Relationship between Subjective Expression and Pitch in Tinnitus / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The majority of tinnitus is classified not as objective, but as subjective tinnitus. The nature of tinnitus is different according to countries, cities, personal expression, but the objective assessment guideline for the diagnosis of subjective expression in tinnitus is not present in Korea. The aim of this study has been to compare subjective expressions with pitch in tinnitus and to find out whether we can predict tinnitus pitch by patient subjective expression. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: We reviewed the records of 633 patients (690 ears) with continuous tinnitus who performed questionnaires of tinnitus and audiologic study. In addition to standard audiometric tests, patients received tests for tinnitus pitch using pure tone stimuli and/ or narrow band noise. RESULTS: Among 50 onomatopoeia of tinnitus, [wi ng] shows highest incidence (25.4%), followed by [s'oi ](13.8%), [u ng] (11.7%), [p'i ](7.8%), and [tchi ](5.4%). High pitches, especially 4 kHz (28.6%), 8 kHz (24.9%), were more frequently noted in tinnitus. With respect to the relationship between tinnitus pitch and onomatopoeia, [u ng] shows highest incidence in low pitches, below 500 Hz, [wi ng] in 1 kHz, and [s'oi ] in 4 kHz, 8 kHz. In tinnitus pitch according to onomatopoeia, [wi ng] had 4 kHz, 8 kHz, 1 kHz, [s'oi ] had 4 kHz, 1 kHz, 8 kHz, [u ng] had 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, [p'i ] had 8 kHz, 4 kHz, 1 kHz, and [tchi ] had 4 kHz, 8 kHz, more frequently in sequence. Dividing pitches into low, middle and high levels, [u ng] had low pitches, [s'oi ] had middle and high pitches, [p'i ] and [tchi ] had high pitches, but [wi ng] was distributed evenly through low to high pitches. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that there was apparent relationship between subjective expression and pitch in tinnitus.