Tinnitus self-perception and hearing health: health care strategy for older adults

Introduction: Otological symptom, in which the individual has a perception of sound in the absence of an external sound stimulus. Objective: Verify the self-perception of tinnitus in older adults undergoing auditory rehabilitation. Methods: A cross-sectional study with data analysis of 654 older adults treated at the initial assessment in the Outpatient Hearing Health Service of Santa Catarina between July and December 2022. Identification and auditory data were analyzed, and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and Visual Analog Scale questionnaires were applied. Results: 38.54% of older adults reported tinnitus. Most older adults reported perceiving a negligible impact (39.1%), and 11.0% reported a catastrophic impact. Tinnitus discomfort obtained an average grade of 6 on the Visual Analog Scale, with 19.5% of older adults assigning a grade of 10 to the discomfort. There was no statistical association between the average degree of hearing loss in the better ear and tinnitus and between the average degree of hearing loss in the better ear and the average total score obtained in the THI. Conclusion: The need for improvements in the hearing health service is evident, emphasizing services that have applicability focused on a high degree of impact on quality of life. The research was approved by the Ethics Committee on Research in Human Beings of UFSC (CEPSH - UFSC) under the opinion nº 4,816,425.