title: Tinnitus: etiology, classification, characteristics, and treatment.
abstract: Tinnitus is the perception of sound with the absence of acoustic stimulus. It affects approximately 10% of the population. This is a symptom with a broad differential diagnosis. In some cases, tinnitus impacts significantly on patients' activities of daily living. Understanding how to differentiate between subjective and objective tinnitus is essential to the evaluation and management of these patients. The various causes of each type of tinnitus will be discussed. This review presents a general approach to tinnitus in order to facilitate timely diagnosis and management of this complex symptom.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario L5C 4E9, Canada.
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy