Developing an assessment approach for perceptual changes to tinnitus sound characteristics for adult cochlear implant recipients.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the impact of cochlear implantation on tinnitus suppression, characteristics, localization, and duration.


DESIGN
A cochlear implant (CI) recipient-focused postal questionnaire survey.


STUDY SAMPLE
The questionnaire was posted, with consent, to 100 adults who had received a unilateral CI at the RNTNEH between 1988 and 1999. All adults spoke English as their first language and were postlingually deafened. Sixty-eight adults (38 female, 29 male, one unspecified) aged 31-80 years (mean 61 years) completed and returned the questionnaire without interview.


RESULTS
With the processor 'ON', CI recipients experienced total or partial suppression of tinnitus ipsilateral to their CI in 57% of cases, and in 43% where tinnitus was perceived contralateral to the CI. The percentage of CI recipients who experienced high tone tinnitus was reduced from 60% pre-implant to 29% post-implant with the processor 'ON' while pulsatile tinnitus was reduced from 38% pre-implant to 13% post-implant. CIs were also found to reduce the tonal complexity and duration, and change the source localization of tinnitus post-implantation.


CONCLUSIONS
Perceptual changes to tinnitus can take place post-implantation. Changes can occur within the four categories explored: tinnitus suppression, characteristics, localization, and duration of awareness per day.
['Greenberg|David|D|', 'Meerton|Leah|L|', 'Graham|John|J|', 'Vickers|Deborah|D|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D001299:Audiometry D001307:Auditory Perception D001309:Auditory Threshold D001364:Awareness D019929:Cochlear Implantation D003054:Cochlear Implants D003638:Deafness D004185:Disability Evaluation D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D010470:Perceptual Masking D019986:Persons With Hearing Impairments D011474:Prosthesis Design D012189:Retrospective Studies D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D013997:Time Factors D014012:Tinnitus D016896:Treatment Outcome
cochlear implants Tinnitus-characteristics tinnitus-localization tinnitus-suppression