Associations Between Subjective Tinnitus and Cognitive Performance: Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses.
Nathan A Clarke, Helen Henshaw, Michael A Akeroyd and 2 others
PMID 32436477WHAT IT FOUND
People with more severe tinnitus scored worse on cognitive tests, especially for shifting attention and processing speed.
However, hearing loss and depression likely explain some of this gap. These factors must be controlled before blaming tinnitus for cognitive decline.
Key findings
01Higher tinnitus severity was associated with slower response times and more errors in executive function and processing speed tasks.
02The association between tinnitus and short-term memory performance was likely confounded by hearing loss, as studies measuring hearing thresholds showed different results.
03Some findings for processing speed were confounded by depression, as studies that measured depression showed a significant moderator effect.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
High heterogeneity was present across many models, meaning studies varied widely in how they measured tinnitus and cognition. Many included studies were underpowered and did not report a priori power calculations. Confounding variables like hearing loss, depression, and anxiety were not consistently measured or reported across all studies, making it difficult to isolate the effect of tinnitus. Some significant findings, such as those for self-reported cognition and certain executive function errors, were driven by single influential studies and did not remain significant when those studies were removed. The review could not determine causality; it only identified associations.
Declared interests
The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Extramural) and non-U.S. government sources. No commercial conflicts of interest were declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that cognitive deficits in tinnitus patients are caused by the tinnitus alone. Hearing loss and depression are significant confounders that may explain the observed associations, and the evidence does not prove that tinnitus causes cognitive decline.