PURPOSE: to analyze life quality in patients that suffer from tinnitus; to check the relation between degree of tinnitus' annoyance and presence of concomitant hearing loss. METHOD: transversal observational study, , with convenience sample. Anamneses were applied focusing tinnitus symptom over 22 patients. In order to analyze data we used Fisher's Exact Test within a 5% significance level. RESULTS: 31.8% of the sample had tinnitus concomitant with normal hearing bilaterally; 68.2% had tinnitus concomitant with some type of hearing loss in one or both ears. In this case, 12 patients showed sensorioneural hearing loss and 03 patients had mixed loss. As for the degree of annoyance referred from tinnitus symptom, using the visual analog scale, 17 (77.27%) patients reported intense discomfort, whereas 5 (22.72%) reported restricted discomfort. Regarding tinnitus' interference in the quality of life, it was possible to note that tinnitus impacts most in patients' emotions and sleep. CONCLUSIONS: from 22 patients referred to take PEATE's exam, 70% of the survey had hearing loss concomitant with tinnitus. However, the relation between tinnitus and hearing loss was not evidenced. We neither found any relation between degree of hearing loss and annoyance.
Tinnitus; Hearing Loss; Quality of Life; Audiology
