Tinnitus prevalence and associations with leisure noise exposure among Canadians, aged 6 to 79 years.

Objective: To examine the association between individual, cumulative leisure noise exposure (CLNE), acceptable yearly exposure (AYE) and tinnitus among a nationally representative sample of Canadians.

Design: In-person household questionnaires were used to evaluate leisure noise exposure across age, sex, household income and tinnitus: ever experienced, previous year, frequent, bothersome. High (≥85 dBA, LEX), low (<85 dBA, LEX) CLNE and AYEs were defined according to occupational limits.

Study Sample: A randomised sample of 10,460 respondents, aged 6-79, completed questionnaires between 2012 and 2015. Tinnitus prevalence was highest among young adults and teenagers (50% for both). Frequent and bothersome tinnitus afflicted one-third and 18.1% of Canadians, respectively. Men had higher tinnitus prevalence while women had increased bothersome tinnitus. For most ages, elevated tinnitus odds ratios (ORs) were associated with: (1) high, low CLNE and AYEs ≥1 and, (2) high exposure from individual sources: loud home/car stereo listening, power tools, gasoline engines, highway motorcycle/snowmobile driving. Loud personal listening device usage was associated with tinnitus ORs doubling (ages 6-11) and ≥5 or 5 years of loud usage, with increased tinnitus ORs (ages 12-19).

Conclusion: Community and/or school-based educational outreach would be beneficial to increase awareness of loud leisure noise exposure and tinnitus.