title: The impact of cochlear implantation on tinnitus, stress and quality of life in postlingually deafened patients.
abstract: Tinnitus is a common complaint in the candidates for cochlear implantation (CI). Tinnitus-related distress has often been measured in these patients using categorical ratings, which lack information about tinnitus severity, stress and health-related quality of life or their correlation. Here, using 4 validated questionnaires, we evaluated psychometric parameters and the quality of life of 32 postlingually deafened patients before and after CI. The data regarding pre-CI were collected retrospectively. Of all patients included in this study, 28 (87.5%) suffered from tinnitus before implantation. Following a mean of 24 months after surgery, these patients reported a significant decrease (39.2%) of tinnitus impairment, as measured by the Tinnitus Questionnaire. In none of the 28 patients has tinnitus worsened. Moreover, the 4 tinnitus-free patients remained so after the CI surgery. In addition, the implant supply resulted in 36.7% reduction in perceived stress and in 15.4% reduction in evasive coping. In addition, the focus on positive coping has improved by 12.3%, whereas the health-related quality of life improved by 53.4% in all patients. Tinnitus impairment and stress were reduced more strongly in patients who had initially higher scores. Interestingly, a significant correlation between the psychometric scores was found mainly after CI. Our results indicate that patients with higher tinnitus-related distress have a lower quality of life, lesser coping abilities and perceive more stress, but before implantation it is masked by deafness. We conclude that tinnitus-related screening of patients before and after CI is an important step in the identification of individuals who would benefit from specific fitting and/or tinnitus therapy after implantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. heidi.olze@charite.de
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Olze
authors.forename: Agnieszka J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Szczepek
authors.forename: Heidemarie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haupt
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zirke
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Graebel
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mazurek
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome