Effects of Anxiety Sensitivity and Hearing Loss on Tinnitus Symptom Severity
- Author:
Kyung Ray MOON
1
;
Subin PARK
;
YouJi JUNG
;
AhReum LEE
;
Jung Hyun LEE
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Anxiety sensitivity; Anxiety sensitivity index; Hearing loss; Tinnitus; Tinnitus handicap inventory
- MeSH: Anxiety; Hearing Loss; Hearing; Humans; Linear Models; Tinnitus
- From:Psychiatry Investigation 2018;15(1):34-40
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to examine the relative role of anxiety sensitivity and hearing loss on the tinnitus symptoms severity in a large clinical sample of patients with tinnitus. METHODS: A total of 1,705 patients with tinnitus who visited the tinnitus clinic underwent the pure-tone audiometric testing and a battery of self-report questionnaires. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify the relationship of anxiety sensitivity and hearing loss to tinnitus symptoms severity. RESULTS: Both anxiety sensitivity and hearing loss were a significant association with of annoyance (anxiety sensitivity β=0.11, p=0.010; hearing loss β=0.09, p=0.005) and THI score (anxiety sensitivity β=0.21, p < 0.001; hearing loss β=0.10, p < 0.001) after adjusting for confounding factors. Meanwhile, the awareness time (β=0.19, p < 0.001) and loudness (β=0.11, p < 0.001) of tinnitus was associated with only the hearing loss but not with anxiety sensitivity CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that both hearing loss and anxiety sensitivity were associated with increased tinnitus symptom severity. Furthermore, these associations could be different according to the characteristics of tinnitus symptoms.
