxiety. Characteristics of tinnitus itself, such as perceived loudness, can also cause functional impairment. It is unknown whether different tinnitus sensations have various effects on either emotional or functional impairment, which can reduce quality of life. While audiological tests can determine pitch and loudness of tinnitus, questionnaires also can be easily used to assess subjective characteristics of tinnitus. In this study, 370 participants, recruited via email from a national tinnitus organization, completed online surveys that assessed tinnitus-related distress and provided qualitative descriptions of their tinnitus sensation. Self-reports of tinnitus sensation were rated by five independent coders, with excellent agreement. Individuals who reported a combination of tinnitus sensations were found to experience significantly more functional impairment and avoidant behavior. Future research should utilize more sophisticated approaches to categorize individuals’ tinnitus sensation and to examine associated emotional and functional differences. Providers should appropriately refer patients for tinnitus management and empirically-supported therapies aimed at reducing tinnitus related distress and functional impairment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the ATA for the support of this research and the assistance in participant recruitment. The authors would also like to thank Kristina Chen, Juan Carlos Aguilera, Clara Stiefel, Robert Villarreal, Nadia McLaughlin, and Elizabeth Buel for coding descriptive data. There are no funding resources to report.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7550 IH 10 West, Suite 1325, San Antonio, TX, 78229, USA

    John Moring & Lindsay Bira

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Anne Bowen

  3. Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

    Jenifer Thomas

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  1. John Moring
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  2. Anne Bowen
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  3. Jenifer Thomas
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  4. Lindsay Bira
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Correspondence to John Moring.

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John Moring, Anne Bowen, Jenifer Thomas, and Lindsay Bira declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments, or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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Moring, J., Bowen, A., Thomas, J. et al. The Emotional and Functional Impact of the Type of Tinnitus Sensation. J Clin Psychol Med Settings 23, 310–318 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-015-9444-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-015-9444-5

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