The effect of kefir consumption on the degree of tinnitus in individuals with subjective tinnitus

Tinnitus is defined as the perception of sound in the ear in the absence of an external source or an internal source. There are many factors that cause tinnitus, many mehods are used in their treatment. One of the most important factors in the prevention and treatment of these risk factors is thought to be nutrition. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effect of regular consumption of kefir, which is rich in probiotic microorganism variety, on tinnitus. The study was designed in experimental design. The study was carried out in Aydın Adnan Menderes University Hospital Ear Nose Throat (ENT) Department (AD) Polyclinic. 41 patients were included in the study. The research was carried out with homogeneous experimental and control groups. The patients in the study group were asked to consume 250 ml / day kefir for 2 months. The control group didn't consume kefir. Audiological test battery, TEA and VAS scales were applied at the beginning and end of the study to evaluate the hearing systems and tinnitus degrees of the patients audiologically. Findings were evaluated using IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 package program. The differences in the measurements taken from the patients between the groups were analyzed with the Independent T test. While T test was used for variables with normal distribution, means were compared between groups with Mann Whitney U test for non-normally distributed variables. In the measurements made at the beginning and at the end of the application, the time-dependent change between both groups was analyzed with the help of ANOVA in repeated measures to evaluate the intergroup interaction. The significance level of all analyzes was set at 0.05. In the study group, there is a statistically significant difference between the tinnitus intensity of the patients who consumed 250 ml / day kefir for 2 months, and the mean of the initial and final measurements in TEA and VAS scales (p<0,05). No statistically significant difference was found between the averages of the initial and final measurements in the control group who didn't consume kefir (p>0,05). In the tinnitus frequency measurements, there was no significant difference between the initial and final measurement values in both groups (p> 0.05). İt was seen that kefir consumed 250ml/day for 2 months in tinnitus individuals has positive effects on tinnitus data. Keywords: Kefir, nutrition, probiotic, tinnitus, treatment