Shortened neural conduction time in young adults with tinnitus as revealed by chirp-evoked auditory brainstem response

Abstract

Tinnitus is generally considered to be caused by neuroplastic changes in the central nervous system, triggered by a loss of input from the damaged peripheral system; however, conflicting results on auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) to clicks have been reported previously in humans with tinnitus. This study aimed to compare the effect of tinnitus on ABRs to chirps with those to clicks in normal-hearing young adults with tinnitus. The results showed that the tinnitus group had no significantly poorer hearing thresholds (0.25-16 kHz), click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (1-16 kHz), and speech perception in noise (SPIN) than the control group. Although chirps evoked significantly larger wave I and V amplitudes than clicks, people with tinnitus had no significantly smaller wave I amplitudes for either stimulus. Nevertheless, adults with tinnitus exhibited significantly smaller interpeak interval (IPI) between waves I and V for chirps (IPI-chirp) but not for clicks. In addition, the IPI-chirp correlated significantly with the SPIN for individuals with tinnitus when the signal-to-noise ratio was low. The present results suggest that the chirp-evoked ABR may be a valuable clinical tool for objectively assessing the SPIN in individuals with tinnitus. Further studies should be conducted to investigate possible etiologies of tinnitus.