Abstract:

Objective   To investigate the clinical characteristics of tinnitus and the relationship between inner ear micro-circulation and tinnitus by examining tinnitus pitch-matching, loudnessin-matching, Feldmann masking curves and high stimulus rat ABR in  tinnitus patients with normal hearing.  Methods   162 patients  with normal hearing and 140 tinnitus patients were enrolled. Tinnitus measurements consisted of pitch-matching, loudnessin-matching, Feldmann masking curves, and high stimulus rat auditory brainstem response (ABR). Results   The tinnitus pitch-matched frequencies of tinnitus patients with normal hearing ranged from 125Hz to 8000Hz，in which 57.3% of them located between 3000Hz~8000Hz. The tinnitus loudness-matched frequencies ranged form 0dB to 2 0dB， in which 45.6% of them were 5～10dB. There was no difference in Ⅰ～Ⅴ interval between the tinnitus ears and normal ears.  Conclusion   The clinical characterisitics of 162 tinnitus patients with normal hearing were identified in order to facilitate the further management. The relationship between the inner ear micro-circulation and tinnitus could not be attributed to the tinnitus in  patients with normal hearing.

Key words: Tinnitus； TinniTestTM； Auditory brainstem responses； High frequency stimulus