Sleep complaints in elderly tinnitus patients: a controlled study.

OBJECTIVES Sleep difficulties are among the most frequent complaints associated with tinnitus. Yet most studies reporting on this problem are rather succinct, and all of them lack proper age- and health-matched control subjects. DESIGN The present study reports on 102 participants (51 with and 51 without tinnitus), assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Beck-II depression inventory, a hyperacusis questionnaire, and a tinnitus-reaction questionnaire (tinnitus group only). Participants were matched for health and relevant socioeconomic factors. RESULTS Results show that tinnitus patients have greater self-reported sleep difficulties compared with control subjects, specifically sleep efficiency and sleep quality, and that high tinnitus-related distress is associated with greater sleep disturbance. CONCLUSIONS Rather than hearing loss, sleep complaints in this population are mainly explained by hyperacusis, a hallmark of tinnitus, and to a lesser extent by subclinical depressive symptoms.