Abstract
The personality characteristics of the patients with tinnitus were surveyed in order to evaluate the psycological factors in tinnitus. The Japanese version of Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI) and Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) were given to the patients with otological symptoms.
While the personality test scores showed no difference between the patients with tinnitus and those without it, the distribution of the audiological test results significantly differentiated the two groups. The sensorineural hearing impairment were found more in the former group than in the latter one.
The relationship between personality and annoyance of tinnitus were evaluated comparing the test scores among three subgroups devided according to subjective ranking of annoyance. The subgroup composed of the patients whose tinnitus were annoying tended to have significantly higher N (neuroticism) scores and lower E (extroversion-introversion) scores of MPI, and higher MAS scores than the subgroup of the patients who were aware of tinnitus and bothered by it somewhat. It was confirmed that the results were not related to the difference of age and sex distributions between the two subgroups, by comparison of matched pairs selected according to age and sex. The test scores of the patients who were aware of tinnitus but were not bothered by it showed no significant difference in comparison with the other subgroups, probably because of its relatively small numbers.
It was suggested that the patients' personality was not a contributory factor in the genesis of tinnitus, but played an important role in subjective annoyance of tinnitus.
