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Sommerhalder N, Neff P, Bureš Z, Profant O, Kleinjung T, Meyer M. Deficient central mechanisms in tinnitus: Exploring the impact on speech comprehension and executive functions. Hear Res 2023; 440:108914. [PMID: 37979435 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2023.108914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Revised: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/20/2023]
Abstract
Many individuals with chronic subjective tinnitus report significant problems in comprehending speech in adverse listening situations. A large body of studies has provided evidence to support the notion that deficits in speech-in-noise (SIN) are prevalent in the tinnitus population, while some studies have challenged these findings. Elemental auditory perception is usually only minimally or not impaired. In addition, deficits in cognitive functions, particularly executive functions, have also been observed in individuals with tinnitus. Given these previous findings, we theorize that deficient central mechanisms may be responsible for the reported speech comprehension problems in tinnitus. 25 participants suffering from chronic subjective tinnitus and 25 control participants, between 23 and 58 years of age, were examined in a cross-sectional design. The groups were case-matched for age, sex, education, and hearing loss. A large audiometric battery was used ranging from threshold and supra-threshold tasks to spoken sentence level speech tasks. Additionally, four cognitive tests were performed, primarily covering the area of executive functions. Tinnitometry and tinnitus-related questionnaires were applied to complement sample description and allow for secondary analyses. We hypothesized that tinnitus participants score lower in complex speech comprehension tasks and executive function tasks compared to healthy controls, while no group differences in elementary audiometric tasks were expected. As expected, individuals with chronic subjective tinnitus scored lower in the SIN and gated speech task, while there were no differences in the basic speech recognition threshold task and the other elementary auditory perception tasks. The cognitive tests revealed clear deficits in interference control in the Stroop task, but not in the Flanker task, in the tinnitus group. There were no differences in inhibition or working memory tasks. Our results clearly delineate differences between tinnitus individuals and control participants in two tests on speech intelligibility under adverse listening conditions. Further, the poorer performance in a task of interference control in individuals with tinnitus points towards an impaired central executive control in individuals with tinnitus. Taken together, our (partly) exploratory study provides novel evidence to the view that deficient central executive system in individuals with tinnitus probably account for impaired speech comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nick Sommerhalder
- Evolutionary Neuroscience of Language, Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Patrick Neff
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital of Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Zbyněk Bureš
- Department of Cognitive Systems and Neurosciences, Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Oliver Profant
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Auditory Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Tobias Kleinjung
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital of Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Martin Meyer
- Evolutionary Neuroscience of Language, Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Cognitive Psychology Unit, Alpen-Adria University of Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria
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Objective Detection of Tinnitus Based on Electrophysiology. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12081086. [PMID: 36009149 PMCID: PMC9406100 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12081086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 07/29/2022] [Accepted: 08/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Tinnitus, a common disease in the clinic, is associated with persistent pain and high costs to society. Several aspects of tinnitus, such as the pathophysiology mechanism, effective treatment, objective detection, etc., have not been elucidated. Any change in the auditory pathway can lead to tinnitus. At present, there is no clear and unified mechanism to explain tinnitus, and the hypotheses regarding its mechanism include auditory plasticity theory, cortical reorganization theory, dorsal cochlear nucleus hypothesis, etc. Current theories on the mechanism of tinnitus mainly focus on the abnormal activity of the central nervous system. Unfortunately, there is currently a lack of objective diagnostic methods for tinnitus. Developing a method that can detect tinnitus objectively is crucial, only in this way can we identify whether the patient really suffers from tinnitus in the case of cognitive impairment or medical disputes and the therapeutic effect of tinnitus. Electrophysiological investigations have prompted the development of an objective detection of tinnitus by potentials recorded in the auditory pathway. However, there is no objective indicator with sufficient sensitivity and specificity to diagnose tinnitus at present. Based on recent findings of studies with various methods, possible electrophysiological approaches to detect the presence of tinnitus have been summarized. We analyze the change of neural activity throughout the auditory pathway in tinnitus subjects and in patients with tinnitus of varying severity to find available parameters in these methods, which is helpful to further explore the feasibility of using electrophysiological methods for the objective detection of tinnitus.
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