Performance at different stimulus intensities with the within- and across-channel adaptive tests of temporal resolution

The Gap Detection Test: Can It Be Used to Diagnose Tinnitus?

Objectives:

Animals with induced tinnitus showed difficulties in detecting silent gaps in sounds, suggesting that the tinnitus percept may be filling the gap. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the applicability of this approach to detect tinnitus in human patients. The authors first hypothesized that gap detection would be impaired in patients with tinnitus, and second, that gap detection would be more impaired at frequencies close to the tinnitus frequency of the patient.

Design:

Twenty-two adults with bilateral tinnitus, 20 age-matched and hearing loss–matched subjects without tinnitus, and 10 young normal-hearing subjects participated in the study. To determine the characteristics of the tinnitus, subjects matched an external sound to their perceived tinnitus in pitch and loudness. To determine the minimum detectable gap, the gap threshold, an adaptive psychoacoustic test was performed three times by each subject. In this gap detection test, four different stimuli, with various frequencies and bandwidths, were presented at three intensity levels each.

Results:

Similar to previous reports of gap detection, increasing sensation level yielded shorter gap thresholds for all stimuli in all groups. Interestingly, the tinnitus group did not display elevated gap thresholds in any of the four stimuli. Moreover, visual inspection of the data revealed no relation between gap detection performance and perceived tinnitus pitch.

Conclusions:

These findings show that tinnitus in humans has no effect on the ability to detect gaps in auditory stimuli. Thus, the testing procedure in its present form is not suitable for clinical detection of tinnitus in humans.

Animal experiments suggest that tinnitus may be related to difficulties in the ability to detect silent gaps in sound. To test this, 22 subjects with hearing loss and bilateral continuous tinnitus, 20 age- and hearing-loss-matched subjects without tinnitus, and ten young normal-hearing controls performed a gap detection test. The authors could not prove evidence for a difference in performance between the subjects with and without tinnitus, leading to the conclusion that the testing procedure in its present form is not suitable for detecting tinnitus in humans.

Temporal Resolution of the Normal Ear in Listeners with Unilateral Hearing Impairment

Unilateral hearing loss (UHL) leads to an imbalanced input to the brain and results in cortical reorganization. In listeners with unilateral impairments, while the perceptual deficits associated with the impaired ear are well documented, less is known regarding the auditory processing in the unimpaired, clinically normal ear. It is commonly accepted that perceptual consequences are unlikely to occur in the normal ear for listeners with UHL. This study investigated whether the temporal resolution in the normal-hearing (NH) ear of listeners with long-standing UHL is similar to those in listeners with NH. Temporal resolution was assayed via measuring gap detection thresholds (GDTs) in within- and between-channel paradigms. GDTs were assessed in the normal ear of adults with long-standing, severe-to-profound UHL (N = 13) and age-matched, NH listeners (N = 22) at two presentation levels (30 and 55 dB sensation level). Analysis indicated that within-channel GDTs for listeners with UHL were not significantly different than those for the NH subject group, but the between-channel GDTs for listeners with UHL were poorer (by greater than a factor of 2) than those for the listeners with NH. The hearing thresholds in the normal or impaired ears were not associated with the elevated between-channel GDTs for listeners with UHL. Contrary to the common assumption that auditory processing capabilities are preserved for the normal ear in listeners with UHL, the current study demonstrated that a long-standing unilateral hearing impairment may adversely affect auditory perception--temporal resolution--in the clinically normal ear. From a translational perspective, these findings imply that the temporal processing deficits in the unimpaired ear of listeners with unilateral hearing impairments may contribute to their overall auditory perceptual difficulties.

Experience-dependent learning of auditory temporal resolution: evidence from Carnatic-trained musicians

Musical training and experience greatly enhance the cortical and subcortical processing of sounds, which may translate to superior auditory perceptual acuity. Auditory temporal resolution is a fundamental perceptual aspect that is critical for speech understanding in noise in listeners with normal hearing, auditory disorders, cochlear implants, and language disorders, yet very few studies have focused on music-induced learning of temporal resolution. This report demonstrates that Carnatic musical training and experience have a significant impact on temporal resolution assayed by gap detection thresholds. This experience-dependent learning in Carnatic-trained musicians exhibits the universal aspects of human perception and plasticity. The present work adds the perceptual component to a growing body of neurophysiological and imaging studies that suggest plasticity of the peripheral auditory system at the level of the brainstem. The present work may be intriguing to researchers and clinicians alike interested in devising cross-cultural training regimens to alleviate listening-in-noise difficulties.