Audiometric characteristics of hyperacusis patients.
TLDR
The finding that LDLs are decreased across the full range of audiometric frequencies, regardless of the pattern or degree of hearing loss, indicates that hyperacusis might be due to a generalized increase in auditory gain.Abstract:
Hyperacusis is a frequent auditory disorder where sounds of normal volume are perceived as too loud or even painfully loud. There is a high degree of co-morbidity between hyperacusis and tinnitus, most hyperacusis patients also have tinnitus, but only about 30-40% of tinnitus patients also show symptoms of hyperacusis. In order to elucidate the mechanisms of hyperacusis, detailed measurements of loudness discomfort levels (LDLs) across the hearing range would be desirable. However, previous studies have only reported LDLs for a restricted frequency range, e.g. from 0.5 to 4 kHz, or from 1 to 8 kHz. We have measured audiograms and LDLs in 381 patients with a primary complaint of hyperacusis for the full standard audiometric frequency range from 0.125 to 8 kHz. On average, patients had mild high-frequency hearing loss, but more than a third of the tested ears had normal hearing thresholds, i.e. ≤ 20 dB HL. LDLs were found to be significantly decreased compared to a normal-hearing reference group, with average values around 85 dB HL across the frequency range. However, receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that LDL measurements are neither sensitive nor specific enough to serve as a single test for hyperacusis. There was a moderate positive correlation between hearing thresholds and LDLs (r = 0.36), i.e. LDLs tended to be higher at frequencies where hearing loss was present, suggesting that hyperacusis is unlikely to be caused by hearing threshold increase, in contrast to tinnitus for which hearing loss is a main trigger. Moreover, our finding that LDLs are decreased across the full range of audiometric frequencies, regardless of the pattern or degree of hearing loss, indicates that hyperacusis might be due to a generalized increase in auditory gain. Tinnitus on the other hand is thought to be caused by neuroplastic changes in a restricted frequency range, suggesting that tinnitus and hyperacusis might not share a common mechanism.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
The search for noise-induced cochlear synaptopathy in humans:Mission impossible?
Naomi F. Bramhall,Elizabeth Francis Beach,Bastian Epp,Colleen G. Le Prell,Enrique A. Lopez-Poveda,Christopher J. Plack,Christopher J. Plack,Roland Schaette,Sarah Verhulst,Barbara Canlon +9 more
TL;DR: Noise-induced synaptopathy disrupts the afferent connection between the cochlea and the central auditory system and is predicted to impair speech understanding in noisy environments and potentially result in tinnitus and/or hyperacusis.
Journal ArticleDOI
Tinnitus: Does Gain Explain?
TL;DR: Overall there is compelling evidence that peripheral auditory insults induce changes in neuronal firing rates, synchrony and neurochemistry and thus increase gain, but specific attribution of these changes to tinnitus is generally hampered by the absence of hearing-matched human control groups or insult-exposed non-tinnitus animals.
Journal ArticleDOI
Insights from the third international conference on hyperacusis: causes, evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment
Hashir Aazh,Marlies Knipper,Ali A. Danesh,Andrea E. Cavanna,Linus Andersson,Johan Paulin,Martin Schecklmann,Marja Heinonen-Guzejev,Brian C. J. Moore +8 more
TL;DR: The key findings and conclusions from the Third International Conference on Hyperacusis are summarized and implications for research and clinical practice are summarised.
Journal ArticleDOI
Misophonia: A new mental disorder?
TL;DR: A research roadmap is proposed for the systematic evaluation as to whether misophonia should be considered for future editions of DSM or ICD, and the available evidence suggests that it meets many of the general criteria for a mental disorder.
Journal ArticleDOI
Tinnitus and Auditory Perception After a History of Noise Exposure: Relationship to Auditory Brainstem Response Measures.
TL;DR: Reduced ABR wave I amplitude was associated with an increased risk of tinnitus, even after adjusting for DPOAEs and sex, which suggests that changes in peripheral input at the level of the inner hair cell or auditory nerve may lead to increases in central gain that give rise to the perception ofTinnitus.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Adding Insult to Injury: Cochlear Nerve Degeneration after “Temporary” Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
TL;DR: It is shown that acoustic overexposures causing moderate, but completely reversible, threshold elevation leave cochlear sensory cells intact, but cause acute loss of afferent nerve terminals and delayed degeneration of the co chlear nerve.
Journal ArticleDOI
Tinnitus—a study of its prevalence and characteristics
Alf Axelsson,Anders Ringdahl +1 more
TL;DR: Three thousand six hundred randomly selected adults in the city of Gothenburg (425,000 inhabitants) stratified by age and gender, were questioned by mail concerning tinnitus, receiving 66% useful answers.
Journal ArticleDOI
Noise-induced cochlear neuropathy is selective for fibers with low spontaneous rates
Adam C. Furman,Adam C. Furman,Sharon G. Kujawa,Sharon G. Kujawa,M. Charles Liberman,M. Charles Liberman +5 more
TL;DR: Responses from single auditory nerve fibers in guinea pigs exposed to neuropathic noise were recorded, suggesting recovery of hair cell function and a change in population statistics suggesting a selective loss of fibers with low- and medium-spontaneous rates.
Journal ArticleDOI
Olivocochlear efferents: anatomy, physiology, function, and the measurement of efferent effects in humans.
TL;DR: MOC efferents help to reduce acoustic trauma and lessen the masking of transients by background noise; for instance, they aid in speech comprehension in noise; however, much remains to be learned about the role ofefferents in auditory function.