The positive side of living with tinnitus: a cross-sectional study.
Jeremy Loughlin, Vedas Das, Vinaya Manchaiah and 3 others
PMID 37004170WHAT IT FOUND
Over one-third of US adults with chronic tinnitus reported positive experiences, mostly changes in outlook and personal development.
Younger age and less hearing disability predicted these reports. Positive thinking did not correlate with reduced depression, anxiety, or insomnia, suggesting it does not protect against the condition's psychological burden.
Key findings
01164 of 439 participants (37.4%) reported at least one positive experience related to their tinnitus.
02The most common category of positive experience was 'Outlook' (47.9%), followed by 'Personal Development' and 'Treatment-related' (both 14.5%).
03There were no significant differences in depression, anxiety, insomnia, or quality of life scores between those who reported positive experiences and those who did not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used a voluntary sample from the public and specific clinics, which may introduce sampling bias towards individuals with higher health literacy or more severe tinnitus. The cross-sectional design prevents any conclusions about causality or whether positive thinking leads to better outcomes. The use of an open-ended question may have limited the detection of subtle positive experiences compared to a structured checklist. The Tinnitus Cognitions Questionnaire total score was used rather than its positive and negative subscales, potentially missing nuanced differences in cognitive processing between groups.
Declared interests
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that patients who report positive experiences or outlooks are experiencing less distress, depression, or anxiety. The study found no significant difference in these clinical scores between those who reported positive experiences and those who did not, meaning positive thinking did not protect against the psychological burden of tinnitus in this sample.