Relationships of Tinnitus to Frequency and Hearing Loss in Elderly Patients

Lee, Seung Joon; Lee, Seok Ki

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tinnitus in elderly patients has been well noticed by many physicians, and it was especially related to age induced hearing loss. Moreover, there were many hypothesis and suggestions in mechanisms and characteristics in senile tinnitus but there have been little studies examining the features of tinnitus in elderly patients. So we tried to reveal features of tinnitus in elderly patients.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
We examined the tinnitus of 75 different ears of patients who aged over 60 years old. Also, features of tinnitus were analyzed in aspect of sound and Hz. Additionally, we analyzed hearing levels, tinnitus levels of those patients and questionnaires for tinnitus.
RESULTS
Most patients complained of ringing sound. 57 (76.0%) ears indicated high pitched ringing sound, and 16 (21.3%) ears had low pitched beating sound. The number of patients who had hearing disturbance and tinnitus was 60 (96.8%). But in the case of hearing loss, the number of ears with more than 30 dB was 35 (58.3%). Other 25 (41.7%) patients also had hearing disturbance but didn't complain of significant hearing disturbance.
CONCLUSION
A large number of elderly patients complained of tinnitus in nearly high pitched ringing sound and hearing disturbance. These findings can be helpful in the treatment of tinnitus when considering medications and hearing aids in aged persons.