Abstract
Current clinical assessment of tinnitus relies mainly on self-report. Psychoacoustic assessment of tinnitus pitch and loudness are recommended but methods yield variable results. Herein, we investigated the proposition that a previously validated fixed laboratory-based method (Touchscreen) and a newly developed clinically relevant portable prototype (Stand-alone) yield comparable results in the assessment of psychoacoustic tinnitus pitch and loudness. Participants with tinnitus [N = 15, 7 with normal hearing and 8 with hearing loss (HL)] and participants simulating tinnitus (simulators, N = 15) were instructed to rate the likeness of pure tones (250—16 kHz) to their tinnitus pitch and match their loudness using both methods presented in a counterbalanced order. Results indicate that simulators rated their “tinnitus” at lower frequencies and at louder levels (~10 dB) compared to tinnitus participants. Tinnitus subgroups (with vs. without HL) differed in their predominant tinnitus pitch (i.e., lower in the tinnitus with HL subgroups), but not in their loudness matching in decibel SL. Loudness at the predominant pitch was identified as a factor yielding significant sensitivity and specificity in discriminating between the two groups of participants. Importantly, despite differences in the devices’ physical presentations, likeness and loudness ratings were globally consistent between the two methods and, moreover, highly reproducible from one method to the other in both groups. All in all, both methods yielded robust tinnitus data in less than 12 min, with the Stand-alone having the advantage of not being dependent of learning effects, being user-friendly, and being adapted to the audiogram of each patient to further reduce testing time.
Highlights
Tinnitus is a common health condition that affects from 11.9 to 30.3% of the general population and its prevalence increases with increasing age [1, 2]
The procedure is passive, with clinicians controlling the stimulus parameters presented to the patient [3]. These techniques are usually mastered by highly skilled clinicians and yet do not provide stable measurements of the tinnitus percept within a session or between sessions over time [3]
Our study confirms that tinnitus spectrum, including frequency and loudness, can be quickly, yet robustly measured in the laboratory as well as in the clinic
Summary
Tinnitus is a common health condition that affects from 11.9 to 30.3% of the general population and its prevalence increases with increasing age [1, 2]. These techniques are usually mastered by highly skilled clinicians and yet do not provide stable measurements of the tinnitus percept within a session or between sessions over time [3] This lack of reliability compromises tinnitus assessments such that clinical trials often have to rely on visual analog scales or tinnitus questionnaires as main treatment outcomes [4, 5]. These outcomes, are highly unsatisfactory because some therapeutic interventions (e.g., transcranial magnetic stimulation of the auditory cortex, deep brain stimulation, noise-notched music) are targeted primarily at decreasing the psychoacoustic loudness of tinnitus, which in turn would supposedly decrease the associated psychological distress. The best tinnitus assessment should include reliable measures of both of these aspects
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