A Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study of Tinnitus Awareness and Impact in a Population of Adult Cochlear Implant Users

Objectives: The primary aim was to identify the proportion of individuals within the adult cochlear implant population who are aware of tinnitus and those who report a negative impact from this perception, using a bespoke questionnaire designed to limit bias. A secondary aim was to use qualitative analysis of open-text responses to identify themes linked to tinnitus perception in this population. Design: A cross-sectional questionnaire study of a large clinical population who received an implant from Cambridge University Hospitals, United Kingdom. Results: Seventy-five percent of respondents reported tinnitus awareness. When impact scores for six areas of difficulty were ranked, 13% of individuals ranked tinnitus their primary concern and nearly a third ranked tinnitus in the top two positions. Tinnitus impact was not found to reduce with duration since implantation. The most common open-text responses were linked to a general improvement postimplantation and acute tinnitus alleviation specific to times when the device was in use. Conclusions: Tinnitus is a problem for a significant proportion of individuals with a cochlear implant. Clinicians, scientists, and cochlear implant manufacturers should be aware that management of tinnitus may be a greater priority for an implantee than difficulties linked to speech perception. Where a positive effect of implantation was reported, there was greater evidence for masking of tinnitus via the implant rather than reversal of maladaptive plasticity. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CCBY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The authors thank the following: All participants for their time spent completing the questionnaires; Eldre Beukes, Frances Harris, Susan Fields, and Tracy Church for assistance in accessing patient databases, Karen Shammas for processing of data, and Alison MacLeod for providing comments on the questionnaire design. This study was funded by Action on Hearing Loss Grant 511:CAM:RC, and by Medical Research Council grant number MC-A060-5PQ70 to author RC. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Received May 3, 2016; accepted March 13, 2018. Address for correspondence: David Baguley, National Institute for Health Research—Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Centre, 113 Ropewalk, Nottingham NG1 5DU, United Kingdom. E-mail: david.baguley@nottingham.ac.uk Copyright © 2018 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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