The Loudness of Tinnitus

Abstract

Although tinnitus causes considerable suffering to many patients, its loudness is small in most cases. Traditionally the loudness is measured with a binaural loudness balance procedure. It is stated that when there is recruitment in the ear to which the test tone is presented, the intensity of the test tone is smaller than its loudness. Therefore in the case of recruitment in the ear to which the test tone is presented, the loudness of tinnitus will be underestimated. In this study the loudness in a group with recruitment in the ear to which the test tone was presented was compared with the loudness in a group with a normal ear to which the test tone was presented. The present results show that although recruitment does have a certain effect, it is very small.

Key Words:

• tinnitus
• measurements
• recruitment