Prevalence, associated factors, and comorbidities of tinnitus in adolescents

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 7; p. e0236723
• Main Authors: Rhee, Jihye, Lee, Dongwook, Suh, Myung Whan, Lee, Jun Ho, Hong, Yun-Chul, Oh, Seung Ha, Park, Moo Kyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 31.07.2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescents; Alcohol use; Audiometry; Biology and Life Sciences; Cigarette smoking; Comorbidity; Ear; Gender; Health problems; Hearing; Hearing loss; Hospitals; Language; Listening; Localization; Management; Medical research; Medical schools; Medical screening; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental disorders; Mental health; Noise; Noise levels; Otolaryngology; People and Places; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Preventive medicine; Questionnaires; Random sampling; Regression analysis; Risk factors; Short term memory; Sinusitis; Sleep; Social Sciences; Sound localization; Statistical sampling; Students; Surgery; Teenagers; Tinnitus; South Korea
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236723

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of tinnitus among adolescents, and the factors known or hypothesized to be associated with tinnitus. Based on random sampling of school types and regions, a nationwide hearing survey of the first-year middle and high school students of South Korea was performed. The subjects underwent an otologic examination followed by pure tone audiometry up to 8 kHz. Questionnaires about the factors associated with hearing and tinnitus were completed by the students and their parents. Among the 1,593 subjects who completed the questionnaire and underwent pure tone audiometry, the prevalence of tinnitus was 46.0% and that of severe tinnitus was 9.1%. Tinnitus was associated with age, female gender, history of ear infection and sinusitis, leisure noise exposure due to karaoke and local-area-network gaming, alcohol consumption, and cigarette smoking. Noticeable hearing loss was not detected but participants with tinnitus complained of difficulty with sound localization, hearing in noise, and verbal working memory and were more susceptible to fatigue. The subjects with tinnitus also suffered more physical and mental health problems than did those without tinnitus. Thus, protection of the ears from noise and appropriate counseling should be considered for adolescents with tinnitus.