Effect of Tinnitus on Sleep Quality and Insomnia

Katherine Eloise Bornancin Gallo; Camila de Castro Corrêa; Claudia Giglio de Oliveira Gonçalves; Jordana Batista Correia Baran; Jair Mendes Marques; Bianca Simone Zeigelboim; Maria Renata José

doi:10.1055/s-0041-1735455

Effect of Tinnitus on Sleep Quality and Insomnia

Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2023 Mar 22;27(2):e197-e202. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1735455. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Authors

Katherine Eloise Bornancin Gallo¹, Camila de Castro Corrêa², Claudia Giglio de Oliveira Gonçalves³, Jordana Batista Correia Baran³, Jair Mendes Marques³, Bianca Simone Zeigelboim³, Maria Renata José³

Affiliations

¹ Graduação em Fonoaudiologia, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
² Curso de Fonoaudiologia, Centro Universitário Planalto do Distrito Federal, Brasília, DF, Brazil.
³ Programa de Pós-Graduação em Distúrbios da Comunicação, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.

Abstract

Introduction Tinnitus is a conscious perception of a sound resulting from abnormal activity within the nervous system. A relevant percentage of tinnitus patients report symptoms severe enough to significantly affect quality of life, including sleep disorders. Objective To analyze the sleep quality, insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in participants with tinnitus. Methods The sample comprised 18 adults and older adults aged between 18 and 85 years old (mean age = 58.7 ± 17.5 years old), females and males, with complaint of continuous tinnitus for > 1 month. The instruments used were the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) questionnaire, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and the STOP-Bang questionnaire. Results By means of the THI questionnaire, the tinnitus severity degree reported by most participants was mild (27.8%) and moderate (27.8%), having a positive (r = 0.582) and significant (0.011) correlation to sleep quality, measured by means of the Pittsburgh questionnaire. There was a positive correlation between the Insomnia Severity Index and tinnitus handicap (r = 0.499; p = 0.035). A total of 72.2% of the participants self-assessed their sleep quality as poor, in addition to moderate insomnia (27.8%), although there is low risk of OSA (66.7%), without complaints of excessive daytime sleepiness (72.2%). Conclusion Subjects with tinnitus complaint self-rated their sleep quality as poor. Moreover, the higher the reported tinnitus handicap, the greater the symptoms of insomnia. There was no influence of tinnitus in relation to daytime sleepiness and no relationship between the severity of tinnitus and the risk of OSA.

Keywords: disorders of excessive somnolence; hearing; sleep; sleep initiation and maintenance disorders; speech-language pathology; tinnitus.

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Grants and funding

Funding The present work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES, in the Portuguese acronym)] under the grant number 001.