Evaluation of stress and cognitive skills in individuals with tinnitus complaints

Abstract

Background/Aim: The sense of sound in the absence of external acoustic stimuli is known as subjective tinnitus, or phantom tinnitus. The purpose of this study was whether tinnitus complaints have an impact on perceived stress and cognitive skills like attention and memory. Methods: This prospective case-control study comprised 60 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 25, all of whom had normal hearing. Using the G*Power program, it was established that a minimum of 50 people should be worked with an 80 percent power and a 5% margin of error. The study group consisted of 30 people with tinnitus complaints in their daily lives, whereas the control group consisted of the remaining people. Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and Perceived Stress Scale were applied to the participants within the scope of the working hypotheses. In terms of cognitive skills, the Stroop Test Form was applied to evaluate selective attention, focused attention and disruptive effects, and the Visual Auditory Digit Sequence Test Form was applied to evaluate short-term memory and working memory skills. The findings were analyzed with the SPSS program. Type 1 error level is determined as 5%. Results: According to Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, tinnitus complaint of all individuals in the study group is very mild. The statistically significant differences were found between the perceived stress level, Stroop and Visual Auditory Digit Sequence Test scores between people with and without tinnitus complaints. The poorer performance was observed in the group with tinnitus complaint. (P=0.037, P=0.017, P=0.010). No statistically significant relationship was found between perceived stress level, tinnitus and cognitive skills (P=0.067, P=0.160, P=0.208). Conclusion: Tinnitus is becoming a more common cause of health problems, sometimes coupled by psychological stress, and it affects cognitive skills. The study adds to the knowledge regarding the use of cognitive tests as a supplemental measurement in the evaluation of tinnitus and the impact of tinnitus on daily cognitive abilities.