Epidemiology of Tinnitus in Children

Abstract

Keypoints1. Children experience tinnitus and might present similar suffering as observed in adults but they rarely mention the symptom unless directly asked about it. 2. Difficulty on concentration, sleeping, hearing, leisure activities, sports practice, and hyperacusis are the most frequent complaints associated to tinnitus in children. 3. Only a few population studies have been performed and have disclosed prevalence rates from 6% to 59%. Many factors might be implicated in the large interstudy variability of tinnitus prevalence in children. 4. Age, gender, hearing loss, motion sickness, hyperacusis, and noise exposure have been suggested as risk factors to development of tinnitus in children. 5. A proper model to investigate children should be developed for the purpose of obtaining accurate information about the prevalence of tinnitus in children. 6. Preventive measures should aim at hearing education about the risk of hearing loss and tinnitus. Prevention of noise exposure should be promoted as early as possible.

Tinnitus in adolescents and its relation to the use of personal sound systems

“…Comparing the presence of tinnitus among subjects with and without exposure to PSS and between more and less exposed groups, we observed no difference in the prevalence of tinnitus symptoms, coinciding with other studies 26 , although some authors have identified a positive correlation with PSS abuse and the presence of tinnitus when the subject has been exposed for a longer time 14,19 , at higher intensities 8 , and using insertion-style earphones 29 or only between the groups with and without exposure to PSS 22 . It was questioned if the exposure time would have been insufficient to cause increased occurrence of symptoms since it has been shown that hearing quality deterioration occurred only in PSS users of more than 5 years 7,29 .…”

“…Noteworthy is the presence of tinnitus, not only for its known etiology related to hearing loss, even if it is not clinically apparent, but by its increasing prevalence among younger populations, appearing as the most reported symptom in most studies 14,19 . Although, depending on the methodology used, the numbers of spontaneous tinnitus in studies involving adolescents have varied from 7.5% 20 to 74.9% 4 , the prevalence observed in our sample, 40% of PSS users and 33% among non-PSS users, coincides with most studies which varied from 35% to 38.4% 16,21 .…”

The efficacy of hearing aids for emotional and auditory tinnitus issues

“…Subsequently, they answered two questionnaires: a) IowaTinnitus Activities Questionnaire (TAQ), applied before hearing-aid fitting; b) Iowa Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaire (THQ) 23 , applied about three months after hearing-aid fitting.…”

Prevalence of tinnitus and hyperacusis in children and adolescents: a systematic review

“…The prevalence of tinnitus in children has been studied in several articles with reports ranging from 7.5% to 60%. 1 Tinnitus is reported to be more common among children with hearing impairment compared with children with normal hearing. 2 In general, studies indicate tinnitus to be relatively common in childhood, but tinnitus impact seems to be lower in children than among adults and it is unusual to see adults with tinnitus that has persisted since childhood.…”