Who Gets Tinnitus More: Men or Women?

Woman massaging jaw; tinnitus in women and men concept

Bottom line: More men get tinnitus, but women are more bothered by it.

Of course, it's never a straightforward journey.

In 2014, a study in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research reported that tinnitus is "significantly higher for males, and increased with age, doubling between the youngest and oldest age groups (males 13% and 26%; females 9% and 19% respectively). Of those with tinnitus, females were more likely to report bothersome tinnitus."

Another study also found that women are more annoyed by tinnitus and perceive more stress than men. "In addition, women scored lower than men in proactive coping, sense of coherence, and personal resources but had lower levels of hearing loss and tinnitus loudness than men did."

JAMA Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery published a study in 2016 confirming that tinnitus tends to be "more prevalent in men (10.5%) than women (8.8%), with no significant differences in severity between the 2 groups. Men were more likely than women to discuss tinnitus with their physician (52.8% vs 48.0%)."

Journalist Tyra Kristiansen Stave writes: "More men than women are affected by ear buzz, but the consequences are greater for women. Women also have a higher risk of severe hereditary tinnitus, according to a research project." That research project found "for instance, there were many indications that severe tinnitus increased the risk of suicide attempts among women, but not among men."

A small study in 2020 published in Frontiers in Psychology: Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience found that "women reporting more depression, anxiety and worries. Men, on the other hand, showed a higher need to control their thoughts. Additionally, our results indicate that men might have more coping problems with increasing levels of tinnitus distress, leading to increased depressive symptoms."

Men and women experience tinnitus differently, too: in addition to the noise, women tend to have jaw pain, while men have headaches.

And the annoyance factor changes too: "tinnitus annoyance was stronger in the middle-age groups of women and men (45-59 years of age) than in younger patients. Furthermore, the annoyance decreased again in older men (more than 60 years of age), but not in older women."

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