• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.333-338
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• 2013

Purpose: A growing number of studies have been providing evidence for neural connections between the auditory and somatosensory systems that might be a critical part of the mechanisms underlying certain forms of tinnitus. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) movements on tinnitus. Methods: One hundred sixty-three tinnitus patients participated in this study. All patients underwent a thorough audiological examination including pure-tone audiometry, tinnitus handicap inventory, and evaluation of tinnitus loudness, frequency and severity on a visual analog scale. Somatic testing consisting of nine forceful jaw muscle contractions was performed to evaluate the effect of TMJ movements on modulation of tinnitus. Results: 66.9% of patients had unilateral tinnitus. Somatic testing modulated tinnitus loudness in 125 ears (57.6 %) of 217 ears tested. An increase in tinnitus loudness was observed more often than a decrease. Loudness was most commonly increased by opening and clenching jaw. Tinnitus could be induced by opening, clenching and deviating jaw to the left. Conclusion: Our study showed evidence that TMJ movements may aggravate and even evoke tinnitus and somatic testing can be used for evaluating if stimulation of the TMJ induces or aggravates tinnitus.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.151-157
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• 1997

The relationship of stress and psychopathology with subjective or objective tinnitus intensity was investigated in 43 patients with tinnitus. Global assessment of recent stress scale, Beck depression inventory and symptom checklist-90-revision were used to measure stress perception and psychopathology. Subjective tinnitus intensity was assessed by subjective tinnitus severity inventory, whereas objective tinnitus intensity was assessed by tinnitogram. Scores of perceived stress related to interpersonal relationship and sickness or min had significantly positive correlation with subjective tinnitus intensity. In psychopathology, scores of somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, phobia, paranoid ideation, psychoticism had significantly positive correlation with subjective tinnitus intensity. However, stress perception and psychopathology did not significantly correlate with objective tinnitus intensity. These findings suggest that tinnitus may be associated with stress perception and multiple psychopathology including anxiety and depression. Thus, it is emphasized that Psychosocial intervention as well as effective consultation-liasion activity is needed for evaluation and treatment of patients with tinnitus.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.40-50
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• 2003

Purpose: To investigate audiometery and characteristics related to tinnitus in tinnitus patients, and to understand the relationship between the discomfort of tinnitus and the quality of life. Methods: The subjects were 110 patients with tinnitus. The data were collected using tinnitus handicap questionnaire, quality of life, and pure tone audiometry, which measured hearing level in dB and frequency in Hz matching of tinnitus. Results: Majority of tinnitus patients (75.5%~81.8%) had normal auditory sensation. but 82.7% of patients indicated that they have heard tinnitus "frequently" or "always", and the major sounds of tinnitus were "wing, wung, wang". The matching sounds of tinnitus had various range in hearing level(dB) and frequency(Hz). Tinnitus patients reported moderate levels of the discomfort of tinnitus and the quality of life, and there were negative correlation between the discomfort of tinnitus and the quality of life(r=-.314, p<.001). Conclusion: These findings suggest that special attention is needed for tinnitus patients because the physical, psychological, and social impacts of tinnitus could be decrease their quality of life. Specialized nursing intervention considering specific conditions related to tinnitus is required to solve various health problems of tinnitus patients.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.545-556
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• 2022

This study is a preliminary experiment to test on the effect of musical harmony on the suppression of the discomfort from tinnitus. The experiment was conducted on 25 adults with normal hearing. They listened to the three types (1. original music, 2. melody only, 3. harmony only) of Brandenburg concerto no. 3, G Major (J S Bach) and rated tinnitus annoyance scales. The results show that the tinnitus annoyance was significantly reduced when they listened to the tinnitus sound and any of the three types of the same musics compared to when listening to the tinnitus sound only (p < 0.019). Suppression of tinnitus was observed to be greater in the original music containing harmony and the harmony part only than in the music excluding the harmony part (the melody part only) (p < 0.012). The suppression effect was slightly better in the original music including the harmony part than in the harmony part only, but there was no statistical significance (p = 0.189). The experimental results suggest that the harmony in music plays an important role in suppressing tinnitus annoyance, compared to the melody. Validations with tinnitus patients are necessary to underpin the findings, which can enable us to embark further studies for making use of them for clinical applications.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2015

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the psychiatric characteristics of outpatients with tinnitus. Methods A total of 88 subjects were included in this study. According to Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) scores, the subjects were classified into two group ; a mild tinnitus symptoms (mild-tinnitus) group and a severe tinnitus symptoms (severe-tinnitus) group. A questionnaire was used for an assessment of demographic characteristics, and the THI, the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) about tinnitus, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) are applied for evaluation of other clinical psychiatric characteristics. Results Higher THI scores were positively correlated with tinnitus course, the number of accompanying symptoms, and the VAS. BDI total scores, BDI factors, and BAI total scores were significantly higher in the severe-tinnitus group than in the mild-tinnitus group. Also suicidal ideation, interpersonal problems, sleep problems, occupational impairment, and fatigue were significantly higher in the severe-tinnitus group than in the mild-tinnitus group. Conclusions Tinnitus is a common disorder of hearing which is associated frequently with psychiatric problems. This study suggests that psychiatric interventions should be taken into consideration in the treatment of patients suffering from tinnitus.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.136-142
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• 2015

Objective : Subjective tinnitus is defined as an acoustic sensation perceived without any external source. Patients with tinnitus have often experienced psychological distress and low quality of life. However, the connection between psychiatric characteristics and tinnitus has not yet been established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of psychiatric characteristics with tinnitus severity. Method : A total of 124 patients with tinnitus were included in the study. Demographic and clinical characteristics were retrospectively collected in the otolaryngology clinic. The self-reported scales including the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Anxiety Sensitivity Index were used in this study. Results : The Pearson product moment correlation revealed significant correlations between tinnitus severity and psychiatric characteristics including depression (r=0.26, p<0.01), anxiety (r=0.38, p<0.01), anxiety sensitivity (r=0.27, p<0.01). After controlling for age, sex and awareness of tinnitus, tinnitus severity was positively correlated with anxiety (partial r=0.39, p<0.01) and anxiety sensitivity (partial r=0.28, p<0.01). These correlations remained significant in male but not in female patients. Conclusion : Results of the present study indicated that not only anxiety symptoms but also anxiety sensitivity could relate to tinnitus severity. Our findings have implications for the understanding of the psychiatric characteristics in patients with tinnitus.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.197-203
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• 2008

Background and Objectives : This case report aims to determine the effect of acupuncture and herbal medicine as a treatment for tinnitus. Subjects and Methods : 11 patients with tinnitus were treated by acupuncture combined with herbal medicine. Patients were evaluated with verbal numerical rating scale scores for loudness, annoyance, and awareness of tinnitus before and after treatment. Results : 9 patients reported reduction of loudness, annoyance, and awareness of tinnitus after treatment. Among them, complete suppression of the tinnitus was obtained in 1 case. 2 patients reported no improvement. Conclusions : This case study presents clinical possibility of acupuncture and herbal medicine for the treatment of tinnitus.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.369-376
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• 2004

The tinnitus retraining therapy(TRT) is an effective method for treating tinnitus patients. This therapy use the white noise to stimulate auditory cells for a wide frequency range. In this paper, the small white noise generator using the thermal noise is proposed. And frequency response controller which can compensate the frequency response changed by the human outer and middle ear system is proposed. We can know that proposed system is more proper type on a purpose of the tinnitus retraining therapy comparing with conventional white noise generator.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2023

Purpose: Tinnitus, which is often described as the conscious awareness of a sound without an external auditory stimulus, is one of the most common symptoms in the general population. This study aimed to explore the experiences of individuals living with tinnitus. Methods: In this qualitative exploratory study, data were collected from November 2017 to January 2018 through in-depth individual interviews with 11 tinnitus patients. Verbatim transcripts and field notes were analyzed using content analysis. Results: The extracted content was classified into three core categories of tinnitus experiences: "suffering from constant sound," "being imprisoned surrounded by persistent noise," and "efforts to overcome." Conclusion: This study shows that tinnitus had a severe negative impact on patients' lives. The finding will help healthcare providers understand their patients more deeply.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.471-477
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• 1999

Many researches have been performed whether electrical stimulation could be used for diagnosis and treatment on the auditory system impairment. Unfortunately, there were no standard methods or theoretical background for choosing stimulus conditions because of the lack of understanding on the transmission of electrical stimulation through the auditory pathway. This research was conducted to observe the effect of electrical stimulation on the tinnitus-induced animals. Nine guniea pigs were used for the experment and divided into two groups, five animals for the experimental group(A) and four animals for the control group(B). Experimental conditions were divided into four steps, before tinnitus induction and 1, 6, 12 hours after tinnitus induction using salicylate based on the Jastreboff model. In each experimental condition, ABR and ECochG were obtained, and autocorrelation coefficients were calculated from normalized waveforms based on rms values. Sum of all the autocorrelation coefficients was extracted as a parameter to observe the changes between before and after the electrical stimulation. As a result, ABR parameter values were rapidly increased 6 hours after tinnitus induction, the gradually returned back to the initial state. On the other hand, when electrical stimulation was applied, parameter values did not change compared with the initial sate. Parameter values of ECochG showed that the effect of electrical stimulation appeared 12 hours after the tinnitus induction. It was concluded that an electrical stimulation to the tinnitus-induced model changes the correlation coefficients of ABR and ECochG waveforms.