Pitch and Loudness from Tinnitus in Individuals with Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Ears ruin lives, why do I have them?

 

Thanks Kane!

Yes. Same here. There are a lot of factors involved so it's hard to give a straight answer. I have my theories on many of it, but there's a lot to type out and I'd rather see what more information comes out.

It's pretty scary knowing that the neurons that took part in allowing your brain to process sound can suddenly be gone in a matter of months to a few years. I've been taking supplements and herbs that have neurotrophic factors to them, but it's still the hidden damage that's scary. I'm hoping taking it off and on as the years pass will keep the damaged spiral ganglion neurons alive or whatever they've become now.

Anxiously waiting for a treatment to repair the damage. I'm now starting my new degree path to be able to one day work with stem cells and the auditory system.

 

That's cool man. If I could go back (31 now) I would have gone into medical research instead of engineering... I actually felt that way 5+ years ago, sigh.

 

We need engineers to design the machines and labs!

 

Although my hyperacusis and tinnitus sometimes can be unbearable I am inclined to agree.
Also because I am opportunistic
When my hearing threshold improves my tinnitus, distortion and hyperacusis could improve at the same time.

 

What did you say? I couldn't hear you

 

Okay guys, it's time to get more deaf!! Seriously?? That makes absolutely no sense. Next thing you're going to tell me you have to jump off of a building to fly!

 

I think there is something to this. My right ear has some mild loss at 3,4k and my t is milder in description to what some people with normal hearing describe on here.

 

The Relationship between Severity of Hearing Loss and Subjective Tinnitus Loudness among Patients Seen in a Specialist Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Therapy Clinic in UK.

BACKGROUND:

Hearing loss is often associated with the phantom sound of tinnitus. However, the degree of the association between severity of hearing loss and tinnitus loudness taking into account the impact of other variables (e.g., emotional disturbances) is not fully understood. This is an important question for audiologists who are specialized in tinnitus rehabilitation as patients often ask whether the loudness of their tinnitus will increase if their hearing gets worse.

PURPOSE:

To explore the relationship between tinnitus loudness and pure tone hearing thresholds. RESEARCH

DESIGN:

This was a retrospective cross-sectional study.

STUDY SAMPLE:

445 consecutive patients who attended a Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Therapy Specialist Clinic in UK were included.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS:

The results of audiological tests and self-report questionnaires were gathered retrospectively from the records of the patients. Multiple-regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between tinnitus loudness, hearing loss and other variables.

RESULTS:

The regression model showed a significant relationship between the pure tone average (PTA) at the frequencies 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz of the better ear and the tinnitus loudness as measured via visual analogue scale (VAS), r (regression coefficient) = 0.022 (p < 0.001). Other variables significantly associated with tinnitus loudness were tinnitus annoyance (r = 0.49, p < 0.001) and the effect of tinnitus on life (r = 0.09, p = 0.006). The regression model explained 52% of the variance of tinnitus loudness.

CONCLUSIONS:

Although increased tinnitus loudness was associated with worse PTA, the relationship was very weak. Tinnitus annoyance and impact of tinnitus on life were more strongly correlated with tinnitus loudness than PTA.

Source: https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/30403955

 

Can someone explain what this means?

 

@Autumnly : As far as I understand, they showed an evident conclusion: the more you are deaf, the louder is your tinnitus. But it seems to be the exact opposite statement to that one at the beginning of this topic.

 

Psychoacoustic and clinical features of patients with idiopathic tinnitus

Objective:

The aim of this study is to explore the psychoacoustic and clinical features of patients with idiopathic tinnitus, to understand the relationship and regularity between tinnitus frequency, loudness and hearing loss, and to provide a basis for personalized diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus.

Method:

A total of 110 patients with idiopathic tinnitus underwent systematic otological professional examination,audiological examination, tinnitus refinement examination, medical history inquiry and tinnitus disability scale (THI) survey.

Result:

Tinnitus more frequently occurred between 20 to 60 years of age(95.45%),a significant decrease in people under the age of 20 and over the age of 60;67 cases(60.9%) of the tinnitus frequency were completely consistent with the maximum frequency of hearing loss, The Pearson test showed that tinnitus frequency was correlated to frequency of hearing loss (r=0.989,P<0.05). Tinnitus loudness pitch results are mostly concentrated between 40-60dBSL, The Pearson test showed that tinnitus loudness was correlated to hearing loss(r=0.932,P<0.05);The total effective rate of sound therapy was 67.3%,There was a correlation between Residual inhibition and sound therapy(r=0.438,P<0.05); No statistic difference was found between THI scores and Tinnitus duration (r=-0.047,P>0.05).

Conclusion:

There was a correlation between tinnitus pitch and hearing loss.Residual inhibition may indicate the effectiveness of the sound therapy and may affect the patient's THI score. Full Precision Test can provide clinical reference for early detection of hearing loss in tinnitus patients.

Source: https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/30400690

 

Thank you for posting this. I know first hand that T frequency and hearing loss are perfectly correlated. Wherever I have a notch, there is T right above it.

 

Be careful with this study. Any study with less than 50 participants is suspecr for reliability and it's only one study. When you have several well designed studies that demonstrate the same result, then you can take the finding to the bank.

 

My right ear has substantially more hearing loss than my left, the right is insanely loud compared to the left. Having said that, my head screams as well, it’s just more from that partially deaf ear. If you want to make your brain go haywaire, and your tinnitus go crazy, loose more hearing.

 

Thanks for destroying stupid arguments.

 

That so true. I have hearing loss above 4 kHz in my left ear, and T. When I use my HA, T pitch is clearly higher. HA goes up to 7 kHz.

 

I don't know where to put this: it also talks about two tinnitus models, the first one, tonotopic model, is well known, the second one, homeostatic model, is not known, and it is a pity it is not described in this article.

Does the tinnitus pitch correlate with the frequency of hearing loss?

Abstract
Background
The tonotopic model of tinnitus claims that the tinnitus pitch corresponds to the audiometric edge; the homeostatic model suggests that it falls within the hearing loss (HL) area. The existing evidence mostly supports the homeostatic model, but the relationship between the tinnitus pitch and the HL frequencies has been insufficiently explored.

Aims/objective
To investigate the association between the tinnitus pitch and the audiometric profile in the largest study population to date.

Materials and methods
Three hundred and ninety-three patients with tonal or narrow-band tinnitus participated. HL frequencies included 30, 40, 50 (F50), 60 dB, and maximum HL. We defined edge frequencies in four different ways according to the existing studies. We assessed the association between all estimated frequencies and the tinnitus pitch using t-tests, Spearman’s correlation, and multiple regression.

Results
All calculated frequencies differed significantly from the tinnitus pitch except for F50. None were correlated with the tinnitus pitch. F50 was the only significant predictor among the estimated frequencies in multiple regression.

Conclusions
The tinnitus pitch fell within the HL area, and was mildly associated with F50.

Significance
Our results support the homeostatic tinnitus model, and provide reliable evidence that tinnitus pitch does not correspond to the audiometric edge.

Source: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00016489.2020.1837394