Tinnitus asymmetry.

In the present study, the relationship between the location of tinnitus and the location of the greater hearing impairment was investigated. 62 subjects suffering from tinnitus underwent audiometric testing and were required to identify the location of their tinnitus. All of the subjects had a history of exposure to loud noise. The results of the study showed an asymmetric relationship between the variables examined. Most of the subjects with a greater hearing loss on the right side reported right-sided tinnitus, while the majority of subjects with a greater loss in the left ear reported tinnitus heard identically in both ears or tinnitus heard louder on the right side. An assumption was made that this phenomenon is related to differential hemispheric responsiveness to abnormal neural activity arising in the peripheral parts of the auditory system as a result of cochlear damage, activity which is the presumed origin of neurogenic tinnitus.