AUDIOLOGY Tinnitus

- Glossary

Definitions:

▪️ Tinnitus: Tinnitus involves the percept of a sound or sounds in the ear or head without an external source.

▪️ Pulsatile tinnitus: a sound in the ear or head without an external source, that is perceived as pulses. It is either vascular (synchronous with the heartbeat) and non-vascular. Vascular causes can be subcategorized into arterial or venous.

▪️ Subjective Tinnitus: Tinnitus heard by the patient only.

▪️ Objective Tinnitus: Tinnitus heard by the patient and the examiner.

▪️ Acute Tinnitus: Tinnitus of < 3 months duration.

▪️ Sub-acute Tinnitus: Tinnitus from 3-6 months duration.

▪️ Chronic Tinnitus: Tinnitus of >6months duration.

▪️ Habituation: a decreased response to a stimulus on repetitive stimulation.

▪️ Hyperacusis: oversensitivity to sounds, moderate level sounds perceived as loud, sounds others perceive as normal seem uncomfortably — and often unbearably loud. It’s also described as decreased sound tolerance or intolerance to loud sounds.