1. Clinical Characteristics of Troublesome Pediatric Tinnitus.
- Author
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Szibor A, Jutila T, Mäkitie A, and Aarnisalo A
- Abstract
Objectives: The frequency of tinnitus in children and adults is practically the same. However, although adults reveal their symptoms and seek for medical aid, the suffering often remains unrecognized in the young. This is due to both the inability of children to properly describe their symptoms and the lack of recognition., Materials and Methods: Among 5768 patients entering our department with complaints of tinnitus between 2010 and 2015, there were only 112 children. A full clinical history and medical status had been determined at the time of presentation and were analyzed retrospectively., Results: The average duration from first complain to clinical presentation was approximately 12 months. A normal hearing capability of less than 25 dB was measured in 80% of the cases. Only 23 patients presented with a hearing impairment. The causes ranged from hearing loss, previous orthodontic treatment, noise trauma, middle ear aeration, muscular neck tension, and skull base fracture. Typical co-morbidities such as sleeping disorders, concentration disorders, and hyperacusis were observed., Conclusions: This retrospective study shows that recognition of tinnitus in the childhood is generally delayed. A better characterization of complaints and triggers, however, is a prerequisite to sensitize medical personnel and caretakers for the suffering and to avoid developmental impairments., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interests:The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Author Contributions: AS, AM, and AA conceived and designed the experiments and jointly developed the structure and arguments for the paper. AS analyzed the data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. AS, TJ, AM, and AA contributed to the writing of the manuscript; agree with manuscript results and conclusions and made critical revisions and approved final version. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
- Published
- 2017
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