Correlation of the Complaint of Tinnitus with Central Auditory Testing

Extract

A patient presenting a chief complaint of tinnitus poses an interesting problem to the clinician. Since tinnitus is a symptom and not a disease, our job as diagnosticians is to determine if the tinnitus is associated with hearing loss and to screen for retrocochlear involvement. At Temple Hospital, a patient with tinnitus is examined like any other patient. A thorough history is taken and a complete audiologic and otologic evaluation is done. Patients are then referred for brain-stem-evoked response audiometry (BSERA) according to the protocol shown in Table I. Patients are referred if they have unilateral hearing loss, unilateral or bilateral tinnitus, tinnitus uncorre- lated with hearing loss, vestibular complaints, asymmetric hearing loss, and progressive hearing loss. In addition, screening X-rays and/or blood tests might be ordered. Plesiotomograms of the temporal bone are taken to screen for the presence of a space-occupying lesion in or around the internal auditory meatus.