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Longitudinal Follow-up of Tinnitus Complaints
Gerhard Andersson, PhD;
Pernilla Vretblad, MSc;
Hans C. Larsen, MD;
Leif Lyttkens, MD
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2001;127:175-179.
Objective To investigate the long-term outcome of patients with tinnitus, the
long-term effects of cognitive behavioral therapy, and what properties of
tinnitus predict distress at follow-up.
Design A longitudinal follow-up of a consecutive sample of patients with tinnitus
initially seen by a clinical psychologist.
Setting Department of Audiology, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
Participants A consecutive series of 189 patients with tinnitus treated between January
1988 and March 1995 were sent a postal questionnaire booklet. One hundred
forty-six (77 women and 69 men) provided usable responses, in all yielding
a 77% response rate.
Main Outcome Measures A questionnaire was derived from a structured interview "Questions About
Your Tinnitus." Also included were the Tinnitus Reaction Questionnaire and
tinnitus-matching data.
Results Questionnaire data showed that many patients with tinnitus still experienced
distress an average of 4.9 years after admission. Tolerance of tinnitus increased
over time overall. For patients who had received cognitive behavioral therapy
(59%), there was a reduction in tinnitus-related distress. Further, an open-ended
question showed that the benefits from treatment outnumbered the deficits.
Multiple regression analysis showed that tinnitus maskability at admission
was a significant predictor of distress at follow-up.
Conclusions Severe tinnitus shows some signs of improvement over time, especially
when psychological treatment has been given. Tinnitus maskability is an important
prognostic factor of future tinnitus annoyance.
From the Department of Audiology (Drs Andersson, Larsen, and Lyttkens),
University Hospital, and the Department of Psychology, Uppsala University
(Dr Andersson and Mrs Vretblad), Uppsala, Sweden.
Corresponding author: Gerhard Andersson, PhD, Department of Psychology,
Uppsala University, Box 1225, SE-751 42 Uppsala, Sweden (e-mail:
Gerhard.Andersson{at}psyk.uu.se).
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