Mohd Salehuddin NS, Md Daud MK, Nik Othman NA, Abd Rahman N. Extended high frequency hearing loss in tinnitus-positive chronic suppurative otitis media patient.
Laryngoscope Investig Otolaryngol 2021;
6:1137-1141. [PMID:
34667858 PMCID:
PMC8513419 DOI:
10.1002/lio2.651]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2021] [Revised: 08/14/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
To determine the association between extended high frequency hearing loss and tinnitus in normal cochlear function based on a conventional audiometry chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) patient.
DESIGN AND METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted on 220 ears diagnosed as having CSOM with an equal number of tinnitus and without tinnitus groups. Only those with normal cochlear function based on conventional pure tone audiometry (250 Hz to 8 kHz) were included. They were further tested for hearing at extended high frequencies of up to 16 kHz. The severity of tinnitus was tested using a tinnitus questionnaire.
RESULTS
The prevalence of extended high frequency hearing loss in the normal cochlear function CSOM patients with tinnitus was 81.8% (95% CI 74.5%, 89.1%), whereas the prevalence in the tinnitus negative group was 30.0% (95% CI 21.3%, 38.7%). There was a significant association between extended high frequency hearing loss and tinnitus in CSOM patients (P < .001). The average thresholds were significantly higher in the tinnitus group at all extended high frequencies tested with an increasing trend of significance toward the higher frequencies. However, this study did not observe any association between the severity of tinnitus and extended high frequency hearing loss.
CONCLUSION
The development of tinnitus among normal cochlear function CSOM patients indicates that the damage has occurred at a higher frequency level. However, the severity of tinnitus does not predict the degree of higher frequency hearing loss. Therefore, the presence of tinnitus warrants more aggressive monitoring and treatment to prevent sensorineural hearing loss from developing into the speech frequencies.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
4.
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