Cross-sectional analysis of hearing loss, age and tinnitus severity in a web-recruited cohort of 610 subjects

Tinnitus: the hearing of a sound that has not been produced by any external or internal source, is a rather heterogeneous hearing disorder. Background/Objectives: Hearing loss has been shown to be the main risk factor for tinnitus while emotional disorders are risk factors for developing intrusive or bothersome tinnitus. Moreover, aging has also been identified as another risk factor. The aim of this paper was to analyse the correlation between hearing loss, age and tinnitus severity in a cohort of 610 tinnitus sufferers. Methods: Age, audiometric (hearing condition) and tinnitus (time duration and severity) data were assessed and analysed for all subjects just after recruiting (baseline). Furthermore, the average hearing loss (HL) curves of the participants for age groups were compared to these with the corresponding Age Related HL (ARHL). Results: For most of the age groups, the measured HL curves exceeded in 10-20 dB those of the ARHL. The average age of tinnitus onset (age minus tinnitus duration) was found to be 44-46 years in both men and women. Weak correlation between audiometric feature and tinnitus distress was observed. Conclusions: Hearing loss has been shown to be a clear risk factor for triggering tinnitus (86% of participants were hearing impaired). In this cohort, average measures of hearing loss showed, at most, weak associations with tinnitus-related distress, suggesting that non-audiological factors may play a predominant role.