Experiencing tinnitus: which factors are important for perceived severity of the symptom?

This study attempted to determine those factors important for predicting the experienced severity of tinnitus. For this purpose, we examined affected patients' perception of tinnitus as an illness, comorbidity, scores on locus of control, length of time since onset of tinnitus, pitch and loudness of tinnitus sounds, and depression. One hundred and forty-nine patients (72 women, 77 men) experiencing chronic tinnitus participated in our study. An ordinal logit regression analysis showed that depression and loudness of tinnitus sounds were the best predictors of perceived severity of tinnitus and were followed in importance by the internal locus of control. In contrast, the patients' perception of tinnitus as an illness and comorbidity had no predictive value on the severity of tinnitus. These findings underscore the predominant role of depression, loudness of tinnitus, and internal locus of control in patients with tinnitus and provide an overview of relevant factors concerning tinnitus described in studies to date.