Psychoacoustic characteristics of tinnitus in temporomandibular disorders: a systematic review.
Taís de Azevedo Picinini, Ingrid Eismann Moraes, Karen Dantur Batista Chaves and 3 others
Tinnitus in TMD patients is typically high-pitched, continuous, and matches the affected side.
Half could change it with jaw or neck movements. Even with normal hearing, Fifty percent showed absent otoacoustic emissions, so audiological monitoring is warranted.
Key findings
1Tinnitus in TMD patients is typically high-pitched and continuous, and in one study matched the TMD-affected side in 52 of 53 patients (98%).
2Half of TMD patients reported they could modulate tinnitus through jaw or neck movements, compared with only 21% of patients without TMD (p = 0.001).
3Fifty percent of participants in one study showed absent otoacoustic emissions despite normal conventional audiometry, and mean THI scores indicated moderate impact on quality of life (37.8 points in one study, 25 in another).
Still to come
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only five small studies were included, with samples of 19 to 61 participants; two of the five were rated moderate-to-high risk of bias for inadequate sample size and poor description of participants and setting. The studies used different diagnostic criteria for TMD, different acuphenometry procedures, and different tinnitus questionnaires, limiting comparability. Only one of the five studies performed high-frequency audiometry, so the relationship between cochlear integrity and tinnitus characteristics is poorly characterised. The authors note that other conditions (hidden hearing loss, noise-induced hearing loss) can produce a similar high-pitched tinnitus profile, so a unique TMD-specific tinnitus subtype cannot be confirmed from these data. All included studies were cross-sectional or case-control; none was longitudinal, so causality between TMD and tinnitus cannot be established.
Declared interests
The authors declared no financial support and no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that treating TMD will resolve tinnitus — the review is descriptive, based on five small studies (samples of 19 to 61), and the authors themselves note that noise-induced hearing loss and hidden hearing loss produce a similar high-pitched profile, so a unique TMD tinnitus subtype cannot be confirmed from these data.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →