J Am Acad Audiol 2021; 32(09): 562-566
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1731733
Research Article

Self-Reported Tinnitus Severity Prior to and During the COVID-19 Lockdown in the United Kingdom

1   Department of Audiology, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, Guildford, United Kingdom
,
2   Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
,
3   Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Hearing Group, Cambridge, United Kingdom
› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Background and Purpose The aim of this study was to assess whether the severity of tinnitus, as measured using ratings of tinnitus loudness, annoyance, and effect on life, was influenced by the lockdown related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Research Design This was a retrospective study.

Study Sample The data for 105 consecutive patients who were seen at a tinnitus clinic in an audiology department in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 lockdown between April and June 2020 and 123 patients seen in the same period of the previous year, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic were included.

Data Collection Demographic data for the patients, results of their pure-tone audiometry, and their score on visual analog scale (VAS) of tinnitus loudness, annoyance, and effect on life were imported from their records held at the audiology department. This was a retrospective survey comparing ratings on the VAS of tinnitus loudness, annoyance, and effect on life for consecutive patients seen during the COVID-19 lockdown and consecutive patients seen in the same period of the previous year, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients seen prior to lockdown used a pen and paper version of the VAS, while the patients who were assessed during the COVID-19 lockdown used an adapted version of the VAS, via telephone. All patients were seeking help for their tinnitus for the first time.

Results The mean scores for tinnitus loudness, annoyance, and effect on life did not differ significantly for the groups seen prior to and during lockdown.

Conclusion Any changes in psychological well-being or stress produced by the lockdown did not significantly affect ratings of the severity of tinnitus.

Disclaimer

Any mention of a product, service, or procedure in the Journal of the American Academy of Audiology does not constitute an endorsement of the product, service, or procedure by the American Academy of Audiology.




Publication History

Received: 09 February 2021

Accepted: 30 May 2021

Article published online:
17 February 2022

© 2022. American Academy of Audiology. This article is published by Thieme.

Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.
333 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA

 
  • References

  • 1 Iacobucci G. Covid-19: UK lockdown is “crucial” to saving lives, say doctors and scientists. BMJ 2020; 368: m1204
  • 2 Aazh H, Swanepoel dW, Moore BCJ. Telehealth tinnitus therapy during the COVID-19 outbreak in the UK: uptake and related factors. Int J Audiol 2021; 60 (05) 322-327
  • 3 Wright L, Steptoe A, Fancourt D. Are we all in this together? Longitudinal assessment of cumulative adversities by socioeconomic position in the first 3 weeks of lockdown in the UK. J Epidemiol Community Health 2020; 74 (09) 683-688
  • 4 Clemens V, Deschamps P, Fegert JM. et al. Potential effects of “social” distancing measures and school lockdown on child and adolescent mental health. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2020; 29 (06) 739-742
  • 5 Webb L. COVID-19 lockdown: a perfect storm for older people's mental health. J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs 2021; 28 (02) 300
  • 6 Speth MM, Singer-Cornelius T, Oberle M, Gengler I, Brockmeier SJ, Sedaghat AR. Mood, anxiety and olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19: evidence of central nervous system involvement?. Laryngoscope 2020; 130 (11) 2520-2525
  • 7 Kokou-Kpolou CK, Megalakaki O, Laimou D, Kousouri M. Insomnia during COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown: prevalence, severity, and associated risk factors in French population. Psychiatry Res 2020; 290: 113128
  • 8 Kocevska D, Blanken TF, Van Someren EJW, Rösler L. Sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic: not one size fits all. Sleep Med 2020; 76: 86-88
  • 9 Pfefferbaum B, North CS. Mental health and the Covid-19 pandemic. N Engl J Med 2020; 383 (06) 510-512
  • 10 Killgore WDS, Cloonan SA, Taylor EC, Dailey NS. Loneliness: a signature mental health concern in the era of COVID-19. Psychiatry Res 2020; 290: 113117
  • 11 Aazh H, Baguley DM, Moore BCJ. Factors related to insomnia in adult patients with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis: an exploratory analysis. J Am Acad Audiol 2019; 30 (09) 802-809
  • 12 Aazh H, Moore BCJ. Tinnitus loudness and the severity of insomnia: a mediation analysis. Int J Audiol 2019; 58 (04) 208-212
  • 13 Aazh H, Puri BK, Moore BCJ. Parental separation and parental mental health in childhood and risk of insomnia in adulthood among patients with tinnitus. J Am Acad Audiol 2020; 31 (03) 217-223
  • 14 Aazh H, Danesh AA, Moore BCJ. Parental mental health in childhood as a risk factor for anxiety and depression among people seeking help for tinnitus and hyperacusis. J Am Acad Audiol 2019; 30 (09) 772-780
  • 15 Aazh H, Moore BCJ. Factors associated with depression in patients with tinnitus and hyperacusis. Am J Audiol 2017; 26 (04) 562-569
  • 16 Aazh H, Moore BCJ. Usefulness of self-report questionnaires for psychological assessment of patients with tinnitus and hyperacusis and patients' views of the questionnaires. Int J Audiol 2017; 56 (07) 489-498
  • 17 Aazh H, Landgrebe M, Danesh AA. Parental mental illness in childhood as a risk factor for suicidal and self-harm ideations in adults seeking help for tinnitus and/or hyperacusis. Am J Audiol 2019; 28 (03) 527-533
  • 18 Aazh H, Moore BCJ. Thoughts about suicide and self-harm in patients with tinnitus and hyperacusis. J Am Acad Audiol 2018; 29 (03) 255-261
  • 19 Munro KJ, Uus K, Almufarrij I, Chaudhuri N, Yioe V. Persistent self-reported changes in hearing and tinnitus in post-hospitalisation COVID-19 cases. Int J Audiol 2020; 59 (12) 889-890
  • 20 Viola P, Ralli M, Pisani D. et al. Tinnitus and equilibrium disorders in COVID-19 patients: preliminary results. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2020; •••: 1-6
  • 21 Vukkadala N, Qian ZJ, Holsinger FC, Patel ZM, Rosenthal E. COVID-19 and the otolaryngologist: preliminary evidence-based review. Laryngoscope 2020; 130 (11) 2537-2543
  • 22 Ohlstein JF, Garner J, Takashima M. Telemedicine in otolaryngology in the COVID-19 era: initial lessons learned. Laryngoscope 2020; 130 (11) 2568-2573
  • 23 Singh AK, Kasle DA, Jiang R. et al. A review of telemedicine applications in otorhinolaryngology: considerations during the coronavirus disease of 2019 pandemic. Laryngoscope 2021; 131 (04) 744-759
  • 24 Beukes EW, Baguley DM, Jacquemin L. et al. Changes in tinnitus experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Front Public Health 2020; 8: 592878
  • 25 Kilic O, Kalcioglu MT, Cag Y. et al. Could sudden sensorineural hearing loss be the sole manifestation of COVID-19? An investigation into SARS-COV-2 in the etiology of sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Int J Infect Dis 2020; 97: 208-211
  • 26 Goebel G, Hiller W. The tinnitus questionnaire. A standard instrument for grading the degree of tinnitus. Results of a multicenter study with the tinnitus questionnaire [in German]. HNO 1994; 42 (03) 166-172
  • 27 Newman CW, Sandridge SA, Jacobson GP. Psychometric adequacy of the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) for evaluating treatment outcome. J Am Acad Audiol 1998; 9 (02) 153-160
  • 28 Schlee W, Hølleland S, Bulla J, Simoes J, Neff P, Schoisswohl S, Woelflick S, Schecklmann M, Schiller A, Staudinger S, Probst T, Langguth B. The effect of environmental stressors on tinnitus: A prospective longitudinal study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. J Clin Med. 2020 Aug 26 09 (09) 2756 DOI: 10.3390/jcm9092756. . PMID: 32858835; PMCID: PMC7565885
  • 29 Aazh H, Bryant C, Moore BCJ. Patients' perspectives about the acceptability and effectiveness of audiologist-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for tinnitus and/or hyperacusis rehabilitation. Am J Audiol 2019; 28 (04) 973-985
  • 30 Aazh H, Moore BCJ. Proportion and characteristics of patients who were offered, enrolled in and completed audiologist-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for tinnitus and hyperacusis rehabilitation in a specialist UK clinic. Int J Audiol 2018; 57 (06) 415-425
  • 31 Aazh H, Moore BCJ. Effectiveness of audiologist-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for tinnitus and hyperacusis rehabilitation: outcomes for patients treated in routine practice. Am J Audiol 2018; 27 (04) 547-558
  • 32 BSA. Pure-Tone Air-Conduction and Bone-Conduction Threshold Audiometry with and without Masking: Recommended Procedure. Reading, UK: British Society of Audiology; 2011
  • 33 Aazh H, Moore BCJ. Incidence of discomfort during pure-tone audiometry and measurement of uncomfortable loudness levels among people seeking help for tinnitus and/or hyperacusis. Am J Audiol 2017; 26 (03) 226-232
  • 34 Maxwell C. Sensitivity and accuracy of the visual analogue scale: a psycho-physical classroom experiment. Br J Clin Pharmacol 1978; 6 (01) 15-24
  • 35 Adamchic I, Langguth B, Hauptmann C, Tass PA. Psychometric evaluation of visual analog scale for the assessment of chronic tinnitus. Am J Audiol 2012; 21 (02) 215-225
  • 36 Figueiredo RR, Azevedo AA, Oliveira PdeM. Correlation analysis of the visual-analogue scale and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory in tinnitus patients. Rev Bras Otorrinolaringol (Engl Ed) 2009; 75 (01) 76-79
  • 37 StataCorp. Stata Statistical Software: Release 13. TX: StataCorp LP; 2013
  • 38 Choi BCK, Pak AWP. A catalog of biases in questionnaires. Prev Chronic Dis 2005; 2 (01) A13
  • 39 Raphael K. Recall bias: a proposal for assessment and control. Int J Epidemiol 1987; 16 (02) 167-170
  • 40 Aazh H, Salvi R. The relationship between severity of hearing loss and subjective tinnitus loudness among patients seen in a specialist tinnitus and hyperacusis therapy clinic in UK. J Am Acad Audiol 2019; 30 (08) 712-719
  • 41 Zigmond AS, Snaith RP. The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1983; 67 (06) 361-370
  • 42 Aazh H, Lammaing K, Moore BCJ. Factors related to tinnitus and hyperacusis handicap in older people. Int J Audiol 2017; 56 (09) 677-684
  • 43 Bastien CH, Vallières A, Morin CM. Validation of the Insomnia Severity Index as an outcome measure for insomnia research. Sleep Med 2001; 2 (04) 297-307
  • 44 Baigi A, Oden A, Almlid-Larsen V, Barrenäs ML, Holgers KM. Tinnitus in the general population with a focus on noise and stress: a public health study. Ear Hear 2011; 32 (06) 787-789
  • 45 Elarbed A, Fackrell K, Baguley DM, Hoare DJ. Tinnitus and stress in adults: a scoping review. Int J Audiol 2020; •••: 1-12
  • 46 Taormina RJ, Gao JH. Maslow and the motivation hierarchy: measuring satisfaction of the needs. Am J Psychol 2013; 126 (02) 155-177
  • 47 Lester D, Hvezda J, Sullivan S, Plourde R. Maslow's hierarchy of needs and psychological health. J Gen Psychol 1983; 109 (01) 83-85
  • 48 Nelson NA, Bergeman CS. Daily stress processes in a pandemic: the effects of worry, age, and affect. Gerontologist 2021; 61 (02) 196-204