Introduction:
Tinnitus is a common symptom in CI candidates, who can be divided into three groups:
patients with single sided deafness (SSD), asymmetric hearing loss (AHL) and bilateral
deafness (DSD). The aim of this study is the comparison of these groups with regard
to tinnitus distress, health related quality of life (QOL) and hearing improvement
without and with CI and therefore with binaural hearing.
Methods:
94 postlingually deafened patients (SSD, AHL, DSD), who did not significantly differ
with regard to age, duration of deafness, speech perception and tinnitus distress,
were included in this prospective analysis between 11/2009 and 04/2016. The impact
of CI on tinnitus distress (Tinnitus Questionnaire, TQ), QOL (Nijmegen Cochlear Implant
Questionnaire, NCIQ) and speech perception (Freiburg Monosyllable Test, Oldenburg
Sentence Test) was evaluated pre- and 6 months postoperatively for SSD, AHL and DSD
patients.
Results:
Tinnitus prevalence varied between 72.7% (DSD, TQ Total Score 24.0 ± 19.40), 84.8%
(SSD, TQ Total Score 32.6 ± 22.5) and 87.2% (AHL, TQ Total Score 28.7 ± 17.9). Before
CI QOL (NCIQ Total) was significantly better in the groups SSD and AHL compared to
the DSD group (p < 0.001).
Postoperatively there was a significant improvement of tinnitus distress (TQ Total)
and speech perception (ES, OLSA) in all groups. Additionally the NCIQ scores of the
DSD group adjusted the SSD and AHL scores, postoperatively the NCIQ Total score did
not any more differ significantly between the three groups (p = 0.200).
Conclusion:
The possibility of binaural hearing with CI is a great advantage for all groups (SSD,
AHL, DSD) with regard to improvement of tinnitus distress, QOL and speech perception.
