ABSTRACT
Purpose:
to investigate the location and to verify the influence of factors and personal habits in the tinnitus perception in patients with the symptom.
Methods:
740 individuals with tinnitus, from an outpatient clinic of a university hospital were investigated. All of them reported the location in response to a questionnaire, also containing information about some factors and daily habits that causes improvement or worsening of tinnitus. The data were statistically analyzed.
Results:
the predominant location was in both ears. Most of the investigated factors does not change the perception of tinnitus for researched subjects. The silence, the nighttime and the anxiety were the factors that might be related to worsening of tinnitus perception. Moreover, the noise was referred as a factor that causes decrease of tinnitus perception. There was no influence of age and gender.
Conclusion:
more than half of the subjects had bilateral tinnitus and that most situations surveyed do not cause change in the tinnitus perception to the studied people. It is noteworthy, however, that the presence of ambient noise helps to reduce the feeling of tinnitus annoyance, as well as the silence, the period of night and the anxiety contribute to accentuate it.
Keywords:
Patient Care; Surveys and Questionnaires; Proprioception; Tinnitus
