Alexithymia, depression and tinnitus in elderly people

Tinnitus is known to have an association with depression and other psychiatric disorders. As part of a larger epidemiological survey, we evaluated the associations among tinnitus, depression and alexithymia in a group of elderly people.

A survey of hearing loss, audiological rehabilitation and associated morbidity in a senior population was conducted in Turku, Finland. The study sample consisted of 583 participants aged between 70 and 85 years. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was used to measure alexithymia, whereas the 13-item version of the Beck Depression Inventory was used to measure depression; the subjective experience of tinnitus was queried with a questionnaire.

Depression had a clear association with subjectively annoying tinnitus. Contrary to expectations, the TAS-20 score did not correlate with the severity of tinnitus. In fact, the highest TAS-20 scores were found among the subjects who had tinnitus but did not find it to be subjectively annoying. No significant association between high TAS-20 scores and hearing loss was found.

Although we found an association between TAS-20 scores and the presence of tinnitus, alexithymia does not seem to be helpful in explaining tinnitus annoyance among elderly people.