Tinnitus and Hyperacusis (TH)
Kathryn Meaney, BS
Student Researcher
Long Island Audiology Consortium
Wantagh, New York, United States
Vinaya Manchaiah, Professor
Professor and Director of Audiology
University of Colorado School of Medicine, Colorado, United States
Aniruddha K. Deshpande, PhD
Associate Professor & Director, The Hear-Ring Lab
Hofstra University
Hempstead, New York, United States
Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of external auditory stimuli - more commonly known as a ringing in the ears. Approximately 30 million Americans experience chronic tinnitus. Almost two percent of these individuals can be classified as having debilitating tinnitus (American Tinnitus Association, 2021). Such individuals often turn to the internet for seeking additional information related to their condition.
The internet has made health-related information more accessible and connecting with others more feasible. Tinnitus patients are active on Reddit, a social media platform that allows users to anonymously communicate and share information. Members of Reddit’s several tinnitus ‘communities’ share experiences as well as health information which may influence patients’ health decision outcomes. However, an overwhelming amount of misinformation pertaining to tinnitus circulates on social media platforms (Deshpande et al., 2018, 2019). Consultations with healthcare providers do not derail patients from seeking additional information online. Therefore, it is beneficial for healthcare professionals to examine online content involving health information. Examination of online Reddit posts about tinnitus can provide insight into the behaviors of patients.
The aim of the present study was to analyze Reddit posts containing tinnitus-related information and to interpret user participation and behavior. All original posts found primarily under the subreddit ‘r/tinnitus’ were extracted using the Reddit application programing interface with a custom-built script. Posts were categorized based on the type of users (i.e., patient, professional, or other), and content (e.g., symptoms, general questions). Data on the number of upvotes (likes), downvotes (dislikes), and comments on original posts were extracted where available. Quantitative analyses included descriptive measures of central tendencies and dispersion. A qualitative content analysis was also performed to classify content into ten categories: cause, symptom, personal story, general question, seeking advice, giving advice, medical/science information, emotion, medication, and misinformation.
A total of 12,481 original posts were analyzed. 79.8% (n=9,964) of the posts were written by tinnitus patients, 0.3% (n=32) of the posts were written by professionals, and 19.7% (n=2,463) of the posts were categorized as ‘other’. The total number of comments was 91,038, with an average of 7.3 comments to each post (range = 0-156, standard deviation = 8.35). As for content, 23.3% of all posts contained information about causes of tinnitus, 76.8% contained information about symptoms, 52.9% contained personal patient stories, 50.3% contained a general question, 7.8% sought advice for dealing with tinnitus, 6.7% gave advice, 4.9% contained medical/science information, 17.2% portrayed strong emotion, 16.7% discussed medication, and 14.6% contained misinformation. Contents of a single post may have fallen into multiple categories of classification.
From this investigation, it is clear that tinnitus sufferers take to social media to find solace, pose questions, and disseminate information. This study improves our understanding of the type of users and content on Reddit’s tinnitus communities. This knowledge can be beneficial to healthcare providers as they help patients navigate tinnitus.