Hyperacusis in children: a scoping review

Abstract

Background: Hyperacusis is a chronic condition commonly defined as a lowered tolerance or increased sensitivity to everyday environmental sounds. It has been viewed as a paediatric disorder which can cause significant impairment to a child's normal functioning. Although clinical guidance highlights the importance of identifying whether the child has intolerance to loud sounds and managing this appropriately, there are currently no assessment or treatment methods that have been designed and tested for use with children with hyperacusis. A review is therefore indicated to consider the profile of children with hyperacusis as a basis for future research into their assessment and treatment. Method: A scoping review methodology was followed with literature searches conducted in Embase, PsychINFO, PubMed CENTRAL, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Research articles were included if they reported on research studies describing children diagnosed with hyperacusis, providing clinical profile information, and/or reporting on an assessment or management method for children with a primary complaint of hyperacusis. Data were charted on Excel and verified by a second researcher. Twenty-one research articles were included. Results: Children with hyperacusis are typically described in terms of age at presentation, troublesome sounds, physical sensation, behavioural reactions, coping strategies, comorbid conditions and impact on daily life. Methods of assessing the children include semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, neurological assessment, observation and uncomfortable loudness levels. Management methods include psychological therapy, sound therapy, tinnitus retraining therapy, medication and neuro-rehabilitation. Conclusion: The information we catalogued on various elements of clinical profile, assessment and management can serve as a stepping stone in future research developing questionnaires for clinical measurement of the impact of hyperacusis on children, and the measurement of treatment related change in clinic and in trials. Positive outcomes were noted by the authors following all of the above treatments; future research must compare these and specify the parameters for optimal results.

Auditory affective processing, musicality, and the development of misophonic reactions

“…Hyperacusis and misophonia have distinct profiles from one another (Jastreboff and Jastreboff, 2015). In hyperacusis, patients' negative reactions are dependent on the physical characteristics of the sound (e.g., spectrum and intensity/loudness) (for reviews, see Baguley and Hoare, 2018;Potgieter et al, 2020), whereas in misophonia, patients' negative reactions are dependent on the meaning and context for the individual and typically to specific sound categories (Jastreboff and Jastreboff, 2002Hansen et al, 2021).…”

Percepção dos pais sobre hipersensibilidade auditiva de crianças com sinais clínicos de risco para o Transtorno do Espectro do Autismo

“…Uma revisão sistemática (Stefanelli et al, 2020), uma revisão de escopo (Potgieter et al, 2020) e uma revisão sistemática com meta-análise (Williams et al, 2021) recentes revelaram que questionários, associados ou não a entrevistas estruturadas, têm sido os instrumentos mais comuns na investigação da frequência de hipersensibilidade auditiva. Dentre tais instrumentos, destaca-se o questionário proposto por Coelho et al (2007), utilizado por diferentes estudos, tanto em sua forma original quanto em versões adaptadas.…”

Prevalence of Decreased Sound Tolerance (Hyperacusis) in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis

“…Hyperacusis in adults is also associated with a range of other disorders, including tinnitus, hearing impairment, traumatic brain injury, migraine, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and functional somatic syndromes such as fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome (Sheldrake et al 2015; Paulin et al 2016; Assi et al 2018; Cederroth et al 2020). Hyperacusis has been less well characterized in the general pediatric population (Potgieter et al 2020), although a systematic review of prevalence studies in children and adolescents reported a range of prevalence rates from 3.2 to 17.1% (Rosing et al 2016b). Pediatric hyperacusis appears to be more common in younger children, and the overwhelming majority of clinically referred children are under 10 years of age (Baguley et al 2013; Rosing et al 2016a; Amir et al 2018; Myne & Kennedy 2018).…”

“…Pediatric hyperacusis appears to be more common in younger children, and the overwhelming majority of clinically referred children are under 10 years of age (Baguley et al 2013; Rosing et al 2016a; Amir et al 2018; Myne & Kennedy 2018). Compared to adults, children with hyperacusis are substantially less likely to present with comorbid hearing loss or tinnitus and much more likely to have comorbid neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (Hall et al 2016; Amir et al 2018; Myne & Kennedy 2018; Potgieter et al 2020). Notably, there has been little research on the developmental trajectory of hyperacusis across the lifespan, and it remains unknown how many individuals with childhood-onset hyperacusis continue to experience symptoms into adulthood.…”