[Tinnitus]

Abstract

Tinnitus is a highly prevalent symptom and a common reason for seeing an otolaryngologist. Since tinnitus can go hand in hand with hearing loss, the step-by-step clarification of hearing loss is one of the essential ENT examinations for tinnitus sufferers. The anamnesis and medical history are relevant, since a multidimensional interaction with the tinnitus can be important for the treatment, especially in the case of a psychological comorbidity. In the vast majority of patients, no causal factor can be found. In the absence of external stimuli, phantom perceptions of tones or noises are held responsible for subjective tinnitus, which probably arises from pathological changes of the auditory pathway, but also in non-auditory cortical structures. In the case of acute tinnitus, a comprehensive audiological assessment is needed, and if the hearing threshold is normal, counseling is the priority. The patient must be informed about the nature of these benign symptoms. So far, there is no acute therapy that has been proven to increase the probability of healing, i.e. the disappearance of the acute tinnitus. Only if the hearing threshold descended, for instance in case of sudden idiopathic hearing loss, therapy of the underlying disease can also lead to improvement or healing of the acute tinnitus. Counseling for chronic tinnitus with high burden is also about reducing exaggerated expectations of healing that cannot be fulfilled. The training of habituation strategies is important. The standard of therapy for chronic tinnitus with psychological strain represents cognitive behavioral therapy for dealing with the tinnitus in a beneficial way. Tinnitus is a symptom of a very heterogeneous group of patients. In the future, it is to be hoped that digital applications and interventions in particular will be evaluated in quality-controlled clinical studies in order to be able to further personalize patient therapy.