Prevalence and characteristics of tinnitus in individuals with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder

Abstract

Objective: Tinnitus is one of the reported complaints in individuals with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD). The study highlights the prevalence of tinnitus and its characteristics in individuals with ANSD. Study design: The study consisted of 95 patients with tinnitus out of 149 individuals with ANSD. The overall prevalence, laterality and gender effect was studied in these 95 patients. The study also reports on the subjective nature of tinnitus in 23 subjects and its relationship with the configuration of the audiogram. Results: The prevalence of tinnitus was found to be around 67%, mostly bilateral (89.5%) and seen more often in females (70.52%). The subjective pitch was low-pitched in individuals with low frequency hearing loss and the perceived pitch was high with a flat configuration of loss. Conclusion: Our results show prevalence of tinnitus is more than 50% in individuals with ANSD and the tinnitus matched with the individual's frequency of maximal hearing loss.

Key words::

• auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder
• tinnitus
• prevalence
• low pitch
• configuration of audiogram
• neural synchrony

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge with gratitude S. R. Savithri, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore for permitting to conduct the study at the institute. The authors would also like to thank Vijaya Kumar Narne for his constant support, motivation and guidance in carrying out research on this topic. The authors acknowledge the participants for their cooperation.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.