ABSTRACT
The interplay of personality traits, depressed mood and tinnitus severity is highly relevant to diagnosis and prognosis in tinnitus related handicap. The aim of this work was to assess a sample of patients with annoying tinnitus audiologically and psychologically to determine whether personality factors differ with different experiences of tinnitus. This study was conducted on forty patients of both sexes complaining of tinnitus. They were assessed audiologically using; Pure tone audiometry [PTA], Transient evoked otoacoustic emission [TEOAE], distortion product otoacoustic emission [DPOAE] and were administered the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory [THI]. Psychological assessment included two self assessment questionnaires: SCID IT Personality test and Middle sex psychological test. TEOAE were abnormal in 9.8% of control group [CG], 29.34% of study group [SG-l] and 58.34% SG-2. DPOAE results were abnormal in 50% CG, 67.6% of SG-l, 89.9% of SG-2 and 92.4% of SG-3. THI scores were not correlated with age, gender, duration or level of hearing loss. Obsession and antisocial personality were significantly related to THI. There was a weak significant negative statistical relationship between Depression and THI. A negative statistical correlation between DPOAE, TEOAE and THI was found. On the SCID-Il Personality test, 30% of the sample [12 persons] completed the criteria for the Narcissistic Personality disorder and also 30% [12 persons] completed the criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder. On the Middle Sex test the most frequent significant symptoms were Depression and obsession, 17.5% of the sample. Given that this is a preliminary study of the psychological profile of Egyptian patients with tinnitus, multicenter research is needed for better understanding of the psychology of those patients