A Comparison of the Severity of Tinnitus in Patients with and without Hearing Loss Using the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI)

Background: Tinnitus is a disturbing symptom present in approximately 15% of the world population and between 2-7% of tinnitus sufferers seek medical help because of the chronic distress caused. Although well established that tinnitus can be present with and without hearing loss the different characteristics in terms of severity are still not completely known and studied. Aim: The objective of this study was to compare the severity of tinnitus in tinnitus patients with and without hearing loss. Materials and Methods: 73 tinnitus patients were included in this study at an audiology clinic in Amman, Jordan. Participants were assigned to two groups according to hearing status. The severity of tinnitus was evaluated using the Tinnitus Functional Index questionnaire. All participants were interviewed, followed by otoscopic examination, pure tone audiometry and tests for admittance and tinnitus matching. Results: The normal hearing group included 34 participants (46.6%) whose TFI scores were divided as follow: mild annoyance (17), significant annoyance (14) and severe annoyance (3). The sensorineural loss group included 39 participants (53.4%) with mild annoyance (11), significant annoyance (12) and severe annoyance (16). A statistically significant association was found between hearing status and the severity of tinnitus using a Chi Squared test (x2=0.487, p=0.007). There was no association between tinnitus severity and age or gender. Conclusion: Tinnitus severity was significantly worse in tinnitus patients with a hearing loss than tinnitus patients with normal hearing thresholds. This should be taken in consideration when clinicians are planning counselling and management protocols for individual patients