Principles of diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus

Abstract

Tinnitus is one of the most common otological symptoms and can be defined as the conscious perception of sound lasting more than 5 minutes in the absence of an external auditory stimulus. Based on the review of articles, a comparative analysis of modern methods of diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus was carried out in order to substantiate the most effective and promising algorithms for providing care to patients. Diagnosis of tinnitus includes taking anamnesis, assessing the severity of tinnitus using questionnaires, otoscopy, hearing examination, and performing additional tests. In case of secondary murmur, etiotropic therapy should be started as soon as possible to prevent hearing loss and other complications. For primary noise, the most effective treatments are cognitive-behavioral therapy, tinnitus maskers and sound therapy, transcutaneous electrical stimulation, and biofeedback. Magnetic stimulation, invasive neuromodulation, drug therapy have a lower level of effectiveness and evidence base.