Objectives: Tinnitus is a condition that commonly affects individuals’ daily activities. We aimed to evaluate the anxiety sensitivity, levels of anxiety and depression, and personality traits of patients with chronic subjective tinnitus.

Methods: The study included 42 patients, who visited the Otorhinolaryngology Clinic, complained of having tinnitus for at least 1 year and did not have any previous peripheral vestibular diseases or psychiatric treatment history. Forty-five healthy individuals volunteered to be in the control group. We administered the Tinnitus-Severity-Index (TSI), Anxiety-Sensitivity-Index-3 (ASI-3), Beck-Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck-Depression-Inventory (BDI) and Eysenck-Personality- Questionnaire (EPQ) to the study participants.

Results: The BDI score was significantly higher in the patient group. The ASI-3, EPQ, and BAI scores of the patients did not differ statistically. A positive correlation was found between the EPQ neuroticism subscale scores and the ASI-3, BDI, and BAI scores of the patient cases. There was also a positive correlation between the TSI scores and the BAI, ASI-3, and neuroticism scores of the tinnitus group.

Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, few studies have evaluated anxiety sensitivity, anxiety and depression levels, and personality traits and no studies evaluating patients and controls together. In cases where tinnitus and psychiatric diseases are comorbid, both conditions should be treated to achieve the best outcomes for the patients’ quality of life.

• KEY POINTS

• Although patients with tinnitus were selected among cases without any psychiatric treatment history, we found that depressive symptoms in this group were high.

• The participants’ anxiety sensitivity, anxiety, and neuroticism scores increased as the severity of their tinnitus increased.

• The anxiety sensitivity, anxiety, and depressive scores increased along with the increase in the neuroticism scores of the patients with chronic subjective tinnitus.

目标：耳鸣是一种通常会影响个人日常活动的疾病。我们旨在评估慢性主观耳鸣患者的焦虑敏感性，焦虑和抑郁水平以及人格特征。

方法：该研究包括42位就诊于耳鼻喉科诊所的患者，他们抱怨耳鸣至少有1年，并且以前没有任何外周前庭疾病或精神病学治疗史。四十五名健康个体自愿参加了对照组。我们进行了耳鸣严重程度指数（TSI），焦虑敏感性指数3（ASI-3），贝克焦虑量表（BAI），贝克抑郁量表（BDI）和艾森克人格问卷（EPQ）给研究参与者。

结果：患者组的BDI评分明显更高。患者的ASI-3，EPQ和BAI评分无统计学差异。在患者的EPQ神经质亚量表评分与ASI-3，BDI和BAI评分之间发现正相关。TSI评分与耳鸣组的BAI，ASI-3和神经质评分之间也呈正相关。

结论：据我们所知，很少有研究评估焦虑敏感性，焦虑和抑郁水平以及人格特质，没有研究共同评估患者和对照。在耳鸣和精神疾病合并的情况下，应同时治疗两种情况，以实现患者生活质量的最佳结果。

• 关键点

• 尽管在没有任何精神病治疗史的病例中选择了耳鸣患者，但我们发现该组的抑郁症状较高。

• 随着耳鸣严重程度的增加，参与者的焦虑敏感性，焦虑和神经质得分也增加。

• 慢性主观耳鸣患者的焦虑敏感性，焦虑和抑郁评分随着神经质评分的增加而增加。