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Awareness weeks

Health Awareness Week

 

Tinnitus Awareness Week

6-12 February 2023

Tinnitus Awareness Week (TAW) helps raise awareness of tinnitus and the huge effect it can have on people's day-to-day lives. One in three people in Australia live with tinnitus and one in six experience it constantly. The impact of tinnitus can be devastating. In 2017, the International Tinnitus Journal reported that 45% of tinnitus sufferers experience anxiety and 33% have major depression. Yet, despite its ubiquity, tinnitus is poorly understood and frequently underestimated as a cause of suffering and distress. Tinnitus Australia

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Articles

Diagnosis and treatment

Mental health

Research

E-books

Journals

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Articles

Diagnosis and treatment

Assessment and management of tinnitus: summary of NICE guidance
What you need to know

  • Healthcare professionals need to be alert to the impact of tinnitus on wellbeing and quality of life and provide reassurance at the first point of contact
  • Tinnitus support and information should be provided to patients with tinnitus at all stages of care, and to family members or carers if appropriate
  • Offer an audiological assessment to people with tinnitus
  • Consider psychological therapies for adults with significant tinnitus related distress
  • Offer magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of internal auditory meatuses (IAM) to people with non-pulsatile tinnitus who have associated neurological, otological, or head and neck signs and symptoms

BMJ 31 March 2020

The Fudan Tinnitus Relieving System (FTRS): The initial results of a smartphone application for tinnitus management and treatment
FTRS use resulted in significantly greater improvements in tinnitus and other outcomes relative to their baseline condition before treatment. Given the ubiquity of smartphones, FTRS may provide a wide-reaching and convenient public health intervention for individuals with tinnitus symptoms. Internet interventions 21 July 2022

Pilot study of a smartphone-based tinnitus therapy using structured counseling and sound therapy: A multiple-baseline design with ecological momentary assessment
Tinnitus is the perception of a phantom sound which is generated in the brain. Many people are affected by tinnitus and some suffer severely. Management strategies can effectively reduce suffering of some patients. However, the access towards these treatments is limited due to long distances and lack of trained therapists. Therefore, there is increasing interest whether tinnitus management can be delivered via smartphone. In this study, we evaluated a smartphone application consisting of educational counseling and sound therapy with respect to treatment compliance and symptom improvement. We measured tinnitus symptoms at the beginning of baseline and at the end of intervention using clinical questionnaires, but also during the course of treatment using daily questions which were integrated in the mobile application. The app was used regularly by the patients (sound therapy: 32% of days, structured counseling: 72% of days; tinnitus assessment: 79% of days). Tinnitus handicap improved clinically meaningful for 13 of 18 patients, tinnitus distress for 5 of 14 and tinnitus loudness for 2 of 14. The correlation between tinnitus distress and loudness weakened during the study course. Thus, this study indicates that app-based tinnitus management has an impact on tinnitus symptoms and reduces suffering for several patients. Plos digital health 16 January 2023

Tinnitus and distress: an electroencephalography classification study
There exist no objective markers for tinnitus or tinnitus disorders, which complicates diagnosis and treatments. The combination of EEG with sophisticated classification procedures may reveal biomarkers that can identify tinnitus and accurately differentiate different levels of distress experienced by patients. Brain communications 1 February 2023

 

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Mental health

Tinnitus and risk of attempted suicide: A one year follow-up study
The authors found increased likelihood of attempted suicide among patients with tinnitus. Journal of affective disorders 1 February 2023

A cross Otolaryngology - sectional analysis of the relationship between Tinnitus Functional Index and anxiety and depression disorders in Tinnitus patients with normal hearing
Despite the limited understanding of psychological concerns in tinnitus patients, the prevalence of anxiety disorders in these populations has increased. The reported co-occurrence might impact the clinical course of tinnitus and its management. Al-Azhar International Medical Journal 27 July 2022

Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between Tinnitus and mental health in a population-based sample of middle-aged and elderly persons
Findings of this population-based cohort study indicate that tinnitus was associated with more mental health problems in middle-aged and elderly persons in the general population, in particular when tinnitus interfered with daily life but not solely. Over time, more severe tinnitus was associated with an increase in anxiety symptoms and poor sleep quality. This outcome suggests that mental health problems may be part of the burden of tinnitus, even among individuals who do not report their tinnitus interfering with daily life. JAMA 10 June 2021

Association between tinnitus and anxiety in the convalescent COVID-19 patients: A single-center observational study
Tinnitus that developed in some normal hearing subjects after infection with COVID-19 may be caused by anxiety and stress. Egyptian journal of ear, nose, throat and allied sciences 30 January 2023

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Research

The prevalence of tinnitus in the Australian working population
The prevalence of tinnitus in the Australian workforce is high, particularly in certain occupations. Workplace practices and conditions that increase the risk of tinnitus should be examined, and targeted workplace prevention strategies developed. MJA 7 February 2022

Global prevalence and incidence of Tinnitus : A systematic review and meta-analysis
Despite the substantial heterogeneity among studies, this comprehensive systematic review on the prevalence and incidence of tinnitus suggests that tinnitus affects more than 740 million adults globally and is perceived as a major problem by more than 120 million people, mostly aged 65 years or older. Health policy makers should consider the global burden of tinnitus, and greater effort should be devoted to boost research on tinnitus. JAMA 8 August 2022

Objective multidisciplinary measurements of sleep disturbance and autonomic dysfunction as risk factors for chronic subjective tinnitus
This is the first study to administer polysomnography (PSG) and autonomic function tests to patients with chronic subjective tinnitus. Poor sleep quality and autonomic dysfunction were implicated as risk factors for tinnitus. PSG and the autonomic function tests helped identify tinnitus-related comorbidities and inform tinnitus treatment. Sleep disturbance and autonomic dysfunction did not exert an interaction effect on tinnitus. Further studies with a larger sample size and the inclusion of patients with more severe tinnitus are warranted. Journal of the Formosan Medical Association 6 January 2023

Effect of tinnitus on sound localization ability in patients with normal hearing
The present data suggest that tinnitus negatively impacted sound source localization accuracy, even when participants had normal hearing. The matched pitch and loudness and the impact of tinnitus on patients’ daily lives were not related to the sound source localization ability. Brazilian Journal of otorhinolaryngology 30 January 2023

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E-books

This is just a sample of the e-books the library subscribes to – you will need your library login

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Journals

This is just a sample of the journals the library subscribes to – you will need your library login

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Previous Awareness Weeks

Missed out on a previous awareness week? You can now see previous awareness weeks here.