Question used to identify troublesome tinnitus and prevalence reported
| Key word | Question | Prevalence (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Bothersome | ‘Whether or not it bothered them.’31 | 23.8 |
| ‘Whether or not it bothered them.’4 | 33.3 | |
| ‘Nowadays do you hear noises in your head or ears?’‘ 1.e Bothersome: yes_ no_’43 | 39 | |
| ‘Does it bother or annoy you?’44 | 44.7 | |
| ‘Do you hear any noise in your ear or in your head without any known cause?’ ‘1.e Bothersome: yes_ no_’46 The article did not mention the result of question 1.e, but reported that 13.2% complained of tinnitus all the time | 13.2 | |
| ‘They asked if the child was bothered (always, seldom, little, very).’45 | 12.0 | |
| Worried | And they asked if the child were ‘worried (slight, sometimes, more severely)’.45 | 4.8 |
| ‘Does the noise worry you not at all/slightly/all the time?’11 | 11 | |
| ‘It was difficult to decide how to judge the severity of the tinnitus, particularly when it was not present all the time; the simplest question to ask seemed to be how much the tinnitus bothered each child.’ (severely worried/sometimes worried/slightly worried/not worried)37 | 13 | |
| ‘Does the tinnitus worry you?’ (not at all/slightly/very much)38 | 22 | |
| ‘How often have you been worried about peeps or buzzing ears for 24 hours or longer after attending concerts, discotheques, etc?’33 (always/often/relatively often/seldom/never) | 30.8 | |
| Uncomfortable | ‘Are you uncomfortable because of these sounds?’50 (no/a little annoying/very annoying”) | 0.6 |
| Problem | ‘How much of a problem is this ringing, roaring or buzzing in your ears or head?’49 (no problem/a small problem/moderate problem/a big problem) | 1.7 |
| Severe | ‘How severe is this noise in daily life?’51 (not annoying/annoying (irritating)/severely annoying and causes sleep problem) | 15.7 |
| Concerned | Question for severity not stated, but eight reported they were occasionally concerned.40 | 33.3 |
| Troublesome | ‘Is tinnitus troublesome for you?’42 (no/sometimes/often) (The article did not mention the results of the question, only the prevalence number with a remark that its includes the positive responses of ‘sometimes’ and ‘often’) | 49.2 |
| Each child (accompanied by their parent) was asked about whether they had ever perceived tinnitus-like sounds (…); and any impact these sounds had on their quality of life.35 | 20 |