Simultaneous hearing problems: health conditions in tinnitus, sound sensitivity and both diagnoses

Sammanfattning: Little research has been conducted on simultaneous hearing problems. The aim of this study was to investigate health conditions (stress, sleep quality, depression, anxiety, and burnout) in individuals with 1) tinnitus, 2) sound sensitivity, and 3) both tinnitus and sound sensitivity, compared to a reference group without these diagnoses. Data from a Swedish population-based sample, stratified for age and gender, was collected through a mail survey. The participation rate was 40 %, and 3406 individuals participated. The results showed that the sample with sound sensitivity was in poorest health condition, raising the notion of different underlying mechanisms of the sound sensitivity in the samples with sound sensitivity versus double diagnoses. More research is needed to further explore the effects of living with simultaneous hearing problems, and subgroups within the phenomena of sensitivity to sound.