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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2023; 27(02): e197-e202
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1735455
Original Research

Effect of Tinnitus on Sleep Quality and Insomnia

Authors

  • Katherine Eloise Bornancin Gallo 

    1   Graduação em Fonoaudiologia, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

  • Camila de Castro Corrêa 

    2   Curso de Fonoaudiologia, Centro Universitário Planalto do Distrito Federal, Brasília, DF, Brazil

  • Claudia Giglio de Oliveira Gonçalves 

    3   Programa de Pós-Graduação em Distúrbios da Comunicação, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

  • Jordana Batista Correia Baran 

    3   Programa de Pós-Graduação em Distúrbios da Comunicação, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

  • Jair Mendes Marques 

    3   Programa de Pós-Graduação em Distúrbios da Comunicação, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

  • Bianca Simone Zeigelboim 

    3   Programa de Pós-Graduação em Distúrbios da Comunicação, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

  • Maria Renata José 

    3   Programa de Pós-Graduação em Distúrbios da Comunicação, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

Funding The present work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES, in the Portuguese acronym)] under the grant number 001.
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Abstract

Introduction Tinnitus is a conscious perception of a sound resulting from abnormal activity within the nervous system. A relevant percentage of tinnitus patients report symptoms severe enough to significantly affect quality of life, including sleep disorders.

Objective To analyze the sleep quality, insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in participants with tinnitus.

Methods The sample comprised 18 adults and older adults aged between 18 and 85 years old (mean age = 58.7 ± 17.5 years old), females and males, with complaint of continuous tinnitus for > 1 month. The instruments used were the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) questionnaire, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and the STOP-Bang questionnaire.

Results By means of the THI questionnaire, the tinnitus severity degree reported by most participants was mild (27.8%) and moderate (27.8%), having a positive (r = 0.582) and significant (0.011) correlation to sleep quality, measured by means of the Pittsburgh questionnaire. There was a positive correlation between the Insomnia Severity Index and tinnitus handicap (r = 0.499; p = 0.035). A total of 72.2% of the participants self-assessed their sleep quality as poor, in addition to moderate insomnia (27.8%), although there is low risk of OSA (66.7%), without complaints of excessive daytime sleepiness (72.2%).

Conclusion Subjects with tinnitus complaint self-rated their sleep quality as poor. Moreover, the higher the reported tinnitus handicap, the greater the symptoms of insomnia. There was no influence of tinnitus in relation to daytime sleepiness and no relationship between the severity of tinnitus and the risk of OSA.

Keywords

hearing - tinnitus - sleep - disorders of excessive somnolence - sleep initiation and maintenance disorders - speech-language pathology

Contributions of the Authors

Gallo K. E. B.: data collection, tabulation, literature review and manuscript writing.


Corrêa C. C.: project and study design, in addition to general supervision of the performance steps and manuscript elaboration.


Gonçalves C. G. O.: literature review, manuscript writing and final revision.


Correia J. B.: literature review, manuscript writing and final revision.


Marques J. M.: interpretation of data and final revision.


Zeigelboim B. S.: literature review, manuscript writing and final revision


José M. R.: project and study design, in addition to general supervision of the performance steps and manuscript elaboration.




Publication History

Received: 14 September 2020

Accepted: 07 May 2021

Article published online:
22 March 2023

© 2023. Fundação Otorrinolaringologia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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