A National Cohort Study of Tinnitus and Hearing Loss in the Million Veteran Program.

Summary

Retrospective cross-sectional analysis of audiometric and self-reported health data from 267,395 U.S. veterans in the Million Veteran Program. 86% had hearing loss and 47% reported tinnitus. Veterans with tinnitus were younger for a given degree of hearing loss, and showed slightly poorer word recognition after accounting for age. Tinnitus prevalence was higher among veterans with traumatic brain injury/concussion, anxiety, or depression. Compared with an age-matched civilian clinical cohort, veterans showed earlier and steeper hearing loss, especially at 4 kHz.

Key findings

• 47% of 267,395 studied veterans reported tinnitus; 86% had measurable hearing loss.
• Veterans with tinnitus were younger for a given hearing-loss severity than veterans without tinnitus.
• Tinnitus prevalence was higher among veterans with traumatic brain injury/concussion, anxiety, or depression.
• Veterans showed earlier, steeper high-frequency hearing loss (especially at 4 kHz) than an age-matched civilian cohort.