Study on the Acceptable Noise Level (ANL) in Patients
with Tinnitus and Hearing Loss and Association with
Self-reported Subjective Questionnaire

Yeon, Ji In; Byun, Jae Yong; Park, Moon Suh; Lee, Jae Hee

doi:2015.11.2.120

Audiol > Volume 11(2); 2015 > Article

Research Paper

Audiology 2015;11(2): 120-128.
Published online: April 30, 2015.
doi: http://doi.org/10.21848/audiol.2015.11.2.120

이명난청환자의 수용소음레벨과 자가보고 설문결과와의 관련성에 관한 연구

연지인^1,2, 변재용¹, 박문서¹, 이재희²

¹강동경희대학교병원 이비인후과
²한림국제대학원대학교 청각학과

Study on the Acceptable Noise Level (ANL) in Patients with Tinnitus and Hearing Loss and Association with Self-reported Subjective Questionnaire

Ji In Yeon^1,2, Jae Yong Byun¹, Moon Suh Park¹, Jae Hee Lee²

¹Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Seoul
²Department of Audiology, Hallym University of Graduate Studies, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence

Jae Hee Lee ,Tel: (02) 2051-4952, Fax: (02) 3453-6618, Email: leejaehee@hallym.ac.kr

Received: March 27, 2015; Revised: April 17, 2015 Accepted: April 20, 2015. Published online: April 30, 2015.

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to identify whether subjects with tinnitus and hearing loss would tolerate noise poorly than subjects only with hearing loss. This study also evaluated whether the acceptable noise level (ANL) of listeners with tinnitus would be associated with results of self-reported subjective questionnaire. An experimental group (12 subjects with tinnitus and hearing loss) was compared to non-tinnitus control group (11 subjects with hearing loss), whose audiometric thresholds were statistically similar between two groups. Individual ANLs were measured across five types of background noise (1-male, 1-female, 2-talker, 4-talker, and 8-talker maskers). The self-reported subjective questionnaire evaluated individual subjective handicap of tinnitus and relevant depression. Results showed that the experimental group had relatively more annoyance from noise (higher ANLs) compared to control group, regardless of the type of background noise. From the results of subjective questionnaires, we found that listeners who reported more handicap of tinnitus had less tolerance of background noise (higher ANLs). In conclusion, tinnitus may affect subjective capacity to accept background noise while following a target story, and it can be related with subjective handicap from tinnitus.

Key Words: Acceptable Noise Level (ANL), Tinnitus, Background noise

중심단어: 수용소음레벨, 이명, 배경소음