Analysis Of The Incidence Of Tinnitus In Patients With Symmetrical Hearing Loss

Objective:To investigate the occurrence and affecting factors of tinnitus in patients with symmetrical hearing loss.Methods:We collected information of 500 patients with hearing loss from December2018 to November 2020,they underwent the E.N.T department of our hospital,among which 277 patients with bilateral symmetrical hearing loss were selected as study subjects.All patients fill out questionnaires,in order to know the patient’s general condition and the whole body condition,including the patient’s gender,age,height,weight,whether with tinnitus,high blood pressure,high cholesterol,diabetes,kidney disease,thyroid disease,OSAHS,rhinitis-sinusitis,gastro-oesophageal reflux,migraine,menopause,stay up late,insomnia,anxiety,depression,etc.Complete pure-tone audiometry test,routine acoustic impedance and other acoustic function tests;Complete tinnitus questionnaire: including TEQ(tinnitus effect questionnaire),tinnitus characteristics questionnaire.SPSS 22.0 was used for statistical analysis.The factors related to chronic tinnitus were firstly analyzed by quadratic eleent single factor analysis,and then analyzed by multivariate logistic analysis.Chi-square test was used to analyze the difference of hearing loss type between patients with and without tinnitus.In order to find the factors that influencing tinnitus severity,we use Mann-Whitney U test to test the differences between the two groups.For the difference of grade data,Kruskal-Wallis Test H rank sum Test was used to compare the differences between multiple groups.P〈0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results:(1)General condition of patients: among the 277 symmetrical hearing loss patients,118 of the case were male(42.5%)and 159 of the case were female(57.5%),male:female=1:1.35.The average age was(60.11±11.73)years old.(2)Tinnitus features: Among all 277 patients,168 of them(60.6%,168/277)were accompanied by tinnitus;109 of them(218 ears)had no tinnitus,accounting for39.4%(109/277).According to the analysis of tinnitus condition,there were 44 cases of acute tinnitus(15.8%,44/277),25 cases of sub-acute tinnitus(9%,25/277)and 99 cases of chronic tinnitus(35.7%,99/277).According to the side analysis,there were 89 cases of bilateral tinnitus(32.1%,89/277)and 79 cases of unilateral tinnitus(28.5%,79/277).Among the patients with unilateral tinnitus,there were 45 cases(56.9%,45/79)with left tinnitus and 34 cases(43.1%,34/79)with right tinnitus.(3)Chronic tinnitus risk factors: gender,age,overweight,hearing loss severity,hypertension,hyperlipidemia,,diabetes,kidney disease,thyroid disease,OSAHS,rhinitis-sinusitis,gastro-oesophageal reflux,migraine,menopause,stay up late,insomnia,anxiety,depression etc.A total of 18 factors as independent variables,and tinnitus as a dependent variable to a single factor and multiple factors regression analysis,the results show that the gastro-oesophageal reflux(OR = 2.138,P = 0.022)is a risk factor for tinnitus occurs,age(OR = 0.966,P = 0.01)is ringing in the ears of reverse factors.(4)The correlation between chronic tinnitus and hearing loss: for patients with or without tinnitus,the severity of hearing loss was of the consistent feature(P=0.159),and the type of hearing loss was of the consistent feature(P=0.538).(5)Analysis of factors related to the severity of chronic tinnitus: there were no statistically significant differences in the severity of tinnitus among patients of different ages and genders(P=0.693,P=0,340);There was no statistical difference in the severity of tinnitus between unilateral and bilateral tinnitus(P =0.498).For patients with different degrees of hearing loss or different types of hearing loss,the severity of tinnitus was of the consistent feature(P=0.185,P= 0.807).Conclusion:(1)Tinnitus occurs in about 2/3 of patients with bilateral symmetrical hearing loss,and 1/3 of them have chronic tinnitus;(2)Gastro-oesophageal reflux had an effect on the occurrence of chronic tinnitus.Age was the reverse factor of the occurrence of chronic tinnitus,and the occurrence of chronic tinnitus had no obvious connection with variable degrees or the type of hearing loss.There was no obvious connection between sex,age,tinnitus side,severity of hearing loss,type of hearing loss and severity of chronic tinnitus.