Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 28, 2026
03:49
Author Spotlight: Optimizing EAS with Long Electrodes for Enhanced Cochlear Coverage and Hearing Preservation
Published on: October 11, 2024
1.2K
Tinnitus in the side with better hearing.
Ho Yun Lee1, Su Jin Kim1, Dong Sik Chang1
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, Eulji University, Daejeon, South Korea.
American Journal of Otolaryngology
|February 26, 2019
Summary
Tinnitus can indicate hearing loss even on the better-hearing side. Fluctuating hearing loss is the most common cause, and individual frequency assessments are key for diagnosis.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Otolaryngology
- Neurology
Background:
- Unilateral tinnitus often prompts clinical evaluation.
- Understanding tinnitus characteristics in the better-hearing ear is crucial for diagnosis.
- Previous studies have not fully elucidated the audiological profile of tinnitus patients with normal hearing in the contralateral ear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize patients experiencing tinnitus in their better-hearing ear.
- To identify the audiological findings and potential etiologies associated with tinnitus in the better-hearing ear.
- To investigate the relationship between tinnitus laterality and underlying hearing impairments.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 62 patients with unilateral tinnitus presenting at a university hospital tinnitus clinic.
- Pure-tone audiometry to assess hearing thresholds, including calculation of mean hearing level at 1, 2, 3, and 4 kHz.
- Comprehensive review of medical history, tinnitus questionnaires, and other audiological test results.
Main Results:
- Fluctuating hearing loss was the most frequent diagnosis (25.8%), followed by high-frequency hearing loss (21.0%).
- Sudden idiopathic hearing loss and presbycusis each accounted for 9.7% of cases.
- Somatosensory tinnitus was identified in 12.9% of patients, with associations to neck pain (8.1%) and temporomandibular disorder (3.2%).
Conclusions:
- Tinnitus, even in the better-hearing ear, can be linked to hearing deterioration.
- Fluctuating hearing loss is a primary audiological finding in this patient group.
- Frequency-specific hearing assessments are superior to mean hearing levels for detecting high-frequency loss; somatosensory tinnitus warrants consideration.
Related Concept Videos
01:31Hearing
57.1K
When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.
57.1K
01:31What is a Sensory System?
101.1K
Sensory systems detect stimuli—such as light and sound waves—and transduce them into neural signals that can be interpreted by the nervous system. In addition to external stimuli detected by the senses, some sensory systems detect internal stimuli—such as the proprioceptors in muscles and tendons that send feedback about limb position.
101.1K
02:19Physical Properties Affecting Solubility
26.4K
Solutions of Gases in Liquids
As for any solution, the solubility of a gas in a liquid is affected by the attractive intermolecular forces between solute and solvent species. Unlike solid and liquid solutes, however, there is no solute-solute intermolecular attraction to overcome when a gaseous solute dissolves in a liquid solvent since the atoms or molecules comprising a gas are far separated and experience negligible interactions. Consequently, solute-solvent interactions are the sole...
As for any solution, the solubility of a gas in a liquid is affected by the attractive intermolecular forces between solute and solvent species. Unlike solid and liquid solutes, however, there is no solute-solute intermolecular attraction to overcome when a gaseous solute dissolves in a liquid solvent since the atoms or molecules comprising a gas are far separated and experience negligible interactions. Consequently, solute-solvent interactions are the sole...
26.4K
01:33Pleiotropy
43.3K
Pleiotropy is the phenomenon in which a single gene impacts multiple, seemingly unrelated phenotypic traits. For example, defects in the SOX10 gene cause Waardenburg Syndrome Type 4, or WS4, which can cause defects in pigmentation, hearing impairments, and an absence of intestinal contractions necessary for elimination. This diversity of phenotypes results from the expression pattern of SOX10 in early embryonic and fetal development. SOX10 is found in neural crest cells that form melanocytes,...
43.3K
02:09Bystander Effect
10.3K
The discussion of bullying highlights the problem of witnesses not intervening to help a victim. This is a common occurrence, as the following well-publicized event demonstrates. In 1964, in Queens, New York, a 19-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked by a person with a knife near the back entrance to her apartment building and again in the hallway inside her apartment building. When the attack occurred, she screamed for help numerous times and eventually died from her stab wounds.
10.3K
02:20Milgram's Obedience to Authority
7.3K
Obedience to authority is classically demonstrated in a more famous series of social psychology experiments performed by Stanley Milgram. He was a social psychology professor at Yale who was influenced by the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi war criminal. Eichmann’s defense for the atrocities he committed was that he was “just following orders.”
7.3K