{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,24]],"date-time":"2026-07-24T12:00:30Z","timestamp":1784894430119,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,24]],"date-time":"2026-07-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784851200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the Federal Ministry of Education and Science of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Clin. Med.","JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Tinnitus is often a distressing and disabling condition that negatively affects individuals\u2019 emotional well-being and quality of life. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between perceived tinnitus handicap and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, personality traits, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Methods: Tinnitus patients with hearing loss (N = 127) underwent audiologic testing and completed the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire\u2014Revised Short Form (EPQ-RS). Patient sociodemographic data (age, sex, and education level) and descriptive tinnitus characteristics were collected. The control group (N = 119) comprised tinnitus-free patients with hearing loss. Results: Patients experiencing catastrophic tinnitus reported significantly higher depression, anxiety, and stress scores compared to those with slight, mild, or moderate tinnitus grades. Education level was weakly negatively associated with THI scores. Conversely, weak-to-moderate positive relationships were observed for tinnitus loudness, pure tone average, the three DASS subscales, and the neuroticism subscale. Hierarchical multiple regression identified subjective tinnitus loudness, neuroticism, and total emotional distress (the total DASS score) as statistically significant predictors of the total THI score. Patients with tinnitus showed statistically significantly higher depression, anxiety, and stress subscale scores compared to tinnitus-free controls. Conclusions: The severity of tinnitus handicap is strongly correlated with subjective loudness, underlying neuroticism, and emotional distress. Patients with catastrophic tinnitus exhibit markedly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Consequently, clinical management of tinnitus must move beyond standard audiologic testing to include comprehensive psychological screening and targeted distress-reduction therapies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm15155796","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,24]],"date-time":"2026-07-24T10:38:41Z","timestamp":1784889521000},"page":"5796","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Psychological Correlates of Tinnitus Handicap: Associations with Personality Traits and Emotional Distress"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2466-2135","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tomislav","family":"Su\u0161ac","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Clinical Hospital Mostar, 88 000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6978-5844","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ivona","family":"\u010carapina Zovko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Mostar, 88 000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3407-5954","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Josip","family":"Lesko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Clinical Hospital Mostar, 88 000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina"},{"name":"School of Medicine, University of Mostar, 88 000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-1954-1228","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Goran","family":"\u0160imi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Clinical Hospital Mostar, 88 000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-9471-6281","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anamarija","family":"Mikuli\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Clinical Hospital Mostar, 88 000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1952-4192","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Boris","family":"Jelavi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Clinical Hospital Mostar, 88 000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina"},{"name":"School of Medicine, University of Mostar, 88 000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mavrogeni, P., Maihoub, S., and Moln\u00e1r, A. 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Neurosci."}],"container-title":["Journal of Clinical Medicine"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2077-0383\/15\/15\/5796\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,24]],"date-time":"2026-07-24T11:00:41Z","timestamp":1784890841000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2077-0383\/15\/15\/5796"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,24]]},"references-count":28,"journal-issue":{"issue":"15","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8]]}},"alternative-id":["jcm15155796"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/jcm15155796","relation":{},"ISSN":["2077-0383"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2077-0383","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,24]]}}}