A Polish study has found that around 3% of school children aged 11 to 13 experience tinnitus.
Children can experience tinnitus just like adults.
The Polish study showed that tinnitus affected 3.1% of the children but it was significantly more frequent in children with hearing loss. 9% of the children in the study who had hearing loss reported tinnitus.
Asked about their tinnitus
In the study, the children were asked to answer the question: Do you hear tinnitus, whistles or squeaks as you are falling asleep or when it is quiet in your room? The children could answer: yes, all the time; yes, periodically and for more than 5 minutes; yes, but only for a very short time or no.
Parents’ experience
Also the parents were asked about their child’s tinnitus.
The parents were asked to answer the question: Does your child complain of tinnitus in their ears/head when in quiet situations? by choosing one of the possible answers: very often, often, rarely or never.
1.4% of the parents were aware of the presence of tinnitus in their child. A little over 12% of the parents reported that their child occasionally complained of tinnitus. The majority of parents (86.2%) said that their child had never complained of tinnitus.
About the study
43,064 school-age children in Warsaw, Poland aged 11 to 13 years old and their parents participated in the study. Both the children and their parents were asked questions about tinnitus, pure-tone audiometric testing was carried out and hearing thresholds were determined from 0.5 to 8 kHz.
The study, “Prevalence of tinnitus in a sample of 43,064 children in Warsaw, Poland”, was published in the International Journal of Audiology.
Sources: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and the International Journal of Audiology
