Marwa F Abdrabbou and Denise A Tucker*

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA

*Corresponding Author: Denise A Tucker, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA.

Received: September 30, 2021; Published: November 29, 2021

Abstract

Background: Brief silence exposure plays an important role in the temporary emergence of tinnitus in normal hearing subjects with no chronic tinnitus complaints. Several studies reported a high prevalence of tinnitus perception during silence in their cohort. However, none of these studies examined the effect of silence and tinnitus perception on the central auditory functions to determine the role of silence in these perceptions.

Purpose: This study examines the emergence of tinnitus during a brief period of silence exposure without directed auditory attention and its impact on neural activities using auditory middle latency response measurements.

Research Design: Cross-sectional study.

Study Sample: Sixty normal hearing adult females (18-40 years) with no prior tinnitus complaints participated in this study.

Data Collection and Analysis: Auditory middle latency response Na/Pa latency and amplitude were measured before and after ten minutes of silence exposure. Participants completed a brief questionnaire documenting the emergence of tinnitus perceptions during silence. Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to determine clinical significance.

Results: 55% of the participants reported temporary tinnitus perception during silence without directed auditory attention. Results revealed larger auditory middle latency response Na/Pa amplitude in tinnitus-perceiving subjects in both pre-silence and post-silence recordings.

Conclusion: Tinnitus perception may emerge in normal hearing females with no prior tinnitus complaints during a brief silence exposure in the absence of directed auditory attention. These temporary perceptions were associated with increased neural activities as reflected in larger auditory middle latency response Na/Pa amplitudes in tinnitus perceiving subjects in both pre-silence and post-silence recordings, indicating that silence was a facilitating factor for these tinnitus perceptions.

Keywords: Tinnitus; Silence; Tinnitus Perception During Silence; Auditory Deprivation; Auditory Middle Latency Response

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Citation

Citation: Marwa F Abdrabbou and Denise A Tucker. “Auditory Middle Latency Response in Young Adult Females Perceiving Tinnitus During a Brief Period of Silence". Acta Scientific Otolaryngology 3.12 (2021): 38-46.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Marwa F Abdrabbou and Denise A Tucker. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.