Auditory localization by subjects with unilateral tinnitus

Abstract

Tinnitus is associated with changes in neural activity. How such alterations impact the localization ability of subjects with tinnitus remains largely unexplored. In this study, subjects with self-reported unilateral tinnitus were compared to subjects with matching hearing loss at high frequencies and to normal-hearing subjects in horizontal and vertical plane localization tasks. Subjects were asked to localize a pink noise source either alone or over background noise. Results showed some degree of difference between subjects with tinnitus and subjects with normal hearing in horizontal plane localization, which was exacerbated by background noise. However, this difference could be explained by different hearing sensitivities between groups. In vertical plane localization there was no difference between groups in the binaural listening condition, but in monaural listening the tinnitus group localized significantly worse with the tinnitus ear. This effect remained when accounting for differences in hearing sensitivity. It is concluded that tinnitus may degrade auditory localization ability, but this effect is for the most part due to the associated levels of hearing loss. More detailed studies are needed to fully disentangle the effects of hearing loss and tinnitus.

Comparison of Amplitude Modulated Sounds and Pure Tones at the Tinnitus Frequency: Residual Tinnitus Suppression and Stimulus Evaluation

“…The phenomenon is continuously gaining relevance as it coincides with a steadily aging demographic (Hoffman & Reed, 2004) and concomitant age-related hearing loss (presbycusis; Ferreira, Ramos Júnior, & Mendes, 2009), noisy occupational or leisure time environments (Sanchez et al., 2016; Shargorodsky, Curhan, & Farwell, 2010), and stress (Mazurek, Haupt, & Olze, 2012). Moreover, tinnitus is not only related to altered auditory functions like speech perception (Ivansic et al., 2017; Jagoda et al., 2018), sound source localization (Hyvärinen, Mendonça, Santala, Pulkki, & Aarnisalo, 2016), auditory attention (Cuny, Norena, El Massioui, & Chéry-Croze, 2004), and emotional attention processes (Trevis, McLachlan, & Wilson, 2016), but also to affective disorders like depression or anxiety (Langguth, 2012), insomnia (Croenlein et al., 2016), and lowered quality of life (Nondahl et al., 2007; Weidt et al., 2016).…”

10 Hz Amplitude Modulated Sounds Induce Short-Term Tinnitus Suppression

“…With a steadily aging demographic, tinnitus is becoming increasingly prevalent and relevant (Hoffman and Reed, 2004; Nondahl et al, 2012). Besides the tantalizing phantom sound or comorbidities like depression, stress and anxiety (Langguth et al, 2013), tinnitus also impacts daily life functions in healthy aging as impaired hearing, sound localization and speech perception can lower the quality of life in tinnitus sufferers (Moon et al, 2015; Gilles et al, 2016; Hyvärinen et al, 2016). …”

Assessing Auditory Processing Deficits in Tinnitus and Hearing Impaired Patients with the Auditory Behavior Questionnaire

“…In other words, HL seems to weaken the auditory processing capabilities of subjects with tinnitus. Hyvärinen et al (2016) found that tinnitus may degrade auditory localization ability, although this effect can also be due to the associated levels of HL. And thirdly, we have not found differences between the average THI score in patients with or without HL (see Figure 6).…”

“…Newman et al (1994) investigated the relationship between psychoacoustic judgements, speech understanding ability and self-perceived handicap in tinnitus and hearing impaired subjects. Hyvärinen et al (2016) reported that tinnitus may degrade auditory localization ability, although this effect is, for the most part, due to the associated levels of HL. Gilles et al (2016) showed that young people with noise induced tinnitus, but normal hearing thresholds, proved impaired speech-in-noise performance.…”