Evaluation of Audiological Characteristics of Patients with Tinnitus Referring to Otolaryngology Clinics of Babol

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Tinnitus is a common symptom associated with hearing loss and its related disorders. Awareness of audiological features is of paramount importance for effective management of tinnitus. This study aimed to evaluate audiological characteristics of tinnitus in patients referring to otolaryngology clinics of Babol, Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 120 patients with tinnitus (47 male, 73 female) with mean age of 47.12±15.285 years referring to otolaryngology clinics of Babol, Iran. Patients were examined via pure tone audiometry at frequency of 250-8000 Hz to determine the location and type of tinnitus. FINDINGS: In this study, 104 patients (88.7%) had hearing loss, 103 patients had tonal tinnitus with dizziness, 17 patients had loud tinnitus with no dizziness, 45 cases (37.5%) had bilateral tinnitus, 75 patients (62.5%) had unilateral tinnitus, and 17 patients had family history of tinnitus. Among female patients, two cases (1.7%) experienced tinnitus during pregnancy, while in four patients (3.3%), it was reported immediately after pregnancy. CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss has a higher prevalence among patients with tinnitus.