Geriatric tinnitus: causes, clinical treatment, and prevention.

1. Tinnitus is seldom recorded in the clinical database of the elderly, despite the fact that next to hearing loss, tinnitus is the most commonly reported ear problem by the elderly population. 2. Common problems of the elderly that demand special counseling and teaching skills of the nurse are decreased tolerance to tinnitus due to coexistent complex morbidity, social problems, and losses; worry that the tinnitus is a sign of an impending crisis, such as stroke, brain tumor, or insanity; and boredom with excess time with little to do but to listen to one's tinnitus. 3. Tinnitus in aging is a symptom that is usually due to an identifiable disease, and is rarely of subjective type, high-pitched quality, chronic, irreversible, idiopathic, and bilateral. 4. The common causes and aggravating factors about tinnitus in aging can provide the clues to effective nursing-initiated measures, many of which are simple household activities or personal interactions.