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Rodent models of tinnitus are commonly used to study its mechanisms and potential treatments. Tinnitus can be identified by changes in the gap-induced prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle (GPIAS), most commonly by using pressure detectors to measure the whole-body startle (WBS). Unfortunately, the WBS habituates quickly, the measuring system can introduce mechanical oscillations and the response shows considerable variability. We have instead used a motion tracking system to measure the localized motion of small reflective markers in response to an acoustic startle reflex in guinea pigs and mice. For guinea pigs, the pinna had the largest responses both in terms of displacement between pairs of markers and in terms of the speed of the reflex movement. Smaller, but still reliable responses were observed with markers on the thorax, abdomen and back. The peak speed of the pinna reflex was the most sensitive measure for calculating GPIAS in the guinea pig. Recording the pinna reflex in mice proved impractical due to removal of the markers during grooming. However, recordings from their back and tail allowed us to measure the peak speed and the twitch amplitude (area under curve) of reflex responses and both analysis methods showed robust GPIAS. When mice were administered high doses of sodium salicylate, which induces tinnitus in humans, there was a significant reduction in GPIAS, consistent with the presence of tinnitus. Thus, measurement of the peak speed or twitch amplitude of pinna, back and tail markers provides a reliable assessment of tinnitus in rodents.
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Introduction: Previous work on audio quality evaluation has demonstrated a developing convergence of the key perceptual attributes underlying judgments of quality, such as timbral, spatial and technical attributes. However, across existing research there remains a limited understanding of the crucial perceptual attributes that inform audio quality evaluation for people with hearing loss, and those who use hearing aids. This is especially the case with music, given the unique problems it presents in contrast to human speech. Method: This paper presents a sensory evaluation study utilising descriptive analysis methods, in which a panel of hearing aid users collaborated, through consensus, to identify the most important perceptual attributes of music audio quality and developed a series of rating scales for future listening tests. Participants (N = 12), with a hearing loss ranging from mild to severe, first completed an online elicitation task, providing single-word terms to describe the audio quality of original and processed music samples; this was completed twice by each participant, once with hearing aids, and once without. Participants were then guided in discussing these raw terms across three focus groups, in which they reduced the term space, identified important perceptual groupings of terms, and developed perceptual attributes from these groups (including rating scales and definitions for each). Results: Findings show that there were seven key perceptual dimensions underlying music audio quality (clarity, harshness, distortion, spaciousness, treble strength, middle strength, and bass strength), alongside a music audio quality attribute and possible alternative frequency balance attributes. Discussion: We outline how these perceptual attributes align with extant literature, how attribute rating instruments might be used in future work, and the importance of better understanding the music listening difficulties of people with varied profiles of hearing loss.
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BACKGROUND: Tinnitus is a common problem in patients with a cochlear implant (CI). Between 4% and 25% of CI recipients experience a moderate to severe tinnitus handicap. However, apart from handicap scores, little is known about the real-life impact tinnitus has on those with CIs. We aimed to explore the impact of tinnitus on adult CI recipients, situations impacting tinnitus, tinnitus-related difficulties and their management strategies, using an exploratory sequential mixed-method approach. METHODS: A 2-week web-based forum was conducted using Cochlear Ltd.'s online platform, Cochlear Conversation. A thematic analysis was conducted on the data from the forum discussion to develop key themes and sub-themes. To quantify themes and sub-themes identified, a survey was developed in English with face validity using cognitive interviews, then translated into French, German and Dutch and disseminated on the Cochlear Conversation platform, in six countries (Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, the Netherlands and United Kingdom). Participants were adult CI recipients experiencing tinnitus who received a Cochlear Ltd. CI after 18 years of age. RESULTS: Four key themes were identified using thematic analysis of the discussion forum: tinnitus experience, situations impacting tinnitus, difficulties associated with tinnitus and tinnitus management. Among the 414 participants of the survey, tinnitus burden on average was a moderate problem without their sound processor and not a problem with the sound processor on. Fatigue, stress, concentration, group conversation and hearing difficulties were the most frequently reported difficulties and was reported to intensify when not wearing the sound processor. For most CI recipients, tinnitus seemed to increase when performing a hearing test, during a CI programming session, or when tired, stressed, or sick. To manage their tinnitus, participants reported turning on their sound processor and avoiding noisy environments. CONCLUSION: The qualitative analysis showed that tinnitus can affect everyday life of CI recipients in various ways and highlighted the heterogeneity in their tinnitus experiences. The survey findings extended this to show that tinnitus impact, related difficulties, and management strategies often depend on sound processor use. This exploratory sequential mixed-method study provided a better understanding of the potential benefits of sound processor use, and thus of intracochlear electrical stimulation, on the impact of tinnitus.
Subject(s)
Cochlear Implantation , Cochlear Implants , Hearing Loss , Speech Perception , Tinnitus , Adult , Humans , Speech Perception/physiology , Cochlear Implantation/methods , Hearing Loss/complications , Hearing Loss/surgeryABSTRACT
This study presents the executive disruption model (EDM) of tinnitus distress and subsequently validates it statistically using two independent datasets (the Construction Dataset: n = 96 and the Validation Dataset: n = 200). The conceptual EDM was first operationalised as a structural causal model (construction phase). Then multiple regression was used to examine the effect of executive functioning on tinnitus-related distress (validation phase), adjusting for the additional contributions of hearing threshold and psychological distress. For both datasets, executive functioning negatively predicted tinnitus distress score by a similar amount (the Construction Dataset: ß = -3.50, p = 0.13 and the Validation Dataset: ß = -3.71, p = 0.02). Theoretical implications and applications of the EDM are subsequently discussed; these include the predictive nature of executive functioning in the development of distressing tinnitus, and the clinical utility of the EDM.
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The binaural system utilizes interaural timing cues to improve the detection of auditory signals presented in noise. In humans, the binaural mechanisms underlying this phenomenon cannot be directly measured and hence remain contentious. As an alternative, we trained modified autoencoder networks to mimic human-like behavior in a binaural detection task. The autoencoder architecture emphasizes interpretability and, hence, we "opened it up" to see if it could infer latent mechanisms underlying binaural detection. We found that the optimal networks automatically developed artificial neurons with sensitivity to timing cues and with dynamics consistent with a cross-correlation mechanism. These computations were similar to neural dynamics reported in animal models. That these computations emerged to account for human hearing attests to their generality as a solution for binaural signal detection. This study examines the utility of explanatory-driven neural network models and how they may be used to infer mechanisms of audition.
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PURPOSE: To elucidate the long-term impacts of hearing loss, tinnitus and balance in people living with and beyond cancer (LWBC) treated with platinum-based chemotherapy (PBCT). METHODS: A literature search was conducted between March and June 2022 using PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Full-text papers in English were included. Articles explored the impacts of hearing loss, tinnitus and balance and discussed them in the context of treatment. If PBCT was used in conjunction with other treatments, the article was included. There were no constraints on age, cancer type, publication date, location, study design or data type. Sixteen studies and two reviews were included. RESULTS: Hearing loss and tinnitus can cause communication difficulties and subsequent social withdrawal. There were deficits in cognition, child development and educational performance. Employment and the ease of everyday life were disrupted by hearing loss and tinnitus, whereas poor balance interfered with walking and increased the risk of falls. Depression and anxiety were related to ototoxicity. Most notable were the differing mindsets experienced by adults LWBC with ototoxicity. There was evidence of inadequate monitoring of ototoxicity by clinicians and a lack of communication between clinicians and patients about ototoxicity as a side effect. CONCLUSIONS: Ototoxicity has a negative long-term impact on multiple areas of life for adults and children LWBC. This can compromise their quality of life. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Increased awareness, monitoring and education surrounding these issues may lead to earlier intervention and better management of ototoxicity, enhancing the quality of life of people LWBC.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents , Cancer Survivors , Hearing Loss , Neoplasms , Ototoxicity , Tinnitus , Child , Adult , Humans , Antineoplastic Agents/adverse effects , Cisplatin/adverse effects , Carboplatin/adverse effects , Tinnitus/chemically induced , Quality of Life , Platinum/therapeutic use , Ototoxicity/drug therapy , Ototoxicity/etiology , Hearing Loss/chemically induced , Neoplasms/complications , Neoplasms/drug therapyABSTRACT
This paper presents the Clarity Speech Corpus, a publicly available, forty speaker British English speech dataset. The corpus was created for the purpose of running listening tests to gauge speech intelligibility and quality in the Clarity Project, which has the goal of advancing speech signal processing by hearing aids through a series of challenges. The dataset is suitable for machine learning and other uses in speech and hearing technology, acoustics and psychoacoustics. The data comprises recordings of approximately 10,000 sentences drawn from the British National Corpus (BNC) with suitable length, words and grammatical construction for speech intelligibility testing. The collection process involved the selection of a subset of BNC sentences, the recording of these produced by 40 British English speakers, and the processing of these recordings to create individual sentence recordings with associated transcripts and metadata.
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tinnitus is a chronic subjective condition that impacts patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and requires multidisciplinary interventions. In health economics, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and willingness to pay (WTP) are essential for evaluating treatment effectiveness in cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, or cost-benefit analysis. The extent to which these economic measures have been used in tinnitus research has not been investigated. The objectives of this scoping review were to explore findings and limitations of existing studies and provide an insight into how these economic measures could be used to quantify the burden of tinnitus in affected individuals. METHODS: A scoping review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodological framework. The search strategy involved four electronic databases. Records were included when QALYs or WTP were measured in individuals whose primary or secondary complaint was tinnitus. RESULTS: A total of 15 studies were identified: three WTP assessment studies and 12 QALY assessment studies using direct preference-based measures (PBMs) (n = 4), indirect PBMs (n = 7), and a disease-specific psychometric instrument (n = 1). The limited use to date of PBMs to assess HRQoL in tinnitus patients is an important finding. CONCLUSIONS: Further studies using reliable economic methods and focusing on patients' WTP for treatment or their preference for their current health state are needed. Applying PBMs in tinnitus research is crucial not only for the healthcare decision-making process but also to improve patient-centred care.
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Previous cross-sectional findings indicate that hearing and cognitive abilities are positively correlated in childhood, adulthood, and older age. We used an unusually valuable longitudinal dataset from a single-year birth cohort study, the National Child Development Study 1958, to test how hearing and cognitive abilities relate to one another across the life course from childhood to middle age. Cognitive ability was assessed with a single test of general cognitive ability at age 11 years and again with multiple tests at age 50. Hearing ability was assessed, using a pure tone audiogram, in childhood at ages 11 and 16 and again at age 44. Associations between childhood and middle-age hearing and cognitive abilities were investigated using structural equation modelling. We found that higher cognitive ability was associated with better hearing (indicated by a lower score on the hearing ability variables); this association was apparent in childhood (r = -0.120, p <0.001) and middle age (r = -0.208, p <0.001). There was a reciprocal relationship between hearing and cognitive abilities over time: better hearing in childhood was weakly associated with a higher cognitive ability in middle age (ß = -0.076, p = 0.001), and a higher cognitive ability in childhood was associated with better hearing in middle age (ß = -0.163, p <0.001). This latter, stronger effect was mediated by occupational and health variables in adulthood. Our results point to the discovery of a potentially life-long relationship between hearing and cognitive abilities and demonstrate how these variables may influence one another over time.
Subject(s)
Child Development , Cognition , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Cohort Studies , Cross-Sectional Studies , Hearing , Humans , Middle AgedABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Tinnitus is a symptom and not a disease in its own right. A number of medical conditions are known to increase the risk of developing tinnitus. Most known risk factors are otological or neurological, but general health and lifestyle can also precipitate the condition. Understanding these modifiable risk factors can help to identify vulnerable groups and can inform preventive actions to reduce likelihood of developing tinnitus. Smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index (BMI) and caffeine intake are all lifestyle risk factors hypothesized to be related to tinnitus. Nonetheless, research findings in support of those relationships are somewhat mixed. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted to identify all relevant studies on the specific risk factors. Findings were summarized using a narrative synthesis and meta-analysis, where possible. RESULTS: Overall 384 studies were included, mostly using cross-sectional designs. Findings indicated significantly increased risk of tinnitus among current (based on 26 studies) and ever smokers (based on 16 studies) and among obese people (based on seven studies), but no effect of alcohol consumption (based on 11 studies). With respect to caffeine intake or coffee drinking, only three studies examined this risk factor and so we were unable to draw conclusions. CONCLUSION: Our results contribute to quantifying the relationship between tinnitus and specific lifestyle-related risk factors, and we highlight some of the gaps and inconsistencies across published studies.
Subject(s)
Caffeine , Tinnitus , Body Mass Index , Caffeine/adverse effects , Cross-Sectional Studies , Humans , Life Style , Risk Factors , Smoking , Tinnitus/epidemiology , Tinnitus/etiologyABSTRACT
In dynamic multisensory environments, the perceptual system corrects for discrepancies arising between modalities. For instance, in the ventriloquism aftereffect (VAE), spatial disparities introduced between visual and auditory stimuli lead to a perceptual recalibration of auditory space. Previous research has shown that the VAE is underpinned by multiple recalibration mechanisms tuned to different timescales, however it remains unclear whether these mechanisms use common or distinct spatial reference frames. Here we asked whether the VAE operates in eye- or head-centred reference frames across a range of adaptation timescales, from a few seconds to a few minutes. We developed a novel paradigm for selectively manipulating the contribution of eye- versus head-centred visual signals to the VAE by manipulating auditory locations relative to either the head orientation or the point of fixation. Consistent with previous research, we found both eye- and head-centred frames contributed to the VAE across all timescales. However, we found no evidence for an interaction between spatial reference frames and adaptation duration. Our results indicate that the VAE is underpinned by multiple spatial reference frames that are similarly leveraged by the underlying time-sensitive mechanisms.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Physiological , Auditory Perception/physiology , Eye Movements/physiology , Visual Perception/physiology , Acoustic Stimulation , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Female , Humans , Male , Photic Stimulation , Sound Localization/physiology , Young AdultABSTRACT
The Core Outcome Measures in Tinnitus (COMiT) initiative has recommended a minimum standard of five outcomes when designing a clinical trial to assess the efficacy of sound-based interventions. These are: ability to ignore, concentration, quality of sleep, sense of control and tinnitus intrusiveness. The next stage is to consider what measurement instruments might be appropriate for assessing these constructs. The current study aimed to systematically gather existing instruments used to assess concentration. A total of 6240 potentially relevant records were identified. Duplicates and non-published works were removed, leaving a total of 3599 records. A procedure was developed to sample a subset of records, in order to identify relevant instruments without exhaustively reading all 3599 texts. Initially 559 records were identified by screening 1000 articles; 500 of which were randomly selected, and 500 were the most recent publications identified from the PubMed database. Using predefined criteria for data saturation, information about measures of concentration was extracted from the 559 full texts. However, data saturation was reached by 240. Thirteen candidate instruments were identified. The next step will be to assess content validity and feasibility of administration for all these candidate instruments. Findings will inform future recommendations for how to measure concentration in clinical trials to ensure results of trials can be easily compared, contrasted, and synthesized.
Subject(s)
Tinnitus , Humans , Outcome Assessment, Health Care , Tinnitus/therapyABSTRACT
The variation of interaural level difference (ILD) with direction and frequency is particularly complex and convoluted. The purpose of this work was to determine a set of parametric equations that can be used to calculate ILDs continuously at any value of frequency and azimuth in the horizontal plane. They were derived by fitting equations to ILDs derived from the azimuthal-dependence data tabulated by Shaw and Vaillancourt [(1985). J. Acoust. Soc Am. 78, 1120-1123] and assuming left-right symmetry. The equations are shown to fit those data to an overall RMS error less than 0.5 dB.
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Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of a corresponding external sound source, and bothersome tinnitus has been linked to poorer cognitive performance. This review comprehensively quantifies the association between tinnitus and different domains of cognitive performance. The review protocol was preregistered and published in a peer-reviewed journal. The review and analyses were reported according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis guidelines. Peer-reviewed literature was searched using electronic databases to find studies featuring participants with tinnitus who had undertaken measures of cognitive performance. Studies were assessed for quality and categorized according to an established cognitive framework. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed on various cognitive domains with potential moderator variables assessed where possible. Thirty-eight records were included in the analysis from a total of 1,863 participants. Analyses showed that tinnitus is associated with poorer executive function, processing speed, general short-term memory, and general learning and retrieval. Narrow cognitive domains of Inhibition and Shifting (within executive function) and learning and retrieval (within general learning and retrieval) were also associated with tinnitus.
Subject(s)
Tinnitus , Cognition , Humans , Memory, Short-Term , Tinnitus/diagnosis , Tinnitus/epidemiologyABSTRACT
The 1011-page book, Hearing in Adults, published in 1995, contains the fullest report of the United Kingdom's Medical Research Council National Study of Hearing. It was designed to determine the prevalence and distribution in Great Britain of audiometrically measured hearing loss as a function of age, gender, occupation, and noise exposure. The study's size, quality, and breadth made it unique when it was done in the 1980s. These qualities remain, and its data are still the primary U.K. source for the prevalence of auditory problems. However, only 550 copies were printed, and the book is essentially unobtainable today. We describe here a fully searchable, open-access, digital (PDF) "reprinting" of Hearing in Adults, summarizing the study's design and the book's contents, together with a brief commentary in the light of subsequent developments.
Subject(s)
Hearing Loss/epidemiology , Hearing , Adult , Audiometry , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Prevalence , United Kingdom/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Hearing impairment is associated with poorer cognitive function in later life. We tested for the potential contribution of childhood cognitive ability to this relationship. Childhood cognitive ability is strongly related to cognitive function in older age, and may be related to auditory function through its association with hearing impairment risk factors. Using data from the Lothian Birth Cohort, 1936, we tested whether childhood cognitive ability predicted later-life hearing ability then whether this association was mediated by demographic or health differences. We found that childhood cognitive ability was negatively associated with hearing impairment risk at age 76 (odds ratio = .834, p = .042). However, this association was nonsignificant after subsequent adjustment for potentially mediating demographic and health factors. Next, we tested whether associations observed in older age between hearing impairment and general cognitive ability level or change were accounted for by childhood cognitive ability. At age 76, in the minimally adjusted model, hearing impairment was associated with poorer general cognitive ability level (ß = -.119, p = .030) but was not related to decline in general cognitive ability. The former association became nonsignificant after additional adjustment for childhood cognitive ability (ß = -.068, p = .426) suggesting that childhood cognitive ability contributes (potentially via demographic and health differences) to the association between levels of hearing and cognitive function in older age. Further work is needed to test whether early life cognitive ability also contributes to the association (documented in previous studies) between older-age hearing impairment and cognitive decline. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Subject(s)
Aging/physiology , Cognition Disorders/etiology , Cognition/physiology , Cognitive Aging/psychology , Cognitive Dysfunction/complications , Cognitive Dysfunction/physiopathology , Hearing Loss/complications , Age Factors , Aged , Aging/psychology , Child , Cognition Disorders/diagnosis , Female , Hearing Loss/diagnosis , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Neuropsychological Tests , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
To maintain perceptual coherence, the brain corrects for discrepancies between the senses. If, for example, lights are consistently offset from sounds, representations of auditory space are remapped to reduce this error (spatial recalibration). While recalibration effects have been observed following both brief and prolonged periods of adaptation, the relative contribution of discrepancies occurring over these timescales is unknown. Here we show that distinct multisensory recalibration mechanisms operate in remote and recent history. To characterise the dynamics of this spatial recalibration, we adapted human participants to audio-visual discrepancies for different durations, from 32 to 256 seconds, and measured the aftereffects on perceived auditory location. Recalibration effects saturated rapidly but decayed slowly, suggesting a combination of transient and sustained adaptation mechanisms. When long-term adaptation to an audio-visual discrepancy was immediately followed by a brief period of de-adaptation to an opposing discrepancy, recalibration was initially cancelled but subsequently reappeared with further testing. These dynamics were best fit by a multiple-exponential model that monitored audio-visual discrepancies over distinct timescales. Recent and remote recalibration mechanisms enable the brain to balance rapid adaptive changes to transient discrepancies that should be quickly forgotten against slower adaptive changes to persistent discrepancies likely to be more permanent.
Subject(s)
Auditory Perception/physiology , Visual Perception/physiology , Acoustic Stimulation , Adaptation, Physiological , Adult , Calibration , Female , Humans , Linear Models , Male , Middle Aged , Models, Biological , Photic Stimulation , Young AdultABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Prevalence estimates depend largely on the nature of the question asked to define the presence of the health condition, and the literature on the population burden of tinnitus and hearing difficulties is no different in this respect. The lack of standardized questions for data collection limits comparison across studies and across countries. The purpose of this short Technical Note is to report the first attempt to establish a set of standard questions developed for use in population-based surveys, and their adaptation and translation from English into 11 European languages. METHODS: Four questions and their corresponding response options were adapted from existing population-based surveys to assess tinnitus prevalence, tinnitus symptom severity, use of healthcare resources for tinnitus and hearing difficulty. The translated versions (Bulgarian, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish) were generated using recognized methods to achieve a "world-for-world" translation. RESULTS: Translated versions were produced with acceptable functional equivalence to the original English-language version, as judged by a small panel of bilingual speakers who participated in the online field testing. CONCLUSION: This work is the first of its kind to promote multi-national standardization by creating a set of tools that can readily be used across countries. These are currently being used in a European-wide study of tinnitus prevalence, and have wider application across English- and Spanish speaking countries including the Americas and Oceania.
Subject(s)
Health Resources , Hearing Loss/diagnosis , Hearing , Self Report/standards , Tinnitus/diagnosis , Translating , Cultural Characteristics , Europe/epidemiology , Hearing Loss/epidemiology , Hearing Loss/physiopathology , Hearing Loss/therapy , Humans , Predictive Value of Tests , Prevalence , Reproducibility of Results , Severity of Illness Index , Tinnitus/epidemiology , Tinnitus/physiopathology , Tinnitus/therapyABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Subjective tinnitus is very common and has a number of comorbid associations including depression, sleep disturbance and concentration difficulties. Concentration difficulties may be observable in people with tinnitus through poorer behavioural performance in tasks thought to measure specific cognitive domains such as attention and memory (ie, cognitive performance). Several reviews have discussed the association between tinnitus and cognition; however, none to date have investigated the association between tinnitus and cognitive performance through meta-analysis with reference to an established theoretical taxonomy. Furthermore, there has been little overlap between sets of studies that have been included in previous reviews, potentially contributing to the typically mixed findings that are reported. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This systematic review aims to comprehensively review the literature using an established theoretical taxonomy and quantitatively synthesise relevant data to determine associations between subjective tinnitus and cognitive performance. Methods are reported according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols. All study designs will be eligible for inclusion with no date restrictions on searches. Studies eligible for inclusion must contain adult participants (≥18 years) with subjective tinnitus and a behavioural measure of cognitive performance. Meta-analysis will be reported via correlation for the association between tinnitus and cognitive performance. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: No ethical issues are foreseen. Findings will be reported in a student thesis, at national and international , ear, nose and throat/audiology conferences and by peer-reviewed publication. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42018085528.