Shiraz E-Med J. 2015 June; 16(6): e25817.

Research Article

Published online 2015 June 23.

The Effect of Tympanoplasty on Tinnitus in Patients With Chronic Otitis

Media
1

Mahmood Shishegar ; Reyhane Zaer Rezaii

1,*

1Department of Otolaryngology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran

*Corresponding Author: Reyhane Zaer Rezaii, Department of Otolaryngology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran. Tel: +98-7116291478, Fax: +98-7116291478,
E-mail: [email protected]

Received: December 11, 2014; Revised: May 7, 2015; Accepted: May 14, 2015

Background: Tinnitus is defined as sensation of sound without any external sources, caused by defects in peripheral auditory system.
Associated with hearing loss, tinnitus is produced due to changes in central nervous system in response to peripheral pathology.
Objectives: Therefore, tinnitus can be totally or partially eliminated if the peripheral lesion and the consequent hearing loss are recovered
by tympanoplasty.
Patients and Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on 28 patients with chronic otitis media and tinnitus who opted for tympanoplasty.
Pure tone audiometry, pitch match test, and loudness balance test were performed for the patients before and three months after the
operation.
Results: Postoperation tests demonstrated tinnitus elimination in 22 cases (78.5%) along with partial improvement in tinnitus intensity in
five cases (17.8%). The difference between preoperative and postoperative tests was statistically significant (P = 0.023). Graft success rate was
96.4% and hearing improvement was seen in 85.7%.
Conclusions: This study offered tympanoplasty as an effective procedure to control tinnitus in patients with chronic otitis media and
revealed its positive effects on hearing improvement.
Keywords: Chronic Otitis Media; Hearing Loss; Tinnitus; Tympanoplasty

1. Background

Tinnitus is defined as sensation of sound without any

external sources. This definition accepted by many otologist classifies tinnitus into two categories: objective and
subjective. Objective tinnitus is caused by an internal
sound that activates cochlea from air or bone conduction
and can be heard by the observer, but subjective tinnitus is
heard only by the patient and has no internal sources (1).
There are many reasons that neural plasticity plays a
main role in producing chronic tinnitus. Neural plasticity can change the balance between excitation and
inhibition in nervous system causing sound perception
as tinnitus (2). Currently, it is believed that lesions in peripheral auditory system, such as tympanic membrane,
or in the middle ear can make some changes in central
auditory centers leading to tinnitus. If the peripheral lesion is resolved, the tinnitus can be totally or partially
eliminated (3).
Etiologic factors of tinnitus can adversely affect the
auditory input in auditory centers. Auditory pathway
hyperactivity, re-routing of auditory information and
reorganization of neural elements may contribute to
development of tinnitus. In the patients with tinnitus,
restoration of hearing and increase in external sound
perception can decrease tinnitus perception and because

hearing restoration is possible through surgery, this procedure may be effective in decreasing the severity of tinnitus (4).
Tympanoplasty can help keeping a disease-free, safe,
and dry ear, improve hearing levels, and reduce lifethreatening complications (3).

2. Objectives

Up to now, few studies have subjectively evaluated

the effect of tymapnoplasty on tinnitus in the patients
with chronic otitis media (COM). Nevertheless, most of
these studies had a retrospective design. Thus, the present prospective study aimed to evaluate the potential
changes in tinnitus severity after tympanoplasty in the
patients with COM.

3. Patients and Methods

This study was performed on 28 of the 265 patients with

COM and tinnitus who opted for tympanoplasty. The patients were examined preoperatively as well as one and
three months after the operation. Audiometric evaluations including pure tone audiometry (PTA), and a number of tinnitus tests, including pitch match test (PMT),

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Shishegar M et al.
and loudness balance test (LBT) were performed for all
the patients before and three months after the operation.
The audiometric evaluations were based on 0.5, 1, 2, and
4 kHz frequencies and preoperative and postoperative results were compared.
All the patients underwent tympanoplasty through
posterior auricular approach by the same surgeon under general anesthesia. The technique for graft placement was underlay technique and temporalis fascia
was used as the graft material. The study protocol was
approved by the Ethics Committee of our University Faculty of Medicine.
The inclusion criteria of the study were COM with otorrhea-free for three months (dry ear) and bone conduction of better than 20 dB in audiometry. On the other
hand, the patients who presented with systemic disease,
history of trauma, history of ear or brain surgery, active
middle ear infection with or without cholesteatoma,
and need for mastoidectomy or canaloplasty (drilling)
were excluded from the study. All the patients signed
written informed consents to participate in the study
and completed the demographic information questionnaires.

3.1. Statistical Analysis

The statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS

18.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois, the United States). Pairedsamples t test and Wilcoxon test were used for analysis. In
addition, P values < 0.05 were considered as statistically
significant.

4. Results
The present study included 28 patients, six males (21.4%)
and 22 females (78.6%), with the mean age of 36.6 11.5

years (range, 23 - 63 years). All these patients had COM, tinnitus, and dry ear for three months. According to the preoperative microscopic examinations, the patients were
categorized into three groups in terms of site and size of
perforation: central perforation, eight patients (46.4%);
marginal perforation, seven patients (25%); and subtotal
tympanic perforation, eight patients (28.6%). In addition,
three patients (10.7%) were detected with plaques.
The patients were followed for three months. According
to the results, the hearing parameters (SRT and air-bone
gaps [ABG]) were improved in 24 patients (85.7%), ended
up with an ABG of 10 dB, but remained unchanged in
four patients (14.3%) during the third month of the operation. There was a significant ABG improvement in the
postoperative at third month after the operation (15.53
dB HL (Hearing Level), P < 0.05) in relation to the preoperative time (28.23 dB HL).
During the first postoperative month, tinnitus was totally eliminated in nine patients (32.1%) with an ABG of
10 dB, was partially improved in 12 (42.9%) with an ABG of
11 to 20 dB, and remained unchanged in 7 (25%). Noticeably, no one presented with postoperative increase in tinnitus intensity.
Furthermore, follow-up examinations in the third
postoperative month indicated total elimination of tinnitus in 22 patients (78.6%) along with partial and lack of
improvement in 5 (17.9%) and 1 (3.5%) cases, respectively.
Similar to the results obtained during the first month, no
cases of tinnitus deterioration was observed. These data
were documented with LBT (Table 1). Tinnitus improvement was statistically significant with P < 0.05.
Graft success was achieved in 27 cases (96.4%). The means
of preoperative and postoperative PMT were respectively
3000 and 1000 Hz, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05) (Table 2).

Table 1. Preoperative and Postoperative Intensity of Tinnitus in Loudness Balance Test a

Intensity, dB

Preoperative
Postoperative

6 (21.4)

12 (42.8)

3 (10.7)

6 (21.4)

1 (3.5)

5 (17.8)

1 (3.5)

a Data are presented as No. (%).

Table 2. Preoperative and Postoperative Frequency of Tinnitus in Pitch Match Test a

Frequency, Hz

Preoperative
Postoperative

125

250

500

1000

1500

2000

4000

6000

8000

2 (7)

6 (21.4)

3 (10.7)

3 (10.7)

3 (10.7)

1 (3.5)

10 (35.7)

3 (10.7)

1 (3.5)

2 (7)

a Data are presented as No. (%).

Shiraz E-Med J. 2015;16(6):e25817

Shishegar M et al.

5. Discussion
Tinnitus develops due to defects in auditory system,
mostly with peripheral origin. Tinnitus is a common
problem in the patients with COM (4). Graft uptake and
improvement in hearing results after tympanoplasty can
determine the success of treatment (5).
Up to now, several studies have investigated postoperative patients satisfaction for evaluation of the success of
tympanoplasty. Faramarzi et al. (6) reported improved
air conduction threshold and ABG in 500 to 3000 Hz frequency following the labyrinthine fistula surgery.
Erkorkmaz et al. (7) used a visual analog scale (VAS)
ranging from 0 (unsatisfied) to 10 (satisfied) to determine the factors affecting patients satisfaction following
tympanoplasty. They showed that VAS score was significantly higher in the patients whose grafts were successfully healed compared to those with unhealed grafts (P
< 0.001), in the patients whose tinnitus had decreased or
disappeared (P = 0.001), and in the patients whose otorrhea had completely disappeared (P = 0.008). In other
words, healing of the tympanic membrane, relief of tinnitus, hearing improvement, and relief from otorrhea
were highly correlated with patients satisfaction (7).
In the current study, the most of the patients (78.5%)
showed total elimination of tinnitus at the postoperative month follow-up, while 17.8% manifested partial
improvement of their tinnitus intensity (P < 0.05). However, in the study conducted by Lima et al. (3), only 34.8%
of the cases showed total elimination of tinnitus during six-month follow-up, while the majority of the cases
(47.6%) presented with partial improvement leading to
total or partial improvement rate of 82.6% during the
entire study. In an earlier report made by Baba et al. (8),
66.2% of the cases had tinnitus improvement, while 7.9%
showed deterioration of tinnitus. This was markedly different from the results of our study as no deterioration
of tinnitus was observed in our cases postoperatively.
Two further reports were also made by two different research groups in 2011. In one of the reports, Kim et al. (4)
observed improvement in 82% of the patients tinnitus
handicap inventory (THI), whereas the other report made
by Lima et al. (3) revealed lower improvement rate of 69%
(partial improvement, 43%; and total improvement, 26%)
with no changes in the tinnitus level of 31% of the cases.
Although our study showed a higher success rate in tinnitus improvement in comparison to the study performed
by Kim et al. (4), both studies reported no worsening of
tinnitus in their postoperative follow-up.
The exact mechanism of tinnitus in the patients with
COM is still unknown. However, elimination of tinnitus in
previous studies as well as our study developed following
to improvement in middle ear conductive mechanism after tympanoplasty and graft success. Since tympanoplasty
leads to hearing improvement in COM, this effect can probably help eliminate tinnitus. Furthermore, the diagnostic
methods such as computed tomography are helpful in (9).
Shiraz E-Med J. 2015;16(6):e25817

In the present study, graft success rate was 96.4%. This

rate was reported as 72%, 78%, 94%, and 95% in the studies
by Olusesi et al. (10), Lima et al. (3), Shetty (11), and Lima et
al. (12), respectively.
In the current study, we had only one graft failure that
led to no postoperative tinnitus or hearing improvement
and our high rate of tinnitus improvement in a threemonth follow-up (96.4%) was supposed to be due to high
rate of graft success and hearing restoration. Yet, followup studies with longer durations may be necessary to
support the long-term efficacy of tympanoplasty for tinnitus elimination.
In conclusion, our short-term follow-up study demonstrated that tympanoplasty offers good control for tinnitus in the patients with COM and it has positive effects on
hearing improvement.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Sajjad Dehghani for

improving the English language usage in the manuscript.

Authors Contributions

Reyhane Zaer Rezaii conducted the literature review,

wrote and edited the first draft, and was involved in data
acquisition and analysis. Mahmood Shishegar designed
the study, was involved in data acquisition and analysis,
and was supervisor and responsible for the quality assurance and control.

Financial Disclosure

We, Mahmood Shishegar, as the first author, Reyhane

ZaerRezaii, as the second author and corresponding author, declared no conflict of interests. We also conformed
to the Helsinki Declaration concerning human rights
and informed consent of 1975, revised in 2000. It should
be mentioned that all procedures were followed in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethics Committee
on human experimentation of Shiraz University of Medical Science, Shiraz, Iran.

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