Personality trait and tinnitus habituation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Personality trait and tinnitus habituation
IRAS ID
196929
Contact name
Kai Uus
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 22 days
Research summary
Tinnitus is a noise that is heard in the ear(s) or head without the presence of an external sound. This can have an impact on someone’s social and emotional health causing a negative impact on their quality of life. One of the ways tinnitus sufferers can try and habituate to their tinnitus is through the use of a noise generator. The noise generator will mask their tinnitus by playing a background noise into their ear, at a level set just below to their tinnitus, so the brain can learn to ignore the tinnitus sound. There is no gold standard way for measuring tinnitus habituation however, outcome measures such as the tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) questionnaire can be used to assess patients’ tinnitus severity before and after an intervention.
Researches have shown that individual factors such as stress, anxiety and depression can make patients more aware of their tinnitus. This then causes them increased distress thus causing a vicious cycle. Although we think that personality type may affect how people habituate to tinnitus, currently there is lack of evidence so we do not know for certain.
This study’s aims are:
1. To investigate whether personality trait has an influence on tinnitus sufferers’ ability to adapt to a tinnitus sound. This can be through learning to ignore it or by teaching the brain that the tinnitus sound is not important through the use of noise generators.
2. To investigate if tinnitus sufferers’ personality trait is stable after habituation.
A total of 33 participants above the age of 18 with tinnitus will be recruited for the study. The participants are targeted based on the fact that they are referred for noise generator fitting as part of their routine care. Therefore prior to getting the noise generator, all of the participants would have had an ear examination, hearing test, completed the THI questionnaire and attended a tinnitus counselling session.
Once the participants have given their consent, they will be fitted with a noise generator and will be asked to complete a personality trait questionnaire. Based on their score from the personality trait questionnaire, the participants will be grouped in one of the following groups (Extraversion, Neuroticism or Psychotism). The participants will then be followed up at one and three months post their noise generator fitting where they will be asked to re-complete the personality trait questionnaire and/or the THI questionnaire.THI score changes pre- and post-1 month and pre- and post-3 month’s use of the noise generator(s)/combination device will be calculated for each group to investigate if personality trait has any influence on tinnitus habituation.
Personality trait changes before and after the noise generator(s) fitting will be calculated and compared between the three groups to investigate if personality trait is stable in tinnitus sufferers and if not to determine which group was the least stable.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1698
Date of REC Opinion
19 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion