Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T21:00:39.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The relationship between tinnitus pitch and parameters of audiometry and distortion product otoacoustic emissions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2017

H Keppler*
Affiliation:
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium
S Degeest
Affiliation:
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium
I Dhooge
Affiliation:
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Hannah Keppler, Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, De Pintelaan 185, 2P1, 9000 Ghent, Belgium E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Objectives:

Chronic tinnitus is associated with reduced auditory input, which results in changes in the central auditory system. This study aimed to examine the relationship between tinnitus pitch and parameters of audiometry and distortion product otoacoustic emissions. For audiometry, the parameters represented the edge frequency of hearing loss, the frequency of maximum hearing loss and the frequency range of hearing loss. For distortion product otoacoustic emissions, the parameters were the frequency of lowest distortion product otoacoustic emission amplitudes and the frequency range of reduced distortion product otoacoustic emissions.

Method:

Sixty-seven patients (45 males, 22 females) with subjective chronic tinnitus, aged 18 to 73 years, were included.

Results:

No correlation was found between tinnitus pitch and parameters of audiometry and distortion product otoacoustic emissions. However, tinnitus pitch fell mostly within the frequency range of hearing loss.

Conclusion:

The current study seems to confirm the relationship between tinnitus pitch and the frequency range of hearing loss, thus supporting the homeostatic plasticity model.

Type
Main Articles
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Shargorodsky, J, Curhan, GC, Farwell, WR. Prevalence and characteristics of tinnitus among US adults. Am J Med 2010;123:711–18Google Scholar
2 Degeest, S, Keppler, H, Corthals, P, Clays, E. Epidemiology and risk factors for tinnitus after leisure noise exposure in Flemish young adults. Int J Audiol 2017;56:121–9Google Scholar
3 Henry, JA, Dennis, KC, Schechter, MA. General review of tinnitus: prevalence, mechanisms, effects, and management. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2005;48:1204–35Google Scholar
4 Degeest, S, Corthals, P, Dhooge, I, Keppler, H. The impact of tinnitus characteristics and associated variables on tinnitus-related handicap. J Laryngol Otol 2016;130:2531 Google Scholar
5 Lockwood, AH, Salvi, RJ, Burkard, RF. Tinnitus. N Engl J Med 2002;347:904–10CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6 Moller, AR. Pathology of the auditory system that can cause tinnitus. In: Moller, AR, Langguth, B, De Ridder, D, Kleinjung, T, eds. Textbook of Tinnitus. New York: Springer, 2011;7793 Google Scholar
7 Savastano, M. Tinnitus with or without hearing loss: are its characteristics different? Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2008;265:1295–300Google Scholar
8 Vielsmeier, V, Lehner, A, Strutz, J, Steffens, T, Kreuzer, PM, Schecklmann, M et al. The relevance of the high frequency audiometry in tinnitus patients with normal hearing in conventional pure-tone audiometry. Biomed Res Int 2015;2015:302515 Google Scholar
9 Weisz, N, Hartmann, T, Dohrmann, K, Schlee, W, Norena, AJ. High-frequency tinnitus without hearing loss does not mean absence of deafferentation. Hear Res 2006;222:108–14Google Scholar
10 Eggermont, JJ. Tinnitus and neural plasticity (Tonndorf lecture at XIth International Tinnitus Seminar, Berlin, 2014). Hear Res 2014;319:111 Google Scholar
11 Schaette, R, Kempter, R. Predicting tinnitus pitch from patients' audiograms with a computational model for the development of neuronal hyperactivity. J Neurophysiol 2009;101:3042–52Google Scholar
12 Turrigiano, G. Homeostatic synaptic plasticity: local and global mechanisms for stabilizing neuronal function. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2012;4:a005736 Google Scholar
13 Norena, AJ. An integrative model of tinnitus based on a central gain controlling neural sensitivity. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2011;35:1089–109Google Scholar
14 Zeng, FG. An active loudness model suggesting tinnitus as increased central noise and hyperacusis as increased nonlinear gain. Hear Res 2013;295:172–9Google Scholar
15 Rauschecker, JP. Auditory cortical plasticity: a comparison with other sensory systems. Trends Neurosci 1999;22:7480 Google Scholar
16 Gerken, GM. Central tinnitus and lateral inhibition: an auditory brainstem model. Hear Res 1996;97:7583 Google Scholar
17 Langers, DR, de Kleine, E, van Dijk, P. Tinnitus does not require macroscopic tonotopic map reorganization. Front Syst Neurosci 2012;6:2 Google Scholar
18 Elgoyhen, AB, Langguth, B, De Ridder, D, Vanneste, S. Tinnitus: perspectives from human neuroimaging. Nat Rev Neurosci 2015;16:632–42Google Scholar
19 Norena, AJ, Eggermont, JJ. Changes in spontaneous neural activity immediately after an acoustic trauma: implications for neural correlates of tinnitus. Hear Res 2003;183:137–53Google Scholar
20 Henry, JA, Meikle, MB, Gilbert, A. Audiometric correlates of tinnitus pitch: insights from the Tinnitus Data Registry. In: Hazell, J, ed. Proceedings of the Sixth International Tinnitus Seminar. London: Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Centre, 1999;51–7Google Scholar
21 Norena, AJ, Micheyl, C, Chery-Croze, S, Collet, L. Psychoacoustic characterization of the tinnitus spectrum: implications for the underlying mechanisms of tinnitus. Audiol Neurootol 2002;7:358–69Google Scholar
22 Ochi, K, Ohashi, T, Kenmochi, M. Hearing impairment and tinnitus pitch in patients with unilateral tinnitus: comparison of sudden hearing loss and chronic tinnitus. Laryngoscope 2003;113:427–31Google Scholar
23 Roberts, LE, Moffat, G, Bosnyak, DJ. Residual inhibition functions in relation to tinnitus spectra and auditory threshold shift. Acta Otolaryngol Suppl 2006;(556):2733 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
24 Roberts, LE, Moffat, G, Baumann, M, Ward, LM, Bosnyak, DJ. Residual inhibition functions overlap tinnitus spectra and the region of auditory threshold shift. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 2008;9:417–35Google Scholar
25 Sereda, M, Hall, DA, Bosnyak, DJ, Edmondson-Jones, M, Roberts, LE, Adjamian, P et al. Re-examining the relationship between audiometric profile and tinnitus pitch. Int J Audiol 2011;50:303–12Google Scholar
26 Heijneman, KM, de Kleine, E, Wiersinga-Post, E, Van Dijk, P. Can the tinnitus spectrum identify tinnitus subgroups? Noise Health 2013;15:101–6Google Scholar
27 Sereda, M, Edmondson-Jones, M, Hall, DA. Relationship between tinnitus pitch and edge of hearing loss in individuals with a narrow tinnitus bandwidth. Int J Audiol 2015;54:249–56Google Scholar
28 Schecklmann, M, Vielsmeier, V, Steffens, T, Landgrebe, M, Langguth, B, Kleinjung, T. Relationship between audiometric slope and tinnitus pitch in tinnitus patients: insights into the mechanisms of tinnitus generation. PLoS One 2012;7:e34878 Google Scholar
29 König, O, Schaette, R, Kempter, R, Gross, M. Course of hearing loss and occurrence of tinnitus. Hear Res 2006;221:5964 Google Scholar
30 Moore, BC, Vinay, , Sandhya, . The relationship between tinnitus pitch and the edge frequency of the audiogram in individuals with hearing impairment and tonal tinnitus. Hear Res 2010;261:51–6Google Scholar
31 Shekhawat, GS, Searchfield, GD, Stinear, CM. The relationship between tinnitus pitch and hearing sensitivity. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2014;271:41–8Google Scholar
32 Pan, T, Tyler, RS, Ji, H, Coelho, CB, Gehringer, AK, Gogel, SA. The relationship between tinnitus pitch and the audiogram. Int J Audiol 2009;48:277–94Google Scholar
33 Dhar, S, Hall, JW. OAEs and cochlear pathophysiology: adults. In: Hall, J, Ramachandran, V, eds. Otoacoustic Emissions: Principles, Procedures and Protocols (Core Clinical Concepts in Audiology). San Diego: Plural Publishing, 2012;135–61Google Scholar
34 Ozimek, E, Wicher, A, Szyfter, W, Szymiec, E. Distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) in tinnitus patients. J Acoust Soc Am 2006;119:527–38Google Scholar
35 Granjeiro, RC, Kehrle, HM, Bezerra, RL, Almeida, VF, Sampaio, AL, Oliveira, CA. Transient and distortion product evoked oto-acoustic emissions in normal hearing patients with and without tinnitus. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2008;138:502–6Google Scholar
36 Ami, M, Abdullah, A, Awang, MA, Liyab, B, Saim, L. Relation of distortion product otoacoustic emission with tinnitus. Laryngoscope 2008;118:712–17Google Scholar
37 Sztuka, A, Pospiech, L, Gawron, W, Dudek, K. DPOAE in estimation of the function of the cochlea in tinnitus patients with normal hearing. Auris Nasus Larynx 2010;37:5560 Google Scholar
38 Langguth, B, Goodey, R, Azevedo, A, Bjorne, A, Cacace, AT, Crocetti, A et al. Consensus for tinnitus patient assessment and treatment outcome measurement: Tinnitus Research Initiative meeting, Regensburg, July 2006. Prog Brain Res 2007;166:525–36Google Scholar
39 Newman, CW, Jacobson, GP, Spitzer, JB. Development of the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1996;122:143–8Google Scholar
40 Khalfa, S, Dubal, S, Veuillet, E, Perez-Diaz, F, Jouvent, R, Collet, L. Psychometric normalization of a hyperacusis questionnaire. ORL J Otorhinolaryngol Relat Spec 2002;64:436–42CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
41 Mitchell, CR, Vernon, JA, Creedon, TA. Measuring tinnitus parameters: loudness, pitch, and maskability. J Am Acad Audiol 1993;4:139–51Google ScholarPubMed
42 Vernon, JA, Meikle, MB. Tinnitus: clinical measurement. Otolaryngol Clin North Am 2003;36:293305 Google Scholar
43 Henry, JA, Zaugg, TL, Schechter, MA. Clinical guide for audiologic tinnitus management I: assessment. Am J Audiol 2005;14:2148 Google Scholar
44 Keppler, H, Dhooge, I, Corthals, P, Maes, L, D'haenens, W, Bockstael, A et al. The effects of aging on evoked otoacoustic emissions and efferent suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions. Clin Neurophysiol 2010;121:359–65Google Scholar
45 Basile, CE, Fournier, P, Hutchins, S, Hebert, S. Psychoacoustic assessment to improve tinnitus diagnosis. PloS One 2013;8:e82995 Google Scholar
46 Nageris, BI, Attias, J, Raveh, E. Test-retest tinnitus characteristics in patients with noise-induced hearing loss. Am J Otolaryngol 2010;31:181–4Google Scholar