What Can You Do About Tinnitus?

Discussion Tinnitus is derived from the Latin word tinnire which means to ring but in general practice it means any perceived sound that is not generated externally. It is a common problem in adults. In children it is described as being commonly overlooked as children do not spontaneously report it. It is felt that children may consider the sound normal, or are easily distracted and therefore forget about it. Children can accurately describe the sounds they hear and use words such as buzz, ring, hum, swish, whish, blow or beep. Spontaneously reported tinnitus is ~6.5% and increases to 34% when children are specifically questioned in one study. Prevalence has been reported in up to 36% of children with normal hearing and rises to up to 66% in children with hearing loss. Constant tinnitus (43%) is reported more commonly than intermittent tinnitus (31.5%) and bilateral (69%) is more common than unilateral (31%). Tinnitus that affects quality of life is not reported in studies but studies in adults show ~33% will report tinnitus but only 0.4-1% report it affecting their quality of life. Reported problems in children with tinnitus include sensory perception problems, emotional/psychological problems, headache, dizziness and vertigo, fatigue, and sleep problems. One study found no association between childhood hearing disorders and adult tinnitus after adjusting for adult hearing thresholds. Another study of adolescents found a high prevalence of tinnitus in those who had signific...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news