Tinnitus in the Patients with Cochlear Implantation: Preliminary Report

Background and Objectives : With the wide use of cochlear implants, there have been many published studies which report that cochlear implants have a suppressive effect on tinnitus in profoundly deaf patients. The aim of this study was to understand the clinical and audiologic characteristics of the tinnitus in patients with cochlear implantation and to observe changes of their tinnitus after cochlear implantation. Subjects and Method : A total 23 patients who had undergone cochlear implants in our hospital from August 2003 to December 2006, were included in this study. The patients were divided into tinnitus (n=11) and non-tinnitus groups (n=12) according to the presence of tinnitus at the time of surgery. We compared clinical and audiologic features between the two groups. We also studied changes in tinnitus after surgery in the tinnitus group using validated self-report measures [tinnitus handicap inventory (THI), tinnitus handicap score (THS), and visual analogue scale]. Results : There were significant differences between the two groups with respect to the age of cochlear implant recipients, whether or not the subjects had impaired hearing or were wearing hearing aids. Tinnitus was rarely observed in patients under 20 years of age with cochlear implantation (11.1%) in contrast to the higher rates in the patients of 20 years old and over (71.4%). Marked reduction of THI, THS and visual analogue scale of tinnitus were observed in all patients. Conclusion : For the adult patients who had undergone cochlear implant surgery and had tinnitus preoperatively, cochlear implants had shown suppressive effect on their tinnitus. Considering the significant prevalence of tinnitus in profoundly deaf patients, tinnitus of these patients should not be overlooked and further studies should be made to define relationship between cochlear implant and tinnitus.