The applicability of the Tinnitus and Hearing Survey (THS) in the differentiation of tinnitus and hearing complaints.

PURPOSE: To verify the applicability of the Tinnitus and Hearing Survey (THS) to measure the different complaints of tinnitus, hearing loss and sound tolerance.

METHODS

THS was performed, composed of 4 questions about tinnitus, 4 about hearing loss and one about sound tolerance. Previously, all participants performed a battery of audiological diagnostic tests and were then divided into 4 groups: Bilateral normal audiometry with mean up to 25dB, with and without tinnitus complaint (Groups 1 and 3); diagnosis of mild to moderate neural sensory hearing loss (26dB to 60dB), no previous use of individual hearing aids, complaining of chronic tinnitus (≥6 months) and individuals without tinnitus complaints (Groups 2 and 4); and age ≥18 years old.

RESULTS

Seventy subjects were included in the present study. Regarding the analysis of the total between the groups by the Kruskal-Wallis test, significant differences were found in the sections about tinnitus and hearing loss, but there was no significance in the section regarding sound tolerance. Regarding the questions in Section A of the THS, only Groups 3 and 4 scored the highest. Regarding the questions related to Section B about hearing loss, the groups without hearing loss (Groups 1 and 3) scored the lowest. In relation to the question of the THS in Section C, Group 3 scored the highest.

CONCLUSIONS

The THS questionnaire proved to be a useful, quick and simple tool to assist the audiologist in the understanding and differentiation of the audiologic complaints.