The Diagnostic Value of Tinnitus Pitch

Douek, Ellis; Reid, Joy

doi:10.1017/s0022215100069838

Cited by 45 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Although the distribution appeared bimodal for NH participants and rather normally distributed in MD patients, the null hypothesis stating that the two subgroups were from equal distributions could not be rejected (two-sample Kolmogorov–Smirnov test; p -value = 0.86). Both subgroups had a tendency to select noises with a negative spectral tilt, which corresponds to previous reports from the literature (16–18, 23, 30). …”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Tinnitus in Normal-Hearing Participants after Exposure to Intense Low-Frequency Sound and in Ménière’s Disease Patients

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tinnitus is one of the three classical symptoms of Ménière’s disease (MD), an inner ear disease that is often accompanied by endolymphatic hydrops. Previous studies indicate that tinnitus in MD patients is dominated by low frequencies, whereas tinnitus in non-hydropic pathologies is typically higher in frequency. Tinnitus of rather low-frequency (LF) quality was also reported to occur for about 90 s in normal-hearing participants after presentation of intense, LF sound (120 dB SPL, 30 Hz, 90 s). LF sound has been demonstrated to also cause temporary endolymphatic hydrops in animal models. Here, we quantify tinnitus in two study groups with chronic (MD patients) and presumably transient endolymphatic hydrops (normal-hearing participants after LF exposure) with a psychophysical procedure. Participants matched their tinnitus either with a pure tone of adjustable frequency and level or with a noise of adjustable spectral shape and level. Sensation levels of matching stimuli were lower for MD patients (mean: 8 dB SL) than for normal-hearing participants (mean: 15 dB SL). Transient tinnitus after LF-exposure occurred in all normal-hearing participants (N = 28). About half of the normal-hearing participants matched noise to their tinnitus, the other half chose a pure tone with frequencies below 2 kHz. MD patients matched their tinnitus with either high-frequency pure tones, mainly above 3 kHz, or with a noise. Despite a significant proportion of MD patients matching low-pass (roaring) noises to their tinnitus, the range of matched stimuli was more heterogeneous than previous data suggested. We propose that in those participants with noise-like tinnitus, the percept is probably generated by increased spontaneous activity of auditory nerve fibers with a broad range of characteristic frequencies, due to an impaired ion balance in the cochlea. For tonal tinnitus, additional mechanisms are conceivable: focal hair cell loss can result in decreased auditory nerve firing and a central auditory overcompensation. Also, normal-hearing participants after LF-exposure experience alterations in spontaneous otoacoustic emissions, which may contribute to a transient tonal tinnitus.

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Tinnitus in Normal-Hearing Participants after Exposure to Intense Low-Frequency Sound and in Ménière’s Disease Patients

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This distribution of tinnitus pitch is similar to the chronic tinnitus group in our current study. Douek and Reid 3 reported that the tinnitus pitch of patients with perceptive hearing loss of unknown cause tends to be high, although there is considerable scatter. That report is also consistent with our current results in the chronic tinnitus group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hearing Impairment and Tinnitus Pitch in Patients With Unilateral Tinnitus: Comparison of Sudden Hearing Loss and Chronic Tinnitus

2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The tinnitus that Ménière's disease patients suffer from is usually confined to low frequencies and has been described as roaring (Douek and Reid 1968;Vernon et al 1980;Han et al 2009). Subjects during BP periods made similar qualitative assessments of the tinnitus they heard (e.g.…”

Section: Hearing Threshold Changes After Lf Sound Stimulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple Indices of the ‘Bounce’ Phenomenon Obtained from the Same Human Ears

Drexl

Überfuhr

Weddell

et al. 2013

JARO

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Loud low-frequency sounds can induce temporary oscillatory changes in cochlear sensitivity, which have been termed the 'bounce' phenomenon. The origin of these sensitivity changes has been attributed to slow fluctuations in cochlear homeostasis, causing changes in the operating points of the outer hair cell mechanoelectrical and electro-mechanical transducers. Here, we acquired three objective and subjective measures resulting in a comprehensive dataset of the bounce phenomenon in each of 22 normal-hearing human subjects. We analysed the level and phase of cubic and quadratic distortion product otoacoustic emissions and the auditory thresholds before and after presentation of a low-frequency stimulus (30 Hz sine wave, 120 dB SPL, 90 s) as a function of time. In addition, the perceived loudness of temporary, tinnitus-like sensations occurring in all subjects after cessation of the low-frequency stimulus was tracked over time. The majority of the subjects (70 %) showed a significant, biphasic change of quadratic, but not cubic, distortion product otoacoustic emissions of about 3-4 dB. Eighty-six percent of the tested subjects showed significant alterations of hearing thresholds after low-frequency stimulation. Four different types of threshold changes were observed, namely monophasic desensitisations (the majority of cases), monophasic sensitisations, biphasic alterations with initial sensitisation and biphasic alterations with initial desensitisation. The similar duration of the three bounce phenomenon measures indicates a common origin. The current findings are consistent with the hypothesis that slow oscillations of homeostatic control mechanisms and associated operating point shifts within the cochlea are the source of the bounce phenomenon.

show abstract

The Diagnostic Value of Tinnitus Pitch

Cited by 45 publications

References 5 publications

Tinnitus in Normal-Hearing Participants after Exposure to Intense Low-Frequency Sound and in Ménière’s Disease Patients

Tinnitus in Normal-Hearing Participants after Exposure to Intense Low-Frequency Sound and in Ménière’s Disease Patients

Hearing Impairment and Tinnitus Pitch in Patients With Unilateral Tinnitus: Comparison of Sudden Hearing Loss and Chronic Tinnitus

Multiple Indices of the ‘Bounce’ Phenomenon Obtained from the Same Human Ears

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About