Hearing Aids as a Treatment for Tinnitus Patients with Slight to Mild Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Persons with clinically significant tinnitus also may have mild sensorineural hearing loss (MSNHL). The purpose of this study was to describe patients with tinnitus and MSNHL and factors predicting hearing-aid uptake (HAU). We conducted a retrospective chart review with regression modeling of patients presenting to a specialty tinnitus clinic over a 2.5-year period. Stepwise logistic regression on data from patient charts was conducted. Of 133 patients seen, two-thirds had MSNHL (95% confidence interval [CI]: 58.9-75.0; mean age = 53.4 years; standard deviation = 14.5); approximately 50% had severe-to-catastrophic tinnitus. Logistic regression indicated that four-frequency pure-tone average (FFPTA; left) ( β  = 0.3899, χ²  = 10.96, degrees of freedom [DF] = 1, p  = 0.0009) and age ( β  = 0.1273, χ²  = 4.86, DF = 1, p  = 0.0274) were positively associated with HAU; tinnitus severity was inversely related ( β  = - 1.0533, χ²  = 4.24, DF = 1, p  = 0.0395). Adjusting for key variables, odds of receiving hearing aids was 1.14 (95% CI: 1.01-1.27) times higher with every year increase in age, 1.48 (95% CI: 1.17-1.86) times higher per one point increase in FFPTA (left), and 0.35 (95% CI: 0.13-0.95) times less per one point increase in tinnitus severity score. Reasons why HAU was not high for this special sample of young adults with severe tinnitus and MSNHL are discussed; hearing aid treatment requires extensive counseling and follow-up for this population.